Ambient music

Is it so difficult for coffee houses to play their background music at a reasonable level? MP & I have been spending an inordinate amount of time in coffee houses lately. In the last 3 weeks I've spent more time in them than I think I ever have before. Tonight we were in Cafe Vivace (I think that was the name) and the music at one point was so loud I felt like I was having to shout at him. If I wanted to hang out in a noisy bar, we could've gone to one. But the spiced cider I had was the best I've had (since I usually drink Starbucks or at my employer that's not saying a lot). Actually we're still looking for the elusive straigth bar on the hill with darts that's not Kincorras.. Apparently those (like straight, funny, kind, normal, single men) do not exist. Or exist solely in the imagination of straight women.

Funniest thing I've heard today

Leave it to my mother to make me laugh out loud at work. Luckily a) there's no one else in my office since new boss hasn't been hired yet and b) I'm at lunch anyway. BUT... We are IMing over birthday discussions and I request a travel backgammon set from her and possibly travel Othello since MP's board is slightly damaged. MP & I have been hanging out playing board games and what not in coffee shops - very Seattle of us. I don't volunteer that bit of information immediately. But eventually I do with the following explanation: matt is my friend from college no romantic possibilities we just hang out in coffee shops and play bored games. (and yes I misspelled board games I know) She replies with: my fortune teller said you already know someone who you don't think of romantically but he just might be the one. Now I am not sure I've previously mentioned this, but obviously my mother sees psychics or fortune tellers and what not. AND she actually kind of believes in that stuff. She has mirrors on the doors to the house to ward off evil spirits and bushes with thorns (like holly) outside the windows for the same reason. I nearly fell off my chair, I was laughing that hard at the statement. I didn't burst her little motherly bubble by telling her he's bi. (Happy MP?! Bi not GAY!) :)

Also... nice to know that she's gotten so desperate about my love life that she is consulting psychics on my behalf. Bring on the cats!!

Hee

This afternoon when we were distributing cookies to the moms, they started discussing Wednesday's meeting. Two of the moms said, 'there was no meeting.' And I had to reply that since I didn't have any kids, I had no idea that it was mid-winter break. They looked horrified and we all laughed and laughed. I told them I offered to let the kids go home early, but they were die hard. I told them to just be sure to tell me when Spring break was. :P

Long ass day

I met Matty this morning to write in a coffee shop. How cliche'd is that? :) Actually I was there on time, he was not. I don't really fault him for it because a) I know he feels bad and b) I know he worked last night, ALTHOUGH it was his idea that we meet at the ungodly hour of 10:00 AM. After writing for 2 hrs (him only 1) we played othello. I continue to boggle the mind as I make random moves that defy logic and convention. Of course those random moves mean I lose so... I don't know that it is a good thing that I do this. Had some lunch. Played more othello. I WON!!! My illogical random moving allowed me to WIN! This afternoon I picked up our Girl Scout cookies. We gave them out to the parents, but still have what seems like a TON of them left for our site sales. That's good, though, since we did sold out last year. Now I'm home and it is stew for dinner. Yay beef stew! Oh by the way, did I mention that I WON one of the 4 games of Othello we played? That's just the tip of the iceberg mes amis. Wait and see. :)

Also, I think I've mentioned that people shouldn't wear leather pants in general. Girl Scout moms especially shouldn't wear leather pants. There's something just weird about that.

Also, whoever I'm 'borrowing' my wireless network from isn't logged on this evening. What's that about?

Crying movie

Another movie guaranteed to make me cry... The Mighty. Stars Kieran Culkin, Elden Hensen, Sharon Stone and Gena Rowlands. Kieran plays a kid with a degenerative disease who makes friends with a rather large and not so smart kid (Elden Hensen). The movie chronicles their friendship. I recommend it highly. Of course I'm a sap so that's why I cry every time. :)

I feel..

So blargh this evening. I don't really know why. It isn't that today was a bad day. I got several things done that I wanted to do. I purchased some fabric and beans to make bean bags for Brownies for some future meeting night. I actually need to do that soon otherwise I'll lose my drive to do them. We need them for our Girl Sports badge. I hit the grocery store. I saw Matty P randomly on the street corner and firmed up our plans for tomorrow. I bought Daffodils and trimmed them and put them in an empty spaghetti jar. Something about daffodils requires a more simplistic, old fashioned vase type thing than something new and precision cut. I love daffodils so that's good too. I took out a whole bunch of recycling that needed to get out of my apartment. I took the bax for a walk. I think it was talking to Moral Turpitude. He is still getting over his relationship woes and has an uncanny ability to bring me down because he is so depressed about being single again blah blah blah. Maybe working with happy pink & blue fabric will bring me back up out of my doldrums. Ooh... working with happy pink & blue fabric and watching the movie The Crow. I like watching things get destroyed when I'm not in a good mood.

Dreaming of Hawaii

I had another fairly vivid dream involving the ocean last night. (Technically this morning). I was in Hawaii. I was there with friends and we were sitting high on some bleacher type seats watching a show below in the water. The bleachers were standing in the ocean too. The water was very blue and very clear. I changed to a different set of bleachers which was just like one really high bleacher seat with no cross pieces or anything to brace it. It was really like 2 sides and a top. But we were high off the ocean. For some reason the seat falls over and nobody is injured we just end up in the water, but very shallow water. I do not have my shorts on but they had been next to me when I fell (so I'm wearing bathing suit and t-shirt). I lose them in the water which means I have lost all my money, my hotel key and my identification. So I spend much of the rest of the dream getting sunburned and searching for my wallet and my ID.

Search: To dream that you are searching for something, signifies the need to find something that is missing or needed in your life. You may be searching for a solution to a problem.

Ocean: To see an ocean in your dream, represents the state of your emotions and feelings. It is indicative of some spiritual refreshment, tranquility and renewal.

Bleachers: To see or sit on bleachers in your dream, indicates that you are are reflecting on your progress in achieving your goals. The appearance of bleachers can also serve to bring you back in time to the high school gym or track field and the feelings you experienced at the time.

Fall: To dream that you fall and are not frightened, signifies that you will overcome your adversities with ease.

Blue: Blue represents truth, wisdom, heaven, eternity, devotion, tranquility, loyalty and openness. The presence of this color in your dream, may symbolize your spiritual guide and your optimism of the future. You have clarity of mind.

Wallet: To dream that you lost your wallet, suggests that you need to be more cautious and careful about your spending and finances. You need to be more responsible with your money. (Big surprise there :))

Sunburn: To dream that you have a sunburn, indicates that there is an emotional situation or problem that you can no longer avoid. There is some urgent matter that is literally burning through to your soul and demands your immediate attention.

Now isn't that some weird wild stuff?

Dream a little dream of...

Apparently of James Bond. And me. :) No, not like that you sickos. It didn't get that far. So in this latest installment of Joanne's dreamworld, I was in James Bond's house and he was making martinis. He gave me the martini shaker while he prepared glasses. One regular martini glass, one little glass for ice. He wanted me to put the ice in the glasses (I know you don't put ice in the martini glass but I did anyway). I spilled the ice so we went into the kitchen where somehow I hit my head on the kitchen cupboard. I struggled to stay conscious for a minute but then passed out on the kitchen floor. So then he is shaking me and slapping my face trying to wake me up. So now I'm dreaming that I'm dreaming and in the dream, I'm swimming in a very very teal green ocean with 2 dogs, a corgi and a bulldog. We are all participating in the Amazing Race. I was trying to help the bulldog because it was heavy and having a hard time swimming but he struggled free and then I saw a swirling wave coming towards us. The dogs got out of the way but I got taken into the wave and turned around but ended up closer to shore.. which is where it ended.

