I'm going to hook up the scanner tomorrow so that I can scan in all of my pictures from Japan. Then I will have nothing to do until I can get up to Memphis to get the photo boxes I had to leave at Marc and Jan's. This whole FlickrPro thing has opened a HUGE can of obsessive compulsive worms who organize themselves in twenty different ways. It's fantastic. And yet so very bad all at once. I've made "sets" which can then be organized in to "collections" such as "Alpha Omicron Pi" which encompasses my college years, or "Georgia" for everything that's been taken in Georgia or "Travel" for everything that's been taken on the road... it's just a little ridiculous. BUT SO AWESOME.
I am going to make myself go to bed instead of starting now; it would be dangerous otherwise, methinks... I will have plenty of time tomorrow since I have been disinvited from dress shopping with le princess. I'll just do it in Southaven where I won't have to drive 40 miles to get to a David's Bridal. Take that.
*eyes photos in the corner*
NO! Not going to do it. Bad Meg! Flat iron your hair instead!
PS- the YMCA totally stiffed us on the tip for the party on Wednesday; we didn't even make 15% to split between the two of us. I think we ended up with 14%, and while that is quite close to 15% it's just not the same when you're talking an $850 tab.
Saturday, December 20, 2008
Tuesday, December 16, 2008
Gmail is on Crack
In a string of computer issues that have lasted me the better part of the last week, Gmail is being cranky and won't work my chat so I bit the bullet and downloaded the AIM program... blurg.
Last Thu, my computer got assaulted by spyware and malware, which prompted a full wipe and reinstall of everything on it. Then the video wouldn't work, turns out there was something wrong with the formatting and so we had to fully wipe and reinstall everything again. It's such a pain, you forget how much stuff (flash, acrobat, and other plugins) has to be re-installed every time you do it. I'm starting to think maybe Amy's Magneto curse has extended itself to me!
This week's looking much better than last in the sales-and-tips area, so I'll have enough money to get Christmas for Jeremy and Emily and (with any luck) pay my first installment on the next credit card to be paid off. I bought myself a flickr pro account for Christmas since I've been meaning to for years and re-discovered so many wonderful pictures! I really missed the ones from Austin-- they got deleted in the last great computer debacle and I only had them on Flickr. Made me miss Austin all over again. And, of course, my Dill! Hopefully she'll have some free time over her break and we can catch up; she's been so busy with her teaching gig I've hardly talked to her! Also, with any luck, the airlines will keep having great sales and I can go out there this summer and see her and maybe help her move in to her own place. Maybe scout around some Ducati dealerships and see if they'd be interested in hiring Jeremy. The guy at the place in Southaven said he'd be interested, but I don't think either of us want to go back to that city...
Aaaanyway, this week should be good. I'll finally get to meet Emily's friend Aileen, I get to tag along on their wedding dress shopping day and try to start figuring out my own, and I figure if Emily and Joanna like her this much, she's a shoo in for someone I'll get along with. She's got some really amazing designs (she's a fashion designer type, went to SCAD), and seems all around like a chill girl. I also get to continue convincing Jeremy he doesn't need to buy me a Christmas present; it's very sweet he wants to buy me pretty things but he really doesn't need to!
Last night I went up to El Tesoro and had a margarita and some snacks with Bo and the staff up there-- it was a lot of fun and the food is phenomenal-- if you haven't been and you're in the area, you've GOT to try it out. Really authentic, all the food is made from scratch. I haven't done a restaurant review in a while, so I'll put up more tomorrow.
I also have a new bed, which is really kinda nice. I can put pillows up all around it and have kind of a place to sit and be cozy and there's a real mattress so it's not like the old one that killed my back every night! Whew! I actually pretty much slept through the night last night, though I still have the problem of having too dark a room to wake up in. If it's dark, I just want to roll over and go back to sleep!
I think that's almost everything, really-- nothing as exciting as laser tag last week! I'm going to give in and have some Ramen since I'm walking to work tomorrow (that stuff sends your caloric/fat intake through the roof!) and I'm starving and then hit the hay. With any luck, I'll make at least $40 tomorrow and then the YMCA party on Wed won't bomb like the homeowner's one last week and perhaps I'll make a full $200 this week! Whoo!
Last Thu, my computer got assaulted by spyware and malware, which prompted a full wipe and reinstall of everything on it. Then the video wouldn't work, turns out there was something wrong with the formatting and so we had to fully wipe and reinstall everything again. It's such a pain, you forget how much stuff (flash, acrobat, and other plugins) has to be re-installed every time you do it. I'm starting to think maybe Amy's Magneto curse has extended itself to me!
This week's looking much better than last in the sales-and-tips area, so I'll have enough money to get Christmas for Jeremy and Emily and (with any luck) pay my first installment on the next credit card to be paid off. I bought myself a flickr pro account for Christmas since I've been meaning to for years and re-discovered so many wonderful pictures! I really missed the ones from Austin-- they got deleted in the last great computer debacle and I only had them on Flickr. Made me miss Austin all over again. And, of course, my Dill! Hopefully she'll have some free time over her break and we can catch up; she's been so busy with her teaching gig I've hardly talked to her! Also, with any luck, the airlines will keep having great sales and I can go out there this summer and see her and maybe help her move in to her own place. Maybe scout around some Ducati dealerships and see if they'd be interested in hiring Jeremy. The guy at the place in Southaven said he'd be interested, but I don't think either of us want to go back to that city...
Aaaanyway, this week should be good. I'll finally get to meet Emily's friend Aileen, I get to tag along on their wedding dress shopping day and try to start figuring out my own, and I figure if Emily and Joanna like her this much, she's a shoo in for someone I'll get along with. She's got some really amazing designs (she's a fashion designer type, went to SCAD), and seems all around like a chill girl. I also get to continue convincing Jeremy he doesn't need to buy me a Christmas present; it's very sweet he wants to buy me pretty things but he really doesn't need to!
Last night I went up to El Tesoro and had a margarita and some snacks with Bo and the staff up there-- it was a lot of fun and the food is phenomenal-- if you haven't been and you're in the area, you've GOT to try it out. Really authentic, all the food is made from scratch. I haven't done a restaurant review in a while, so I'll put up more tomorrow.
I also have a new bed, which is really kinda nice. I can put pillows up all around it and have kind of a place to sit and be cozy and there's a real mattress so it's not like the old one that killed my back every night! Whew! I actually pretty much slept through the night last night, though I still have the problem of having too dark a room to wake up in. If it's dark, I just want to roll over and go back to sleep!
I think that's almost everything, really-- nothing as exciting as laser tag last week! I'm going to give in and have some Ramen since I'm walking to work tomorrow (that stuff sends your caloric/fat intake through the roof!) and I'm starving and then hit the hay. With any luck, I'll make at least $40 tomorrow and then the YMCA party on Wed won't bomb like the homeowner's one last week and perhaps I'll make a full $200 this week! Whoo!
Wednesday, December 10, 2008
Flash Flood Warning, much?
Last night was supposed to start a few days of rain, possibly heavy rain. Apparently I'm the only one who looks at the radar. The storm system stretches from Mexico to Canada and is hitting pretty hard; I took mom to work this morning to go shopping, but unless the rain lets up I may not go-- driving back from Emory was like driving through the rain that hit Memphis during Katrina! No, really! I told mom when I dropped her off that there was totally a chance there'd be a tornado today, and about a half hour after I got home, they issued a tornado watch which may become a warning if the lightning and wind keeps up like it is now. I'm wondering if anyone's told the construction crew next door, even if they did wake me up at 7am I'd rather they not get blown away.
I really love severe weather (I know, I know, I'm strange-- but it's totally fascinating!), but it's putting a cramp in my win style right now. Not thrilled about that. I was also going to pick up some new fake chucks at Target since my old ones are getting a little, well, old, and see what their wedding organizer looks like. I'm stuck between that one and the Real Simple one, but you have to go to Crate and Barrel to get the Real Simple one, which is highly inconvenient.
Rhodes Singers had their Christmas at St. Mary's last night; obviously I couldn't go but I love you all and I'm sure it was amazing!
That's about it for now. I'm going to attempt a 30 minute nap since Casey kept me up and then the construction woke me up-- I'm sure you can imagine better than I how large drills can permeate a dream where you've just finished building your own house. All I know is that it ended in destruction and we were pretty ticked off.
I really love severe weather (I know, I know, I'm strange-- but it's totally fascinating!), but it's putting a cramp in my win style right now. Not thrilled about that. I was also going to pick up some new fake chucks at Target since my old ones are getting a little, well, old, and see what their wedding organizer looks like. I'm stuck between that one and the Real Simple one, but you have to go to Crate and Barrel to get the Real Simple one, which is highly inconvenient.
Rhodes Singers had their Christmas at St. Mary's last night; obviously I couldn't go but I love you all and I'm sure it was amazing!
That's about it for now. I'm going to attempt a 30 minute nap since Casey kept me up and then the construction woke me up-- I'm sure you can imagine better than I how large drills can permeate a dream where you've just finished building your own house. All I know is that it ended in destruction and we were pretty ticked off.
Tuesday, December 9, 2008
Win
Tomorrow I order up the last of the Christmas presents going to Indiana, finish Jan's present, drop by Pier One, and pull out the wrapping paper.
I think this is the most organized and most cost effective Christmas ever :)
I think this is the most organized and most cost effective Christmas ever :)
Monday, December 8, 2008
Hey, Farva, what's that restaurant you like with all the goofy stuff on the walls?
Well, a not-so-busy week has kept me from le blog; mostly sleeping while I fight yet another cycle of horrible sleep schedules thanks to Casey or the dog. Work was alright M-W, but Wednesday was d-e-d dead since the Avondale Charter School deal is off (Jill had an agreement with a charter schools in the area that for every dollar spent at the restaurant by members on Wednesdays in November, she would give a certain amount back) so I only made a few bucks. I also seem to end up staying later on Wednesdays than any other night, so mom's just going to give me the car to take in. Hopefully, I'll make enough over the next couple weeks to put tires on my car and start working on the exhaust-- we're supposed to have a party in this Wed spending a minimum of $300 and one next Wed spending a minimum of $1k!
I'd also like to say hello to my Aunt Linda who found me-- I saw Shallote, NC on my visitor's list and if it weren't for the trip Jeremy and I made, I wouldn't know where on earth that was! I've been meaning to e-mail her, so this afternoon I'll have to do that.
Saturday, I went with Emily, her dad, Sarah (Emily's younger sister; also at Agnes Scott) and two of Sarah's friends to play laser tag for Sarah's birthday and it was a BLAST. Their dad is a West Point grad, so we had a military commander and just whooped up on the little kids-- we took the tower and held them off two of the three games and on the other, went SWAT on them on a sweep and clear mission to take out as many as possible because of this jerk dad with them who made me pull out a can of verbal slap-to-the-face in front of the group of 25 eight year olds he brought for his son's birthday who had just watched him yell at the LaserQuest people because some of the packs weren't working. Like they could control that. I gave up our spots for us (they were going to have to figure out what to do with our activation keys anyway, so we would have only played for like half the time for which we had paid) and we got a free game, but we had to sit out two because they were so booked. No matter, we all chased the guy in to a corner and nailed him at least once each. Sarah's friends, Marly and Esther, were pretty cute and fun to hang out with, so all in all a good day. We also went to Ted's Montana Grill for dinner, which was super yummy-- I had the barbeque bison short ribs, which were amazing. I was so stuffed by the end of it I almost couldn't move!
