Today I tried shopping for a bra. I heard thry were having a sale at Macy's (yes the same store whose shoe salesmen ignored me). They had no size that fit me - they mostly start at 34B, which, if you must know, is way too big for me. I had even dressed up for the occasion hoping that the sales staff would treat me well, but still no one helped me. I asked in the Petites section of clothing if they have petite intimates, and the answer of coursewas no. I looked around, and I realized that I hate Macy's. Anything nice that I might buy is so expensive.
I decided I'd just look around for petite clothe. I asked over at Banana Republic ($$) if they had a petites section - nope, but they will at end of summer. I even go to Talbots Kids to find me SOMETHING! They're even very pricey! And most of the kids' stuff is over-the-top colorful (yet fun, just not business fun).
Now I'm waiting for the watch repairman to take two links off my watch band so it'll finally fit.
Jay's job's going very, very well. He seems happy so far with it. I start my new job on Monday, and I'm very nervous... we'll see what happens!
UPDATE ON LAWN: There seems to be some grass sprouts popping up, but it's still too early to tell.
Wednesday, May 09, 2007
Friday, May 04, 2007
Updates
So I haven't posted in a long time, and that's because Jay and I were (still sort of are) going through some trials and trib's. I won't get into it since it's a pretty lengthy and personal story. However, here's some news:
- I did get the new job, was supposed to start April 30, but I am now starting on May 14.
- Jay got into Mass Art's grad program! (I should have written that first.) He'll be going part time starting in the fall.
- Jay ALSO got a new job! That's why he'll be going part time to grad school. He'll be doing "all kinds of graphics," according to Jay. He starts Monday.
- Between my old and new job, we were supposed to go on a road trip. That never happened because I was going through some serious stress. So we don't know if we'll get a chance to do a trip anytime soon.
And since this was supposed to a blog about our house and the 'upgrades' we make to it, I'll now write about grass and lawns.
We know nothing about how to maintain a lawn. In the two years we've owned the house, our front and back lawns have fallen into disarray (I know that word probably isn't the right choice, but sometimes access to my internal thesaurus isn't my strong point, and I probably spelled that wrong). So we decided to try to rectify the sitch (short for 'situation').
Well hold the effin' phone, 'cuz Jay's taking me to effing Six Flags today!!!! AHHHHH!!! I'm so excited! He HATES amusement parks and I LOVE them. and I can't believe he's taking me!! AHHHHH!!!!
- I did get the new job, was supposed to start April 30, but I am now starting on May 14.
- Jay got into Mass Art's grad program! (I should have written that first.) He'll be going part time starting in the fall.
- Jay ALSO got a new job! That's why he'll be going part time to grad school. He'll be doing "all kinds of graphics," according to Jay. He starts Monday.
- Between my old and new job, we were supposed to go on a road trip. That never happened because I was going through some serious stress. So we don't know if we'll get a chance to do a trip anytime soon.
And since this was supposed to a blog about our house and the 'upgrades' we make to it, I'll now write about grass and lawns.
We know nothing about how to maintain a lawn. In the two years we've owned the house, our front and back lawns have fallen into disarray (I know that word probably isn't the right choice, but sometimes access to my internal thesaurus isn't my strong point, and I probably spelled that wrong). So we decided to try to rectify the sitch (short for 'situation').
Well hold the effin' phone, 'cuz Jay's taking me to effing Six Flags today!!!! AHHHHH!!! I'm so excited! He HATES amusement parks and I LOVE them. and I can't believe he's taking me!! AHHHHH!!!!
Sunday, March 25, 2007
Jay and I are totally funny
Jay and I think this is really, really, really funny.
When we were shopping for mattresses yesterday (see post below), we were driving on Route 9 through the part where there's Staples & Trader Joe's & Ruby Tuesdays, and we were looking for any kind of mattress stores that might be in any particular plaza.
Jay said, "We've got to keep out eyes peeled, because I know this area is a hot bed for... um, hot beds."
Then I said, "I know! It's a breeding ground for... um, breeding grounds."
And we laughed the whole way to Jordan's.
When we were shopping for mattresses yesterday (see post below), we were driving on Route 9 through the part where there's Staples & Trader Joe's & Ruby Tuesdays, and we were looking for any kind of mattress stores that might be in any particular plaza.
Jay said, "We've got to keep out eyes peeled, because I know this area is a hot bed for... um, hot beds."
Then I said, "I know! It's a breeding ground for... um, breeding grounds."
And we laughed the whole way to Jordan's.
Saturday, March 24, 2007
Stuff, and such and stuff, and new mattresses.
I got the job, I start on April 30th.
Methinks that Jay and I will try to go on a post-official-court-reporter/pre-training-and-certification-manager road trip down south aways.
(For some reason, when I reread "south aways," I thought it said "southwest" in the sense of Southwest Airlines, so then I thought we were flying south...?)
I'm realizing more and more that Jay and I operate on a strange mental level, and we're possibly both quite insane, but still able to function somewhat, and it confuses me.
We bought a new mattress today. Our old mattress ::sing-songy, in a high-pitched tone:: buh-LOWWWWS. oh yes it DOESSSS. So we went to Bernie & Phyl's, Moe's (not a furniture store, but a delicious burrito place - or rather, a place that has delicious burritos), Mattress Giant, Mattress Discounters, Sleepy's, and finally, Jordan's.
The people at B&P's were nice and low-pressure kind of peeps.
Moe's was delicious, as always.
Mattress Giant was gross - not a lot of selection, prices on the high end, and the salesman was walking the fine line between obesity and morbid obesity (which is fine in and of itself), but had his fly open the whole time (puts the obese thing in a different light), and as we walked out of the store, he pulled the 'desperate salesman' cry for help: "Is there anything I can do to make you guys buy now??"
Mattress Discounters was much nicer - the salesman had all his buttons buttoned and his zippers zipped, and had a few comfy beds.
Sleepy's was a fun experience. The salesman was probably younger than us, dressed in a suit, and was like, "I dunno, that one's pretty cool, but do what you like. Oh, by the way, I guess I forgot to tell you, like, that's one's half off until, uh, tomorrow..." Then the pizza guy came and delivered the kid's lunch: buffalo chicken pizza. He offered us a slice. I almost accepted. It smelled really good.
Finally, Jordan's. You can't go to Jordan's without experiencing Kelly's Roast Beef and Seafood. The fellow customers are the best part. I saw a guy with a black t-shirt with the word "motherfu#@er" on it. (I'm even too ashamed to type it!) I passively-aggressively gave him a dirty look behind his back. Motherfu#@er. We watched the cute fishies in the cylindrical fish tank as we waited (and waited and waited) for our food. We got a frappe (is that term a New England thing?) and some onion rings as I filled out a health survey created by the FSC sociology department. I wrote that I love fried food and ice cream frappes. We went to the mattress room, a very nice saleswoman -- I mean, "sleep technician" (and yes, they do have lab coats on, because I'm sure they're very, very involved in highly scientific, um, sales of mattresses) came up to us, showed us a few beds.
We decided on a very comfy one from Jordan's. I think it's a Simmons. Good price, free delivery (which wasn't so with the other places), 60-day exchange policy, 10-year nonprorated warranty, queen size (a bit bigger than what we have now [a full]), mmmmm, what else? It has a pillowtop. (M m m m m, p i l l o w t o p) So it's all good, good stuff. My hips and shoulders will be very, very thankful come Friday night.
That was supposed to be a much, much shorter post, but you know what? I get carried away. By balloons. And Leprechauns wave at me as I float away. (That was a dream I had when I was a kid.)
Methinks that Jay and I will try to go on a post-official-court-reporter/pre-training-and-certification-manager road trip down south aways.
(For some reason, when I reread "south aways," I thought it said "southwest" in the sense of Southwest Airlines, so then I thought we were flying south...?)
I'm realizing more and more that Jay and I operate on a strange mental level, and we're possibly both quite insane, but still able to function somewhat, and it confuses me.
We bought a new mattress today. Our old mattress ::sing-songy, in a high-pitched tone:: buh-LOWWWWS. oh yes it DOESSSS. So we went to Bernie & Phyl's, Moe's (not a furniture store, but a delicious burrito place - or rather, a place that has delicious burritos), Mattress Giant, Mattress Discounters, Sleepy's, and finally, Jordan's.
The people at B&P's were nice and low-pressure kind of peeps.
Moe's was delicious, as always.
Mattress Giant was gross - not a lot of selection, prices on the high end, and the salesman was walking the fine line between obesity and morbid obesity (which is fine in and of itself), but had his fly open the whole time (puts the obese thing in a different light), and as we walked out of the store, he pulled the 'desperate salesman' cry for help: "Is there anything I can do to make you guys buy now??"
Mattress Discounters was much nicer - the salesman had all his buttons buttoned and his zippers zipped, and had a few comfy beds.
Sleepy's was a fun experience. The salesman was probably younger than us, dressed in a suit, and was like, "I dunno, that one's pretty cool, but do what you like. Oh, by the way, I guess I forgot to tell you, like, that's one's half off until, uh, tomorrow..." Then the pizza guy came and delivered the kid's lunch: buffalo chicken pizza. He offered us a slice. I almost accepted. It smelled really good.
Finally, Jordan's. You can't go to Jordan's without experiencing Kelly's Roast Beef and Seafood. The fellow customers are the best part. I saw a guy with a black t-shirt with the word "motherfu#@er" on it. (I'm even too ashamed to type it!) I passively-aggressively gave him a dirty look behind his back. Motherfu#@er. We watched the cute fishies in the cylindrical fish tank as we waited (and waited and waited) for our food. We got a frappe (is that term a New England thing?) and some onion rings as I filled out a health survey created by the FSC sociology department. I wrote that I love fried food and ice cream frappes. We went to the mattress room, a very nice saleswoman -- I mean, "sleep technician" (and yes, they do have lab coats on, because I'm sure they're very, very involved in highly scientific, um, sales of mattresses) came up to us, showed us a few beds.