Dog: To see a dog in your dream, indicate a skill that you have ignored or forgotten, but needs to be activated. Alternatively, dogs may symbolize intuition, loyalty, generosity, protection, and fidelity. Your own values and intentions will enable you to go forward in the world and succeed.

Dream: To dream that you are dreaming, signifies your emotional state. You are excessively worried and fearful about a situation or circumstance that you are going through.

Ocean: To see an ocean in your dream, represents the state of your emotions and feelings. It is indicative of some spiritual refreshment, tranquility and renewal.
To dream that you are traveling across the ocean, signifies new found freedom and independence. You are showing great courage.

Swimming: To dream that you are swimming, suggests that you are exploring aspects of your unconscious mind and emotions. The dream may be a sign that you are seeking some sort of emotional support. It is a common dream image for people going through therapy.

Ice: To see ice in your dream, suggests that you are lacking a flow of ideas and thoughts. You are not seeing in progress in your life. Alternatively, you may be feeling emotionally paralyzed or rigid. You need to let your feelings be known.

Wave: To see clear, calm waves in your dream, signifies a calming of emotions. It may also signal an important decision to be made.

Teal: The color teal signifies trustworthiness, devotion and healing. It is also indicative of spiritual guidance and teacher.

Fainting: To dream that you are fainting, suggests your inability to confront some unconscious issue or feelings. You need to be more aware and acknowledge of those feelings.

Voltiare! Anyone want to take a stab at putting it all together? Although I'm pretty sure I can.

The job... the final chapter

They are hiring the 3 day a week woman. Once she is settled in they will restructure my position so I can get more challenges and responsibility and all that jazz. I can get rid of some of my tasks that are more mundane/menial. This may work out well. I have high hopes. Is this really what I want to be when I grow up? Probably not. Am I cutting myself off from other projects/ideas. No. One of the things MP & I have been talking about career path wise is what do I really like/want to do. I really like/want to do one of 2 things (I think and here's where I get nervous because I THOUGHT I wanted to be a teacher and we all know how well that turned out... Ok I know how well that turned out, the rest of you don't but just know there were a lot of tears involved... whoo complete tangent). I think that I could/would like to be a librarian. I know I joke about it, but I think that would interest me and keep me challenged. Otherwise I've thought about working in a museum in an educational capacity. More like a children's museum though than like the SAM. There's a job opening at UW that I'm considering applying for because they have a masters program for library work. It can't hurt to apply there. But I think at this point, I'm not going to do a mad dash job search. They are doing this whole restructure thing for me... so (and I KNOW I shouldn't feel this way, but I do) I feel somewhat obligated to them now. If my job gets restructured enough (and I get $$ from that) I can scrape together the cash to go to grad school on my own perhaps. I'm also thinking of volunteering either in a museum or library or both to see if this is something I can see me doing (not that they let you DO anything really as a volunteer but it would give me exposure to that kind of environment) but I used to work in the school library in college. I both loved and hated that job. :) I loved the looking for things and researching things. I hated the mundaneness of shelf reading (barf) and linking - I would go get a truck of books. Bring them downstairs and check to make sure their barcodes all matched up to what was in the computer. That sucked almost all my will to live right out of my body.

Mid-Winter Break

Did you know that this week was mid-winter break for the Seattle Public School System? Neither did I. And apparently none of my Brownie moms thought to point this out to me. It was the 2 Brownies who showed up tonight that pointed this out. Keep in mind I have 7 Girl Scouts officially registered and at least 6 who show up regularly. I'm not as peeved as I could/should be because I think they forget that I don't have kids so how would I know these things. I offered to let the girls go home early, but these gals are die hard. We did the 2 projects I had planned. They are 2 of my 3 favorites so I consider this a successful meeting. :) Not only is this week mid-winter break, BUT somewhere in the future, they will also have spring break. Do these kids ever attend school? I can't believe I almost forgot the funniest part of the meeting. I'm sitting there with little girl 1 and she keeps saying "Joanne, you look different tonight." I have no idea what she is talking about and say things like "no, my hair is the same" and "my glassess are the same". Finally about 3/4ths of the way through the meeting I discover what she is talking about. Apparently I had put my elbow in the glue and THIS was her way of telling me. :P And no, she isn't the one who told me that I just don't seem like a dating person. Goofballs. They're lucky I like them, or something.

Sampson has 2 minor keyboard issues that drive me nuts. 1 - The delete key isn't in the right place so I keep hitting it and ending up hitting the key that makes the menus across the top drop down. 2 - The little key that looks like the windows sign that you use in conjunction with the "m" key to make all the windows minimize also isn't where I'm used to and until about 30 seconds ago I didn't think it was there at all. But I have found it. Weird.

Yo estoy muy cansada. Good night New Orleans!

31 angst?

The insipid older sister of 30 angst. While 30 angst is allowed to be big and loud and accompanied by great quantities of vodka or rum or both mixed together, 31 angst is quiet and sneaks up on you. 30 is a milestone, a big party, a year ending with a zero. When you are 9 years old the excitement building to finally be in the double digit years is great. I can remember that. Then you look forward to 13 because now you are officially a teen. Then 16 because you can drive. Then 18 because you are an adult. I remember my grandmother was visiting around my 18th birthday and although I've never smoked, I felt kind of grown up about buying her cigarettes for her. I got carded. :) Then, of course there's 21. You can now drink legally. Then 30. You are now officially the age to be a soccer mom. Then there's nothing else to look forward to... unless you count 65 when you're (at least at this time) officially eligible for medicare. Whoop de do.

Lately there've been a lot of different thoughts whirling around in my head. Where am I going? What am I doing? How will I get there? Why am I doing this? I think the job drama is in part at the root of that. There have also been a few other reliatively significant things contributing. I'm just sick of my present reality. I want a different one. I want a do-over dammit! Or maybe I'm just hitting my usual 3 year itch. That's about as long as I have managed to live in a place before I'm just ready to pack up the U-Haul and move. I need a freakin' vacation. Luckily I have one planned. :) Hypothetically I'll be refreshed and renewed after visiting the happiest place on earth and I'll be more ready to thrash about in my current place, rather than pack it all up, strap on my back pack and find the next place to lay my head. I want to actually be able to feel like I'm succeeding someplace rather than merely surviving there. That'll never happen, though, with my current cut and run lifestyle. Maybe I just need a nap.

1.79 Gigabites

That's how much music I had sucking up a large part of Jakob's 11ish gigs of memory. For the record, that's 439 songs and almost 31 hours of music. When in the hell am I ever going to want to listen to 31 hours of music (you know besides some trans-atlantic flight)? In case you're interested... The most music on there is by Pearl Jam. Dave Matthews, 10,000 Maniacs, Natalie Merchant, Linkin Park, The Smiths, Tori Amos, Avril Lavigne (yeah I like her get over it), Evanesence, Good Charlotte, Smile Empty Soul all are significant contributors. I would like to state for the RIAA record that all of this music is from either CDs I myself own or my friends own. My real friends. Friends that I actually have met face to face. You know... just in case the RIAA cares or something. :)

I no longer want to know...