Yesterday was officer transition workshop for Gamma Sigma, and even though it took allll afternoon (got there at 3, left at 730 and things were actually still wrapping up) it was a lot of fun and Becky and I amused ourselves greatly through the whole thing (since we were really just there in a "make sure they don't burn the place down" capacity). As usual, the girls were really sweet, and India and I are trading hookups on Foundation/Arthritis Foundation hookups which should be a lot of fun. There was also tons of good food, a requirement for any AOII event, including mini-croissants with chicken salad in them. Yum! I went overboard and had two sodas, so I'll have to try and stay away from them tonight. Hopefully I won't be tired when I get to work and it won't be a big deal to stick to water or soda water.
Not much else going on, really, I have to go drop some things at the dry cleaner's and deposit my paycheck this afternoon. I may put my paychecks (since they're generally pretty small-- server hourly is $2.13, which is up from the $2.10 it was when I worked at Birdi's) in my savings and use the rest to pay bills and do "fun things" (aka, put tires on the car lol) and see what happens with that. I have a good start with the $100 paycheck, and anything in my savings is better than the none I have after getting sick and not having a car wiped it all out.
Oh, I have gotten my Christmas list figured out, which is really exciting. Jeremy's parents are the hardest to shop for since his mom gets bored and goes out and buys movies or books and his dad... well, his dad just doesn't really need or want anything! I did, however, find a TV show they both like and figured out something creative for Jan (which means she hasn't gone out and gotten it without either of us realizing it) so I think we should be safe and not have to resort to gift-card-giving. I actually have several things I'd like to get for Jeremy, but the main one is something he's been wanting for a while-- prints of pictures he's taken over the years. I decided while looking through his pictures that between the two of us, we have enough awesome zoo and aquarium pictures that I'm gonna have to have at least one kid because I have the best room decorating idea ever. Rock on. Everyone else is, for the most part, getting some surprise mixture of candies from Greene's (the new hometown candy shoppe) and a something special for special people. I found the most adorable present for Fia, I can't wait to give it to her! I need to find the other small part of Josh and Sarah's present-- Target's a little short on their ornament supply this year, so maybe I'll just have to hit up the Super Target in Buckhead.
More when I think of it, or have something more interesting to say. Ciao!
I'd also like to say hello to my Aunt Linda who found me-- I saw Shallote, NC on my visitor's list and if it weren't for the trip Jeremy and I made, I wouldn't know where on earth that was! I've been meaning to e-mail her, so this afternoon I'll have to do that.
Saturday, I went with Emily, her dad, Sarah (Emily's younger sister; also at Agnes Scott) and two of Sarah's friends to play laser tag for Sarah's birthday and it was a BLAST. Their dad is a West Point grad, so we had a military commander and just whooped up on the little kids-- we took the tower and held them off two of the three games and on the other, went SWAT on them on a sweep and clear mission to take out as many as possible because of this jerk dad with them who made me pull out a can of verbal slap-to-the-face in front of the group of 25 eight year olds he brought for his son's birthday who had just watched him yell at the LaserQuest people because some of the packs weren't working. Like they could control that. I gave up our spots for us (they were going to have to figure out what to do with our activation keys anyway, so we would have only played for like half the time for which we had paid) and we got a free game, but we had to sit out two because they were so booked. No matter, we all chased the guy in to a corner and nailed him at least once each. Sarah's friends, Marly and Esther, were pretty cute and fun to hang out with, so all in all a good day. We also went to Ted's Montana Grill for dinner, which was super yummy-- I had the barbeque bison short ribs, which were amazing. I was so stuffed by the end of it I almost couldn't move!
Yesterday was officer transition workshop for Gamma Sigma, and even though it took allll afternoon (got there at 3, left at 730 and things were actually still wrapping up) it was a lot of fun and Becky and I amused ourselves greatly through the whole thing (since we were really just there in a "make sure they don't burn the place down" capacity). As usual, the girls were really sweet, and India and I are trading hookups on Foundation/Arthritis Foundation hookups which should be a lot of fun. There was also tons of good food, a requirement for any AOII event, including mini-croissants with chicken salad in them. Yum! I went overboard and had two sodas, so I'll have to try and stay away from them tonight. Hopefully I won't be tired when I get to work and it won't be a big deal to stick to water or soda water.
Not much else going on, really, I have to go drop some things at the dry cleaner's and deposit my paycheck this afternoon. I may put my paychecks (since they're generally pretty small-- server hourly is $2.13, which is up from the $2.10 it was when I worked at Birdi's) in my savings and use the rest to pay bills and do "fun things" (aka, put tires on the car lol) and see what happens with that. I have a good start with the $100 paycheck, and anything in my savings is better than the none I have after getting sick and not having a car wiped it all out.
Oh, I have gotten my Christmas list figured out, which is really exciting. Jeremy's parents are the hardest to shop for since his mom gets bored and goes out and buys movies or books and his dad... well, his dad just doesn't really need or want anything! I did, however, find a TV show they both like and figured out something creative for Jan (which means she hasn't gone out and gotten it without either of us realizing it) so I think we should be safe and not have to resort to gift-card-giving. I actually have several things I'd like to get for Jeremy, but the main one is something he's been wanting for a while-- prints of pictures he's taken over the years. I decided while looking through his pictures that between the two of us, we have enough awesome zoo and aquarium pictures that I'm gonna have to have at least one kid because I have the best room decorating idea ever. Rock on. Everyone else is, for the most part, getting some surprise mixture of candies from Greene's (the new hometown candy shoppe) and a something special for special people. I found the most adorable present for Fia, I can't wait to give it to her! I need to find the other small part of Josh and Sarah's present-- Target's a little short on their ornament supply this year, so maybe I'll just have to hit up the Super Target in Buckhead.
More when I think of it, or have something more interesting to say. Ciao!
Sunday, November 30, 2008
But I'm bored!
I really love my job, but I'm gonna have to start picking up more shifts! I get so bored now on my days off that I'm almost wishing I'd gone to look in to that job at BR. Speaking of which, I got a really cute shirt there on our Black Friday excursion that looks something like this, but the neck is a little higher, there are cute buttons on the shoulder, and it's a darker more marine blue. I'll take a picture when I get it back from the dry cleaners as I spilled bruschetta on it when I took Jeremy to dinner. The day I bought it. I still got it.
The news is boring, mostly people complaining about airport delays, but don't want to leave earlier in the day or not fly on a holiday weekend. Our friend Amanda sent a text on Thanksgiving to all us airline folks who are no longer working there (so, all of us that were friends lol) that we were all thankful for not having to spend a holiday weekend at the airport dealing with those people!!
I think I'm going to go buy stuff to send out after the first of the year so that I can go ahead and fill them out and have them ready to drop in the mail when I'm allowed to not keep secrets anymore :P Jeremy's much cuter than his mom (and, admittedly, me, too) gives him credit for-- I was pleasantly surprised at his response!
Now I'm back to watching HGTV and eating some PBJs. This girl on Property Virgins is ridiculous-- she wants everything in the world for under $110k which is silly. I also just noticed that the host has buckteeth... whoops. Nothing else interesting for the day, so I'm out. Ciao!
The news is boring, mostly people complaining about airport delays, but don't want to leave earlier in the day or not fly on a holiday weekend. Our friend Amanda sent a text on Thanksgiving to all us airline folks who are no longer working there (so, all of us that were friends lol) that we were all thankful for not having to spend a holiday weekend at the airport dealing with those people!!
I think I'm going to go buy stuff to send out after the first of the year so that I can go ahead and fill them out and have them ready to drop in the mail when I'm allowed to not keep secrets anymore :P Jeremy's much cuter than his mom (and, admittedly, me, too) gives him credit for-- I was pleasantly surprised at his response!
Now I'm back to watching HGTV and eating some PBJs. This girl on Property Virgins is ridiculous-- she wants everything in the world for under $110k which is silly. I also just noticed that the host has buckteeth... whoops. Nothing else interesting for the day, so I'm out. Ciao!
Trendfollower
Valerie's been getting these cute little blog backgrounds, so I decided it was time for a change and set myself up with one! I kinda like this one since it's all snowy, but may change it.
Happy Holidays!
Happy Holidays!
The Rundown
And no, it doesn't involve The Rock.
Last week ended up being pretty great. Jeremy decided he was going to drive up and surprise me! So Thanksgiving day, he showed up and spent a couple days here with me, which was really great. He drove back down yesterday and made it back alive (his crazy self rode the motorcycle) so needless to say I'm thankful for that as well.
Since Mon went so well at work, I was able to send off something for Val, Matt, and Ana for Christmas; even though it wasn't exactly what I wanted, it'll work just fine. I'm just picky about when I get something in particular in my head.
I have a lot to do over the next couple of days... I've been tasked not only with cleaning out the fridge (god help me) but getting my brother in the GED program at GPC... blargh. At least I have work tomorrow, which will be great because not only will it mean more money, but it will mean less time just sitting here doing nothing (kinda like I am now). I'm also looking for a place to possibly have a big party next New Year's-- there's nothing official yet, but since dates usually indicate things like that... I guess it's official. Judging by the way things went with the rest of the family, I'm doing really well to get that out of it! I'll have to talk to him some more tonight and see if we can't nail down something that involves spreading the word. And yes, I'm being intentionally vague.
That's about all for now. I'm going to go eat something small to tide me over until Lex calls for lunch, and see if I can't start on the short story I've wanted to write for a while now.
Last week ended up being pretty great. Jeremy decided he was going to drive up and surprise me! So Thanksgiving day, he showed up and spent a couple days here with me, which was really great. He drove back down yesterday and made it back alive (his crazy self rode the motorcycle) so needless to say I'm thankful for that as well.
Since Mon went so well at work, I was able to send off something for Val, Matt, and Ana for Christmas; even though it wasn't exactly what I wanted, it'll work just fine. I'm just picky about when I get something in particular in my head.
I have a lot to do over the next couple of days... I've been tasked not only with cleaning out the fridge (god help me) but getting my brother in the GED program at GPC... blargh. At least I have work tomorrow, which will be great because not only will it mean more money, but it will mean less time just sitting here doing nothing (kinda like I am now). I'm also looking for a place to possibly have a big party next New Year's-- there's nothing official yet, but since dates usually indicate things like that... I guess it's official. Judging by the way things went with the rest of the family, I'm doing really well to get that out of it! I'll have to talk to him some more tonight and see if we can't nail down something that involves spreading the word. And yes, I'm being intentionally vague.
That's about all for now. I'm going to go eat something small to tide me over until Lex calls for lunch, and see if I can't start on the short story I've wanted to write for a while now.
Sunday, November 23, 2008
Happy Thanksgiving!
I know it's a few days away, but this week is going to be busy so I'll go ahead and say it.
Tonight was fantastic-- India invited me to the AOII Thanksgiving at EA's house which was a lot of fun. They serve by Alpha order, which means that being old pays off because you get to go first! Oct '03, baby! There was ham, sweet potato casserole, mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, and Leslie made TWO turkeys that I got to carve with a butcher knife because nobody knew how to carve a turkey. It was great to get to know the girls better, and they were all so very sweet for me-- I'm definitely thankful for my wonderful new group of sisters! There was also a strange strawberry pretzel concoction that was wonderful, and chocolate cake with frosting and red hots on top. Yum!
I'm going to Emily's for Thanksgiving since I won't be able to go down and see Jeremy (sad) and we're doing a mini Thanksgiving and getting up (staying up?) to hit the outlet malls at midnight where Banana Republic and J Crew are having BIG sales on clearance stuff. It probably won't be as bad because nobody really has money, but I'm sure it'll still be crazy since it IS the outlet malls. I'm hoping to make some cash this week so I can get the Eiler's Christmas off to Marc and Jan and get some pants at either J Crew or Banana.
There's not much else otherwise. I'm so jealous Matt, Val, and Ana are off to Hong Kong this week! Talk about exciting. I should have asked Valerie to pick me up a postcard since I'm a major geek and don't have any from outside Japan as far as Asia goes. I'm absolutely exhausted from Casey staying up late all week, so I'm going to drink my bedtime tea and go to bed!
