A Weekend of Firsts

To celebrate the holiday weekend I am partaking in a weekend of firsts. Today I participated in my first client lunch. I was selected along with one other coworker to go with the Boss and take a client to lunch for her birthday. At first I thought it was a little funny/awkward that I was invited because I have never met her before, but who was I to argue, I love free lunch. It ended up being a lot of fun, Ina was great. We celebrated her 95th birthday and I can honestly say that I have never had the honor of celebrating someone’s 95th birthday before. We had lunch at this great little place called Bake N Broil, in Long Beach. It was a little loud for Ina’s hearing aid but the food and atmosphere was so great. I highly recommend it if you are ever in the area, especially for breakfast or dessert. They had some amazing looking pies and pastries.

The second first of the weekend is actually one large first made up of what is bound to be a million and a half small firsts. Angela and I are going to visit our friend Megan in Wheaton/Chicago IL. I can not even explain to you how excited I am about this trip. This is something I have wanted to do for the last 5 years, in other words since I met Megan in college, but never have gotten around to doing. So now that I am a working girl and earning the big bucks I am taking full advantage of the paid government holidays and hoppin on a plane across the country. This will officially be the longest flight I have ever been on, and my first time in the Central Time zone (I hope I got that right). There is so much to see and do. Therefore I may not be back blogging until Wednesday or Thursday, do not be alarmed that simply means I am out having the time of my life. And knowing me I am sure to have some great clumsy, awkward, and humiliating experiences to share when it is all over.

Watch out Midwest here I come!

Pops

Today is the Birthday of a great man.
He may just be my #1 fan.
He coached my basketball team for oh so many years.
He encourages me to overcome my fears.
In a conversation he is not dull.
In life he is oh so very helpful.
He is skilled at fixing my car.
He even traveled from afar,
when my fridge needed to be repaired.
Showing me just how much he cared.
My father he would be,
and this blog he may never see.

Happy Birthday Day Pops!

I'm In Love!

Yes you read right, I am in Love. You heard it here first folks. I knew this day would eventually come around, and now if you lend me your ear (or rather your eyes) I will tell you the tale - a classic story of girl meets ........car? Your eyes do not deceive I am in love with my new car.

Monday I got a new car. Yay! I think it is pretty amazing. It was time for a little upgrade, my previous car was one i purchased in high school, and even though it has held up well it has a few problems and well lets face it it was getting up there in its years. But comparatively I now feel spoiled, my new car has so many luxuries, or rather conveniences that I am very much enjoying. For example keyless entry, a sun roof, a power outlet, and of course a CD player. However, I must admit that since I have lived in the stone age for so long I have not quite figured out how to use all of these amazing amenities. This morning I was having some major issues putting a CD in, there are way to many buttons. But really if that is my biggest complaint I am more than ok.

In the 2.5 days that I have owned this car I have come to realize that I don't hate driving as much as I used to. At least for now it is a lot more enjoyable, yes I even enjoyed getting stuck at the railroad tracks for 12 minutes last night on my way home from work. I am currently trying to get to know my car a little better, learning his strengths, his weaknesses, his general personality, as all of these things will help me give him an appropriate name. Please let me know if you have any great suggestions.

Finally one more thing then I promise not to blog about cars for a long time - thanks to my parents who spent the majority of their time visiting me looking at cars. I appreciate all of your help mom and dad!

Monday Madness

Why is it that Mondays are always crazy? It should be a slow comfortable transition from the weekend back into the work week. But instead it is crazy, always crazy. Yesterday I had three mishaps at work which successfully left me feeling quite embarrassed most of the day.

It all started with a computer problem. We were having some server issues, so for the first hour I was running all over the office, in and out of peoples work spaces trying to figure things out. After about an hour of doing this I look down and see that my fly is open. Ok now don’t think I am incompetent here, I specifically remember zipping up my pants that morning before I left home. Upon closer examination of the situation I see that my fly is open because there has been a zipper malfunction. The pull tab is in fact at the top where it should be, but the zipper has decided to come apart. Yikes! I am pretty sure everyone in the office took note of my situation and of course no one said a word to me. It took a little doing but I was able to right the situation.