We decided on a very comfy one from Jordan's. I think it's a Simmons. Good price, free delivery (which wasn't so with the other places), 60-day exchange policy, 10-year nonprorated warranty, queen size (a bit bigger than what we have now [a full]), mmmmm, what else? It has a pillowtop. (M m m m m, p i l l o w t o p) So it's all good, good stuff. My hips and shoulders will be very, very thankful come Friday night.
That was supposed to be a much, much shorter post, but you know what? I get carried away. By balloons. And Leprechauns wave at me as I float away. (That was a dream I had when I was a kid.)
Friday, March 16, 2007
Updates requested by Patrick
Pat, this one goes out to you:
So here's what's been going on. I have been hugely busy (is that a correct usage of that word? is that a word?) with a really, really big transcript order (1,500 pages) that was due in a very short amount of time (five weeks), and I finally got it done, sans proofreading it on the paper (I'm so anal and I feel guilty, but that alone would have taken me another week). I did proof it to the tape, though - so I know it's beyond mediocre. I might have a missing comma or two, though ::clenching fist, biting it:: So that's done, and now I get to focus on the 2,000-page murder trial transcript I've been putting off, which is due in just over a month! Woo hoo! Oh, the exciting, exciting life of a court reporter...
Ah, but that life might just end soon. No, I'm not talking about committing suicide (although I heard that the lead singer from Boston lit a couple of charcoal briquettes on fire and inhaled the fumes to kill himself? Is this guy a freakin' chemist??). Anyway, as I posted, I believe, I had applied for a job called "Training and Certification Manager" in the newly created Transcript Services Office (and no, neither of those titles should be capitalized). I was super excited about the job, because I think I'd be pretty darn good... so I got called in for an interview, and before that I had to complete a "written exercise" where they pretty much asked the applicant to write out what their plans and ideas were for when they get the job (if they do), and I had to use 10-pt font because I was too excited and wordy for all the answers. I got lots of help from Jay and his dad; they're good at narrowing the scope of stuff. I tend to be too wordy, if you couldn't tell from my rambling. I submitted the exercise, I had my first interview last Friday (one week ago), I interviewed with two people, they seemed to be interested in the fact that I'm actually a court reporter, and they called me back Monday for a second interview, which was held on Wednesday, and I interviewed with the actual manager of the office, and she said she had heard that my first interview went well and that she was excited to meet me (awww). So I think THAT interview went well, as well (well well well!), and she said they'd get back to me "fairly quickly," but as of yet, I haven't heard anything.
I think I'd do a really good job if I got this position, and I'm trying not to get too excited about it because there's always a chance I won't get it.
Speaking of interviews, Jay got onto the "short list" of candidates to be accepted into MassArt!! Weee! He called them today, since he hadn't heard anything (and they were supposed to make decisions late Feb/early March), and the lady said that he should be getting an e-mail about setting up an interview, but Jay couldn't figure out if that meant him specifically, or that it applied to everyone in general. But a few hours later, he checked his e-mail and had received notice that he made the short list, and they want to set up an interview sometime in April! Yay Jay!!
Times, they are a-changin'. Of course, I might not get the new job, Jay might not get into grad school, and we'd still be here in the same spot as we are now, but it feels good to reach for something a little higher than the stuff you're doing now, and to get some positive feedback that you're not crazy for trying to better yourself or get a better position feels great. Sometimes I just don't know what people think of me, and it felt good to hear them say that they were impressed with my ideas and with the way my interview went; and Jay's been waiting for a few months now to hear back about school, not knowing ANYTHING at all about what the school might think of his application, and it made HIM feel great that all his work is paying off and that people respect and acknowledge his skills and talents.
That was a really, really long post, and I've been meaning to shovel the driveway for over 45 minutes now.... so I'm going to go, uh, shovel. Happy St. Patty's Day! Erin Go Bra-less!
So here's what's been going on. I have been hugely busy (is that a correct usage of that word? is that a word?) with a really, really big transcript order (1,500 pages) that was due in a very short amount of time (five weeks), and I finally got it done, sans proofreading it on the paper (I'm so anal and I feel guilty, but that alone would have taken me another week). I did proof it to the tape, though - so I know it's beyond mediocre. I might have a missing comma or two, though ::clenching fist, biting it:: So that's done, and now I get to focus on the 2,000-page murder trial transcript I've been putting off, which is due in just over a month! Woo hoo! Oh, the exciting, exciting life of a court reporter...
Ah, but that life might just end soon. No, I'm not talking about committing suicide (although I heard that the lead singer from Boston lit a couple of charcoal briquettes on fire and inhaled the fumes to kill himself? Is this guy a freakin' chemist??). Anyway, as I posted, I believe, I had applied for a job called "Training and Certification Manager" in the newly created Transcript Services Office (and no, neither of those titles should be capitalized). I was super excited about the job, because I think I'd be pretty darn good... so I got called in for an interview, and before that I had to complete a "written exercise" where they pretty much asked the applicant to write out what their plans and ideas were for when they get the job (if they do), and I had to use 10-pt font because I was too excited and wordy for all the answers. I got lots of help from Jay and his dad; they're good at narrowing the scope of stuff. I tend to be too wordy, if you couldn't tell from my rambling. I submitted the exercise, I had my first interview last Friday (one week ago), I interviewed with two people, they seemed to be interested in the fact that I'm actually a court reporter, and they called me back Monday for a second interview, which was held on Wednesday, and I interviewed with the actual manager of the office, and she said she had heard that my first interview went well and that she was excited to meet me (awww). So I think THAT interview went well, as well (well well well!), and she said they'd get back to me "fairly quickly," but as of yet, I haven't heard anything.
I think I'd do a really good job if I got this position, and I'm trying not to get too excited about it because there's always a chance I won't get it.
Speaking of interviews, Jay got onto the "short list" of candidates to be accepted into MassArt!! Weee! He called them today, since he hadn't heard anything (and they were supposed to make decisions late Feb/early March), and the lady said that he should be getting an e-mail about setting up an interview, but Jay couldn't figure out if that meant him specifically, or that it applied to everyone in general. But a few hours later, he checked his e-mail and had received notice that he made the short list, and they want to set up an interview sometime in April! Yay Jay!!
Times, they are a-changin'. Of course, I might not get the new job, Jay might not get into grad school, and we'd still be here in the same spot as we are now, but it feels good to reach for something a little higher than the stuff you're doing now, and to get some positive feedback that you're not crazy for trying to better yourself or get a better position feels great. Sometimes I just don't know what people think of me, and it felt good to hear them say that they were impressed with my ideas and with the way my interview went; and Jay's been waiting for a few months now to hear back about school, not knowing ANYTHING at all about what the school might think of his application, and it made HIM feel great that all his work is paying off and that people respect and acknowledge his skills and talents.
That was a really, really long post, and I've been meaning to shovel the driveway for over 45 minutes now.... so I'm going to go, uh, shovel. Happy St. Patty's Day! Erin Go Bra-less!
Thursday, March 08, 2007
I just... I just don't get it
Okay.
(A) I can't access my bank account onli- - - oh, the page finally loaded. Good.
(B) Now I can't access up-to-date info on our credit card. What the -- arggg
(C) I bought a Treo 700p, it came in the mail, and WHAT THE HELL?? I either hate technology or I hate Sprint, one or the other, or maybe both... Mm-hm, okay, yeah, it's the "I hate Sprint" one. Yeah.
Maybe I'm just not smart. Maybe I'm just not tech-savvy. Y'know, I've always thought of myself as a bright little bulb, but apparently I lack some special super powers of understanding and tolerance when it comes to trying to get answers from customer service people. Really.
::shaking head:: I had been trying for a while to get info on switching over to the Palm Treo. I think you might have read about this. ...long, long story short, I finally talked to some dimwit at Sprint - it was like PULLING TEETH to get any useful information out of her after I had decided I wanted to make the purchase; and now that I have the smartphone device thingy whatever-you-call-it, I try to call Sprint, they have no idea what I'm talking about, they put me on hold for 10 minutes.... and I just... I just... I just can't take it.
I thought technology was supposed to make our lives easier. Right?
At least blogging exists. I can rant and post it and boom, there it is.
Plththhthhhhh.
Oh, p.s. - I have my job interview tomorrow. I tried to buy new clothes to wear. The clothes don't fit. They don't make power suits made for people with the proportions of a 12-year-old girl. Booo hiss! Ninny!!!
(A) I can't access my bank account onli- - - oh, the page finally loaded. Good.
(B) Now I can't access up-to-date info on our credit card. What the -- arggg
(C) I bought a Treo 700p, it came in the mail, and WHAT THE HELL?? I either hate technology or I hate Sprint, one or the other, or maybe both... Mm-hm, okay, yeah, it's the "I hate Sprint" one. Yeah.
Maybe I'm just not smart. Maybe I'm just not tech-savvy. Y'know, I've always thought of myself as a bright little bulb, but apparently I lack some special super powers of understanding and tolerance when it comes to trying to get answers from customer service people. Really.
::shaking head:: I had been trying for a while to get info on switching over to the Palm Treo. I think you might have read about this. ...long, long story short, I finally talked to some dimwit at Sprint - it was like PULLING TEETH to get any useful information out of her after I had decided I wanted to make the purchase; and now that I have the smartphone device thingy whatever-you-call-it, I try to call Sprint, they have no idea what I'm talking about, they put me on hold for 10 minutes.... and I just... I just... I just can't take it.
I thought technology was supposed to make our lives easier. Right?
At least blogging exists. I can rant and post it and boom, there it is.
Plththhthhhhh.
Oh, p.s. - I have my job interview tomorrow. I tried to buy new clothes to wear. The clothes don't fit. They don't make power suits made for people with the proportions of a 12-year-old girl. Booo hiss! Ninny!!!
Sunday, March 04, 2007
I want a moustache, dammit. I wanna look like Burt Reynolds.
Okay, no, I really don't want to look like Burt Reynolds, but I do want a Palm Treo 700p smartphone.
Now, I'm definitely not one to love gadgety-type things like iPods or GPS systems or pagers, but I really think this little gadget will improve my quality of life by at least 30 percent. I've crunched the numbers, people - 30 percent. (I'm still working on the pie chart for it; then I plan on creating a PowerPoint slideshow.)