Again, Happy Thanksgiving everyone! I hope you can take the time to think of a few wonderful things for which you're thankful no matter how bad things are looking-- it will make you feel a little more calm inside. :)
Tonight was fantastic-- India invited me to the AOII Thanksgiving at EA's house which was a lot of fun. They serve by Alpha order, which means that being old pays off because you get to go first! Oct '03, baby! There was ham, sweet potato casserole, mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, and Leslie made TWO turkeys that I got to carve with a butcher knife because nobody knew how to carve a turkey. It was great to get to know the girls better, and they were all so very sweet for me-- I'm definitely thankful for my wonderful new group of sisters! There was also a strange strawberry pretzel concoction that was wonderful, and chocolate cake with frosting and red hots on top. Yum!
I'm going to Emily's for Thanksgiving since I won't be able to go down and see Jeremy (sad) and we're doing a mini Thanksgiving and getting up (staying up?) to hit the outlet malls at midnight where Banana Republic and J Crew are having BIG sales on clearance stuff. It probably won't be as bad because nobody really has money, but I'm sure it'll still be crazy since it IS the outlet malls. I'm hoping to make some cash this week so I can get the Eiler's Christmas off to Marc and Jan and get some pants at either J Crew or Banana.
There's not much else otherwise. I'm so jealous Matt, Val, and Ana are off to Hong Kong this week! Talk about exciting. I should have asked Valerie to pick me up a postcard since I'm a major geek and don't have any from outside Japan as far as Asia goes. I'm absolutely exhausted from Casey staying up late all week, so I'm going to drink my bedtime tea and go to bed!
Again, Happy Thanksgiving everyone! I hope you can take the time to think of a few wonderful things for which you're thankful no matter how bad things are looking-- it will make you feel a little more calm inside. :)
Saturday, November 22, 2008
Gabrrrrrr
An exhausting and frustrating week here, but I've heard that from people all over the world. We can all hope that next week will be a good one for all-- and why shouldn't it be? It's Thanksgiving!
I finally found my glasses (and my BlackBerry holster), just in time for my AAC meeting, but that was about the only non-frustrating thing for this week! I got lost in the country that God forgot (aka Cobb County) and almost rammed someone (figure of speech, I'm not really the ramming type, though I did almost cry) but dinner with AAC was great. Viki is hilarious, she's about my mother's age and has kids a little younger than me, and Becky is a few years older and reminds me a lot of my neighbor Genece. Lizzy is my age, she just got married a couple of weeks ago and has been dealing with trying to change her last name... herk. That's the one thing I am NOT looking forward to (though at least I'll finally be rid of the Sizemore name... blargh), it just seems to take so much time and energy.
Last night was Palate's 4th Anniversary and mom, her friend(?) David, and I went up and had a glass of wine and some of the bruschetta and the hummus plate. It was nice, and David's pretty cool and had some good pointers about fixing up the car and getting a new spare tire-- apparently he's done a lot of DIY with his car and rebuilt something like 5 engines!
I got home and called Jeremy, then kind of felt like I was going to go to bed since a glass of red wine will do that to a girl, so I put something silly on TV and started dozing off. All of the sudden, this car horn starts blaring and jolts me awake because in this neighborhood, horn honking like that generally means something is wrong. I throw on my coat and run out the back door and Juliet (the girl who lives in the guest house behind our place) is yelling down the driveway to her dad who has hit some kind of button or hit the button and then opened the door, causing the car to spaz out and honk. After that, I couldn't get to sleep, told Casey to go to sleep and he didn't which kept me up even later... today wasn't much better.
I did go to Figo with Emily and Joanna (who owns the cute bunny Bruno of Halloween post fame) and had some delicious ravioli-- Tuscan sausage and apple! I decided why not-- I had a Caesar salad if I didn't really like the ravioli, but the pasta was awesome. We went back to Joanna's and just hung out and played with the bunny (who tried to eat me) and had an amaretto sour.
Anyway, that's about all, nothing terribly interesting. If you are so inclined and not easily put out, my friend Jimmy has started a blog entitled "Crossroads: An Intersection of Faith, (Homo)Sexuality, & Culture" about his journey through his faith and his homosexuality. I find it very interesting, and I think it's wonderful Jimmy is finally comfortable enough to talk about these things. For those of you who don't know, I'm more of an Old Testament kind of gal-- not officially Jewish, but that is where my beliefs most closely lie, and between Jimmy and his friends who are contributing and discussing, I think that we're all learning something about how our faiths and personalities interact with an ever-changing society.
I finally found my glasses (and my BlackBerry holster), just in time for my AAC meeting, but that was about the only non-frustrating thing for this week! I got lost in the country that God forgot (aka Cobb County) and almost rammed someone (figure of speech, I'm not really the ramming type, though I did almost cry) but dinner with AAC was great. Viki is hilarious, she's about my mother's age and has kids a little younger than me, and Becky is a few years older and reminds me a lot of my neighbor Genece. Lizzy is my age, she just got married a couple of weeks ago and has been dealing with trying to change her last name... herk. That's the one thing I am NOT looking forward to (though at least I'll finally be rid of the Sizemore name... blargh), it just seems to take so much time and energy.
Last night was Palate's 4th Anniversary and mom, her friend(?) David, and I went up and had a glass of wine and some of the bruschetta and the hummus plate. It was nice, and David's pretty cool and had some good pointers about fixing up the car and getting a new spare tire-- apparently he's done a lot of DIY with his car and rebuilt something like 5 engines!
I got home and called Jeremy, then kind of felt like I was going to go to bed since a glass of red wine will do that to a girl, so I put something silly on TV and started dozing off. All of the sudden, this car horn starts blaring and jolts me awake because in this neighborhood, horn honking like that generally means something is wrong. I throw on my coat and run out the back door and Juliet (the girl who lives in the guest house behind our place) is yelling down the driveway to her dad who has hit some kind of button or hit the button and then opened the door, causing the car to spaz out and honk. After that, I couldn't get to sleep, told Casey to go to sleep and he didn't which kept me up even later... today wasn't much better.
I did go to Figo with Emily and Joanna (who owns the cute bunny Bruno of Halloween post fame) and had some delicious ravioli-- Tuscan sausage and apple! I decided why not-- I had a Caesar salad if I didn't really like the ravioli, but the pasta was awesome. We went back to Joanna's and just hung out and played with the bunny (who tried to eat me) and had an amaretto sour.
Anyway, that's about all, nothing terribly interesting. If you are so inclined and not easily put out, my friend Jimmy has started a blog entitled "Crossroads: An Intersection of Faith, (Homo)Sexuality, & Culture" about his journey through his faith and his homosexuality. I find it very interesting, and I think it's wonderful Jimmy is finally comfortable enough to talk about these things. For those of you who don't know, I'm more of an Old Testament kind of gal-- not officially Jewish, but that is where my beliefs most closely lie, and between Jimmy and his friends who are contributing and discussing, I think that we're all learning something about how our faiths and personalities interact with an ever-changing society.
Thursday, November 20, 2008
The world is getting smaller my Foot!
So last night I'm foolin' around on Borders and Amazon and even Build-a-Bear to find presents from Jeremy and I to Valerie, Matt, and Ana. I had wanted to get a few books or a movie or something, things that might last a while since they don't have much space for frivolous things living in an apartment in Singapore. I know that DVDs have different regions, so I'm trying to find the region that will play in Singapore or (thank you, Joe!) region-free DVDs and funny thing-- nobody sells the Asian region DVDs! And, none of the movies I had on my list for them are available region-free! Talk about a scam!
I see that Amazon has a China site, which would be great to buy and ship from there because the shipping would be less, but of course the site is in Chinese so when the Amazon support desk gets back to me and tells me to just use that site, I get a little irritated because they're either ignorant or working under the assumption that I can speak/read Chinese. Maybe I can call Dustin...
Borders has stores in Singapore, and I'd rather buy from Borders anyway, so I'm like, "Awesome, I can get them a gift card and they can just pop over and pick up whatever they want which is equally as good as my generally on the nose guesses." (yes, I actually said that, because I'm usually great at picking out books and movies for people) I ask the Borders help desk, and... you can't use Borders gift certificates anywhere but the US, which is the same problem with Amazon.
Do we really have such a poor relationship with Asia that we can't make it easy to get things to loved ones over there? I mean, geez! I'll have to get everything together and shipped to Memphis so that Marc and Jan can put it in their big box to Singapore and hope that my gift for Ana doesn't get crushed (not that I don't trust them to pack it on top, but I'm paranoid about things breaking). So, Jeremy probably won't get to sign the card. But, on the upside, I'll probably get Marc and Jan's presents at the same time, so maybe I'll get enough for free shipping ;)
Anyway, that was my adventure in Christmas shopping... I need to e-mail Jan and check on when they're sending that thing anyway. Blargh. People make things entirely too complicated in a world that's supposed to be simple!
I see that Amazon has a China site, which would be great to buy and ship from there because the shipping would be less, but of course the site is in Chinese so when the Amazon support desk gets back to me and tells me to just use that site, I get a little irritated because they're either ignorant or working under the assumption that I can speak/read Chinese. Maybe I can call Dustin...
Borders has stores in Singapore, and I'd rather buy from Borders anyway, so I'm like, "Awesome, I can get them a gift card and they can just pop over and pick up whatever they want which is equally as good as my generally on the nose guesses." (yes, I actually said that, because I'm usually great at picking out books and movies for people) I ask the Borders help desk, and... you can't use Borders gift certificates anywhere but the US, which is the same problem with Amazon.
Do we really have such a poor relationship with Asia that we can't make it easy to get things to loved ones over there? I mean, geez! I'll have to get everything together and shipped to Memphis so that Marc and Jan can put it in their big box to Singapore and hope that my gift for Ana doesn't get crushed (not that I don't trust them to pack it on top, but I'm paranoid about things breaking). So, Jeremy probably won't get to sign the card. But, on the upside, I'll probably get Marc and Jan's presents at the same time, so maybe I'll get enough for free shipping ;)
Anyway, that was my adventure in Christmas shopping... I need to e-mail Jan and check on when they're sending that thing anyway. Blargh. People make things entirely too complicated in a world that's supposed to be simple!
Wednesday, November 19, 2008
Blind as a bat without sonar
Soooo, I can't find my glasses. And this is a problem. I can't see anything after like 5p most days because of the light and it's really distressing. I'm starving because I can't go in the kitchen (I'm the only one who can smell and my brother let a whole bunch of milk spoil) and apparently my mother will only buy dinner if I go and get it... which I can't... BECAUSE I DON'T HAVE MY GLASSES!
They went missing election night, so I don't know if Karl Rove took them or maybe Mike Huckabee, but I'd really like them back. We keep it dark at work, so I'm worried I'm going to trip over something because I can't see it!
It would appear my mother is now going to go to the Farmer's Market, so-- oh but wait no. No, we're not going to do that.
I just made some pasta with sauce and we'll see if I can stand to eat it. I know they think I'm being dramatic, but the smell really is making me physically ill. I do'nt know how they can't smell it!
They went missing election night, so I don't know if Karl Rove took them or maybe Mike Huckabee, but I'd really like them back. We keep it dark at work, so I'm worried I'm going to trip over something because I can't see it!
It would appear my mother is now going to go to the Farmer's Market, so-- oh but wait no. No, we're not going to do that.
I just made some pasta with sauce and we'll see if I can stand to eat it. I know they think I'm being dramatic, but the smell really is making me physically ill. I do'nt know how they can't smell it!
Blargh
Well, Val, it's a night to make you glad you're in Singapore! It's been steadily dropping down to 24 degrees F here and I'm not really keen on that kind of weather...