What I know. Where's Dumbledore's penseive when I need it? I want to go back to my naivete. I want to live life like a soccer mom, blissfully unaware of what the 'lucky pierre' is. I want to not know people who have had more sexual partners in one weekend than I have had in my entire life. Or at least if I know them, I don't KNOW that fact. I don't want to know about these robotic sex machines* - way beyond the average vibrator. I want to think that woman on top is pretty wild, and if I'm REALLY looking for something exciting, I'll read Cosmo. I don't want to know that the excessive acne on a homeless guy is a sign of probable heroin addiction.** I don't want to know that the crazily sunken cheeks that I see on people on the streets is a result of the HIV medication they are taking. I want to think that sex with my huband twice a week with a 3rd time for special occassions is pretty good. I don't want to have to justify myself to anyone about why I don't think one night stands are good things. About why I'm not running right out and hooking up with every guy who looks twice at me. It isn't that I want to live life like an ostrich with my head in the sand, but honestly I'm content with some ignorance in my world. Yet, in a strange twist of irony, Matty P wishes he only knew what I know. That's a little bit sad to me.

* Totally Moral Turpitude's fault. He sent me a link one day. If I had any idea, I wouldn't have clicked it.
** I didn't actually know that until tonight. I was observing a gentleman outside Starbucks and MP asked me why I was watching him and I said that I was wondering what it is that causes that much acne on a probably homeless guy and MP told me probably heroin. So that one is 100% my fault.

Zooboomafoo

Matty P & I headed to the Woodland Park Zoo today. We couldn't have asked for a more beautiful day. It was chilly, but sunny. For some odd reason I like going to the zoo. I like to walk around. I like to see the animals we wouldn't ordinarily get to see. I'm on the fence about seeing children (ok I like the nice, cute normal ones; I don't like the loud, fighting, injuring the brother type), and I'm pretty sure I don't like most of the parents, but that's the price I pay when I go to a place that caters to families. :) We saw a lot of the gays this trip, which is surprising... a lot of the gays sans children, just random gays. A lot of the animals are/were behind glass so that's much harder to photograph them. The flash reflects on the glass, so a lot of my pics are of the birds which were not behind glass. We went into the Daytime/Night exhibition and a woman nearly lost her cell phone when she actually answered a call in the night exhibit. Two things to know about the night exhibit: 1 - It is narrowish corridor that is mostly dark and somewhat crowded. They even have a red light/green light in the turnstile because too many people end up in there. 2 - there are signs EVERYWHERE about no talking and being quiet. The woman in question. Answered her fucking cell phone when it rang. Answered her cell phone and sat down on a ledge so her legs are in the way. Answered her cell phone, sat down and proceeded to have a loud conversation. MP & I fled because that was so inexplicably inappropriate MP was actually considering grabbing her cell phone and throwing it into the penguin tank. Speaking of the penguin...


Here (s)he is! Growing up, I loved penguins. I still have quite a few penguins collected from family and friends. I was a little sad to see this little guy all alone. The last time I was there I didn't see more than one. I'm wondering if (s)he is the only one.


On the northwest trail there was an exhibit of eagles. They are really amazing looking.


Swans are not nice birds. They are pretty, but mean as hell. I think this one was trying to intimidate me with his Guatamaleness. You know, or just stretching out. :)


I had only ever seen the hippos in the water. It was kind of interesting to see them on land peeking out from behind the grass.


Matty P's 8 of hearts. There's a whole story... but Matty hates this card. It makes me laugh. After the zoo we went to Starbucks and spent like 2 hours playing cards and chatting. Good times, good times.


Peacocks are like the gay men of the animal world (tm MP). They're bright and flashy and noisy and kind of useless. The girls are drab and not quite as cute. They're probably fatter too since most gay men that I've seen are an alarming size 0. (How can anyone be a size 0? Zero represents nothing. How can someone be size nothing?)



The 8 of hearts hanging out on the farm. He was proud of his ability to milk a cow.

Zoo!

When I was a girl growing up in Arizona there was a zoo commercial for the Reid Park Zoo. It is presently running through my head because I'm going to the zoo. :) Yeah, I get excited about silly things. Wanna make something of it? I ain't scared of you.

Dad's taking us to the zoo tomorrow
We can stay all day.
We're going to the zoo, zoo, zoo
How about you? you? you?
We're going to the zoo. Zoo. Zoo.
Dad's taking us to the zoo tomorrow.
We can stay all day.

Excessive Hype

I've just spent the evening watching Napoleon Dynamite and Garden State. I have wanted to see Garden State since I first saw previews for it. Napoleon Dynamite I mostly didn't want to see but everyone said that it was oh so funny. It was hysterical. Blah blah blah. Either I'm in a really crappy mood and no amount of comedy can pull me out of it (entirely possible actually) or I was expecting more. I didn't find most of it funny at all. There were 2 or 3 laugh out loud parts, but as a whole... not so much. I will say I did love the gangsta cousins. Garden State I liked, but I think I needed to pay more attention to it. I was watching it while doing something else and I think I may have missed something about it.

8th Circle

Despite the fact that the Dante's inferno quiz has assured me that I do not belong in any circle beyond the 1st circle... virtuous non-believers, I seem to have found myself in the 8th circle of hell. What qualifies it as the 8th circle you may be wondering... This question. "So did you hear, did you get the job?" Followed by the inevitible "oh" of pity when I say no, they want to go with someone else. Someone they can't find but someone else. This actually may be worse than when my boss was pregnant and everyone asked me if the baby had arrived yet. Or when she was due back from maternity leave and everyone kept asking me when she was due back. Because I can handle not getting the job, but it is ever so much* harder with the 'oh' of pity and or arm/hand pat of pseudocomfort from coworkers.

On that same note, we interviewed candidate #7 (I think) today. She was nice enough, but I don't know about her benefits knowledge. Of course since my skills in that arena are strong, I'm not too concerned, but I wasn't that fond of having to tell little boss stuff that she should know. I will be less fond of telling new boss hired over me shit she should know. Plus I wasn't sure of her age, but if she is younger than me I may go postal. I can survive prison. I'm tough. (or something like that).

*I've really developed an affinity for the phrase "ever so much." I think it is from a book I recently read, or maybe a movie. I want to say like Anne of Green Gables or Little Women or something. Definitely girlie.

Vacation all I ever wanted!

I'm off! For 31 birthday weekend. To California to visit Michelle. YAY! I am very excited. We will go to the happiest place on earth. We will sit and vegetate. We will eat food. We will not drink rum because Michelle is off it for lent, but I still can. :D A good time will be had by all. I love vacation.

I should clarify. My birthday isn't until March. I bought the ticket today so I can go on Vacay! YAY VACAY!

A thought... on men.

A man in a hardhat = sexy. A man in a PINK hardhat = a sign?

This thought brought to you by workcrush walking by in a pink hardhat. I may be finding a new stalking victim... I mean workcrush.