Anyway, here's my story: I had a Palm PDA for a few years, which was awesome. I kept track of everything on there, and without it, I would forget pretty much everything. I actually used it more to keep track of events passed and details about those events than I did to keep track of future appointments and such. However, the PDA eventually broke. I lost about a years' worth of info when it froze in the middle of a recreational Tetris session, and I, thus, froze in fear, and not knowing what to do (I most certainly didn't want to hit the hard reset button! I knew I would lose everything!), I slowly put it down, slowly backed away, and let the battery run out, hoping that when I recharged it, its equivalent to a brain-freeze would be gone and all would be well. However, when I turned it back on the next morning, it had done its own hard reset, and there was absolutely no info on there. And I had been a bad hot-syncher for a long time, meaning that there was only minimal backed-up info on my Palm Desktop computer program; so I ended up losing a years' worth of stuff. ::biting clenched fist in pain::
And plus, I have a really old cellphone that I hate.
So I want a Palm Treo 700p, not because I think it's a cool gadget that I want to show off to people whom I want to impress, but because my brain doesn't work correctly, and I need an external piece of computerized equipment to compensate for the brain power I lack. If only they could find a way to plug it into people's brains...
Anyway, the thing's expensive. I don't like spending money. I haven't upgraded my cellphone... well, ever. I know that Nextel/Sprint/whoever-the-hell-my-service-is-with offers phone upgrades at certain points during your ongoing subscription. I get confused about all that stuff. I try to figure out the cost of buying a new PDA plus the cost of buying a new cellphone with functionality I actually enjoy. I go to Consumer Reports to see what these 'smartphones' do. (Ooo, I see that the Palm Treo 700p is a best buy!) They say that the price is a random $338. I go to the Palm website to get some info. They tell me I can get the 700p for, I don't know, anywhere between $299 and $649, depending on mail-in rebates and instant savings and what service you buy and blah blah blah. I go to the Nextel/Sprint/whoever-you-are website to get some info. They tell me I can get it for anywhere between $249 and $649 depending on mail-in rebates and instant savings and a new 2-year agreement and blah blah blah. So I'm all confused, and I don't understand how a $650 piece of equipment an somehow magically get reduced by half or more.
Jay takes me to a new little store called iMo. Independent Mobile, I guess. Apparently they can get access to many different carriers and can sell many different services and brands of phones and can serve you free coffee and Coca-Cola. (You had me at "Would you like a Coke?") I was super excited, because the sales guy was very nice, very knowledgeable, and said that he would contact my service provider (whether it be Nextel or Sprint or the Wizard of Oz) to see if I could get access to the "special deals" and rebates and upgrades. Matthew assured me he would either e-mail me the next day or call me with some more info.
I never heard back.
Jay and I went back about a week later and spoke to a different person; this time, a very friendly and sincere young lady named Kate. I like Kates. Always had good experiences with people named Kate. I like where this is going. Kate assured me that she, too, would do the legwork and contact my service provider and see what she could do, but it would take a while. I figured "a while" meant a week; she said, "No, it'll take like 40 minutes, but I don't want you guys to have to wait around that long." So she, too, assured me that she would e-mail me or call me the next day, or in two days, at the latest, with some follow-up info.
Again, I never heard back.
Which brings me to a related, yet slightly tangential, complaint about the issue of accountability. Numerous, numerous times in the past few months (which have been pretty tough for me work-wise), I have been prevented from accomplishing important tasks because the completion of the task requires someone to return a phone call to me. Not just work stuff, but life stuff, doctor stuff, car stuff, etc. And my God, it makes me so angry. I understand the whole Zen philosophy of 'don't have any expectations of others, because if you do, you'll be constantly disappointed' and 'expect nothing, and be pleasantly surprised at something' and all that horse doodie. But come on, I'm not expecting them to get me a $299 Treo 700p or anything! Is it too much to ask to expect people to do the basic requirements of their job? I mean, really? Is it? Because if it is, then man, I need to join some sort of Utopian society.
Anyway, sorry. Yeah. So I would like a Treo 700p, but I'm finding it difficult to figure out how to get it for a decent price. I'm scared to call my cellphone service provider, because I'm not good with remembering when I signed up or what phone Jay has or how many minutes we use or anything, and I'm sure they'll be expecting me to know all that stuff. So here I sit, typing away my woes, and in the meantime, Matthew and Kate are probably drinking free Cokes and not calling customers. ::le sigh::
Now, I'm definitely not one to love gadgety-type things like iPods or GPS systems or pagers, but I really think this little gadget will improve my quality of life by at least 30 percent. I've crunched the numbers, people - 30 percent. (I'm still working on the pie chart for it; then I plan on creating a PowerPoint slideshow.)
Anyway, here's my story: I had a Palm PDA for a few years, which was awesome. I kept track of everything on there, and without it, I would forget pretty much everything. I actually used it more to keep track of events passed and details about those events than I did to keep track of future appointments and such. However, the PDA eventually broke. I lost about a years' worth of info when it froze in the middle of a recreational Tetris session, and I, thus, froze in fear, and not knowing what to do (I most certainly didn't want to hit the hard reset button! I knew I would lose everything!), I slowly put it down, slowly backed away, and let the battery run out, hoping that when I recharged it, its equivalent to a brain-freeze would be gone and all would be well. However, when I turned it back on the next morning, it had done its own hard reset, and there was absolutely no info on there. And I had been a bad hot-syncher for a long time, meaning that there was only minimal backed-up info on my Palm Desktop computer program; so I ended up losing a years' worth of stuff. ::biting clenched fist in pain::
And plus, I have a really old cellphone that I hate.
So I want a Palm Treo 700p, not because I think it's a cool gadget that I want to show off to people whom I want to impress, but because my brain doesn't work correctly, and I need an external piece of computerized equipment to compensate for the brain power I lack. If only they could find a way to plug it into people's brains...
Anyway, the thing's expensive. I don't like spending money. I haven't upgraded my cellphone... well, ever. I know that Nextel/Sprint/whoever-the-hell-my-service-is-with offers phone upgrades at certain points during your ongoing subscription. I get confused about all that stuff. I try to figure out the cost of buying a new PDA plus the cost of buying a new cellphone with functionality I actually enjoy. I go to Consumer Reports to see what these 'smartphones' do. (Ooo, I see that the Palm Treo 700p is a best buy!) They say that the price is a random $338. I go to the Palm website to get some info. They tell me I can get the 700p for, I don't know, anywhere between $299 and $649, depending on mail-in rebates and instant savings and what service you buy and blah blah blah. I go to the Nextel/Sprint/whoever-you-are website to get some info. They tell me I can get it for anywhere between $249 and $649 depending on mail-in rebates and instant savings and a new 2-year agreement and blah blah blah. So I'm all confused, and I don't understand how a $650 piece of equipment an somehow magically get reduced by half or more.
Jay takes me to a new little store called iMo. Independent Mobile, I guess. Apparently they can get access to many different carriers and can sell many different services and brands of phones and can serve you free coffee and Coca-Cola. (You had me at "Would you like a Coke?") I was super excited, because the sales guy was very nice, very knowledgeable, and said that he would contact my service provider (whether it be Nextel or Sprint or the Wizard of Oz) to see if I could get access to the "special deals" and rebates and upgrades. Matthew assured me he would either e-mail me the next day or call me with some more info.
I never heard back.
Jay and I went back about a week later and spoke to a different person; this time, a very friendly and sincere young lady named Kate. I like Kates. Always had good experiences with people named Kate. I like where this is going. Kate assured me that she, too, would do the legwork and contact my service provider and see what she could do, but it would take a while. I figured "a while" meant a week; she said, "No, it'll take like 40 minutes, but I don't want you guys to have to wait around that long." So she, too, assured me that she would e-mail me or call me the next day, or in two days, at the latest, with some follow-up info.
Again, I never heard back.
Which brings me to a related, yet slightly tangential, complaint about the issue of accountability. Numerous, numerous times in the past few months (which have been pretty tough for me work-wise), I have been prevented from accomplishing important tasks because the completion of the task requires someone to return a phone call to me. Not just work stuff, but life stuff, doctor stuff, car stuff, etc. And my God, it makes me so angry. I understand the whole Zen philosophy of 'don't have any expectations of others, because if you do, you'll be constantly disappointed' and 'expect nothing, and be pleasantly surprised at something' and all that horse doodie. But come on, I'm not expecting them to get me a $299 Treo 700p or anything! Is it too much to ask to expect people to do the basic requirements of their job? I mean, really? Is it? Because if it is, then man, I need to join some sort of Utopian society.
Anyway, sorry. Yeah. So I would like a Treo 700p, but I'm finding it difficult to figure out how to get it for a decent price. I'm scared to call my cellphone service provider, because I'm not good with remembering when I signed up or what phone Jay has or how many minutes we use or anything, and I'm sure they'll be expecting me to know all that stuff. So here I sit, typing away my woes, and in the meantime, Matthew and Kate are probably drinking free Cokes and not calling customers. ::le sigh::
Thursday, March 01, 2007
Wowsers! A post!
Hello, all. I've been very distracted by life stuff lately, and as such, have neglected to keep the web community posted as to what's up with Jay and Erin and Abe, or any such order of those proper nouns as you may prefer.
Here's some pics:
This is my most favorite picture of Abe ever. EVER. We went for a walk over at the state park a week or two or three ago (I can't remember!), and I took lots of pics. The reservoir was all frozen over and covered with snow, so you couldn't tell where the land ended and the ice began. I digress... he just looks damn handsome!
During this little walk in the park, if you will, I totally slid down the huge hill that's a dam. The snow had frozen solid so that you could just walk over it without falling through, but the downside to that is if you stand anywhere but flat ground, you slide. I wanted to get a picture of something on the very edge of the hill, and I lost my footing (what footing?) and started to vit-vit-VIIT! down the very steep slope. I screamed, "JAY!!" and he yelled, "HAMMER! HAMMER!" meaning I should hammer my foot or elbow into the ice. As I flew down the hill, I slammed my heel into the ice and stopped myself, and Jay came sliding after me. This pic is taken right after I stopped, and we both couldn't stop laughing, even though I probably could have either broken my neck, or at least gotten some nasty ice burns.