After the zipper problem had been fixed the day progressed like normal, well until I had a collision with the door frame. I am a major klutz, so this is nothing new for me. However I do believe this was possibly the hardest impact I have ever had with a wall/door frame. I was trying to leave someone’s office and turned rather briskly, and didn’t make it all the way through the door. My left knee ran right into the metal door framing. Ok so this may not sound like that big of a deal, but it was. It was so loud that everyone from the office came running to see what happened, and I left a dent in the door frame. The coworker who witnessed the whole thing had her head buried in her hands because she was afraid to look at my knee she thought for sure it would be bleeding. Fortunately it was not, just red and purple and a little swollen. It continued to hurt for the rest of the day. Fun times.

The madness did not end there. In the midst of emailing my sister the third and final mishap occurred. I was doing nothing out of the ordinary, simply writing an email to Lindsey. Then I hit the send button. As I hit the send button I look and realize that I hit reply to the wrong email. AAAAAAAAHHHHHHH I definitely sent the email meant for my sister to my boss. I frantically search outlook for some way to make it stop. Darn instantaneous technology it has no grace for mess ups. I was spoiled in college with the unsend function on bubbs. Outlook has no such function, the email was sent and there was nothing I could do about it. I simply hoped he would read it and disregard it, which of course he did not. He emailed me back AND came to ask me about it. Ugh. I need to pay better attention to my emailing.

What a Monday.
But have no fear my day was made a million times better when I bought my new car after work.

Coffee Coffee Coffee

I used to make the coffee at work. It was not really anybody’s job per se but since I was one of the coffee drinkers, and I am not usually very busy I generally made it. That is I did until about 1.5 months ago. I was approached by a coworker who asked me not to make the coffee anymore because I make it too strong. No big deal I did not mind handing over the coffee duties, letting someone else make it. I do however prefer strong coffee, and the person who took over made somewhat weak coffee. But I did not complain I drank it anyways.

This morning when I arrived at work I did my usual things, checked my email and prepared for the day. After about 15 minutes I went in to get my morning coffee and there was none made. I nearly panicked. My daily routine had just encountered a minor speed bump, I always get my coffee at 8:45 and then I enjoy it while I check my daily blogs. What do I do now, I am not to make the coffee but I need some soon. So I approach the coworker who now makes the coffee (the same one who thinks mine is too strong) and asked her if she would like me to make the coffee today. Her response………………..yes.

It gets even better than that. She told me that has been feeling like the coffee was too weak recently and asked if I minded making the coffee from here on out. WAHOO! I don’t mind at all. I get to have my strong coffee again. But really the funniest part of this whole thing is that I make the coffee the exact same way she does. When I first started making the coffee she gave me a lesson (as if I don’t know how to make coffee). I put in the exact amount of coffee grounds that she told me to. So either she does not follow her own instructions or she manages to find the weakest grounds in the container and I find the strongest. Who knows it is the case of the mysterious coffee. Should be the next Nancy Drew book.

With that I have decided that I am going to make myself a girl scout sash. (do they wear sashes or vests? I never was a scout myself can you tell?) Then I am going to make a new patch for every new job that I take on at work. So far I have:

Emergency Coordinator
IT
Water Jug changer (the only time in my life I feel strong – when I get to change the 5 gallon jug of water on the water cooler- yup I can do it all by myself)
Coffee Maker

My Friend

We have been friends now for about 6 years.
He has yet to be the cause of any tears.
Although his fair share of problems he has had.
Sometimes he even makes me mad.
He is not quite as old as me.
A funnier pair you may never see.
As he is quite small
And I am quite tall
I may replace him soon, we’ll have to see.
I’ll pass him down to Jake, no one will be happier than he.
Mr. Universe is his name.
Being my car is his only claim to fame.

A Day In Antarctica

Today my office was absolutely freezing. This is shocking for more than one reason. First of all our building often has problems with the air-conditioning. Problems which cause the air-conditioning to not turn on, which in turn cause our office to feel like a sauna. It is for this very reason each person has a small fan on their desk and we have multiple large fans dispersed throughout the office.

Secondly I am always hot. And I don’t mean the way I look, but rather my body temperature. Generally when everyone else is comfortable I am roasting. In fact just this morning I was sitting at the kitchen table reading and enjoying my morning cup of coffee when I started to get so warm I had to relocate within the apartment, closer to the ceiling fan. All the while of course Rachel, who has the opposite problem as me was talking about donning a parka because she is always so cold.

Now we know that the office had to down at an extremely low temperature or I would not have been cold. Unfortunately we found out that the thermostat was broken. We could not adjust the temperature and it would not accurately display the current room temp. Example: It is currently reading 96 degrees inside. I think not! More like 26. Seriously I am shivering.