Edit... it is worse than I thought. I was chatting with his coworker who was also wearing a hard hat. She owns both the pink and the white one she was wearing. He CHOSE to wear the pink hardhat. Quirky & fun which I can get behind or... one of the gays? :)

2nd Edit to answer KTP's question... He and the owner of the 2 hard hats were "pulling cable" in a building that is currently undergoing renovation so he had to have the hard hat. Now, I am not a techie so I only have a vague idea about what pulling cable means.

Oh Hell

Rock on... I guess I'm not TOO bad. :)

The Dante's Inferno Test has sent you to the First Level of Hell - Limbo!
Here is how you matched up against all the levels:

Level	Score
Purgatory (Repenting Believers)	Very Low
Level 1 - Limbo (Virtuous Non-Believers)	Very High
Level 2 (Lustful)	Moderate
Level 3 (Gluttonous)	High
Level 4 (Prodigal and Avaricious)	Very Low
Level 5 (Wrathful and Gloomy)	Low
Level 6 - The City of Dis (Heretics)	High
Level 7 (Violent)	Moderate
Level 8- the Malebolge (Fraudulent, Malicious, Panderers)	Low
Level 9 - Cocytus (Treacherous)	Very Low

Take the Dante's Inferno Hell Test

Huzzah!

Ok dorky word I know it. I'm not at a Ren-faire or anything... but I'm going with it anyway...

Huzzah! After 2 months of asking every week and leaving 2 messages for the girl who does it, I FINALLY have a gym locker assigned to me! Yay me! Of course now I really have to get back into going to the gym to justify spending $40.00. Still, given how much money I threw at 24 hour fitness when I never went, I shouldn't grumble too much over 40 bucks.

Things that make me exceedingly unhappy...

The NHL has officially cancelled this season! Bastard hockey players AND owners! I don't claim to be an expert on salary negotiation for big names in sports, although I do feel they get paid too much as it is. They being almost if not all professional athletes. Maybe professional swimmers don't get paid too much... is there even such a thing as professional swimmers?

With Bettman's announcement the NHL earned the dubious distinction of
becoming the first North American professional sports league to lose a
season to a labor dispute.
The Stanley Cup has been awarded every year since 1893 with an exception of
1919 when the finals were wiped out by an influenza epidemic.

This is according to the article I just read on Yahoo news. Now I am not happy.

OMG Y'all!

I'm like such a girl! Workcrush just walked by and waved AND smiled. I'm sure it's like true love always! 2gether 4eva and all that jazz!

Cheesefest...

To counterbalance the cheesefest that is the previous post... here are a few things making me unhappy right now:

1 - Shoulder muscles are killing me because of yesterday's workout.
2 - The pockets of these pants are seriously shredded inside.
3 - I own 3 pairs of hand coverings (gloves/mittens). I can find 2. Not 2 pair, one glove and one mitten. That do not match.
4 - Stalking of workcrush has failed. (ok really doesn't make me that unhappy, there's still thrill in the hunt.)
5 - I had a 5th but it was so minor, I can't actually remember it...

Happy Happy Joy Joy

Somewhere rattling around in my apartment is the book 14,000 Things To Be Happy About. I bought it in college and periodically like to open it to some random page and see what's on it to be happy about today. I believe on some level (folks with chemical imbalances notwithstanding) you can will yourself to be happy which is why I try to look for the joy in life. And yeah, I get down like everybody, don't get me wrong I'm not 100% delusional. This whole job thing had me thrown for a loop for quite a while. Interestingly enough (or not), Moral Turpitude guy has been reading this self-help book about how to be happy and keeps giving me all these tips. About 75% of them have been stuff I've been telling him for the last month and a half or so... Anyway the purpose of this post... little things that have made me happy lately (or little things that make me happy in general).

1 - Flowers. Tulips, Freesia and Sweet Peas specifically, but flowers in general.
2 - Spring. The daffodils are coming up right now which goes back to flowers.
3 - Boneless skinless chicken breasts on sale for 50% off. That was a great surprise at the grocery store the other day.
4 - My Disney Magazine which came in the mail last night and which I have already read most of. And yes I am that big a Disney geek that not only do I get the magazine, but I pay for it... it was not a gift.
5 - My cute tennis shoes.
6 - Snow... snow falling actually and I love the air just before the snow falls. It is so cold and there is a distinct smell and taste in the air. Nothing else like it!
7 - Wrestling with Baxter. Her tail gets all poofy because she's excited and sometimes she even chitters at me. And then she proceeds to bite the shit out of my hand. :)
8 - My brownies when we're doing something utterly cool and they are just so fascinated.
9 - Chocolate (how could this not be on the list?) - especially dark chocolate.
10 - New random commenters - even better though, random commenters who become regular readers. :P
11 - The discovery of tension shower rods because now I can put up the curtains I have for my 'closet doors' and across the doorway of my kitchen. (Long story short, I had the other kind but didn't want to screw them into the wall so I was using adhesive that wasn't holding).
12 - And of course, all the cool people I know and talk to and hang out with on a regular basis. Including the damn gays. :)

Yeah, it is spring and Valentine's Day is over and I'm sappy, why do you ask? :)

Happy Valentine's Day to me!

Best Valentine's Day ever today is! There is a new man in my life. His name is Sampson and he was delivered by the UPS driver just about an hour and a half ago. He is ever so pretty with his shiny silver self and the fancy "Dell" in silver across his lid. He also came with the wireless network card installed. Currently I'm on someone's unsecured wireless network. Is this theft do you computer geeky types know? V is supposed to give me the info for his wireless network later this evening so I will feel less bad about pirating. Once I get used to wireless network, I may never be able to go back to dial-up. I had better not get too used to this. It will now take me a bazillion years to move everything that has filled Jakob up for so long over to this new piece of gorgeous hardware. Then, of course, the question becomes... what to do with Jakob?

Random news for a Monday Morning

Should I be slightly shocked that Seattle has a kissing school? Or even weirder, there's an article about it on Yahoo under Oddly Enough.

I've seen work crush walk by my office twice already this morning. If he goes by a 3rd time I'm going to take it as a sign that he is to be mine and I will pounce. Or maybe not. :)

I was just interviewed by a student who needs to write a profile about a person for his communication class. At least that's what he says it is for. ;) Of course he did address his email requesting the interview to Mrs. Joanne, I shouldn't be too worried. It was a slightly amusing little 10 minute chat.

Finally, I don't know why my field trip pics have disappeared (at least when I look at the page). They're still available in the yahoo location I store them. Next week's pics will be of the zoo as MP & I are heading there next Sunday. I would love to know how our little Woodland Park Zoo managed to get the very nice webaddress of www.zoo.org.