A few more pics from that day:
Another pic of handsome Abe:
Jay got me a four-track recorder for Valentine's Day. Dennis, this might look familiar to you:
I haven't had a chance to actually try it out yet, unfortunately... I've been super, super distracted by work stuff, and I mean DIS-tracted! Woo!
And here's a really cool pic jay took. I like very much:
Anyhoo, I applied for a new job yesterday, and I have an interview next Friday for it. It's a job that's still within the state, and still court-reporting related, but I guess it's called manager of training and certification, or something... It sounds like a brand-new position within a brand-new office, and the person they hire would be in charge of (from what I gather) coming up with testing protocols and training programs for per diem court reporters, transcriptionists, and court recording monitors (and I'm not even sure what a court recording monitor IS, exactly). Actually, they throw around the term "certified court transcriptionist," and maybe I'm just bad at online research, but I couldn't find anything that defines a certified court transcriptionist. Hey, if I get the job, maybe I'LL define it! Ooos...
Jay's been doing lots and lots of stuff around the house - lots of cooking, lots of cleaning, lots of making the bed, lots of doing dishes, even pitching in with laundry! He's been a big help, because I mostly despise all that homemaker stuff and I've been super distracted with work stuff, so he's taken the initiative and done lots of stuff to help out. I can't thank him enough! I'm much better at the whole being bogged down by the nine-to-five job than I am at keeping a nice balance of keeping house and working. I like to throw all my eggs in one basket; that basket currently being work. Jay's got lots of eggs in lots of baskets; those baskets being freelancing, researching, reading, cleaning, cooking, doing dishes, learning, dancing, eating... I could go on.
Here's some pics:
This is my most favorite picture of Abe ever. EVER. We went for a walk over at the state park a week or two or three ago (I can't remember!), and I took lots of pics. The reservoir was all frozen over and covered with snow, so you couldn't tell where the land ended and the ice began. I digress... he just looks damn handsome!
During this little walk in the park, if you will, I totally slid down the huge hill that's a dam. The snow had frozen solid so that you could just walk over it without falling through, but the downside to that is if you stand anywhere but flat ground, you slide. I wanted to get a picture of something on the very edge of the hill, and I lost my footing (what footing?) and started to vit-vit-VIIT! down the very steep slope. I screamed, "JAY!!" and he yelled, "HAMMER! HAMMER!" meaning I should hammer my foot or elbow into the ice. As I flew down the hill, I slammed my heel into the ice and stopped myself, and Jay came sliding after me. This pic is taken right after I stopped, and we both couldn't stop laughing, even though I probably could have either broken my neck, or at least gotten some nasty ice burns.
A few more pics from that day:
Another pic of handsome Abe:
Jay got me a four-track recorder for Valentine's Day. Dennis, this might look familiar to you:
I haven't had a chance to actually try it out yet, unfortunately... I've been super, super distracted by work stuff, and I mean DIS-tracted! Woo!
And here's a really cool pic jay took. I like very much:
Anyhoo, I applied for a new job yesterday, and I have an interview next Friday for it. It's a job that's still within the state, and still court-reporting related, but I guess it's called manager of training and certification, or something... It sounds like a brand-new position within a brand-new office, and the person they hire would be in charge of (from what I gather) coming up with testing protocols and training programs for per diem court reporters, transcriptionists, and court recording monitors (and I'm not even sure what a court recording monitor IS, exactly). Actually, they throw around the term "certified court transcriptionist," and maybe I'm just bad at online research, but I couldn't find anything that defines a certified court transcriptionist. Hey, if I get the job, maybe I'LL define it! Ooos...
Jay's been doing lots and lots of stuff around the house - lots of cooking, lots of cleaning, lots of making the bed, lots of doing dishes, even pitching in with laundry! He's been a big help, because I mostly despise all that homemaker stuff and I've been super distracted with work stuff, so he's taken the initiative and done lots of stuff to help out. I can't thank him enough! I'm much better at the whole being bogged down by the nine-to-five job than I am at keeping a nice balance of keeping house and working. I like to throw all my eggs in one basket; that basket currently being work. Jay's got lots of eggs in lots of baskets; those baskets being freelancing, researching, reading, cleaning, cooking, doing dishes, learning, dancing, eating... I could go on.
Saturday, February 03, 2007
My first tailoring experience
Here's a little story about my first experience getting some clothes tailored.
I've recently lost some extra chubbiness 'round my midsection, so most of my pants and skirts no longer fit. In fact, I bought them a little big in the first place, so they're extra big now.
I've been wondering how to deal with rectifying this situation. I bought two belts, which helps for those pants with belt loops, but then some of my pants and all my skirts don't have belt loops, so I just look like I'm swimming in my clothes when I wear them. I decided I needed to get them tailored.
I wondered if I could possibly do it myself... I mean, Kate's been doing sewing, right? I could, you know, get a sewing machine and learn the intricacies of tailoring. Heck, I've done some seam ripping in my middle school days. I asked Kate if she thought it'd be a futile endeavor to try to tailor my own stuff, and she told me the truth - bring them to a professional. The cost of the equipment and learning how to do it correctly would be far greater than just paying a pro to do it. ::Nodding:: Kate, when you're right, you're right.
But then I ask myself... how do I know who's a good tailor? I ain't never done this! I just decided to bring it to the nearest place. It's across from the Corner Pub. I went in and brought a cheap pair of pants and a cheap skirt, both work-worthy, but items I could go without in my wardrobe. I wanted to see how they did and how much it cost. (I also brought in my wedding dress, finally, to get cleaned and 'preserved.')
Anyway, the guy was super nice, bordering on a little creepy. He kept talking about how "Mama'll do a good job" and "Ooo, this'll keep Mama busy" and such. I assumed his mama would be doing the tailoring, then. All he did was have me put the pants on and he pinned them, and the same with the skirt. I figured they'd perhaps, you know, take my measurements and use that to tailor the clothes; but just a little pinning and such was all.
Long story short, Jay and I go to pick up my clothes earlier today. He said that the skirt was a lot more work for Mama than he thought - ooo, I kept Mama busy all day! There's just a zipper and no seams! Ooo, Mama was very busy with that skirt! Okey dokey. Not my fault. I think he was trying to say that I should have been charged more, but since it was my first time, he gave me a deal. Ooo, that Mama!
So I bring the pants and the skirt home. I decide to try on the pants first. Pulled them on -- ooo, Mama did a nice job -- zip 'em and buckle 'em -- ooo, Mama mia! -- and then I turn around.
Can you say "bubble butt"? All they did was take in the fabric at the butt seam, but when they did that, there was still all this extra fabric in the butt area, which they didn't do anything with! So the waistline's nice and snug, fits great, but man! I don't have the "badonkadonk" to fill that out! So a $10 disappointment.
I put the skirt on, and I gotta say, Mama did a nice job! I got it hemmed and taken in, and it was lined, which meant more work for Mama. But it fits very nice now! Jay said that Mama probably did the skirt first, got pissed that it was a lot of work, and then just hastily and sloppily tailored the bubble-butt pants.
Anyway, it was a great learning experience. The whole dry cleaning and tailoring thing was scary to me, because it's one of those things where I think everyone else is in on all this knowledge, and I know nothing about it, so I get intimidated. I guess the next step is to try to find a professional tailor who will do a professional job, who will probably charge more, but it'll be worth it to have a wardrobe that actually fits. The longer I live, the more I realize that unfortunately, I have to spend more than $20 to get a nice outfit. I've been tricked all these years by shopping at Goodwill... ::shaking fist at charity::
I've recently lost some extra chubbiness 'round my midsection, so most of my pants and skirts no longer fit. In fact, I bought them a little big in the first place, so they're extra big now.
I've been wondering how to deal with rectifying this situation. I bought two belts, which helps for those pants with belt loops, but then some of my pants and all my skirts don't have belt loops, so I just look like I'm swimming in my clothes when I wear them. I decided I needed to get them tailored.
I wondered if I could possibly do it myself... I mean, Kate's been doing sewing, right? I could, you know, get a sewing machine and learn the intricacies of tailoring. Heck, I've done some seam ripping in my middle school days. I asked Kate if she thought it'd be a futile endeavor to try to tailor my own stuff, and she told me the truth - bring them to a professional. The cost of the equipment and learning how to do it correctly would be far greater than just paying a pro to do it. ::Nodding:: Kate, when you're right, you're right.
But then I ask myself... how do I know who's a good tailor? I ain't never done this! I just decided to bring it to the nearest place. It's across from the Corner Pub. I went in and brought a cheap pair of pants and a cheap skirt, both work-worthy, but items I could go without in my wardrobe. I wanted to see how they did and how much it cost. (I also brought in my wedding dress, finally, to get cleaned and 'preserved.')
Anyway, the guy was super nice, bordering on a little creepy. He kept talking about how "Mama'll do a good job" and "Ooo, this'll keep Mama busy" and such. I assumed his mama would be doing the tailoring, then. All he did was have me put the pants on and he pinned them, and the same with the skirt. I figured they'd perhaps, you know, take my measurements and use that to tailor the clothes; but just a little pinning and such was all.
Long story short, Jay and I go to pick up my clothes earlier today. He said that the skirt was a lot more work for Mama than he thought - ooo, I kept Mama busy all day! There's just a zipper and no seams! Ooo, Mama was very busy with that skirt! Okey dokey. Not my fault. I think he was trying to say that I should have been charged more, but since it was my first time, he gave me a deal. Ooo, that Mama!
So I bring the pants and the skirt home. I decide to try on the pants first. Pulled them on -- ooo, Mama did a nice job -- zip 'em and buckle 'em -- ooo, Mama mia! -- and then I turn around.
Can you say "bubble butt"? All they did was take in the fabric at the butt seam, but when they did that, there was still all this extra fabric in the butt area, which they didn't do anything with! So the waistline's nice and snug, fits great, but man! I don't have the "badonkadonk" to fill that out! So a $10 disappointment.