The first chapter meeting with Gamma Sigma went really well, the girls are sweet and kind of remind me of Kappa Omicron (my chapter at Rhodes). Two of the advisers graduated from GA State, and then there's me and a girl who went to Kentucky at Bolling Green. They had elections tonight and were done in 20 minutes! UNHEARD OF! Anyway, I'm really excited-- the new officers for the offices I'm advising seem really excited and can't wait to get started. VP of Chapter Development is going to be tricky, it's the first time the office has existed but at least we're both starting from scratch.
I'm also not sure why I keep staying up so late... It's not like I'm really thrilled to be awake or anything, it just happens.
Oh, well, that's about it. I'm going to go research some identity protection stuff for Jeremy and hit the hay. Hopefully the guy with all the stuff in the garage won't be a jerk and try to do anything stupid like break in to the house. The former tenants left all this stuff there, abandoned the house basically, and then got ticked when even though Jeremy, Jeff, and Justin have been there for about three weeks now and he hasn't picked up his stuff, they gave him the ultimatum to pick his stuff up or buy it back from the DAV. People are really stupid sometimes...
The first chapter meeting with Gamma Sigma went really well, the girls are sweet and kind of remind me of Kappa Omicron (my chapter at Rhodes). Two of the advisers graduated from GA State, and then there's me and a girl who went to Kentucky at Bolling Green. They had elections tonight and were done in 20 minutes! UNHEARD OF! Anyway, I'm really excited-- the new officers for the offices I'm advising seem really excited and can't wait to get started. VP of Chapter Development is going to be tricky, it's the first time the office has existed but at least we're both starting from scratch.
I'm also not sure why I keep staying up so late... It's not like I'm really thrilled to be awake or anything, it just happens.
Oh, well, that's about it. I'm going to go research some identity protection stuff for Jeremy and hit the hay. Hopefully the guy with all the stuff in the garage won't be a jerk and try to do anything stupid like break in to the house. The former tenants left all this stuff there, abandoned the house basically, and then got ticked when even though Jeremy, Jeff, and Justin have been there for about three weeks now and he hasn't picked up his stuff, they gave him the ultimatum to pick his stuff up or buy it back from the DAV. People are really stupid sometimes...
Sunday, November 16, 2008
Palate
First night at work was awesome. I worked with Peter, whose girlfriend is a flight attendant for AirTran, and even though it was a super slow night it was good because it gave me a chance to learn the ropes. The wines are super nice, and I'll probably only ever get to try a few of them (we can't taste the "fourth tier" wines, the ones that cost upwards of $100/bottle), but we do get a free meal every night we work, and 50% off on nights we're not working.
Tonight I had macadamia encrusted scallops with sauteed green beans and garlic mashed potatoes. It was amazing. Also, for those of you who were wondering about the chocolate peanut butter mousse cake (given the "Better than Sex" award by Creative Loafing, the local rag), I don't know if it's better than sex, but it's pretty darn good! It's like a really well made, high quality Reeses cake or something, just delicious.
Peter was really nice, and John (the cook), too. One of the regulars came in and hang out and we talked about airlines, Hawaii, fixing cars, marketing schemes (Peter had one about a really large wine glass put on the front lawn...), and our significant others. There was a book club that came in reading "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn" which I haven't read, they recommended it though, so I may swing by the library. Other than that, there were just a couple of two tops and us. Even though the opening and closing stuff is kind of a bunch of tedious little things, it's really not that bad and I don't have to mop three levels of restaurant like at Birdi's, so I don't really mind at all.
Even though I told him not to worry about it, Peter tipped me out $10 (sadly only a third of what we made tonight) for the night, but he said that there are nights he'll make $10 or $20 and then come in for a Friday and pull $350 so I'm not too worried. That and with the $10 from tonight, I know I can pay for my Netflix addiction this month!
Friday is the 4th Anniversary party, so I'm going to that to meet the rest of the staff and have a glass of wine (they're knocking down all the high price wines by the glass, so I'm going to try the ones Peter recommended) and get to know my coworkers. If they're all as cool as Peter, and in a small staff they probably are, then I'll actually have a new group of friends!
I also, for the first time in a while, feel like going to bed at 1130p! I'm so glad this happened!
Tonight I had macadamia encrusted scallops with sauteed green beans and garlic mashed potatoes. It was amazing. Also, for those of you who were wondering about the chocolate peanut butter mousse cake (given the "Better than Sex" award by Creative Loafing, the local rag), I don't know if it's better than sex, but it's pretty darn good! It's like a really well made, high quality Reeses cake or something, just delicious.
Peter was really nice, and John (the cook), too. One of the regulars came in and hang out and we talked about airlines, Hawaii, fixing cars, marketing schemes (Peter had one about a really large wine glass put on the front lawn...), and our significant others. There was a book club that came in reading "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn" which I haven't read, they recommended it though, so I may swing by the library. Other than that, there were just a couple of two tops and us. Even though the opening and closing stuff is kind of a bunch of tedious little things, it's really not that bad and I don't have to mop three levels of restaurant like at Birdi's, so I don't really mind at all.
Even though I told him not to worry about it, Peter tipped me out $10 (sadly only a third of what we made tonight) for the night, but he said that there are nights he'll make $10 or $20 and then come in for a Friday and pull $350 so I'm not too worried. That and with the $10 from tonight, I know I can pay for my Netflix addiction this month!
Friday is the 4th Anniversary party, so I'm going to that to meet the rest of the staff and have a glass of wine (they're knocking down all the high price wines by the glass, so I'm going to try the ones Peter recommended) and get to know my coworkers. If they're all as cool as Peter, and in a small staff they probably are, then I'll actually have a new group of friends!
I also, for the first time in a while, feel like going to bed at 1130p! I'm so glad this happened!
What is wrong with people?
So I'm over at my wacko liberal haven, the Huffington Post and they have an article about the destruction of the wildfires in California. I'm an active commenter on the site, and was appalled at the response of some of the readers-- mainly that God was mad at them for passing Prop. 8, or that he was mad that people were protesting the passing of Prop. 8. I am not religious, but I do believe in God, and I can't understand how anyone would say that. I guess Old Testament God was known for raining hellfire down on people, but I see no pillars of salt-- I see innocent people who have lost EVERYTHING. CNN's update article yesterday mentioned a man whose 8 year old son is autistic. For those of you who have never had the amazing experience of meeting an autistic child, they don't deal with any minor change at all-- everything in their day is planned to the minute, food has to be specific, even colors can upset them. This man was going to have to tell his autistic son that everything he knew had disappeared, and he had no idea how to do that.
I'm not going to say what I think of Prop. 8 (though if you know me, you know my opinion) but I really don't think that's big on God's agenda-- there are wars and famine and disease, and He gave us the intelligence to monitor ourselves so that He didn't have to be everywhere at once. God may have created the wildfires that burn through California every year, but it was human failure to require fireproof shingles on homes, human failure to have oversight on fire stations built in the hills, that allowed the fire to spread as quickly and ferociously as it has. As for these people who would speak to God's will in a situation like this... go away. If you're not going to help, you're just hurting. These people, like the people of New Orleans and Houston, don't need to be told that their lives are ruined, everything they've known taken away from them in the most absolute fashion because their city has sinned. I'm willing to bet that there are some pretty devout people in those areas-- don't try to rip their faith from them because of some petty dislike of a state law.
We are all humans, we are all living on this earth together, and we must all love one another. It is this lack of community, this acceptance of division, that has left us high and dry. I don't care what religion you are, it's our humanity that makes us all the same.
(xposted)
I'm not going to say what I think of Prop. 8 (though if you know me, you know my opinion) but I really don't think that's big on God's agenda-- there are wars and famine and disease, and He gave us the intelligence to monitor ourselves so that He didn't have to be everywhere at once. God may have created the wildfires that burn through California every year, but it was human failure to require fireproof shingles on homes, human failure to have oversight on fire stations built in the hills, that allowed the fire to spread as quickly and ferociously as it has. As for these people who would speak to God's will in a situation like this... go away. If you're not going to help, you're just hurting. These people, like the people of New Orleans and Houston, don't need to be told that their lives are ruined, everything they've known taken away from them in the most absolute fashion because their city has sinned. I'm willing to bet that there are some pretty devout people in those areas-- don't try to rip their faith from them because of some petty dislike of a state law.
We are all humans, we are all living on this earth together, and we must all love one another. It is this lack of community, this acceptance of division, that has left us high and dry. I don't care what religion you are, it's our humanity that makes us all the same.
(xposted)
Saturday, November 15, 2008
I GOT A JOB!!!
Thanks for all your happy thoughts-- I'm the newest server at Palate Cafe and Wine Bar in Oakhurst area, so come see me!
I start tomorrow at 5 and train tomorrow and Monday, then work M-W from 5 to close. Yay!
I start tomorrow at 5 and train tomorrow and Monday, then work M-W from 5 to close. Yay!
Babies!
My friend Kimberly, who was married in July and pregnant shortly thereafter, found out yesterday that she's going to have a little boy! I'm so excited for her-- she's nervous about having a boy instead of a girl, but she'll be a wonderful mother no matter what and I can't wait to have another little baby I can spoil! (with cheaper shipping to boot!)
Hopefully I can get the week off in April to go up and see her for the delivery, or at least right after to help her settle back in at home. Most of their family is in Missouri, and they're in Illinois, so I know her mom would like to know she's got someone taking care of Kim.
Hopefully I can get the week off in April to go up and see her for the delivery, or at least right after to help her settle back in at home. Most of their family is in Missouri, and they're in Illinois, so I know her mom would like to know she's got someone taking care of Kim.
Blurgh
Prayers said, fingers crossed, lucky rabbit's feet rubbed and all that jazz...
I had an interview last night (good lord have mercy, is it really nearly 3?! I need to be careful about this finishing a book in one day deal...) at a restaurant called Palate. It's really cute, kinda trendy-- very Decatur. The owner was really sweet, she liked my experience and my ability to take care of the place on my own. There were, I think, two other people to speak with and she'll e-mail us today. Do all of the above and anything else you can think of for me because I would love to work at this place. It's close by, I'd make at least $100 a week with the option to pick up shifts, and it would mean I could get the time off to see Jeremy at Christmas and New Year's which is all I want right now.
I miss Jeremy so much, and it hasn't been that long since I last saw him... the next eight months are going to be rough. Hopefully, though, with a job I can afford to go down there once a month after this and my Christmas/birthday present is to be a ticket down there. It will be nice, even though not as cold in Florida as Mississippi, to cuddle up and watch movies like we did last year. We've chided everyone for starting Christmas before Thanksgiving this year, and here I am talking about it! I blame Valerie for putting up adorable Christmas decorating photos of little Ana. For anyone who doesn't know who Ana is (who are you, where have you been, and do you really ever talk to me?), she's the best little (un)niece I could ever hope to have and just about the cutest little girl I've ever met (and yes, I've seen my share-- goooooo daycare workers!).
They put up her Christmas tree this weekend and she got to wander around with garland on her. I really miss working at the daycare sometimes-- kids can wear on your nerves, but the moment they make you smile it's all forgivable. Just remind me I still need to wait a few years before really wanting one of my own! At least to the point of being able to afford one... though maybe I'll have a girl and snag some hand me downs! ;)
I suppose I should go to bed now. I've ended my election commentary on my other blog, so tomorrow I'll go back to reviewing literature and movies like a good little elitist and included will be Philippa Gregory's novels The Other Boleyn Girl and The Queen's Fool, both about the Tudor reign in to the rise of Queen Elizabeth I. I gotta tell you, those Tudors were frickin' nutters. Not just the flip flopping of religions, but Henry VIII bedded like half the Howard/Boleyn family, and after beheading the one Boleyn girl (Anne), he went off and relieved another of her caput (Catherine Howard)! I think the only reason Catherine Pharr survived the Queenship was because she happened to outlive him... And they say Americans are debauched...