Boyer Death March

In what is becoming a fairly regular thing, I headed out today on another field trip. Matty P joined me for this one. We headed up to the Japanese Garden at the Arboretum. Unfortunately, the Japanese Garden is apparently closed for the winter from December, January & February. So instead we wandered around the Arboretum. We walked out the trail over the lake and it started to rain. MP had the brilliant idea (and I agreed so it wasn't really his fault) that we walk past the Museum of History and Industry and into the neighborhood to catch a bus. We do that and as we get to where we would catch a bus, we're laughing and talking and he suggests we just walk back. The rain had let up and I'm game for more walking so we just walk. Then we walk up this big hill and across to another street. Then we walk down a set of stairs and discover that we're almost back to where we started at the arboretum when we first got off the bus. Huge loop for no reason, ok there was probably a reason. My negative sense of direction sucking out what ever potential sense of direction MP might have. So then we walk up this even steeper hill that is completely dirt and I really have no idea where we are going to end up. Luckily (or unluckily if you are MP and dislike people) there is a random woman walking by and I asked for directions. She gave them to me, to go to the right and we would meet up with Interlaken Ave. The woman had the funkiest bright orange nail polish and totally made Matty think of what I would be like at her age. At this point, I still have absolutely zero idea where we really are. So we start walking and walking... We were surrounded by trees and what appeared to be forest. Forest on the backside of Capitol Hill. For the record we walked approximately 22,000 steps and 6.04 miles. We ended up at the corner or Roanoke & 10th. So then we walk down 10th until Broadway. We're starving at this point so we stop and eat at La Cocina. Then we head for our homes. Now I'm sitting on my sofa relaxing and eating the yummiest little things - Dove Ice Cream bites. My hands and jacket and hair smell so incredibly woodsey. It is very cool and makes me miss Alaska a little bit.



A kind of cool bridge just after we got off the bus.




I liked the tree bark on this tree. Once I actually saw the pic, I really liked the little white flower too.



In the Arboretum by this incredible green grass path was this little pond that looked dark and murky but I liked how the trees reflected in it.



Another bridge. Matty & I like bridges.



The epitome of class in the U district. These beautiful houses with this professional landscaping in front and yet we loved the Skyy Vodka bottle stuck up in a tree.



This sign was posted on a door we walked past. We loved the little tag about GS cookies.



Here's our forest. All around us was forest. I had wanted to take a picture of us together once we left the forest. Matty was even going to indulge me and let me do it, imagine that! But I forgot because I was so damn happy about being what I thought was almost home. For the record, it wasn't. I think we were at 18k steps at that point.

Cooking 101

Here's a cooking tip from Joanne... When cutting chicken, use the sharp part of the blade and not the dull part. It seems to work much better that way. :)

Adventures in mass transit

So to get my pizza crust mix and Bax's treats I headed out this morning on the 41 to go to the Lake City Fred Meyer. Sitting on some seats ahead of me were 3 guys and what I thought was a homeless guy. They were pretty cute guys. Right as the bus pulled up to the transit station the homeless guy stood up. One would assume to get ready to get off the bus. Well, one would be only 1/2 right. While waiting for the bus to stop... he starts peeing. His pants. On the bus. Just standing there. What do you say when you see that... really? Hey this isn't a bathroom?! Get to FM, buy my pizza crust mix in record time. Catch the 72 to go to the pet store for Bax and fall as I walk down the bus aisle. Apparently my Converse have negative traction. Get off in the U district and have no idea where the Petco is. None. Finally I remember that the stop I am supposed to catch the bus home is at 45th & 7th so I walk in that direction (after wandering in circles for a while). Buy 7 boxes of Baxter treats so I don't have to go again for awhile. Refrain from buying a new ferret even though they are ever so cute and I'm sure Bax would love a new playmate (or maybe she wouldn't, she's kind of bitchy). Walk to catch the 44 and 3 homeless people start having a very loud argument near me. So I decided that wasn't really where I wanted to hang out and caught a different bus home. Now I'm starving and exhausted and thinking a nap is just what the doctor ordered.

Happy Saturday Morning!

And a beautiful one it is! It is all cool and foggy outside. It was like that yesterday on my way to work. I like it like that. I had a lot of vivid dreams last night about ferrets and Pike Place Market and lesbians protesting (like with picket signs not like saying they are mad). It all made sense while I was sleeping, but now in the light of day it is a jumbled mess. I think Bax & I are going to return my library books today and sometime today I want to go to Fred Meyer and a pet store to try to find Bax's favorite treats. I'm hoping to pick up some of my favorite pizza mix which for some reason QFC does not carry. I think this week at work will be a pizza week. Yay. It doesn't take too much to make me happy. I'm simple like that.

Movie didn't happen last night. V & Steve went out to the bar instead. I'm only slightly surprised, but totally shouldn't have been at all.

Have yourself a happy Saturday! Two more days until all the damn Valentine's Day commercials are off my TV for another 300 or so days. Yay to that too!

Group health averted...

So earlier this week I discovered I'm almost out of my pills. This is a problem as those little dears are the only thing that keep my skin clear from the itching, burning, terrible little blisters that plague me because no matter how hard I try, I am not consuming a 100% gluten free diet. At one point pre-diagnosis, I was in bed crying because they itched and burned so bad that I thought about holding a hot curling iron on them to destroy them and then they wouldn't itch. Yeah sometimes you don't think straight at 3 AM. Anyway, I didn't and ever since I went on the Dapsone I've been mostly break out free.

All of this is leading up to what's probably only a fascinating story to me but it is a story of good triumphing over evil and we all need that, right? I called up Group Health (my new medical provider) to find out how to switch my mail order prescription to them and was told that they would only give me 1 month as a courtesy and I would have to come in. I was hoping to avoid that until at least June, when the current prescription runs out. So this morning I notice I have 4 days left... fuck fuck fuck. And I call up my current mail order people. Firstly it was 6 AM, they opened at 6 and I was already on hold? Seriously that's weird. I call them up and say can I just pay for the 3 months without doing the insurance route. The woman said 'yes, but it could be very expensive' and I said 'no, these drugs are cheap.' And she was all patronizing and said 'they were cheap because you had insurance.' And I said 'no, I used to pay before I had insurance and I know the drugs are cheap.' So she did the math and discovered that I would only have to pay $33.00 for 3 months. Just for the record... I was paying a $28.00 copay for the 3 months. I can cope with the $5 extra bucks if it means putting off a visit to the doctor. Seriously. Yay... Joanne triumphed over the great health insurance practitioners.

Well it is official

I didn't get it. After all that, I didn't get it. Sigh. They want someone with more managerial experience. My technical knowledge is all that and a bag of chips, but the other stuff. The upper level stuff is the problem. I'm okay with the answer. I will stick around. We shall see what happens. All in all it seems like there will be some restructuring of my job so that may give me part of what I want anyway... more of a challenge. They will either be hiring the 3/5 day person or this other person we haven't interviewed yet, but she can do employee relations and they apparently need that. I just can't do ER. There's just too much of an opportunity to fuck it up and open ourselves to a lawsuit. Yeah, I'm sad but not as sad as I could've been. I'm still glad I work for a university and not the corporate world and even though I know the environment would allow for much more growth, I'd rather not work for the corporate world again for awhile, if ever. Homestore just screwed me up over that. And while the environment isn't perfect, it is a billion times healthier than either the casino or Homestore. And maybe my new boss will just let me do my job and leave me be. That's what I really like.

Done done done!

I have finished the last of the interviews. Who knows what will happen now. The payroll manager's interview amused me. She had 13 questions she wrote. We went to a conference room. It was very official. Yet at the same time felt somewhat silly to be that official. I don't know that I convinced the one person I needed to convince the most, biggest boss. But I've gone through the process, I've made my desire known, and I've done all I can.

Tonight it is off to see Hide & Seek with V. This may be too intense/scary for me. I'm not a big fan of scary movies, but it did look interesting.

Matty P & I did have interactive TV while watching The Apprentice last night. It is fun IMing while watching a show. Michelle & I do it frequently.