I put the skirt on, and I gotta say, Mama did a nice job! I got it hemmed and taken in, and it was lined, which meant more work for Mama. But it fits very nice now! Jay said that Mama probably did the skirt first, got pissed that it was a lot of work, and then just hastily and sloppily tailored the bubble-butt pants.
Anyway, it was a great learning experience. The whole dry cleaning and tailoring thing was scary to me, because it's one of those things where I think everyone else is in on all this knowledge, and I know nothing about it, so I get intimidated. I guess the next step is to try to find a professional tailor who will do a professional job, who will probably charge more, but it'll be worth it to have a wardrobe that actually fits. The longer I live, the more I realize that unfortunately, I have to spend more than $20 to get a nice outfit. I've been tricked all these years by shopping at Goodwill... ::shaking fist at charity::
Monday, January 29, 2007
If I get stuff done, I will post more...
I really, really do want to post - I want to post about stuff, and post about stuff and include pictures, I really do! I just have NOT found the time to sit and focus, which is the first step in posting with pictures.
Here's a rundown of ALL the things I could post about if I had the time:
-Abe's snowman outfit, and how I heard on NPR that dauchsunds need coats, and I wanted to get him a coat, but we don't need to buy him one cuz the snowman suit works great
-Jay's new computer
-my boo boo (on my finger, which is at this point mostly healed...) - it's hard to type
-why I have paper taped to myself and Sharpie in my shirt
-my pics
self portraits
idea about chasing sun
sad face happy face
memay
-takung lots of pics & video
-colemans' game (so long ago now, that I now deem it irrelevant!)
-jenn moving (again, so long ago; deemed irrelevant!)
-mason dancing (okay, that was long ago, but it was cute)
-work - new intern and stuff
-love new water bottle from poland spring - and website's cool too!
-country store, tip top & soup
-Cruise to bermuda
Anyway, I hope to get to that stuff soon... I have a big ol' trial transcript I have to get done in 5 weeks, and it's like 2,000 pages, so I'll be busy with that, and I've been distracted by work stuff, and blah blah blah... I'll get it together one of these days, and mark my words, pictures shall come back to Indian Spring! Boo-ya!
Here's a rundown of ALL the things I could post about if I had the time:
-Abe's snowman outfit, and how I heard on NPR that dauchsunds need coats, and I wanted to get him a coat, but we don't need to buy him one cuz the snowman suit works great
-Jay's new computer
-my boo boo (on my finger, which is at this point mostly healed...) - it's hard to type
-why I have paper taped to myself and Sharpie in my shirt
-my pics
self portraits
idea about chasing sun
sad face happy face
memay
-takung lots of pics & video
-colemans' game (so long ago now, that I now deem it irrelevant!)
-jenn moving (again, so long ago; deemed irrelevant!)
-mason dancing (okay, that was long ago, but it was cute)
-work - new intern and stuff
-love new water bottle from poland spring - and website's cool too!
-country store, tip top & soup
-Cruise to bermuda
Anyway, I hope to get to that stuff soon... I have a big ol' trial transcript I have to get done in 5 weeks, and it's like 2,000 pages, so I'll be busy with that, and I've been distracted by work stuff, and blah blah blah... I'll get it together one of these days, and mark my words, pictures shall come back to Indian Spring! Boo-ya!
Thursday, January 25, 2007
Giving you something to read while I think
Hi, there. I have LOTS of stuff I want to post about, but I've been pretty busy the past week, so I literally haven't had the time to sit and focus on writing stuff. So to bide the time while I come up with a post, here's the post recapping 2006 that I never finished. It's at least half the year....
Here it is!
"I was going to recap December, but decided that I'd steal Pat and Kate's idea and recap the whole damn year.
January
We didn't do anything exciting for New Year's. I was still struggling with getting cold sores. Some TV we'd been watching: Dirty Jobs with Mike Rowe, Country Boys, and the Puppy Bowl. We also painted the living room and the fireplace. At the end of January of 2006, I lost all the info on my PDA, and I was very sad about that. I was playing Tetris on it on Jan. 24th and it froze. I had entered lots of random stuff you'd usually forget about, like what we had for dinner each night and funny things we've said. Ricky Davis also got traded from the Celtics, in the middle of Jay's role as a season-ticket-holding member of the Get Buckets Brigade.
February
I had signed up for a personal trainer for a week, and that was fun while it lasted. I got more cold sores, had taken a week of sick time because of them, and finally switched PCPs to go to a doctor that specialized in infectious diseases (eww, infectious...). Since then, I've been cold-sore free (yay!) - I had hoped in a previous post that he would give me magic medicine, and he did. Jay got me delicious steak and asparagus and mashed potatoes from John Stone's for Valentine's Day, and I made him two kinds of mac and cheese. We had fun watching Olympic curling. We celebrated Jay's birthday at Daniela's Cantina, and it was great seeing everyone. I think Fun and Games was visited at some point during the night, but it was closed; then some people came over our house and we stayed up late drinking and playing Trivial Pursuit on the TV. We also went to Winterfest in Lowell.
March
My nephew Mason was christened. Jay got a promotion at his job. We spent St. Patrick's Day at Daniela's Cantina (so not Irish). We discovered Pandora.com. We watched The Loop and American Inventor. Jay got himself some new tires at BJ's. I bought some books about landscaping and dressing myself. I brewed a batch of beer in preparation for the Marathon Monday party.
April
Abraham's bum broke and he had to have some minor surgery done. He made a very quick recovery. I helped my parents clean out their basement in preparation of my brother and his wife moving in - they needed the basement to store stuff, and they were moving in so they could save some money for a house. We bought a wheelbarrow and put together the hammock that Jay got as a birthday present from my mom. I was still trying out that whole "working out" thing - I tried out Gold's Gym in Ashland, I tried going to the Y in F'ham... Jay picked up the foosball table from Josh's place (when he lived with Dennis). I got some foosball lessons from Jay. We also tried grilling lots of different veggies for the first time - broccoli and carrots, along with the usual asparagus, zucchini, and peppers. Deliciousness! Jay makes a prediction that edible hats will come into style during our lifetime (I have no idea what prompted that prediction). We had our Marathon Monday party. I was looking into going back to school for some sort of psychology degree, and attended an open house at Lesley University. I tried making homemade veggie burgers, which didn't work out too well.
May
We got some trees down in the beginning of the month. Jay was working on a very big project for work and was staying late in the office a lot. Jay decided he'd start collecting rookie cards from prominent Celtics team members. We went to Kate's surprise birthday party in the midst of a week-long rain. Our backyard flooded after that week-long rain (but our basement remained dry). Charmed has its final episode (man, I loved that show).
June"
Here it is!
"I was going to recap December, but decided that I'd steal Pat and Kate's idea and recap the whole damn year.
January
We didn't do anything exciting for New Year's. I was still struggling with getting cold sores. Some TV we'd been watching: Dirty Jobs with Mike Rowe, Country Boys, and the Puppy Bowl. We also painted the living room and the fireplace. At the end of January of 2006, I lost all the info on my PDA, and I was very sad about that. I was playing Tetris on it on Jan. 24th and it froze. I had entered lots of random stuff you'd usually forget about, like what we had for dinner each night and funny things we've said. Ricky Davis also got traded from the Celtics, in the middle of Jay's role as a season-ticket-holding member of the Get Buckets Brigade.
February
I had signed up for a personal trainer for a week, and that was fun while it lasted. I got more cold sores, had taken a week of sick time because of them, and finally switched PCPs to go to a doctor that specialized in infectious diseases (eww, infectious...). Since then, I've been cold-sore free (yay!) - I had hoped in a previous post that he would give me magic medicine, and he did. Jay got me delicious steak and asparagus and mashed potatoes from John Stone's for Valentine's Day, and I made him two kinds of mac and cheese. We had fun watching Olympic curling. We celebrated Jay's birthday at Daniela's Cantina, and it was great seeing everyone. I think Fun and Games was visited at some point during the night, but it was closed; then some people came over our house and we stayed up late drinking and playing Trivial Pursuit on the TV. We also went to Winterfest in Lowell.
March
My nephew Mason was christened. Jay got a promotion at his job. We spent St. Patrick's Day at Daniela's Cantina (so not Irish). We discovered Pandora.com. We watched The Loop and American Inventor. Jay got himself some new tires at BJ's. I bought some books about landscaping and dressing myself. I brewed a batch of beer in preparation for the Marathon Monday party.
April
Abraham's bum broke and he had to have some minor surgery done. He made a very quick recovery. I helped my parents clean out their basement in preparation of my brother and his wife moving in - they needed the basement to store stuff, and they were moving in so they could save some money for a house. We bought a wheelbarrow and put together the hammock that Jay got as a birthday present from my mom. I was still trying out that whole "working out" thing - I tried out Gold's Gym in Ashland, I tried going to the Y in F'ham... Jay picked up the foosball table from Josh's place (when he lived with Dennis). I got some foosball lessons from Jay. We also tried grilling lots of different veggies for the first time - broccoli and carrots, along with the usual asparagus, zucchini, and peppers. Deliciousness! Jay makes a prediction that edible hats will come into style during our lifetime (I have no idea what prompted that prediction). We had our Marathon Monday party. I was looking into going back to school for some sort of psychology degree, and attended an open house at Lesley University. I tried making homemade veggie burgers, which didn't work out too well.
May
We got some trees down in the beginning of the month. Jay was working on a very big project for work and was staying late in the office a lot. Jay decided he'd start collecting rookie cards from prominent Celtics team members. We went to Kate's surprise birthday party in the midst of a week-long rain. Our backyard flooded after that week-long rain (but our basement remained dry). Charmed has its final episode (man, I loved that show).