Because I am always hot I was completely ill prepared to endure a day in the Arctic. My skirt and short sleeves did not offer much warmth. Therefore I had to resort to the next best thing- coffee. I do believe that I had 6 cups today (according to Rachel this will keep me cancer free-although it may just be an excuse for her to drink lots of coffee to keep warm. I am on to you Rach). However even I a true coffee lover could only drink so much, so I had to fall back on holding cups of hot water to keep my fingers from catching frostbite.

Tomorrow I will arrive at work armed and ready to face the cold.

Hat…check
Scarf…Check
Coat...Check
Blanket…Check
Gloves…Check

$1

I love a good bargain. Which is why I enjoy the many various form of the dollar and 99 cent stores. Not everything in theses stores is a super great deal, but a lot of it really is. Needless to say I was a little shocked and disappointed to hear that one of the national branches “Everything 99cents” is going to be raising the prices of some of their products. Some products will remain the standard 99 cents but others will increase. I hope they change there name as well because if they don’t people are going to get very confused. Nothing like a good case of False Advertising.

Even though the 99 cent store had to raise their prices, there are still a few things out there that remain a good deal at $1. Especially on Tuesdays. In preparation for tomorrow I will share with you some great activities for Tuesday’s which all cost only $1.

1. Hit up your local Baja Fresh, Dell Taco, or Rubio’s who all offer various forms of $1 tacos on Tuesdays.
2. Follow up your cheap dinner with a little dessert from Baskin Robbins, who offers $1 kids scoops on Tuesdays.
3. Finally, If you live near me hit up the $1 Theater. They have actually raised their prices, it is now $2.50, but who calls it a $2.50 theater? Anyways, on Tuesdays all movies are $1. (check their website, maybe there is a location near you)

Check that out you just got a whole night out for under $5.
Can’t beat that.

Surprise!

My life in the office is continually full of surprises. I’d like to say never a dull moment, but sometimes there are. Today I am checking my email, no shock I usually hit the receive button about once a minute. Sometimes I even do a double or even triple tap of the button, I am the say way with cross walk buttons. I just want to make positively sure that the there are no emails sitting there just waiting to be read by me. This morning one of the many times I checked my email I was rewarded. I received an email from a coworker entitled “Staff Meeting.”

Upon seeing the subject I instantly get a little excited. Call me lame but I really like staff meetings, we get free lunch which is usually really tasty. I notice that the email went out to everyone in the office; it is the agenda for tomorrow’s staff meeting. Each topic is listed, and then next to the topic is the name of the person presenting. Guess what topic number four is. Emergency Procedures. Guess who’s name is next too it. Yeah mine. I would like to point out the fact that not only did I not know I was presenting at the staff meeting, I did not even know we are having a staff meeting tomorrow.

In preparation for the staff meeting I do a little research. I have to find out the emergency procedures before I can share them with everyone at the meeting. So I go right to the source. I ask the security guard. The security guard is new, she told me she does not know the procedures, this makes me wonder what she does all day and how helpful she will be if we have yet another earthquake. She suggests I look on the building’s management website. To the website it go. I click on the Tennant information tab. I hear the Halleluiah chorus; right in front of me is exactly what I have been looking for. There is an emergency plan tab. Right about now I am thinking I hit the jackpot; I click on the tab and anxiously await the loading of the next page, thinking all my problems will be solved. Everything I ever needed to know about emergency situations, evacuations and other procedures will be explained right here. YIPEE!

You can imagine my disappointment when the page loaded and staring back at me was two drawings of stick figures one demonstrating the stop drop and roll and the other showing how to climb under your desk in and earthquake. It also explained that you should exit the building via the emergency exit stairs and call 911. It was absolutely no help. The “emergency plan” website knew even less about emergency situations than I did. Oh wait I missed the fine print it says “we encourage you to develop your own internal plans as they relate to your respective workspace.”

I am currently working on my emergency plans which I will be sharing with the office tomorrow. Let’s just say I have decided to take creative control of this situation. As emergency coordinator I technically have complete authority in this area. I will give you a sneak peak at my plan, it involves lots of practicing the stop drop and roll, fire drills, and earthquake drills. After all practice makes perfect.