3 down 1 left

Phew. Almost done. I just have the payroll manager in like 22 minutes. And then I'm done with this whole process. Is it wrong that part of me is just so tired of all this shit that I almost no longer care?

2 Down 2 to go...

I had interview with biggest boss this afternoon. I don't know how it went. He wants someone with more comfort speaking in front of the big bosses... Someone with more formal polish. Something I could become but am not quite there yet. Confidence I suppose is what he is looking for. A sense I don't quite have yet. I realized this evening that I used to have it - with regards to work at least. I never really thought about it, but that 9 months of unemployment where I couldn't even get McDonald's to hire me (ok, I never applied there) really affected me. And I don't know how to get it back. So all of his concerns are all the stuff I secretly fear. Failing at this job.

I just saw a commercial for Finding Neverland. I think the family of PL Travers should totally sue Michael Jackson for besmirching PL's creation.

I could totally spoil The Apprentice for Matty, but because I'm feeling nice, I won't. :)

Stephen's questions...

The answers to Stephen's Questions are:

1 - I have no cats, however if you were to ask me how many Hummel figurines I have that information is strictly confidential.
2 - I don't watch Lifetime (television for women and gay men) so much as I LIVE Lifetime. It IS the best network on TV you know.
3 - I don't buy batteries at Costco. I have rechargeables.

One down... 3 to go

The first of what will ultimately be 4 interviews by different folks is now done. I survived it. I did not vomit. It wasn't too bad... She didn't really write anything down so I'm not sure if that is good or bad. It was much more informal, like a conversation than an answer these 10 questions type of thing. I have one this afternoon with biggest boss. I have 2 tomorrow with peers. Damn, no jeans tomorrow...

In other freaky news, a long time ago, I bought a black and white striped polyesterish shirt that looks very professional and all that. Shortly after acquisition, I spilled curry on it. The curry combined with the polyesterishness caused the black to bleed into the white stripes so I thought it was ruined. I have tried washing it. I tried washing it with stain-out. The stain was always there. I looked at it this morning thinking I could use my new bleach pen to get it out. I can't see the stain. I don't know where it went or what happened to it. I'm a little freaked out. I will have to triple check it tonight but it may be part of tomorrow's interview outfit.

Another reason I rule...

The little Girl Scout who said to me (imagine in little southern girl accent) "I'm sorry but I just don't see you as a dating person" didn't end up getting strung up by her toes. I'm sure it is a sign of something... I laughed so hard when she said it that I had to write it down. Is that a sign I'm turning into MP?? Oh wait, no. I wrote it in colored pencil on a receipt not a cute little handy dandy book in pencil only.

I Rule!

I've been saying this a lot lately but here's the reason I rule right now... Who is the best Brownie leader? We had a great meeting tonight. The 2 that are the loudest and drive me the most crazy were not there so that automatically makes it a good meeting. But the real reason I rule, we made shrinky dink Valentine necklaces. They were so very excited about the shrinky dinks once they saw them in action. I gave each girl a half sheet of the shrinky dink paper and I had printed out some basic Valentine's Day pictures. I cut them out so that the girls could trace them and color them. Then we cut our our hearts and punched holes in them and then... shrinky dink magic! I also had links to put through the hole so they could thread them onto pretty girlie ribbon. It was very cool.




Here's the one I made. And I HATE Valentine's Day. :)

In other exciting news... My recent order from Kinnikinnick foods came in. I have donuts! I love donuts.

On being a grown up

So I know I posted about this a way back when my employer was initially talking about it doing this, but now I have to actually make a decision. On long term care insurance. Who really thinks about these things when you're 30 (almost 31 EEK!)? Well, I do obviously since it is my job to know about this stuff. And now that we are offering it, I'm trying to decide if I should do it. I can get excellent rates because I'm 30 (almost 31), especially compared to what I could get if I were older. I am also guaranteed acceptance so no medical questions (and if you have ever watched daytime television, all those commercials for Coloniel Penn life underscore the importance of no medical questions.). Why would I seriously consider it... my sister. When she was sick my mom was there taking care of her the whole time until she died. I don't want to do that to someone. And I'm pretty sure... I don't want my mom doing the caring for me anyway. :D blargh I don't want to be a grown up.

In other grownuppy things, it has now been decided that they should formally interview me for my boss's job. Sigh, originally I didn't have to, but this will be my chance to prove that yes really I can do this job. The interviews are tomorrow. I may vomit with nervousness.

A poll...

You're in a bar, playing darts with your dart buddy when a random person joins you. You, being the ultra nice person that you are, allow him to join. During the 1 game of 301 you play, you realize that guy is actually weirdish and you really hope he wanders off so you don't have to be social to him anymore. The game ends, with dart buddy winning and random guy making the 'I have to go to the bathroom' excuse and he wanders off. Only, he really doesn't go to the bathroom he just wanders off and doesn't make an effort to hide the fact that he just wandered off. Are you:

A - Just thrilled you don't have to make weird small talk with a guy who was difficult to talk to and really none of you bothered to exchange names even.
B - Testy because he made such a lame ass excuse and didn't even try to hide the fact that he was wandering off to find folks more interesting.
C - Secretly plotting his demise including all the cutting remarks you will make the next time you see him.
D - Already stalking him. He will be yours, oh yes, he will be yours.

Other than that, darts was well... darts. We only played for an hour. Usually we play up on the 3rd floor where it is quieter and less crowded by the dart boards since there are only 2, but I believe they aren't opening the 3rd floor on Mondays anymore. Who can blame them since MP & I were usually the only ones up there. I was home in time to watch 7th Heaven. It is so wrong that I watch, yet somehow I can't stop. I may need a 12 step group for it. I did laugh the entire episode, though. And I learned yet again that the menfolk are always right and womenfolk are always wrong.

Vindication!

So you may or may not recall from this post that I attended a UAF basketball game and was completely disgusted by the word 'Nanooks' scrawled across all the girls' asses. Well, in true old lady style, I emailed the coach and director of athletics. Much to my shock and awe, I actually received a response. The coach doesn't like them either. They were purchased before she started and she can only replace one uniform a year. She replaced the home uniforms this year and will replace the away uniforms next year. I would think to make a better impression of the team one would replace the away uniforms first, but you know... I'm not a coach so what do I know. Either way, yay, next year when I go watch girls bball with MP, I will not have to see that again. It is a true sign of my turning into my fatherness that I am actually quite tickled that I received a response.

What? No privacy?!

One thing I forgot to mention about my field trip to Pike Place Market (happy MP?) was that I stopped at the bathroom before I left. Now that in itself is not that exciting, and probably more info than you needed. The pertinent part of this is the fact that the stall doors in the PPM bathrooms are ridiculously tiny. At my average 5'7" (and Michelle will dispute that and say the average woman is 5'4") height I could easily see over and into any stall if I so chose because the doors were so tiny. I think the top of the door came up to about my breast height. Now I realize these are public bathrooms in a not so fabu area, (Above the enterance to each it says in very strong words WOMEN ONLY and MEN ONLY) and I guess the staff has to have a way to ensure we aren't doing anything in there we shouldn't be, but seriously... it was a bit too much. The only thing slightly more traumatizing to my sense of public bathroom privacy was the day I was in the women's bathroom at the now defunct Cap Hill gay bar Blu and Mark "Mom" came in in full drag and was standing in the next stall and thanks to his drag queen heels he could totally see over if he felt so inclined. Luckily he didn't.