Anyway, save it for the reviews. Hopefully in the next 12 hours I'll have a celebratory post up, but I'll try not to jinx myself...
I had an interview last night (good lord have mercy, is it really nearly 3?! I need to be careful about this finishing a book in one day deal...) at a restaurant called Palate. It's really cute, kinda trendy-- very Decatur. The owner was really sweet, she liked my experience and my ability to take care of the place on my own. There were, I think, two other people to speak with and she'll e-mail us today. Do all of the above and anything else you can think of for me because I would love to work at this place. It's close by, I'd make at least $100 a week with the option to pick up shifts, and it would mean I could get the time off to see Jeremy at Christmas and New Year's which is all I want right now.
I miss Jeremy so much, and it hasn't been that long since I last saw him... the next eight months are going to be rough. Hopefully, though, with a job I can afford to go down there once a month after this and my Christmas/birthday present is to be a ticket down there. It will be nice, even though not as cold in Florida as Mississippi, to cuddle up and watch movies like we did last year. We've chided everyone for starting Christmas before Thanksgiving this year, and here I am talking about it! I blame Valerie for putting up adorable Christmas decorating photos of little Ana. For anyone who doesn't know who Ana is (who are you, where have you been, and do you really ever talk to me?), she's the best little (un)niece I could ever hope to have and just about the cutest little girl I've ever met (and yes, I've seen my share-- goooooo daycare workers!).
They put up her Christmas tree this weekend and she got to wander around with garland on her. I really miss working at the daycare sometimes-- kids can wear on your nerves, but the moment they make you smile it's all forgivable. Just remind me I still need to wait a few years before really wanting one of my own! At least to the point of being able to afford one... though maybe I'll have a girl and snag some hand me downs! ;)I suppose I should go to bed now. I've ended my election commentary on my other blog, so tomorrow I'll go back to reviewing literature and movies like a good little elitist and included will be Philippa Gregory's novels The Other Boleyn Girl and The Queen's Fool, both about the Tudor reign in to the rise of Queen Elizabeth I. I gotta tell you, those Tudors were frickin' nutters. Not just the flip flopping of religions, but Henry VIII bedded like half the Howard/Boleyn family, and after beheading the one Boleyn girl (Anne), he went off and relieved another of her caput (Catherine Howard)! I think the only reason Catherine Pharr survived the Queenship was because she happened to outlive him... And they say Americans are debauched...
Anyway, save it for the reviews. Hopefully in the next 12 hours I'll have a celebratory post up, but I'll try not to jinx myself...
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
Walls of Jericho
Wrapped up Season 1 of Jericho a while ago, which was really intensely awesome. Jericho is about a little town in Kansas that survives the nuclear bombing of 23 US cities and is completely cut off from the world-- by the way, this isn't international terror, it's domestic. They spend six months trying to hold up, keep fed, and find out what happened until a new government is built and the military comes through to take everything over and rebuild the country. The next town over, New Bern where a munitions plant is, starts a war with Jericho over food. Second season is all about reconstruction, just started on CBS I think this year.
A lot of people are saying that the way to do things now would be to wipe out debt, let everyone start over from zero, and I think that Jericho is an extreme example of why that wouldn't be a great idea. What happens? The guys with guns take over everything.
Anyway, I got a little bit of picking up done and redid the palate on my bed. It would appear that there was kind of a box spring sort of deal at the bottom over the support slats and it was so worn down that the slats in the box spring dealie were sticking up. I flipped it over, and so now there's something going down the middle of the bed, but I have one of those old gym-type mats and a slice of the bumpy foam that goes right down the middle, so it isn't too bad and the rest of the bed is MUCH more comfortable now. I also found out that the extralong sheets that I had in the dorm, which I almost gave to the sal army, fit the futon with a little room which makes it easy to keep all the padding on the futon.
I don't feel too much like cooking this week, so I'm just laying low. It's been drizzling all day and cooling off, so I've been feeling less inclined to take a walk. It'll warm back up by midweek and I'll try to make the best of it then, including finally fixing the exhaust leak.
Valerie put up more pictures of Analia, who's getting so big and walking on her own now! I wish Jeremy and I could have gotten out there to see them when we were still working for the airlines. Singapore's a couple few stone's throw away!
I also still haven't found a job, which is getting more and more stressful. I know I'm one of 6,000 people who are all perfectly qualified to do one job or another and can't get even the ones they're overqualified for, but... man. It's kinda nervewracking. I'm still keeping my fingers crossed, so say a prayer and send me happy thoughts-- I need everything I can get! Jeremy's taking about buying me a plane ticket down there, and you can actually get a great deal with Expedia with that flexible travel dates thing. If I fly in to Orlando, Wednesday to Wednesday, I can get a ticket for like $169! That's only about $30 more than the gas money to get to Daytona Beach. Not too shabby, really. Plus, if I get in early that morning, I could take a bus or taxi in to town and see Prof. Newman for lunch which would be fantastic! We'll see. I hate for him to spend more money than he needs, but I guess it's just as unfair for him to not see me as it is for me not to see him.
That's it for now, possibly more tomorrow.
A lot of people are saying that the way to do things now would be to wipe out debt, let everyone start over from zero, and I think that Jericho is an extreme example of why that wouldn't be a great idea. What happens? The guys with guns take over everything.
Anyway, I got a little bit of picking up done and redid the palate on my bed. It would appear that there was kind of a box spring sort of deal at the bottom over the support slats and it was so worn down that the slats in the box spring dealie were sticking up. I flipped it over, and so now there's something going down the middle of the bed, but I have one of those old gym-type mats and a slice of the bumpy foam that goes right down the middle, so it isn't too bad and the rest of the bed is MUCH more comfortable now. I also found out that the extralong sheets that I had in the dorm, which I almost gave to the sal army, fit the futon with a little room which makes it easy to keep all the padding on the futon.
I don't feel too much like cooking this week, so I'm just laying low. It's been drizzling all day and cooling off, so I've been feeling less inclined to take a walk. It'll warm back up by midweek and I'll try to make the best of it then, including finally fixing the exhaust leak.
Valerie put up more pictures of Analia, who's getting so big and walking on her own now! I wish Jeremy and I could have gotten out there to see them when we were still working for the airlines. Singapore's a couple few stone's throw away!
I also still haven't found a job, which is getting more and more stressful. I know I'm one of 6,000 people who are all perfectly qualified to do one job or another and can't get even the ones they're overqualified for, but... man. It's kinda nervewracking. I'm still keeping my fingers crossed, so say a prayer and send me happy thoughts-- I need everything I can get! Jeremy's taking about buying me a plane ticket down there, and you can actually get a great deal with Expedia with that flexible travel dates thing. If I fly in to Orlando, Wednesday to Wednesday, I can get a ticket for like $169! That's only about $30 more than the gas money to get to Daytona Beach. Not too shabby, really. Plus, if I get in early that morning, I could take a bus or taxi in to town and see Prof. Newman for lunch which would be fantastic! We'll see. I hate for him to spend more money than he needs, but I guess it's just as unfair for him to not see me as it is for me not to see him.
That's it for now, possibly more tomorrow.
Monday, November 10, 2008
Message in a Bottle
I love travel, but since I don't often get a chance to, I really love postcards. My friends are wonderful to me in indulging my love for contact from afar and places I may or may not have been. Why the intro, you ask? I'm going to geek you out and list up my postcards. Hopefully, if you don't think I'm too geeky, you'll think of me when you see the next .25 picture and pick it up!
Anchorage, AK (Suehyla)
San Fransisco, CA (Erin, Laura)
Savannah, GA
Tybee Island, GA
Hawaii
Chicago, IL (Lauren)
Idaho (Sarabeth)
Boston, MA (Alexis, Hallie)
St. Johns, MI (Erica)
Minneapolis, MN (Erica)
New Hampshire
New York, NY (Ax)
North Carolina (Anna)
Montreat, NC (Michelle)
Seattle, WA (Erin)
Nashville, TN (Bishop)
Austin, TX
Amsterdam (Brandon, Dad)
Wien, Germany (Joey)
British Columbia, Canada (Lauren)
Oxford, England (Amanda Jane)
Berlin, Germany (Joey)
Tubingen, Germany (Joey)
Rome, Italy (Nikki, Lauren)
Tokyo, Japan (Allie)
Cuernavaca (Morelia), Mexico (Gail)
New Zealand (Anna)
St. Petersburg, Russia (thanks to Aeroflot)
Granada, Spain (Valisa)
Obviously, Joey, Lauren, Erin, and Erica love me the most ;)
I don't know why I love postcards so much, but it is fun to get a little note from far away. Even in the most remote places, it's fun to think of your friends, to send something back to a place they might never get to experience. Perhaps part of our human nature drives us to connect no matter where we are, and postcards are cheap but thoughtful way to attempt that connection no matter the distance.
Anchorage, AK (Suehyla)
San Fransisco, CA (Erin, Laura)
Savannah, GA
Tybee Island, GA
Hawaii
Chicago, IL (Lauren)
Idaho (Sarabeth)
Boston, MA (Alexis, Hallie)
St. Johns, MI (Erica)
Minneapolis, MN (Erica)
New Hampshire
New York, NY (Ax)
North Carolina (Anna)
Montreat, NC (Michelle)
Seattle, WA (Erin)
Nashville, TN (Bishop)
Austin, TX
Amsterdam (Brandon, Dad)
Wien, Germany (Joey)
British Columbia, Canada (Lauren)
Oxford, England (Amanda Jane)
Berlin, Germany (Joey)
Tubingen, Germany (Joey)
Rome, Italy (Nikki, Lauren)
Tokyo, Japan (Allie)
Cuernavaca (Morelia), Mexico (Gail)
New Zealand (Anna)
St. Petersburg, Russia (thanks to Aeroflot)
Granada, Spain (Valisa)
Obviously, Joey, Lauren, Erin, and Erica love me the most ;)
I don't know why I love postcards so much, but it is fun to get a little note from far away. Even in the most remote places, it's fun to think of your friends, to send something back to a place they might never get to experience. Perhaps part of our human nature drives us to connect no matter where we are, and postcards are cheap but thoughtful way to attempt that connection no matter the distance.
Get Smart
If I fill out 5 job applications (and I've already filled out one at Parker's), I can watch "Get Smart" which I borrowed from Emily. If I fill out two more, I can watch the little followup they did on Bruce and Lloyd (<3 Masi Oka), and speaking of Masi Oka, if I fill out two more I can watch Heroes on TV tonight instead of online tomorrow.
I picked up a TON of apps yesterday at the Forum, and only a couple here in town today, but it was a nice walk around so there ya go. The Forum is promising, Williams Sonoma and Banana Republic were hiring late because of the economy (one of the managers said she was waiting until a week after the election to start handing out applications-- she wanted to see what the stock market did) and a couple other seemed to be as well. It'd be a pain in the butt to drive all the way out there, but the scheduling sounds pretty decent, so it would be worth my while and I could get a few days off now and again to go down to see Jeremy. It would be better if I got a job in Decatur, then we wouldn't have to front the money to get new tires on the car and get it registered (not as big of a deal since I'm not driving it and, thanks to the tires, it's in obvious disrepair) because I could just walk to work. I applied at Parker's, which is where the old Mick's used to be (for the like zero people from Decatur who read this blog) and looks really super nice on the inside. I talked to the head chef who thought she recognized me from Birdi's, so hopefully she'll tell the hiring manager that I'm cute and nice and experienced and he should hire me first.