The Fax Machine

The Fax machine is not my friend.
All of my messages it refuses to send.
Its has been broken now for over a week.
Professional help I did seek.
First I called the Fax machine guy.
Then Verizon came and gave it a try.
Neither of them could fix it for us.
Everyone in the office made quite a fus.
I had to call yet another repair man.
Nothing was going according to plan.
Lots of tools he did bring.
It definitely looked promising.
Unfortunately this story does not have a happy ending.
For tomorrow another repair man the company will be sending.

Do My Eyes Deceive Me?

The Olympics is a time to join the World, celebrate superb athletics, not a time for lies. Unfortunately Beijing missed that memo. There has been an unfortunate amount of deceit in the Beijing Olympics and I am talking about more than the questionable age of China’s women’s gymnasts. And I believe that it all started with the McDonalds commercials. You know which one I am talking about, they show members of the USA Olympic team saying they eat McDonalds breakfast sandwiches. Now don’t get me wrong I love McDonalds but do they really expect us to believe that the best athletes in the world eat greasy unhealthy McDonald’s sandwiches? I don’t buy it.

That my not be a big deal but there are more lies. Many people were amazed by the opening ceremonies. But was it really all it appeared to be? Not to us home viewers. Did you know that most of the fireworks you saw did not actually occur? That’s right you were sitting at home watching in awe as the sky lit up with such colorful displays, not knowing you were actually seeing computer generated displays of fireworks.

And now I have saved the best for last.
Do you recognize this little girl?



Probably not. But you should she sang “The Hymn to the Motherland” at the opening ceremonies. Now if you were one of the 34 million Americans who watched the opening ceremonies you are probably thinking… I thought the girl who sang had pig tails and was “cuter.” You thought it was her:

It was decided that Yang Peiyi, the first picture, was not cute enough to appear at the opening ceremonies. They said she did not have the look they were going for because she had buck teeth. But they still wanted her to sing, so they used a recording of her singing at the ceremony, and had Lin Miaoke pretend to perform the hymn. She had the right “look.”

Not that it matters but i think that Yang Peiyi is cute, and I think that everyone else who say the opening ceremoies would have thougth she was cute too. What are we teaching children today? Looks is not all that matters.

Which leads us to the real question here, what else is fake? Can we beleive anything we see in Beijing now?

Worthy of Celebration

Costco is a great store, the cheap prices and large quantities what is not to love? For some reason I find that whenever I shop at Costco I manage to make a fool of myself, or so others think. People stare and think I am….well unique to put it nicely. Saturday afternoon Rachel and I embarked on a journey to Costco and it turned into one of these experiences. There was definite staring, laughing, confused looks, and questions.

One of our favorite things about Costco is the low prices gas. It is always the cheapest around and you can use your debit card without being charged 45 cents like Arco. So every time we go to Costco we fill up. Rachel was doing just that when we started to get “the looks.”

As you can see from the above picture nothing was a miss, it was simply Rachel filling her tank and me sitting in the passenger seat. That was until we realized how AMAZING the gas prices were. We decided that the breaking of the $4 barrier deserved some celebration and documentation. It was then that I pulled out the camera and began to snap photos. And it was then that the man from the next pump over approaches Rachel and asks why we were taking pictures.

This is why:

You take life way to seriously if you can not find the great joy in lower gas prices.

Were saving money here people.

$3.94!!!

Snow in August

You may think that sounds crazy especially considering this is California, but there really was snow in my office today. I heard rumblings throughout the office that the shredder was not working properly, so me, being the great motivated employee that I am decided to check out the situation. We I arrived in the file room and opened the shredder drawer I was not surprised to find it full. To my dismay I realize that whoever emptied the shredder last did not put a bag/liner in it so all of the shredded pieces were just sitting loose, making it a lot more difficult to empty. But I am up for the challenge after yesterday’s blue ink debacle I can handle anything.

I decide the best way to empty the shredder is by completely removing the drawer which contains all of the shredded pieces and dump them into a garbage bag. I cover the top of the drawer with the garbage bag and quickly flip it over. Some of the shreds fall gracefully into the bag but the majority of them stay put - the are clinging to each other with fear trying to avoid their decent into the depths below. I decide the best method to get them loose is to hit the top of the container – well keep in mid to hit the top of the container I must let go of one side of the bag. Big mistake. On one hand this plan was a success- I did in fact loosen the shreds to the point that they would fall into the bag. However this plan also failed miserably because I had let go of the bag on one side, creating a sagging effect which the shreds used to their advantage and escaped their plunge of death into the garbage bag. They escaped, they jumped overboard landing on the floor instead of in the bag – they were now not only covering the floor, but me, the file cabinets, and the counters. Sucessfully covering everything in a blanket of snow, making the file room look like the North Pole.