Cheers Queers!

I've been watching the Queer Eye marathon and apparently I'm the biggest cryer ever. I've bawled through 2 of the 3 episodes I've watched thus far. Luckily the next epi is one I've already seen so I'm going to switch the channel and not cry anymore today. (Hopefully) This military guy wedding episode is making me bawl repeatedly. He and his wife were married in Colombia, but for some reason it doesn't count here in the US. He is going to be shipped out very soon for a year and a half. The gay boys redid the apartment totally and have provided all sorts of things for the family like groceries for a year and new clothes for he baby. They also did a crate care package for the guy with things like undies, tennis shoes and other things for him while he is over in Iraq. The other that made me cry was a proposal at the Jets game. It was so totally sweet and he looked so hot after the makeover. Coworker was totally right about me. She said when she first met me she thought I was mean and jaded, but really I'm just a girlie girl. Damn. All that work creating a persona down the drain.

This morning I went to the Pikes Place Market and joined folks from a group called Meet In. It is like organized playdates for grown-ups. I decided earlier this year that I need straight friends. I love the gays, but once in awhile it would be nice to have real girls to do stuff with. I can't remember where I heard about Meet In, but it wasn't as bad as I worried in my head it would be. I met 2 people and we wandered around the market just chatting and had lunch. It was nice. The group does all sorts of different activities so now that I've broken the ice, I may join in other activities.

Right now I have stew boiling on the stove. It smells so yummy. I can't wait to dig into it. It is the perfect dinner for a cold rainy day like today has been.

Matty, I am well aware I have misspelled crier but it is for stylistic purposes so get over it. :)

Another new family member

Besides the new Dell computer, Sampson, Bax & I have welcomed another new household member. Here is Bax greeting her new friend. I don't think the fish was that keen on Bax. After initial curiosity, Bax became no longer interested in the fish, and more interested in the wrapping paper still on the table from Christmas.



I finally got the Christmas boxes put away today. I hate going down to the storage unit area. It is in the basement and the light in my row is burned out. It creeps me out a bit. The whole time I was down there I kept hearing things and it would scare me a little. I'm just a big old wuss, I know. As I went through the storage unit, one thing became abundently clear. I collect empty boxes. About half my storage space is full of empty boxes. I think it is a carry over from when I was in college and had to move every year. I just hold on to them in case I want to move again. Finding good moving boxes is hard.

Buyer's remorse?

Well, I did it. Thank you to all that contributed your opinion on Dells vs other computers. In a few short days, a brand new Dell Insperon 1150 notebook will be winging its way to me. It will contain 60 G of harddrive space (compared to Jakob's 11G), a 2.6 megahertz processor, 512 mb of RAM, a 2 year warranty and 2 year accident warranty. I'm a little freaked out by this purchase. Of course, I'm a little freaked out by any purchase of greater than like 30 bucks. I think his name will be ...* Hmm. I can't think of one that is acceptable yet. Michelle reminded me the first name I chose is the name of a baby we know. The 2nd was a substitution that I'm dissatisfied with. Any suggestions for new computer name?

*For the record, I name any product that I own that there is the slightest chance I will have to yell at it because of performance issues, hence Jakob the Sony Vaio, Pip the MP3 player and Ben the formerly beloved Bronco II.

Yet another dream post

Last night, or this morning, I had a very vivid dream in which I was teaching again. I was trying to give one of those big standardized tests but the kids just would not be quiet. It was a mixture of kids I actually taught, kids I went to school with and kids who went to the school I taught at but I never taught. I remember there was an announcement over the PA system and then for some reason I remember opening the classroom door and being outside in a huge green meadow kind of like the one on the backdrop for the standard desktop config for Windows XP. So going with the big themes:

Teacher: To see your teacher (past or present) in your dream, suggests that you are seeking some advice, guidance, or knowledge. You are heading into a new path in life and ready to learn by example or from a past experience. Consider your own personal experiences with that particular teacher. What subject was taught? Alternatively, it may relate to issues with authority and seeking approval. You may going through a situation in your waking life where you feel that you are being treated like a student or in which you feel you are being put to a test. But I was the teacher so does that change things does one think?

Classroom: To dream that you are in a classroom, symbolizes that you may be learning an important life lesson. And that is people suck??

Classmates: To see old classmates in your dream, indicates that you need to draw on your old associations with your former classmates to gain insight in some current relationship. It represents a past lesson that you have learned and is applicable in some aspect of your waking life now.

Exam: To dream that you are taking an exam, signifies insecurities, fear of not meeting others' expectations, and fear of failure.

Children: To see children in your dream, signifies your own childlike qualities or a retreat back to a childlike state. It is an extension of your inner child during a time of innocence, purity, simplicity, and a carefree attitude. You may be longing for the past and the chance to satisfy repressed desires and unfulfilled hopes. Take some time off and cater to the inner child within. Perhaps there is something that you need to see grow and nurtured.

Meadow: To see a meadow in your dream, represents openness and security. You are taking time out to appreciate your accomplishments.

So clearly work anxiety is filtering its way through my brain while I'm sleeping. Even if I get boss's job, I'm terrified I'll fuck it up and all this drama will be for naught. Perhaps the past lesson I've learned and am relearning (and because I'm naive and look for the good) is that people aren't all good and wonderful like I believe them to be. Ok good & wonderful might be a big stretch, but you know, I do tend to try to find the good in people rather than the bad. One of my favorite quotes is from Lincoln, although I originally heard it in the movie Pollyanna (by yes my house of worship Disney). "If you look for the bad in people expecting to find it, you surely will." Anyway... apparently hopefully the meadow means things will work out in the end right? :)

Basketball recap

Matty P & I went to basketball tonight. While we were walking home, I learned of the marriage of my biggest love and my biggest fear giving me my biggest conundrum. The lesbian bar Matty P works at is going to start having a taco night. Now, regular readers will know of my unholy love of Tacos. I eat them on a fairly regular basis. At least 2 taco places know my regular order as I walk up to the counter. Regular readers also know of my fear of lesbians in bars. Not of lesbians in general, but lesbians in bars. It has been my experience, thus far, that lesbians in bars are not so good at taking ‘no’ for an answer. Matty P said he would go but he would not be my protective penis. Worse, he’ll give out my email. At least he isn’t so evil that he would give out my number.

We went to dinner at Broadway Grill before we went to the UAF vs my employer’s basketball game. I need to not eat there for dinner. Or if I do I need to stick to just a hamburger or something. Both times I have had dinner there, I’ve had issues. The first time, I ordered something off the menu, and there was nothing on that item that indicated it would be swimming in gravy. It was swimming in gravy. Tonight I ordered the jerk chicken which was supposed to be on a bed of mashed potatoes. Now I should’ve noticed that on the rest of the menu when it discussed mashed potatoes there was the descriptor “Our Yukon Gold blah blah blah” and this descriptor didn’t have that. But when one thinks of mashed potatoes do they ever think of mashed sweet potatoes? Well, that’s what I got… mashed sweet potatoes. They were not yummy and reminded me a bit of baby food. Their breakfast buffet is pretty good, but I don’t think I’m trying them for anything other than the tried & true hamburger & fries.