Brickstore is a possibility because of the Brickstore Biergarten (opening January at the latest, btw) and there's a new pizza place opening, Zucco, but the owner wasn't there when I stopped by and I don't think the painters spoke English so I'll probably just drop a letter of interest and a resume in the mail.
Though, let's be honest, I would die of happiness to work at WS or BR! I would spend too much money at WS, but that's ok. I'd have really nice kitchen stuff, and maybe even get some presents for people!
Anyway, I'm sure you're all thrilled with my job search updates, since that's what this has turned in to, but since there's not much else going on, I'll just bug out and start working on those apps and chopping up the butternut squash and the potatoes for the shepherd's pie (just the potatoes for the pie, not the squash).
I picked up a TON of apps yesterday at the Forum, and only a couple here in town today, but it was a nice walk around so there ya go. The Forum is promising, Williams Sonoma and Banana Republic were hiring late because of the economy (one of the managers said she was waiting until a week after the election to start handing out applications-- she wanted to see what the stock market did) and a couple other seemed to be as well. It'd be a pain in the butt to drive all the way out there, but the scheduling sounds pretty decent, so it would be worth my while and I could get a few days off now and again to go down to see Jeremy. It would be better if I got a job in Decatur, then we wouldn't have to front the money to get new tires on the car and get it registered (not as big of a deal since I'm not driving it and, thanks to the tires, it's in obvious disrepair) because I could just walk to work. I applied at Parker's, which is where the old Mick's used to be (for the like zero people from Decatur who read this blog) and looks really super nice on the inside. I talked to the head chef who thought she recognized me from Birdi's, so hopefully she'll tell the hiring manager that I'm cute and nice and experienced and he should hire me first.
Brickstore is a possibility because of the Brickstore Biergarten (opening January at the latest, btw) and there's a new pizza place opening, Zucco, but the owner wasn't there when I stopped by and I don't think the painters spoke English so I'll probably just drop a letter of interest and a resume in the mail.
Though, let's be honest, I would die of happiness to work at WS or BR! I would spend too much money at WS, but that's ok. I'd have really nice kitchen stuff, and maybe even get some presents for people!
Anyway, I'm sure you're all thrilled with my job search updates, since that's what this has turned in to, but since there's not much else going on, I'll just bug out and start working on those apps and chopping up the butternut squash and the potatoes for the shepherd's pie (just the potatoes for the pie, not the squash).
Thursday, November 6, 2008
Another lazy day
There are Mormons on Six Feet Under. Well, actually, no. They're not Mormons. They're some strange perversity of polygamy. With Space Horses.
This bed is getting exceedingly uncomfortable, and makes my lower back hurt. Turns out the wooden slats can't be taken out, they're part of the bed, so I'll have to find some way to fill in the blanks, even though the blanks are the comfortable part.
Fixing it might also involve getting off my butt... even though I'm feeling better, I'm still not motivated enough to deal with this bed! The clothes, the crafts, all that I can deal with-- the bed is my Mt. Everest. Any suggestions on decent, cheap padding until I can afford a foam topper?
Time for food, I think. Possibly more later!
This bed is getting exceedingly uncomfortable, and makes my lower back hurt. Turns out the wooden slats can't be taken out, they're part of the bed, so I'll have to find some way to fill in the blanks, even though the blanks are the comfortable part.
Fixing it might also involve getting off my butt... even though I'm feeling better, I'm still not motivated enough to deal with this bed! The clothes, the crafts, all that I can deal with-- the bed is my Mt. Everest. Any suggestions on decent, cheap padding until I can afford a foam topper?
Time for food, I think. Possibly more later!
Wednesday, November 5, 2008
Change is in the Air
Last night was an amazing experience, and I feel more than any other time in my life that I have been a part of making history. Here in Decatur, fireworks shot off, people were dancing in the streets (no, really, not just another song lyric), hugging strangers, it was an amazing night. I think we feel really connected to this moment here in Atlanta because we are the birthplace of Martin Luther King, JR. and, rightfully, the entirety of Metro Atlanta went blue for Barack. Ebeneezer Baptist Church celebrated through the night, Dr. King's home church.
I hope, so fervently, that this means better things for our country. I know some extreme conservatives who are still convinced he's a socialist Muslim terrorist, but I really don't think that's the case. I think that, like everyone who believes in him, he wants this country fixed. We've been scared and hateful for the last eight years, turning away from each other when we ought to have been lifting one another up. This is the rhetoric of hope, love, and charity (which, correct me if I'm wrong Jimmy, is a keystone of Corinthians) which is foreign to us at this juncture in time. John McCain's concession speech was beautiful and graceful, even if his supporters decided to be real buttheads and boo and interrupt him, and was a true show of bipartisanship. He knows that this is the change our country needs, and he intends to stand behind President Obama and help effect that change-- to get us back to glory. If you missed either of their speeches, you can find them in whole on MSNBC (to the left of the main images). I encourage you to watch both-- they are both incredibly important speeches, and darn well written at that.
Moving on (though I'm still not entirely sure what to do with myself...), not much has happened since getting back from Florida. I've been doing my best to keep Jeremy company on the phone, he's been really bored with nothing to do, and doing my best to keep applying for jobs. I think this afternoon will include a trip to Sushi Avenue for a lunch special and then sitting down to apply for more jobs. I'm hoping that now the election's over, people will start hiring again. The election always screws things up anyway, and the fact that the economy stank to begin with certainly didn't help!
I spent the election coverage generally with Comedy Central-- CNN got on my nerves pretty quickly-- the maps, graphs, holograms, charts, lists, and other computerized crap was insane! I DON'T EVEN KNOW WHAT YOU'RE DOING, WOLF! I stuck around on the off chance James Carville threw something at him, but that didn't happen and then Campbell Brown started talking, so I was pretty much out at that point. Instead, I showed my mom the Weekend Update clip with the map. It was pretty much the EXACT SAME THING that the dude on CNN was doing at the same time.
It's at the 5:28 left mark. The rest of it is pretty funny, but the map is what you want.
Stephen Colbert and Jon Stewart were, of course, really freakin' funny.
Well, I think that's about all I can squeeze out for this one, so I'm gonna go get dressed and walk up to the square. Ciao!
I hope, so fervently, that this means better things for our country. I know some extreme conservatives who are still convinced he's a socialist Muslim terrorist, but I really don't think that's the case. I think that, like everyone who believes in him, he wants this country fixed. We've been scared and hateful for the last eight years, turning away from each other when we ought to have been lifting one another up. This is the rhetoric of hope, love, and charity (which, correct me if I'm wrong Jimmy, is a keystone of Corinthians) which is foreign to us at this juncture in time. John McCain's concession speech was beautiful and graceful, even if his supporters decided to be real buttheads and boo and interrupt him, and was a true show of bipartisanship. He knows that this is the change our country needs, and he intends to stand behind President Obama and help effect that change-- to get us back to glory. If you missed either of their speeches, you can find them in whole on MSNBC (to the left of the main images). I encourage you to watch both-- they are both incredibly important speeches, and darn well written at that.
Moving on (though I'm still not entirely sure what to do with myself...), not much has happened since getting back from Florida. I've been doing my best to keep Jeremy company on the phone, he's been really bored with nothing to do, and doing my best to keep applying for jobs. I think this afternoon will include a trip to Sushi Avenue for a lunch special and then sitting down to apply for more jobs. I'm hoping that now the election's over, people will start hiring again. The election always screws things up anyway, and the fact that the economy stank to begin with certainly didn't help!
I spent the election coverage generally with Comedy Central-- CNN got on my nerves pretty quickly-- the maps, graphs, holograms, charts, lists, and other computerized crap was insane! I DON'T EVEN KNOW WHAT YOU'RE DOING, WOLF! I stuck around on the off chance James Carville threw something at him, but that didn't happen and then Campbell Brown started talking, so I was pretty much out at that point. Instead, I showed my mom the Weekend Update clip with the map. It was pretty much the EXACT SAME THING that the dude on CNN was doing at the same time.
It's at the 5:28 left mark. The rest of it is pretty funny, but the map is what you want.
Stephen Colbert and Jon Stewart were, of course, really freakin' funny.
Well, I think that's about all I can squeeze out for this one, so I'm gonna go get dressed and walk up to the square. Ciao!
Monday, November 3, 2008
Southern nights
This weekend, I helped Jeremy move down to his new place in Daytona Beach (he didn't transfer all the pictures to my memory chip, so only about half are up) on Saturday, then drove back with his parents Sunday. The drive down was nice-- 75S isn't nearly as bad as 75N, and the scenery is really nice. Passed Ocmulgee and Warner-Robbins AFB, and went through Tifton (shout out to the Dill family) and Valdosta (where pecans are born), then on through Jacksonville (where we ran in to Georgia fans taunting Florida fans in traffic... too bad they couldn't live up to it) and St. Augustine to Daytona. It's a really nice little area, and it's convenient to a few pretty nifty cities (Historical St. Augustine, Jacksonville, and Orlando), and it's not directly in Daytona so they won't be plagued by tourists when the time comes.
The house was really nice, but the previous tenants just about tore the heck out of the place-- cracked floor tiles, damaged fans/remotes, damage to the walls... I spent like all day adding things to the list I started, and Jeremy said he was still adding stuff last night. Most of it is minor, but we just want to make sure she doesn't try to charge them since she wasn't going to bother being there to do a walkthrough. It's also really easy to get to all your basic stuff from his place-- Target, Publix, gas, pharmacy, even a game shop. Got the bike off the back of the truck easier than we thought, and so Jeremy and his dad and mom worked on the futon and I put his massive stores of food up in the insane storage in the kitchen. I want this kitchen, no lie.
After things had gotten a little more settled, we went out to find the school, drove down to the beach (I LOVE THE OCEAN!) and came back and had some Steak and Shake for dinner before finishing up the futon and hitting the hay. Marc took some pictures of me and Jeremy part for me and part for Valerie, and I think this one's my favorite:
It just sums it all up, I think!
Drive back was uneventful, then spent most of last night keeping Jeremy company on the phone until his roommate Jeff got there. Today, I go apply for more jobs and try to get this tire situation figured out on my car. Bugger.
Don't forget to vote tomorrow!
The house was really nice, but the previous tenants just about tore the heck out of the place-- cracked floor tiles, damaged fans/remotes, damage to the walls... I spent like all day adding things to the list I started, and Jeremy said he was still adding stuff last night. Most of it is minor, but we just want to make sure she doesn't try to charge them since she wasn't going to bother being there to do a walkthrough. It's also really easy to get to all your basic stuff from his place-- Target, Publix, gas, pharmacy, even a game shop. Got the bike off the back of the truck easier than we thought, and so Jeremy and his dad and mom worked on the futon and I put his massive stores of food up in the insane storage in the kitchen. I want this kitchen, no lie.
After things had gotten a little more settled, we went out to find the school, drove down to the beach (I LOVE THE OCEAN!) and came back and had some Steak and Shake for dinner before finishing up the futon and hitting the hay. Marc took some pictures of me and Jeremy part for me and part for Valerie, and I think this one's my favorite:
It just sums it all up, I think!
Drive back was uneventful, then spent most of last night keeping Jeremy company on the phone until his roommate Jeff got there. Today, I go apply for more jobs and try to get this tire situation figured out on my car. Bugger.
Don't forget to vote tomorrow!
Please allow me to introduce myself
It's November 3rd, the most nerve wracking day a four year cycle can have. Though I originally wanted to keep politics out of this blog, I do feel the need to say this: I Support Barack Obama. Time and time again, he comes through with a solid plan for our economy and our country-- only in extremely rare cases does he resort to negative campaigning, slandering, or maligning his opponent. I used to respect John McCain, I thought that he might be a Republican I could vote for, and I think this would be an extremely different race had he chosen Joe Liberman, or even hotheaded Rudy Guiliani as his veep president. But he didn't, and as his campaign gets more bogged down in itself, he starts to hate and get angry, and hate and anger are two very dangerous things that feed off of one another. You can be pro-life without mocking women's health, you can be pro-America and still be liberal, and you can be well educated without being an elitist.