June"
Saturday, January 20, 2007
A very vague rant
I know it's 1:16 in the morning, and I'm tired and stuff, and I had a few pops, but I wanted to say that I've been thinking about stuff a lot and have come up with very good philosophical explanations for the way I think, which is empowering, but then when you get so caught up in thoughts and frivolous thinking, real life totally has to rear its ugly head! I've recently taken on an intern at work, which I was scared to do, but I dove in and took the chance, and she ended up being completely awesome and stuff, so I've been totally psyched about that; and then life rears its ugly head and I get crapped on in other ways at work, which I won't go into because it's not interesting, but now I have a whole nother (studio?) issue to deal with on top of training a fantastic intern.
I have to go into work on Monday and deal with really stupid stuff, but what it boils down to is I've been too nice for the past three years, and usually when you do a good job, you get rewarded; but in certain situations, you try to be nice and do the right thing, and then people take advantage of you. And I am being taken advantage of, beyond reasonable advantage (which doesn't make any sense), and so I am putting my foot down - I'm going to go to the window, open the window, and say, "I'm mad as hell, and I'm not going to take it anymore!"
And I have all these fantasies about "I'll show them!" or "They'll get what's coming to them!" and stuff (and who's "them," even?), but I know in the end, I'll be the reasonable person who makes sense of things and works things out in a very reasonable, logical way.
Anyway, that was all very, very vague, and that's exactly the way I wanted it, but I had to vent a little on the Internet, and maybe I'll post more about it, but maybe I won't.
P.S. Has anyone heard from Mike Mailman? How's Jessica and the baby doing?
I have to go into work on Monday and deal with really stupid stuff, but what it boils down to is I've been too nice for the past three years, and usually when you do a good job, you get rewarded; but in certain situations, you try to be nice and do the right thing, and then people take advantage of you. And I am being taken advantage of, beyond reasonable advantage (which doesn't make any sense), and so I am putting my foot down - I'm going to go to the window, open the window, and say, "I'm mad as hell, and I'm not going to take it anymore!"
And I have all these fantasies about "I'll show them!" or "They'll get what's coming to them!" and stuff (and who's "them," even?), but I know in the end, I'll be the reasonable person who makes sense of things and works things out in a very reasonable, logical way.
Anyway, that was all very, very vague, and that's exactly the way I wanted it, but I had to vent a little on the Internet, and maybe I'll post more about it, but maybe I won't.
P.S. Has anyone heard from Mike Mailman? How's Jessica and the baby doing?
Tuesday, January 16, 2007
My purse flooded
Has your purse ever flooded? Mine did today. See, I've been hauling around my old red purse I got from Target. It's okay. But for Christmas I received a really, really cool purse that is made of one zipper that's continuously zipped up till it makes a bag.
Neat! But although I love it, the straps are a very bad design and they don't stay attached to the purse.
Anyway, I had been using my zipper purse, but since the straps keep flying off the thing, I decided to swap back to my old standby. Well, today as I was signing into work, I noticed a little puddle on the ground. Hmm, I thought. I wonder what that's from. Well, my purse was leaking blue-colored water out of itself onto the floor. I reached into my purse and pulled out my (completely empty) water bottle, and then peeked in the purse. There was 3 inches of blue-dyed water in it! Blaahhaa!! I had minimal stuff in the purse since I had recently swapped back, but I still somehow managed to write lots of stuff in blue nonwaterproof pen on a piece of paper and stuff the paper into my purse, where the ink proceeded to get washed away by the leaky water bottle.
Anyway, there I was in the courtroom at 7:15 in the morning with a purse full of blue water, and what, pray tell, are you supposed to do with a leaky purse?? I didn't have anywhere to dump the water; I'm in a courtroom! I think I quickly took everything I could out (including my waterlogged cellphone which now doesn't work) and then I ran to the bathroom, where I dumped the purse water out into the sink.
Now, on my drive in, I was feeling very contemplative and philosophical, thinking about the meaning of life and what really is happiness and all that deep stuff; and then to have a flooded purse? I really wish I had my camera, because even though I was in a melancholy mood, I couldn't help but realize how funny that was. I was dumping blue water out of my purse into the sink at work. I don't know; maybe I just didn't get enough sleep last night.
I proceeded to have a very strange day, full of incompetent attorneys and higher-ups not doing their job and an old Italian woman dumping out the contents of HER purse onto counsel table; the contents included pill bottles and medical bills. It wasn't blue water. If it was, I would have spewed V8 out my nose.
Neat! But although I love it, the straps are a very bad design and they don't stay attached to the purse.
Anyway, I had been using my zipper purse, but since the straps keep flying off the thing, I decided to swap back to my old standby. Well, today as I was signing into work, I noticed a little puddle on the ground. Hmm, I thought. I wonder what that's from. Well, my purse was leaking blue-colored water out of itself onto the floor. I reached into my purse and pulled out my (completely empty) water bottle, and then peeked in the purse. There was 3 inches of blue-dyed water in it! Blaahhaa!! I had minimal stuff in the purse since I had recently swapped back, but I still somehow managed to write lots of stuff in blue nonwaterproof pen on a piece of paper and stuff the paper into my purse, where the ink proceeded to get washed away by the leaky water bottle.
Anyway, there I was in the courtroom at 7:15 in the morning with a purse full of blue water, and what, pray tell, are you supposed to do with a leaky purse?? I didn't have anywhere to dump the water; I'm in a courtroom! I think I quickly took everything I could out (including my waterlogged cellphone which now doesn't work) and then I ran to the bathroom, where I dumped the purse water out into the sink.
Now, on my drive in, I was feeling very contemplative and philosophical, thinking about the meaning of life and what really is happiness and all that deep stuff; and then to have a flooded purse? I really wish I had my camera, because even though I was in a melancholy mood, I couldn't help but realize how funny that was. I was dumping blue water out of my purse into the sink at work. I don't know; maybe I just didn't get enough sleep last night.
I proceeded to have a very strange day, full of incompetent attorneys and higher-ups not doing their job and an old Italian woman dumping out the contents of HER purse onto counsel table; the contents included pill bottles and medical bills. It wasn't blue water. If it was, I would have spewed V8 out my nose.
Sunday, January 14, 2007
That's it! No more!
Well, we've experienced the trifecta (sp?) of bad restaurant experiences. The nail in the coffin. The straw that broke the camel's back. I don't really know what that all means or if it makes any sense... but we've decided to just not eat out at restaurants anymore. And it's not because we're trying to save money or eat healthier or anything; it's simply because we've been continuously disappointed lately when we've gone out to eat. Seriously, seriously disappointed. Bella Boston in Logan Airport - well, you might have read the post regarding that experience a few posts back; Acapulco's - you also read about that in the same post; and yesterday we went up to the Lowell area to see Coleman (Jay's older bro's kid - hence, my nephew, right?) play in a basketball game, and then the Bailey fam went out to the Lowell brewery for some late lunch. The beer was pretty good, but again, the service was horrible and the food (my food, at least) was very bad. I feel like a bee-yotch when I get upset and complain about my dining experiences, but man, if you're going to pay money and leave a nice tip, is it too much to ask that the waitstaff, oh, does their job? and that the cooks do their job by making food taste okay?
The answer apparently is: Yes, it is too much to ask! So I'm mad as hell, and I'm not going to take it anymore!!
Today Jay and I decided we are not going out to restaurants anymore (except John Harvard's, were we will only drink beer and eat the hummus platter; Prezo in Milford, where we will only go once in a great while for a treat; and The Publick House in Brookline, where we will only drink beer and stick to the food we know we like). I am going to make a concerted effort to be a better cook and be more prepared to have home-cooked food every night, and for each meal on the weekends (except maybe for going to the new bakery for a cherry turnover).
We took a $150 trip to Market Basket today, and when we got home, I cooked up a batch of chili and served it with baked potatoes for lunch, and I also prepared a batch of roasted vegetable and chile salsa, which goes really well with enchiladas, and can probably be used with other stuff, too. So that was Day 1 of boycotting dining establishments, and now I'm tired! Cooking for four hours makes you kind of exhausted. I actually forgot to eat any of it yet, so now I'm getting nauseous and dizzy, so I think I'll go heat up some chili and have bread with it. And yes, I will check to see how my meal is going after I serve it to myself, and I will offer myself a refill on my beverage when I notice it's empty. Man, good food and good service! If only I could leave myself a tip!
The answer apparently is: Yes, it is too much to ask! So I'm mad as hell, and I'm not going to take it anymore!!
Today Jay and I decided we are not going out to restaurants anymore (except John Harvard's, were we will only drink beer and eat the hummus platter; Prezo in Milford, where we will only go once in a great while for a treat; and The Publick House in Brookline, where we will only drink beer and stick to the food we know we like). I am going to make a concerted effort to be a better cook and be more prepared to have home-cooked food every night, and for each meal on the weekends (except maybe for going to the new bakery for a cherry turnover).
We took a $150 trip to Market Basket today, and when we got home, I cooked up a batch of chili and served it with baked potatoes for lunch, and I also prepared a batch of roasted vegetable and chile salsa, which goes really well with enchiladas, and can probably be used with other stuff, too. So that was Day 1 of boycotting dining establishments, and now I'm tired! Cooking for four hours makes you kind of exhausted. I actually forgot to eat any of it yet, so now I'm getting nauseous and dizzy, so I think I'll go heat up some chili and have bread with it. And yes, I will check to see how my meal is going after I serve it to myself, and I will offer myself a refill on my beverage when I notice it's empty. Man, good food and good service! If only I could leave myself a tip!
Friday, January 12, 2007
Dennis the photographer and pizza places in Ashland
Right now we're having a little fire out in the firepit in the backyard (oo, I love two words you make into one!), and I just was peeing and thinking ('cuz I think when I pee; what?), and I wanted to say that Dennis is a good photographer. I hope he posts pics on his photo blog thing of what he photographed tonight, 'cuz from what I saw, they were neat-o. Neat-o pics, D!
And I also wanted to post about pizza places. It was twenty of 11:00 and we wanted pizza, so I called up Pizza Mine, our old standby, and they had already closed at 10:00. I proceeded to call all -- no, seriously, ALL -- of the pizza places in Ashland, and some wouldn't even answer the phone, but most were closing at 11:00 and wouldn't deliver at this time of night. It's Friday night! There's a freakin' college in the next town over! What pizza shop owner would close their doors at 11:00 on a Friday night?? Oh, ALL of them! Pu-sha, I say! Pu-SHA!