I wish I could say that this is where the story gets better – but that would be a lie. I then had to clean up the huge mess that I made. Of course we have no broom, that would have made my job way too easy. We do however have a dust buster. So I decided the best method of clean up was to pick up the large chunks of white shreds with my hands – gather them into a pile and then pick them up. Then use the dust buster to pick up the small left over bits that remained. The dust buster appeared to be working magnificently – picking up all of the pieces making my life a lot easier. Until I got about halfway done, then it started to sputter, it was struggling. But I was determined- it was gonna pull through and finish cleaning up my mess. Unfortunately the dust buster did not agree – it took one final gulp of air, mixed with paper and stopped. Thinking this, like the shredder, was actually operating fine simply full, I decided to open the dust buster and empty the belly of the beast.

You would have thought I learned my lesson with the shredder, but I did not.

The Dust Buster was being extremely stubborn, so I had to give it a good tug to get it to open. Let’s just say that the tug was surprisingly strong, and the force from said tug caused both pieces of the dust buster to go flying in opposite directions. Two loud thuds sounded as I watched the paper shreds (and lots of dirt) which I had just picked up float gently down to the ground. Watching paper float to the ground is not near as magical of a sight as watching real snow.

Defeated, this would be were I dusted myself off, gave up and called janitorial services. I now know that emptying the shredder should be considered a two person job.

The LOSER Stamp

Hopefully you have seen the movie Never Been Kissed. If you have then you know what the title of this post is referring to. For all of you who have not seen it here is a brief explanation. In this movie Josie is trying her best to transition from Josie Grossy to the cool crowd, and on her mission to do this she attends a party along with most of the student body. At this party the word LOSER is stamped on her hand because she is under 21. After consuming some suspicious brownies she pretty much succeeds at making a fool of herself at said party. End scene. When she awakens the next morning she is late for school and therefore puts on a sweater over her dress and runs out the door. Now when she arrives a school she thinks her feeble attempts at coolifying herself have worked. Unfortunately she is wrong and she is greeted by laughter and people calling her loser. It is not until she has tossed her cookies in the little girls’ room that she looks in the mirror and realizes that her stamp was transferred from her hand to her forehead in her sleep. She literally had the word LOSER written on her forehead. Poor Josie.

Well today I had my own Loser stamp experience. Now I realize that my story is not quite as humiliating as Josie’s, but then again mine really happened and hers was scripted. Here it is: I am at work, not having much to do and I remember my “client copy” stamp is getting low on ink – so I decided to refill it. In my office we are pretty cheap, we refill self inking stamps instead of buying new ones. This stamp is not meant to be refilled, but it can be done, not easily, but it can be done. I have done it so many times now I have made an art of it, or so I thought.

I pull out my stamp and the little bottle of blue ink. Turn the stamp upside down and prepare to dowse it with ink. Since the stamp is not meant to be refilled you have to let it soak up the ink for a long time. So usually I cover it in ink then put the lid/cover back on it and then place it back in my drawer upside down to hopefully force all of the ink down into the stamp. However in order for this process to work you are not to use the stamp for at least 4 hours.

Guess who has poor memory? Me that’s right, I forgot that my stamp was mid ink absorption and I tried to use it. When I attempted to use the stamp I not only got a big blue puddle on the paper I tried to stamp on but I also got ink all over. And I do mean ALL over – it was on my desk, my calendar, my keyboard, the stamp and my hands. In my pathetic attempt to clean up my mess I used a lot of napkins and a lot of water. After about 15 minutes I thought I gotten it all cleaned up, no more blue ink.

I was wrong. About 4 hours later I stepped into the little girls’ room and I was appalled at what I see in the mirror. Blue ink, I saw blue ink, all over my face. There were blotches near my chin on my nose and on my forehead; it was basically a big smeary blue mess. How did that happen? And more importantly why did no one tell me?

You can’t tell me that no one in my office noticed that I had blue ink on my face. I know in those four hours I talked to all 10 people in my office (including a performance evaluation with my boss) a visiting auditor and at least 2 people in the hallway from other offices and no one said a word. OK people if some one has something on their face you tell them.