We headed over to my work to watch the basketball game. It was a dissatisfying game. We ended up leaving early. The most offensive thing to me, the UAF Nanooks women’s basketball team had the words “Nanooks” written on their asses. As it is I hate words on asses, but I find it particularly troubling to see it on the basketball team’s asses. Even worse, it isn’t printed on the men’s team’s asses. They are getting a nasty email from me. I may have to shake my fist at them.

Now that I went to UAF’s site to figure out who to email, I discovered that the 3 UAF hockey coaches used to be players when I went to school there. One of my friends had a huge crush on one of them. To see him now, he is not hot. He was hot back then, but now… age hasn’t been kind to him.

Yelling girl...

He forgot his microphone thing again. I had to explain everything all over - in shouting voice. He couldn't make the numbers add up the way I did because he was forgetting the tax benefit when contributing more to a 403(b) [like a 401(k) plan] plan. I don't think he was 100% convinced but he has turned in his form and hopefully he won't need any help from me for 1 year (the limits go up every year). Another employee came in right after that and I accidentally yelled at him because I was so used to talking so loudly. He just chuckled because he had heard me through my closed office door so he knew why.

In other news, Vacation all I've ever wanted. Vacation have to get away. Vacation meant to be spent alone. Or actually with Michelle wandering around Southern California including a trip to my holyland, my place of worship... Disneyland! Yay for me! I will be turning 31 in sunny, fun So Cal!

Continuing computer quest...

Thanks for the 1st part of the comments! :) That actually has helped. If I go with someone other than Dell, it brings up the question. What do I need? What is the standard or norm? My technical purchasing department put out a handy little brochure that has some guidelines that I can follow. Apparently at least 512 MB of RAM and 30GB or higher HD. I was definitely thinking along the lines of 40+ so that's not too shocking. Is this reasonable? Intel is THE processor to look for? Or is that just because their commercials are on TV every 10 minutes? What do we think of HP? Am I obviously picking the brains of people who hopefully know more than me rather than doing my own real research? (Yes totally)

For the record, we (being me) officially hate Sony products and despite the fact that Jakob is a Sony product, we (being me) will not purchase another Sony product. Ever. And while Jakob was a refurbishment, if you were to scroll through the archives to about March of last year and the Peeves blog to Dec/Jan of 02/03 you'll find out why I am not itching to do refurbishment again. I have had too many problems. It is probably 100% attributable to the place I purchased it from and who held my warranty - In NEW JERSEY, but it has left a sour taste in my mouth for refurbs. Right out of the gate there was a problem (not blogged about) and when V & I opened up the memory chip spot, there written in tape across the chip in my computer were the words "bad chip." And the company had good ratings with shop MSN, but apparently the good raters were all people who worked there or something.

Oh happy day!

I love LOVE LOVE the IRS right now. Why you might ask... tax refund is in the bank! New computer here I come! Which brings me to the question, I want a laptop. I can get a discount through my employer for a Dell. What do we think of them? (We being people more techie than me...) All I do is play video games (and not the fancy schmancy doom or Halo kind either, the fanciest one I have is Law & Order or Sims), surf the information superhighway and that's about it. And before you all get all why a laptop... I don't have space in my teeny tiny apartment to put a desk for a computer. And I've gotten spoiled because Jakob is a laptop and I'm used to sitting on the sofa with him in my lap. My other option would be to upgrade Jakob which is a Sony Vaio from about 1999. He was refurbished and his warranty has run out (or actually will run out in March). He has a new keyboard. His screen is still good. I had originally thought about just getting him a new larger hard drive... and maybe processor but then wouldn't it be easier to just get a whole new thing. Opinions?

Shouting

I am by nature, not a person who enjoys loudness (except in my music). The TV is frequently too loud for me and I’m constantly turning it down. The Brownie meetings in the echo room kill me. Imagine my chagrin when I had to spend an hour yelling at a 77 year old employee in my office last week. I was hoarse by the end of it. Now before you get all het up because I’m shouting at a kindly 77 year old man you must understand something. The man cannot hear. At all. It was exhausting and I felt a little bad about shouting at him. I grew up with that whole respect your elders thing so talking to this guy like I’m an American tourist in France – slowly and loudly – was exhausting. The reason I’m bringing this up… he’s coming in again tomorrow. Apparently the hour we spent and the sheet I typed up summarizing our conversation was not enough. He has more questions. I’m frightened. Very frightened. I hope he remembers his microphone thing this time.

Longest day evah!

Ok, I’ve tried this post twice and twice as I have highlighted it, it disappeared from blogger. I could cry over this. One other thought, I am not doing a post tonight just because I’ve been prompted by KTP. I started 3 posts last night, but just didn’t like what I was saying or where they were going. I have been feeling a bit grumpy lately almost to the point where I don’t want to be around me. I don’t feel like subjecting everyone else to that too. On to the post…

Today started out at 8:20 when I got to work. I am supposed to get there at 8:00, but on mornings when I don’t go to the gym, I tend to sit and watch The Pretender and I get sucked into the story so I don’t leave until 8:00. Sad I know. I sat and read my emails (personal) and caught up on blog reading. Little boss came in. Today was her last day so she had some shit to show me. At 10:00 I had to get ready for orientation. 10:30 – 11:30, I had to do orientation. At 11:45, we had interview with candidate #4 (more on her in a minute). She didn’t get out of biggest boss’s office until noon. Noon – 12:45 we interviewed. 1 – 2 I took my lunch hour. I’m hourly so I have to take it. I ran to QFC to get stuff for Brownie meeting. 2 – 3:15ish I did work (or read The Apprentice recap on TWOP… ok actually a little of both). 3:15ish little boss’s going away party. I had to stand around and make small talk. I loathe small talk. 4:50 I realize I’ve got to leave to get flexcar to pick up Brownie. I head back down to office. Am locked out of office (I had anticipated walking back down the hill with a coworker with keys so I left my keys in the main office). Wait for public safety to let me in. Go to pick up Brownie. She wasn’t there. Dad was confused about days. Return to office and have Brownie meeting. We mixed skim milk with lemon juice. It was an interesting experiment. Does anyone know why mixing that acid with that base made the chunky results? Brownie book doesn’t really explain the why’s that well. Went and got take out for dinner and headed home.

Little boss & I were talking today and she was excited that I could get the job. I told her I was no longer keeping my hopes up. She seemed a little surprised by that. I think I will miss little boss a bit. I know she peeved me, but she wasn’t a terrible boss and I get lonely sitting up there all by myself. Who knows, next boss could be worse.

Candidate #4 said all decent answers. There was nothing in her behavior or answers that really raised red flags. But there was something about her.. I can’t put my finger on it. I have looked at this thought honestly, trying to decide if it is just because I want the job so I want to not like her, but I don’t think that’s it. There’s just something… I talked to coworker and she agreed so it isn’t apparently just me. Michelle & I were talking about this earlier and she said I should go with my gut feeling. Which I almost always do and it has never let me down. Kate would argue that it has never let me down because I don’t get to know people my gut feeling tells me not to know so how would I know if they were untrustworthy or whatever. Good point, but I’m still a big follower of gut instinct. We have candidate #5 interview tomorrow.

Finally, the big bad boss on the movie The Crow is seriously sexy. I could die listening to his voice. My feet ache from standing on them too long in crappy shoes and this chicken teriyaki isn’t as tasty as I wanted it to be.