That being said, I beg all of you to get out and vote tomorrow for whomever you wish. This is the most important election since 1933, if not the election of Abraham Lincoln. Our country is spiraling towards chaos and we need a focused leader to bring us back to greatness. If you have an opinion, let it be heard. And in the words of Will Smith's father, "if you don't vote, you have to shut up."
That being said, I beg all of you to get out and vote tomorrow for whomever you wish. This is the most important election since 1933, if not the election of Abraham Lincoln. Our country is spiraling towards chaos and we need a focused leader to bring us back to greatness. If you have an opinion, let it be heard. And in the words of Will Smith's father, "if you don't vote, you have to shut up."
Friday, October 31, 2008
I think I can, I think I can
You know, an hour ago I was in a great mood. There are lots of retail jobs and restaurant jobs up at the Forum (Norcross) and as big of a pain in the but as it might be, Emily's out there so I can make it an excuse to see her since I seem to not have any friends in Decatur anymore. I was going to go vote, take my mom her lunch, apply for some jobs, get my brother (yay for the last trip to Smyrna!), and get home and wait excitedly for Jeremy.
I pulled out of the driveway and my front right tire went flat.
Is there any particular reason that God, fate, karma, whoever's on duty today seems to hate me? Do they not pass memos around letting each other know that they've already screwed me the day before? I think they need to have that tube system checked out.
It's getting a lot harder to stay positive and I know I have to, so just say a little prayer and send happy thoughts to me... I could use them right now.
Since I am trying to make myself feel better, I bring you Bruno (Joanna's Bunny) and the Pumpkin Pi.
I pulled out of the driveway and my front right tire went flat.
Is there any particular reason that God, fate, karma, whoever's on duty today seems to hate me? Do they not pass memos around letting each other know that they've already screwed me the day before? I think they need to have that tube system checked out.
It's getting a lot harder to stay positive and I know I have to, so just say a little prayer and send happy thoughts to me... I could use them right now.
Since I am trying to make myself feel better, I bring you Bruno (Joanna's Bunny) and the Pumpkin Pi.
Happy Halloween!
It's my favorite holiday (next to New Years) today! It's also my little brother's birthday... it's scary, I remember going to the hospital hours after he was born and holding him and now he's 18! Yikes!
My family has always been in to Halloween; when my parents lived at the Highland Bakeries, they used to have huge costume parties that people got completely decked out for. My mom would stand at the door with baby Meg and greet people, and I would ask them to show me their belly button (as I had apparently just discovered mine). I'm fairly certain I was some form of kitty for the first few years of my life, then I was a witch, a gogo dancer, a 50's prom queen, a 20's lady (not a flapper), and various other things. Thankfully it seems as though I've grown out of my laryngitis on Halloween habit, that was rough to go trick-or-treating with. Who doesn't love a spooky holiday where you get to be so creative!
I've been really bored lately, but with only a few books to read it hasn't gotten better. I watch new shows on Netflix, and keep up with Valerie's blog (still want to steal Ana to come play with me!), but I'd really like to do some more scrapbooking. Sad thing is, it's all in Memphis! I'm hoping I caught Jeremy in time before he left and he can bring my drawers with him, because there's so much stuff in my scrapbooking bin that I need to get started and do maybe a page a day or something. I also need to get more card stock, just plain white, so that I can work on my AOII pledge scrapbook in what used to be my pledge binder.
Anyway, that's about all that's going on here, nothing entirely interesting. Jeremy's on his way down for the night, then we're off to Daytona Beach in the morning to get him moved in and clear out a space for the bike when Marc and Jan get there tomorrow afternoon. It's really exciting, but nerve wracking, too!
Off to Norcross (where the rich people still have money) to apply for jobs! Oh, and hopefully to vote!
Oh, and in the spirit of Halloween, I leave you Gwennie (Krystal's daughter) the Bumblebee!
All the way from Hiroshima, Japan!
My family has always been in to Halloween; when my parents lived at the Highland Bakeries, they used to have huge costume parties that people got completely decked out for. My mom would stand at the door with baby Meg and greet people, and I would ask them to show me their belly button (as I had apparently just discovered mine). I'm fairly certain I was some form of kitty for the first few years of my life, then I was a witch, a gogo dancer, a 50's prom queen, a 20's lady (not a flapper), and various other things. Thankfully it seems as though I've grown out of my laryngitis on Halloween habit, that was rough to go trick-or-treating with. Who doesn't love a spooky holiday where you get to be so creative!
I've been really bored lately, but with only a few books to read it hasn't gotten better. I watch new shows on Netflix, and keep up with Valerie's blog (still want to steal Ana to come play with me!), but I'd really like to do some more scrapbooking. Sad thing is, it's all in Memphis! I'm hoping I caught Jeremy in time before he left and he can bring my drawers with him, because there's so much stuff in my scrapbooking bin that I need to get started and do maybe a page a day or something. I also need to get more card stock, just plain white, so that I can work on my AOII pledge scrapbook in what used to be my pledge binder.
Anyway, that's about all that's going on here, nothing entirely interesting. Jeremy's on his way down for the night, then we're off to Daytona Beach in the morning to get him moved in and clear out a space for the bike when Marc and Jan get there tomorrow afternoon. It's really exciting, but nerve wracking, too!
Off to Norcross (where the rich people still have money) to apply for jobs! Oh, and hopefully to vote!
Oh, and in the spirit of Halloween, I leave you Gwennie (Krystal's daughter) the Bumblebee!
All the way from Hiroshima, Japan!
Tuesday, October 28, 2008
Drove the Chevy to the levy but the levy was dry
I just realized half of these have had song titles, I just happen to always have a song stuck in my head.
Applied at 5th Earl Market today for a counter position-- not much, but still a job! Turns out that vindictive (insert your favorite derogatory terms or curses here) who was my manager at VS said that I was fired, even though I quit because they didn't want to let me take a break after I passed out on the sales floor with a 101 fever and then scheduled me for a day I told them I couldn't work to begin with.
Yeah, that's the story in a nutshell.
It means she flagged me as ineligible for rehire and that I can't get the job at BBW with Em. Otherwise known as the only job I could find. I'm kind of stuck in the doldrums (yeah, 5th grade throwbacks), I know I need to keep applying for jobs and keep on truckin' but it's just so hard when I've applied for over 75 jobs and there's no response to speak of.
Needless to say, today was exhausting mentally, so now I'm sitting here watching (more) HGTV and eating some ramen because I can't bring myself to actually cook. I'll have to get on it tomorrow, though, before some of it goes bad.
I'll leave you on a high note and a recipe for an amazing potato and leek soup! (original recipe, Emeril Lagasse, modified by me)
1lb russett potatoes (about four or five) diced
1lb leeks (about three decent sized leeks) sliced longways, rinsed, and then cut crosswise
1tbsp minced or dried garlic
2 pieces bacon (pref with black peppercorns on, if not, 1 tbsp rough ground black pepper)
2tbsp butter
5 cups chicken stock
2 cups heavy cream
in a large stock pot, melt down butter and put in chopped bacon. heat over low flame until the fat in the bacon has rendered. drop in chopped leeks and cook for about 5 minutes, until the leeks have wilted. pour in chicken stock, tomatoes, and garlic and let cook for about thirty minutes, or until potatoes are soft to fork. pour soup in portions in to a blender and blend to a slightly chunky consistency, then add in heavy cream to taste per portion. you can mix it all together again, and reheat easily.
Applied at 5th Earl Market today for a counter position-- not much, but still a job! Turns out that vindictive (insert your favorite derogatory terms or curses here) who was my manager at VS said that I was fired, even though I quit because they didn't want to let me take a break after I passed out on the sales floor with a 101 fever and then scheduled me for a day I told them I couldn't work to begin with.
Yeah, that's the story in a nutshell.
It means she flagged me as ineligible for rehire and that I can't get the job at BBW with Em. Otherwise known as the only job I could find. I'm kind of stuck in the doldrums (yeah, 5th grade throwbacks), I know I need to keep applying for jobs and keep on truckin' but it's just so hard when I've applied for over 75 jobs and there's no response to speak of.
Needless to say, today was exhausting mentally, so now I'm sitting here watching (more) HGTV and eating some ramen because I can't bring myself to actually cook. I'll have to get on it tomorrow, though, before some of it goes bad.
I'll leave you on a high note and a recipe for an amazing potato and leek soup! (original recipe, Emeril Lagasse, modified by me)
1lb russett potatoes (about four or five) diced
1lb leeks (about three decent sized leeks) sliced longways, rinsed, and then cut crosswise
1tbsp minced or dried garlic
2 pieces bacon (pref with black peppercorns on, if not, 1 tbsp rough ground black pepper)
2tbsp butter
5 cups chicken stock
2 cups heavy cream
in a large stock pot, melt down butter and put in chopped bacon. heat over low flame until the fat in the bacon has rendered. drop in chopped leeks and cook for about 5 minutes, until the leeks have wilted. pour in chicken stock, tomatoes, and garlic and let cook for about thirty minutes, or until potatoes are soft to fork. pour soup in portions in to a blender and blend to a slightly chunky consistency, then add in heavy cream to taste per portion. you can mix it all together again, and reheat easily.
Monday, October 27, 2008
Weekend Update
But not the funny SNL kind-- though I have to give Will Ferrell props for being the best George W. Bush impersonator ever; I don't care who you voted for it's true.
Jeremy came in Thursday night, stayed through this morning, which was really great. I'm sad I won't really see him much over the next nine months, but since the mechanic's school thing was in part my doing... I can't be too upset about it. We were hoping that I could stable pony him down to Daytona from Atlanta since he didn't have anyone to ride with, that way we could get some things straightened up and ready for his parents to bring some more stuff down, then I'd ride back up with them through Atlanta (as it's the best way to go between Memphis and Daytona Beach). Now, however, it looks like they're thinking about doing it all in two days (down one day, back the next) to be back for something on Sunday and I'm not sure I can handle that travel schedule! Jan and Marc amaze me with their marathon driving schedules sometimes, I'm not sure I could keep up!
As much as I'd love to go down and see the place, I'll probably be up the weekend before Thanksgiving so I guess that's not too much longer to wait. Hopefully (everyone cross their fingers, rub lucky rabbit feet, all that jazz) I'll land a job at Bath and Body Works with Emily, and work like every shift Kendra needs covered between now and whenever-- she said if HR approves it (long story involving my previous employment under a lying, cheating manager at Victoria's Secret) and I'll work Thanksgiving and Christmas week then I'm hired. That would be... so very nice. I'm going to hold off on calling back on the GA Dems job (which apparently would alienate me distinctly from some people...), because even though I'd be driving to Gwinett, I'd probably end up making more money. And if there are two long days in a row, I can just stay with Emily.
Anyway, again, it was great having Jeremy here. We went to Sage on Friday for dinner and it was AMAZING, and then to Emily's on Saturday for the Grand Illumination. It wasn't extremely grand, but it was a nice time and we got to watch Silver Bullet and Van Helsing. Everyone loves a good cheesy Halloween movie. We went out for several walks, since Decatur is walk-friendly, and hit up Dairy Queen a few times. Also got to finish out Burn Notice, Season 1, which is awesome.
Not sure what else to say, just hanging out watching Heroes now, and I'm ridiculously excited about Halloween Office on Thursday.
Ciao for now!