Unfortunately I think I made a bigger mess of my face when I attempted to wash it of. That ink is very strong – the blue splotches became faded blue splotches surrounded by big red splotches because my skin did not agree with the rough paper towels and frantic blotting/rubbing. Needless to say I was a mess. Once I came back to the office and everyone realized that I did not put the ink on my face on purpose (someone did really ask me this –who does that, really?) they thought it was rather funny and laughed at me. Thankfully one of the office members took pity on me and offered me some face product, and like magic it got rid of the ink.

So no I did not have the word LOSER stamped on my forehead, but I sure did feel like a loser. Let this be a lesson to all of you and myself if you see someone with something on their face however awkward it may be tell them about it, do it anyways. Trust me I now speak from experience, and I think it is far less embarrassing to have one person point it out than to have everyone see it and not say anything about it.

2 Minutes

As part of my morning routine I read a book while I eat a leisurely breakfast. I enjoy reading, but more than that I think it serves as a distraction that I am going to work. I get to forget about that fact for a few more minutes and escape to the pages of my book. My roommate used to tease me that it only took me 15 minutes to get ready and the other 45 minutes I give myself is to read. Well now I move slower so I only read for about 20 minutes.

Yesterday morning I became a bit ensconced in what I was reading and forgot to check the clock. I was late. This is actually a daily occurrence, me reading too much and therefore making myself late – so I am not actually late I build in a little cushion time because I HATE being late. So I run out that door and scoot through the parking lot to my car. It is days like this, when I am on the later end of my lateness, that the gate to our apartment complex seems to open even slower than usual. I am not patient enough to wait for the whole thing to open – as soon as there is enough room for my little car to squeeze through I am gone.

Fortunately I did not get stuck behind a train and I actually hit a fair amount of green lights. Whew! I pull into the parking garage 2 minutes later than usual, thinking I did pretty good, I can still make it into the building and up the elevator and into the office on time. Then I look around and realize my parking spot is taken. Well not “my spot” but rather any and all spots I usually park in. Everyday for the last year I have parked on the first upward slant of the parking garage – as you enter and begin to go up to the other floors. Not front row parking by any means but respectable none the less – less walking and no stairs. All of these spots were gone. Normally when I get there they are half empty. Two minutes, that many people arrived in the two minutes that I am late? Seriously?

That’s ok I’ll just go up to the second floor, and you know it won’t kill me to use the stairs just this once. I go up to the second level and I am appalled to see that yet again all of the spots are filled. What in the world is going on? Did everyone decided to come to work early today? So up I go yet another floor. I don’t even know how many floors there are – I have never even been up to the second floor.

Well now I know there are 4 floors the 4th being outside and uncovered. That is where I had the pleasure of parking. Quite possibly the farthest point away from the nearest staircase. When I decide to take the stairs I go all the way. None of this one flight nonsense for me, I’ve got to do all four.

By the time I park and get down the stairs and into the building and back up the elevator and into my office I am again 2 minutes late. But you know what I really am not late because I am the first person there. Everyone in my office is supposed to arrive at 8:30 however; I am the only one that actually gets there then, the others all stagger in throughout the next half hour most arriving closer to 9.

Now the best part of my day is yet to come. The clock strikes 4:58 and I am out the door, hoping to beat the rush at the elevators and in the parking garage. I am operating purely out of habit- autopilot if you will. I pull out my cell phone/Bluetooth check my voicemail and walk to my car. It is not until I am done listening to my voicemail and am scanning the garage for my car that I remember I did not park in my usual spot. Ugh. At this point I am closer to the second floor than the first floor stairs so I decided to just walk up the hill, and up the hill and up the hill. Why I did not take the stairs I do not know, the logic part of my brain was not working properly, this was not the wisest decision I have ever made, but it did add a little cardio exercise to my day. I may have even worked off the fruit snacks I ate for my afternoon snack.

Needless to say that by the time I finally arrived at my car in Timbuktu I was no longer 2 minutes before the rush of cars leaving the garage. I was stuck right in the thick of it. Fun times!

Further motivation to not be late, look how much just a measly two minutes can effect the outcome of you day.

Hanson's Soda

My roommate was craving Hanson’s soda last night.
Finding some turned out to be quite a plight.
You see, in her cupboards she was all out.
Von’s will have it, she thought, without a doubt.
Many a phone calls then she did make
Von’s, Target, Trader Joe’s and Fresh & Easy apologies they did fake
For none of them carried Hanson’s Diet Ginger Ale
Why is it that no where has it for sale?
After an hour her search she gave up
Resorting to water, she looked like a sad pup.