Anyway, I write this as I sit and wait 14 minutes for the frozen pizza I found in the freezer to cook, so that Dennis, Erik, Jay, and I might have some satiation. Wow, that word looks really, really weird. It's 11:03 and you can't get pizza in Ashland. Unless you have some in your freezer. Hmph.
And I also wanted to post about pizza places. It was twenty of 11:00 and we wanted pizza, so I called up Pizza Mine, our old standby, and they had already closed at 10:00. I proceeded to call all -- no, seriously, ALL -- of the pizza places in Ashland, and some wouldn't even answer the phone, but most were closing at 11:00 and wouldn't deliver at this time of night. It's Friday night! There's a freakin' college in the next town over! What pizza shop owner would close their doors at 11:00 on a Friday night?? Oh, ALL of them! Pu-sha, I say! Pu-SHA!
Anyway, I write this as I sit and wait 14 minutes for the frozen pizza I found in the freezer to cook, so that Dennis, Erik, Jay, and I might have some satiation. Wow, that word looks really, really weird. It's 11:03 and you can't get pizza in Ashland. Unless you have some in your freezer. Hmph.
Update, and rant about restaurants
My first post of the new year! I actually wrote half a long post recapping 2006, but I got bored or distracted or something, so I never finished it. I think I was trying to put pictures in with it, but all the pics I reviewed for the first few months had nothing to do with what I'd written already, so I sort of gave up. I do have it saved as a draft, however, so maybe in June or July I'll revive it, finish it, and post it. Who knows? We're just crazy like that, y'know?
Jay has been busy with preparing his applications to grad school since he left his job. Just yesterday, he put the final touches on his portfolio and other paperwork, and just last night, we sent out a little package to Mass Art! He's applying to the Dynamic Media Institute there. Next week he'll finish up packing up stuff for RISD and will send it off. I'm so proud of him for all his hard work and following through with applying - next step is waiting till we hear back. Thanks to Matt for helping him with the cross-platform and other computer stuff!
We've had a few disappointing restaurant experiences lately. First notable one: Bella Boston in Logan Airport. I know it's an airport bar, but my GOODNESS it was horrible. Just horrible. Jay and I brought Cuddy to the airport when she was headed back to Chicago. I won't get into it too much, but everything was really expensive, the beer was gross, the food was subpar (Jay's was super greasefest galore), the service was terrible... but the real crowning moment was when the waitress brought over extra plates for Cuddy & I to split a burger. She brought over two black styrofoam plates (styrofoam? please), one on top of the other. I picked up the top one and began to put some food on it; Jay goes, "Did you ask for that?" and pointed to the bottom plate, which had what looked like old sour cream and chunks of salsa on it. I don't get grossed out very easily, but that was gross! Where the hell did she actually take those plates from? Seriously! I can only surmise she literally picked them out of the trash and put them on our table. ::shudders::
And last night we went to Acapulco's on Route 9 in Framingham, which used to be great, then was okay, and last night's experience makes it now bad in my eyes. We got the very first booth, which initially we thought was cool - we weren't surrounded by lots of people and it was nice and quiet. Well, it wasn't cool; it was about 90 degrees for some reason. Whew. We ordered drinks & food, which both came quickly. Margarita - okay, but a little too much sour mix. Food - eh, it was okay, but even though the plate was about 2,000 degrees, the food was barely warm. After our waitress took our order, that was the last time we saw her for literally 45 minutes. Some other person brought our food out, and there was a busgirl hovering nearby like a vulture, or buzzard, even, who stopped by our table twice; the waitress never came back to do the customary "how is everything?" check-in, and never came back to offer us another beverage after our margaritas were gone. Hmph. Even after our food was done and the vulture -- I mean busgirl cleared our plates, we sat and waited for an uncomfortable amount of time before she ever came back to offer us dessert or coffee, or maybe another drink. In the intervening 20 minutes, Jay and I decided we'd have a beer; then decided we'd just leave because it was 90 degrees and our waitress was never coming back. Even after we asked for the check, she didn't come back for 15 more minutes!
Sorry. I ranted. I'm not a very demanding person, I don't think, and I don't have super fancy tastes and ridiculously high expectations for dining out; I just would like an average night out with average service and average food. If the waitperson smiles, that's even better; if the beer's especially delicious, bonus points. I just get a little upset when the experience is just ridiculously bad, I guess...
So that's what we've been up to!
Jay has been busy with preparing his applications to grad school since he left his job. Just yesterday, he put the final touches on his portfolio and other paperwork, and just last night, we sent out a little package to Mass Art! He's applying to the Dynamic Media Institute there. Next week he'll finish up packing up stuff for RISD and will send it off. I'm so proud of him for all his hard work and following through with applying - next step is waiting till we hear back. Thanks to Matt for helping him with the cross-platform and other computer stuff!
We've had a few disappointing restaurant experiences lately. First notable one: Bella Boston in Logan Airport. I know it's an airport bar, but my GOODNESS it was horrible. Just horrible. Jay and I brought Cuddy to the airport when she was headed back to Chicago. I won't get into it too much, but everything was really expensive, the beer was gross, the food was subpar (Jay's was super greasefest galore), the service was terrible... but the real crowning moment was when the waitress brought over extra plates for Cuddy & I to split a burger. She brought over two black styrofoam plates (styrofoam? please), one on top of the other. I picked up the top one and began to put some food on it; Jay goes, "Did you ask for that?" and pointed to the bottom plate, which had what looked like old sour cream and chunks of salsa on it. I don't get grossed out very easily, but that was gross! Where the hell did she actually take those plates from? Seriously! I can only surmise she literally picked them out of the trash and put them on our table. ::shudders::
And last night we went to Acapulco's on Route 9 in Framingham, which used to be great, then was okay, and last night's experience makes it now bad in my eyes. We got the very first booth, which initially we thought was cool - we weren't surrounded by lots of people and it was nice and quiet. Well, it wasn't cool; it was about 90 degrees for some reason. Whew. We ordered drinks & food, which both came quickly. Margarita - okay, but a little too much sour mix. Food - eh, it was okay, but even though the plate was about 2,000 degrees, the food was barely warm. After our waitress took our order, that was the last time we saw her for literally 45 minutes. Some other person brought our food out, and there was a busgirl hovering nearby like a vulture, or buzzard, even, who stopped by our table twice; the waitress never came back to do the customary "how is everything?" check-in, and never came back to offer us another beverage after our margaritas were gone. Hmph. Even after our food was done and the vulture -- I mean busgirl cleared our plates, we sat and waited for an uncomfortable amount of time before she ever came back to offer us dessert or coffee, or maybe another drink. In the intervening 20 minutes, Jay and I decided we'd have a beer; then decided we'd just leave because it was 90 degrees and our waitress was never coming back. Even after we asked for the check, she didn't come back for 15 more minutes!
Sorry. I ranted. I'm not a very demanding person, I don't think, and I don't have super fancy tastes and ridiculously high expectations for dining out; I just would like an average night out with average service and average food. If the waitperson smiles, that's even better; if the beer's especially delicious, bonus points. I just get a little upset when the experience is just ridiculously bad, I guess...
So that's what we've been up to!
Saturday, December 30, 2006
Rule of Thumb
I wanted to post quickly about this:
I went to Chili's (which actually should be Chile's, since they have a chile pepper for their little logo - and yes, I do believe chile pepper is with an "e," not an "i") with Cuddy and her brother and her bro's girlfriend the other night. I opened the menu, and it had a little blurb about how before thermometers were invented, beer brewers would dip their thumb into the wort (the name for unfermented beer) to check for the right temperature to add the yeast. It claimed, "That's where the phrase 'Rule of Thumb' comes from."
And I haven't checked this out, but I do believe they're wrong. I'm not trying to offend anyone here, and I apologize if I inadvertently do, but I believe the phrase "rule of thumb" comes from when there was a law on the books that husbands weren't allowed to beat their wives with canes that were thicker than their thumb. It's an offensive phrase. And I don't know where the hell Chile's -- I mean, Chili's came up with that.
I had to write that down because I was going through old posts and read about how Dennis was wondering where the phrase "cold turkey" came from, and I found out it has many different explanations and origins.
Rule of thumb relating to brewing, my ass!
I went to Chili's (which actually should be Chile's, since they have a chile pepper for their little logo - and yes, I do believe chile pepper is with an "e," not an "i") with Cuddy and her brother and her bro's girlfriend the other night. I opened the menu, and it had a little blurb about how before thermometers were invented, beer brewers would dip their thumb into the wort (the name for unfermented beer) to check for the right temperature to add the yeast. It claimed, "That's where the phrase 'Rule of Thumb' comes from."
And I haven't checked this out, but I do believe they're wrong. I'm not trying to offend anyone here, and I apologize if I inadvertently do, but I believe the phrase "rule of thumb" comes from when there was a law on the books that husbands weren't allowed to beat their wives with canes that were thicker than their thumb. It's an offensive phrase. And I don't know where the hell Chile's -- I mean, Chili's came up with that.
I had to write that down because I was going through old posts and read about how Dennis was wondering where the phrase "cold turkey" came from, and I found out it has many different explanations and origins.
Rule of thumb relating to brewing, my ass!
Giving you something to read while I think
Hi, there. I have LOTS of stuff I want to post about, but I've been pretty busy the past week, so I literally haven't had the time to sit and focus on writing stuff. So to bide the time while I come up with a post, here's the post recapping 2006 that I never finished. It's at least half the year....
Here it is!
"I was going to recap December, but decided that I'd steal Pat and Kate's idea and recap the whole damn year.
January
We didn't do anything exciting for New Year's. I was still struggling with getting cold sores. Some TV we'd been watching: Dirty Jobs with Mike Rowe, Country Boys, and the Puppy Bowl. We also painted the living room and the fireplace. At the end of January of 2006, I lost all the info on my PDA, and I was very sad about that. I was playing Tetris on it on Jan. 24th and it froze. I had entered lots of random stuff you'd usually forget about, like what we had for dinner each night and funny things we've said. Ricky Davis also got traded from the Celtics, in the middle of Jay's role as a season-ticket-holding member of the Get Buckets Brigade.