A Taste of Home

My commute to work is not the highlight of my day. Usually it involves me sitting in a lot of traffic sometimes I even get the joy of being stopped by a train. In actuality the only thing I really like about my commute is the secret celebrity portion of the morning radio show that I listen to (as I am living in the stone age and do not have such modern conveniences as a CD player or IPOD). At approximately 8:20 every morning I get to put to use my vast knowledge of celebrities and movie trivia and play along with their game. I would say 4.75 times out of 5 I know the answer, but of course I never bother to call in. Maybe if I had more Bluetooth skills I would give it a try, but last time I tried to use mine on the way to work I ended up accidentally calling a friend and waking him from a deep slumber. Because of that incident I choose to say no to the Bluetooth until I have consumed at least 2 cups of coffee.

Back to my commute this morning, it was right before the secret celebrity clip was played that I was reminded of a simpler time. A time of no stop lights, no freeways, no traffic and no trains. Yes I was reminded of life in Valleyford, WA. Aaahh The Simple Life (no I do not think Paris Hilton and or Nicole Richie would be able to survive there). I was crossing over the 91 freeway at Bloomfield when I passed not one but two tractors on the road. Where in the world they were going?

See in Valleyford it is not uncommon to see various tractors and combines crawling down the road, but then again everywhere you look is fields, mostly wheat. Wheat wheat wheat as far as the eye can see. Pretty much the opposite of where I now live/work everywhere you look is cement and asphalt. Which again begs the question where were the tractors going?

All in all it made my morning commute a little bit more enjoyable; it provided me with a good laugh. In fact, I was so distracted by this image that I completely missed the secret celebrity clue. Woops.

A rather large commitment

For all of you who know me, you also know that I hate making decisions. I don’t like to commit myself to something, because once I have committed I am committed for life. There is no turning back. Well last week I made a rather large decision. It is something I have been thinking about for many months. I pondered and sat on this decision, made a pro con list, asked peoples opinions, and I did some extensive research, all to make sure I did not go into this uninformed.

I joined Netflix.

I did it! or rather I am on a two FREE trial. I love free things, aren’t they great? Now I have only had Netflix for 2 days, I have not even received my first dvd in the mail and already I am overwhelmed by it. There are according to their website over 100,000 movies available to choose from, and over 12,000 to watch instantly. That is a lot of options for a girl who does not like to make decisions.

Don’t get me wrong I am enjoying it, and I actually think I will become a full fledged member after my two weeks trial is up. But seriously, there are so many movies. I love movies I have an on going list of movies that I want to see (there are currently well over 100 movies on my list, I know I am weird). The problem is that all of those movies are available to me at the click of a button. How in the world am I supposed to pick which ones to watch first?

It is a dream come true.
And to be honest if my biggest problem this week is decided which movie to watch I am doing pretty good.

Ryan started the fire

It’s 2:15 in the office on Friday. Nothing is happening we all want to go home, the afternoon is dragging by. Oh wait, what is that? Do I hear the fire alarm? Yes that’s right the fire alarm is blaring. I have worked in this office for a year now without even knowing that I am the emergency coordinator and then twice in three days I am called into action.

I hear the fire alarm – think crap I didn’t ever find out what we are supposed to do in emergency situations. Look outside see that people are leaving the building, so I walk to the open area above the lobby and ask the security guard what is happening, she says and I quote “there is a fire on the 4th floor.” I hear this return to my office gather the troops and head them down the emergency exit stairs and out to safety.

We gather with the other people outside and wait for the fire department to come. As we wait I look around and notice that everyone from the building is not outside. I work in a rather large office building and I would guess there are only about 30 people outside – definitely not everyone. I get curious and start asking around to see if I can figure out what is happening. Well I learned that there was NOT actually a fire on the 4th floor, that was simply where the alarm originated. Therefore they had to be evacuated. Yeah “they” as in only the 4th floor was evacuated. Well that and our suite from the 2nd floor.

So today when people ask how my day at work was I can say, Oh it was great, I evacuated my office when it was completely unnecessary but don’t worry it only cost the company about 45 minutes of productivity. How was yours?

But hey if we have to error it should always be on the side of safety, right?
Safety first. My new motto.