February
I had signed up for a personal trainer for a week, and that was fun while it lasted. I got more cold sores, had taken a week of sick time because of them, and finally switched PCPs to go to a doctor that specialized in infectious diseases (eww, infectious...). Since then, I've been cold-sore free (yay!) - I had hoped in a previous post that he would give me magic medicine, and he did. Jay got me delicious steak and asparagus and mashed potatoes from John Stone's for Valentine's Day, and I made him two kinds of mac and cheese. We had fun watching Olympic curling. We celebrated Jay's birthday at Daniela's Cantina, and it was great seeing everyone. I think Fun and Games was visited at some point during the night, but it was closed; then some people came over our house and we stayed up late drinking and playing Trivial Pursuit on the TV. We also went to Winterfest in Lowell.
March
My nephew Mason was christened. Jay got a promotion at his job. We spent St. Patrick's Day at Daniela's Cantina (so not Irish). We discovered Pandora.com. We watched The Loop and American Inventor. Jay got himself some new tires at BJ's. I bought some books about landscaping and dressing myself. I brewed a batch of beer in preparation for the Marathon Monday party.
April
Abraham's bum broke and he had to have some minor surgery done. He made a very quick recovery. I helped my parents clean out their basement in preparation of my brother and his wife moving in - they needed the basement to store stuff, and they were moving in so they could save some money for a house. We bought a wheelbarrow and put together the hammock that Jay got as a birthday present from my mom. I was still trying out that whole "working out" thing - I tried out Gold's Gym in Ashland, I tried going to the Y in F'ham... Jay picked up the foosball table from Josh's place (when he lived with Dennis). I got some foosball lessons from Jay. We also tried grilling lots of different veggies for the first time - broccoli and carrots, along with the usual asparagus, zucchini, and peppers. Deliciousness! Jay makes a prediction that edible hats will come into style during our lifetime (I have no idea what prompted that prediction). We had our Marathon Monday party. I was looking into going back to school for some sort of psychology degree, and attended an open house at Lesley University. I tried making homemade veggie burgers, which didn't work out too well.
May
We got some trees down in the beginning of the month. Jay was working on a very big project for work and was staying late in the office a lot. Jay decided he'd start collecting rookie cards from prominent Celtics team members. We went to Kate's surprise birthday party in the midst of a week-long rain. Our backyard flooded after that week-long rain (but our basement remained dry). Charmed has its final episode (man, I loved that show).
June"
Here it is!
"I was going to recap December, but decided that I'd steal Pat and Kate's idea and recap the whole damn year.
January
We didn't do anything exciting for New Year's. I was still struggling with getting cold sores. Some TV we'd been watching: Dirty Jobs with Mike Rowe, Country Boys, and the Puppy Bowl. We also painted the living room and the fireplace. At the end of January of 2006, I lost all the info on my PDA, and I was very sad about that. I was playing Tetris on it on Jan. 24th and it froze. I had entered lots of random stuff you'd usually forget about, like what we had for dinner each night and funny things we've said. Ricky Davis also got traded from the Celtics, in the middle of Jay's role as a season-ticket-holding member of the Get Buckets Brigade.
February
I had signed up for a personal trainer for a week, and that was fun while it lasted. I got more cold sores, had taken a week of sick time because of them, and finally switched PCPs to go to a doctor that specialized in infectious diseases (eww, infectious...). Since then, I've been cold-sore free (yay!) - I had hoped in a previous post that he would give me magic medicine, and he did. Jay got me delicious steak and asparagus and mashed potatoes from John Stone's for Valentine's Day, and I made him two kinds of mac and cheese. We had fun watching Olympic curling. We celebrated Jay's birthday at Daniela's Cantina, and it was great seeing everyone. I think Fun and Games was visited at some point during the night, but it was closed; then some people came over our house and we stayed up late drinking and playing Trivial Pursuit on the TV. We also went to Winterfest in Lowell.
March
My nephew Mason was christened. Jay got a promotion at his job. We spent St. Patrick's Day at Daniela's Cantina (so not Irish). We discovered Pandora.com. We watched The Loop and American Inventor. Jay got himself some new tires at BJ's. I bought some books about landscaping and dressing myself. I brewed a batch of beer in preparation for the Marathon Monday party.
April
Abraham's bum broke and he had to have some minor surgery done. He made a very quick recovery. I helped my parents clean out their basement in preparation of my brother and his wife moving in - they needed the basement to store stuff, and they were moving in so they could save some money for a house. We bought a wheelbarrow and put together the hammock that Jay got as a birthday present from my mom. I was still trying out that whole "working out" thing - I tried out Gold's Gym in Ashland, I tried going to the Y in F'ham... Jay picked up the foosball table from Josh's place (when he lived with Dennis). I got some foosball lessons from Jay. We also tried grilling lots of different veggies for the first time - broccoli and carrots, along with the usual asparagus, zucchini, and peppers. Deliciousness! Jay makes a prediction that edible hats will come into style during our lifetime (I have no idea what prompted that prediction). We had our Marathon Monday party. I was looking into going back to school for some sort of psychology degree, and attended an open house at Lesley University. I tried making homemade veggie burgers, which didn't work out too well.
May
We got some trees down in the beginning of the month. Jay was working on a very big project for work and was staying late in the office a lot. Jay decided he'd start collecting rookie cards from prominent Celtics team members. We went to Kate's surprise birthday party in the midst of a week-long rain. Our backyard flooded after that week-long rain (but our basement remained dry). Charmed has its final episode (man, I loved that show).
June"
Friday, December 22, 2006
New Years' Something or Other
I've been thinking about what kinds of resolutions I would like to make for the upcoming new year. I came up with an idea a while back (not related to resolutions for the new year) about making a list of 52 things I want to accomplish and do one thing a week. They might be small things, they might be big things... but things, they are! Some of the ideas I came up with:
- do something with my wedding dress
- get some of my clothes tailored
- organize Jay's and my clothes drawers
and thus and such.
Anyway, we'll see. I tend to have grand ideas and then don't execute. Hey, it doesn't mean I'm a bad person...
So Ms. Chris Cuddy is home for the holidays, if you consider MetroWest her home and not Chicago. Jay and I will be seeing her tomorrow probably. ...Yeah.
Ummm... I know I don't post a lot, so I'm trying to think of stuff to write about while I'm actually writing! Jay's been looking more seriously into grad school - he's going to apply to RISD and Mass Art. He had already taken a trip to RISD a few months back, and yesterday he went to Mass Art to check it out. So he's been keeping himself busy with working on his portfolio, completing the necessary 'administrative' tasks like getting references, writing out his mission statement, etc... Yay, grad school!
What's been going on with me? Not much. It's been slow at work lately, and I've slowed waaaaay down on researching the fancy CAT software I want to get for work. Hopefully I'll gear up in the new year (ooo, maybe that'll be one of my weekly tasks) and make a well-informed decision.
I've recently been more interested in musical endeavors (not serious ones, though). I pulled out my big old keyboard the other night, and realized I really suck at playing keyboard now! I used to be, you know, at least pretty good at piano; but I couldn't remember much of anything, and what I did remember, I wasn't very good at. Jay and I went to the music store near FSC last night and I picked out a piano book with pop-ish songs, but when I got home and opened it up, I realized that the songs were so, so simplified and boring-sounding, and even still, I had a tough time sight-reading them. So I just don't know - am I now a beginner piano player? Oh, the horror! I used to be able to play "From a Distance" like nobody's business! (Wait, no, I couldn't -- that was the song that I messed up on during a concert in high school, and the public access channel was recording it, and they played it over and over and over again for weeks...)
Oh. Jay wants me to write that I also bought a nose whistle. I guess it's really called a humanatone. But I like "nose whistle" much better.
- do something with my wedding dress
- get some of my clothes tailored
- organize Jay's and my clothes drawers
and thus and such.
Anyway, we'll see. I tend to have grand ideas and then don't execute. Hey, it doesn't mean I'm a bad person...
So Ms. Chris Cuddy is home for the holidays, if you consider MetroWest her home and not Chicago. Jay and I will be seeing her tomorrow probably. ...Yeah.
Ummm... I know I don't post a lot, so I'm trying to think of stuff to write about while I'm actually writing! Jay's been looking more seriously into grad school - he's going to apply to RISD and Mass Art. He had already taken a trip to RISD a few months back, and yesterday he went to Mass Art to check it out. So he's been keeping himself busy with working on his portfolio, completing the necessary 'administrative' tasks like getting references, writing out his mission statement, etc... Yay, grad school!
What's been going on with me? Not much. It's been slow at work lately, and I've slowed waaaaay down on researching the fancy CAT software I want to get for work. Hopefully I'll gear up in the new year (ooo, maybe that'll be one of my weekly tasks) and make a well-informed decision.
I've recently been more interested in musical endeavors (not serious ones, though). I pulled out my big old keyboard the other night, and realized I really suck at playing keyboard now! I used to be, you know, at least pretty good at piano; but I couldn't remember much of anything, and what I did remember, I wasn't very good at. Jay and I went to the music store near FSC last night and I picked out a piano book with pop-ish songs, but when I got home and opened it up, I realized that the songs were so, so simplified and boring-sounding, and even still, I had a tough time sight-reading them. So I just don't know - am I now a beginner piano player? Oh, the horror! I used to be able to play "From a Distance" like nobody's business! (Wait, no, I couldn't -- that was the song that I messed up on during a concert in high school, and the public access channel was recording it, and they played it over and over and over again for weeks...)
Oh. Jay wants me to write that I also bought a nose whistle. I guess it's really called a humanatone. But I like "nose whistle" much better.
Tuesday, December 19, 2006
My birthday jersey
Oh, yeah! I gots myself an old-school Denver Nuggets jersey for my b-day! It came in the mail today, and if I do say so myself, I look pretty damn hot. Sweet!
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