Jeremy came in Thursday night, stayed through this morning, which was really great. I'm sad I won't really see him much over the next nine months, but since the mechanic's school thing was in part my doing... I can't be too upset about it. We were hoping that I could stable pony him down to Daytona from Atlanta since he didn't have anyone to ride with, that way we could get some things straightened up and ready for his parents to bring some more stuff down, then I'd ride back up with them through Atlanta (as it's the best way to go between Memphis and Daytona Beach). Now, however, it looks like they're thinking about doing it all in two days (down one day, back the next) to be back for something on Sunday and I'm not sure I can handle that travel schedule! Jan and Marc amaze me with their marathon driving schedules sometimes, I'm not sure I could keep up!
As much as I'd love to go down and see the place, I'll probably be up the weekend before Thanksgiving so I guess that's not too much longer to wait. Hopefully (everyone cross their fingers, rub lucky rabbit feet, all that jazz) I'll land a job at Bath and Body Works with Emily, and work like every shift Kendra needs covered between now and whenever-- she said if HR approves it (long story involving my previous employment under a lying, cheating manager at Victoria's Secret) and I'll work Thanksgiving and Christmas week then I'm hired. That would be... so very nice. I'm going to hold off on calling back on the GA Dems job (which apparently would alienate me distinctly from some people...), because even though I'd be driving to Gwinett, I'd probably end up making more money. And if there are two long days in a row, I can just stay with Emily.
Anyway, again, it was great having Jeremy here. We went to Sage on Friday for dinner and it was AMAZING, and then to Emily's on Saturday for the Grand Illumination. It wasn't extremely grand, but it was a nice time and we got to watch Silver Bullet and Van Helsing. Everyone loves a good cheesy Halloween movie. We went out for several walks, since Decatur is walk-friendly, and hit up Dairy Queen a few times. Also got to finish out Burn Notice, Season 1, which is awesome.
Not sure what else to say, just hanging out watching Heroes now, and I'm ridiculously excited about Halloween Office on Thursday.
Ciao for now!
Thursday, October 23, 2008
Oh, oh, I- I can't wait to see you again
That's right, I'm goin' Miley Cyrus on you. What then?
Yesterday ended up ok-- got all my books out of the car and my wicker toiletries drawers, so hopefully now nothing will get hot and explode in my car since it's mostly empty!
Tomorrow/today will be full, but more relaxed since I don't have to go to Smyrna and dodge the 18 wheelers on 285 (THE worst part about Atlanta driving!), I just have to try and get things a little organized so that we can squeeze Jeremy in, hopefully tonight when he gets in on the 9p!
I'm going to also need to make a birthday card for Melissa, my Indiana Rose Buddy, and send my little her surprise package. I keep getting confused on Facebook because one of our new girls has the exact same name as Jeremy's sister (well, her maiden name, actually), so even though I know Valerie Clark isn't Jeremy's sister it still makes me do a double take. Speaking of which, Analia is starting to take steps on her own now! She was such a sweet baby, and continues to be it seems, and Jeremy and I can't wait to see her again. She thinks he's the best thing since a fresh bottle, so I think maybe I'll get dad to take a picture of us to send to her and I'll take a super goofy one of him since that's what she likes most. I'll just have to preoccupy myself with Ana, 'cause I don't need one for a while yet...
Oh, and cooking. Definitely cooking. The fall social last night definitely re-energized me a bit, so now I think I can pick myself up and do what I oughtta. We have butternut squash, chicken, and potatoes and leeks that need something done with, so I'll be cleaning out the fridge and freezer and digging in.
Yesterday ended up ok-- got all my books out of the car and my wicker toiletries drawers, so hopefully now nothing will get hot and explode in my car since it's mostly empty!
Tomorrow/today will be full, but more relaxed since I don't have to go to Smyrna and dodge the 18 wheelers on 285 (THE worst part about Atlanta driving!), I just have to try and get things a little organized so that we can squeeze Jeremy in, hopefully tonight when he gets in on the 9p!
I'm going to also need to make a birthday card for Melissa, my Indiana Rose Buddy, and send my little her surprise package. I keep getting confused on Facebook because one of our new girls has the exact same name as Jeremy's sister (well, her maiden name, actually), so even though I know Valerie Clark isn't Jeremy's sister it still makes me do a double take. Speaking of which, Analia is starting to take steps on her own now! She was such a sweet baby, and continues to be it seems, and Jeremy and I can't wait to see her again. She thinks he's the best thing since a fresh bottle, so I think maybe I'll get dad to take a picture of us to send to her and I'll take a super goofy one of him since that's what she likes most. I'll just have to preoccupy myself with Ana, 'cause I don't need one for a while yet...
Oh, and cooking. Definitely cooking. The fall social last night definitely re-energized me a bit, so now I think I can pick myself up and do what I oughtta. We have butternut squash, chicken, and potatoes and leeks that need something done with, so I'll be cleaning out the fridge and freezer and digging in.
Wednesday, October 22, 2008
Tomorrow, tomorrow!
Jeremy's coming tomorrow! This makes me extremely happy. I don't know what the next 9 months will be like... it's only been a couple weeks and I miss him a lot. Though, if I can't find a job here, I may move down before tourist season and get a job there.
The Artemis Fall Social is tonight, so I need to figure out what I'm going to wear-- it's chilly enough now I have to wear stockings which is a little irritating, if you ask me, but whatev. The endless Sweetwater/brats/pretzels is going to be delish, but I'm most excited about the IMAX. Volcanoes and 3D... does it get much better?
Today is bookshelf day. I have a small bookshelf that I dragged out of my car and need to drag the oooooodles of books out to cram on it until we get to the new place. I'm happy I get to keep my books, but they are SUCH a pain to move! We went and looked at a place last night, but the landlord never showed up, so who knows. There's a larger house that we're looking at, 4 bedrooms and 3 baths, which is a lot closer to MARTA than this one, but is more expensive and may be more to rent. The smaller one is still bigger than the place we have now, and while the neighborhood is nice, the houses immediately around and across from it are empty which is a little creepy. If I could find a job, then I would put in the extra $100 a month to get the one close to MARTA just because it would be so much more cost effective for me to take the bus to work and back than have to drive, and the same for mom. We're also pretty sure that by the time we move, Casey will be out of Ridgeview so there will be no driving to Smyrna!
Speaking of Smyrna, I should go get those books out of my car. It's killing my gas mileage to drive around with all of them in my trunk!
The Artemis Fall Social is tonight, so I need to figure out what I'm going to wear-- it's chilly enough now I have to wear stockings which is a little irritating, if you ask me, but whatev. The endless Sweetwater/brats/pretzels is going to be delish, but I'm most excited about the IMAX. Volcanoes and 3D... does it get much better?
Today is bookshelf day. I have a small bookshelf that I dragged out of my car and need to drag the oooooodles of books out to cram on it until we get to the new place. I'm happy I get to keep my books, but they are SUCH a pain to move! We went and looked at a place last night, but the landlord never showed up, so who knows. There's a larger house that we're looking at, 4 bedrooms and 3 baths, which is a lot closer to MARTA than this one, but is more expensive and may be more to rent. The smaller one is still bigger than the place we have now, and while the neighborhood is nice, the houses immediately around and across from it are empty which is a little creepy. If I could find a job, then I would put in the extra $100 a month to get the one close to MARTA just because it would be so much more cost effective for me to take the bus to work and back than have to drive, and the same for mom. We're also pretty sure that by the time we move, Casey will be out of Ridgeview so there will be no driving to Smyrna!
Speaking of Smyrna, I should go get those books out of my car. It's killing my gas mileage to drive around with all of them in my trunk!
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
Workin' my way back to you, babe
I play 50's music in my head. No, really, on my way back from Memphis the radio didn't work, so I ended up singing "Don't Stop Believin", "Jesse's Girl", and various oldies including "Fill Me Up (Buttercup)" and "Stop (In The Name of Love)". It would appear that the oldies have a corner on the parenthetical song titles.
Today was low-key enough. Accidentally overslept; I'm still not used to having to wake up without light queues, so Jeremy's going to give me a wakeup call tomorrow since he gets up at 8a which is 9a my time. I got some stuff over to the storage unit today, but not nearly enough, and it's almost all the way full so we're gonna go over tomorrow and re-organize some things, and I'm going to ask her if she wants me to maybe get things set up for a yard sale this weekend and put up an ad on Craigslist to try and kick out as much crap as possible. She says she can donate it, but it'd be really nice if we could make a few dollars, especially since I can't find a job to save my life and we're trying to find a new place to live. I'm putting in more applications tomorrow, some for seasonal work, some for temp work, some for part time work. I really hope I get something. At this point, even $50 a week would at least help me pay down my phone bill and send a few bucks to the GI and Rhodes.
As for the future, Jeremy said that WyoTech indicated they would start trying to place them about three months prior to graduation, which means I'll have more than a few days of scrambling to find a job and find us a place to live. I'm really glad he's doing this, he sounds excited, and his roommate found them a 2 BR apartment close to campus that is totally reasonable, so maybe he'll be able to sleep at night now. If you have any suggestions on fairly temperate climates where people might be inclined to ride bikes year round, let me know-- we're starting our list of possible places so that both of us have a better chance of getting a job. I think we're aiming towards Austin or Atlanta areas, still, but you gotta go where the jobs are, right?
Keep your fingers crossed for me over the next few days-- I'm putting in at PierOne, Starbucks, Best Buy, several restaurants, Grassroots Campaigns (I applied for a job with them in Austin, but couldn't accept for financial reasons), and a couple of box office positions with theatres in Atlanta. I guess I should also get mom to print off a bagful of my resume; could get pricey since I'm so desperate I'm handing out the whole CV!
For now, though, I'll be thankful to be back in the real South. Inside the Perimeter, the real Atlanta, life is calm and happy. People might be in a bit of a hurry, but there's nothing wrong with enjoying a beautiful day, walking to work, or honking and waving to someone you know on the street. The weather is beautiful, and the people are nice-- if I get too bored, right up the street is the square with trees, picnic tables, and people I know. I know I sound a little bit like the Cheers theme song, but it's true. Big city feel, small town heart. It would be really nice if Jeremy could find a job around here-- I think he likes Decatur a lot, and since everything's pretty accessible through MARTA, he wouldn't have to deal with the traffic.
Here's to home, the place where you feel comfortable enough to take your shoes off and stay a while.
Today was low-key enough. Accidentally overslept; I'm still not used to having to wake up without light queues, so Jeremy's going to give me a wakeup call tomorrow since he gets up at 8a which is 9a my time. I got some stuff over to the storage unit today, but not nearly enough, and it's almost all the way full so we're gonna go over tomorrow and re-organize some things, and I'm going to ask her if she wants me to maybe get things set up for a yard sale this weekend and put up an ad on Craigslist to try and kick out as much crap as possible. She says she can donate it, but it'd be really nice if we could make a few dollars, especially since I can't find a job to save my life and we're trying to find a new place to live. I'm putting in more applications tomorrow, some for seasonal work, some for temp work, some for part time work. I really hope I get something. At this point, even $50 a week would at least help me pay down my phone bill and send a few bucks to the GI and Rhodes.
As for the future, Jeremy said that WyoTech indicated they would start trying to place them about three months prior to graduation, which means I'll have more than a few days of scrambling to find a job and find us a place to live. I'm really glad he's doing this, he sounds excited, and his roommate found them a 2 BR apartment close to campus that is totally reasonable, so maybe he'll be able to sleep at night now. If you have any suggestions on fairly temperate climates where people might be inclined to ride bikes year round, let me know-- we're starting our list of possible places so that both of us have a better chance of getting a job. I think we're aiming towards Austin or Atlanta areas, still, but you gotta go where the jobs are, right?
Keep your fingers crossed for me over the next few days-- I'm putting in at PierOne, Starbucks, Best Buy, several restaurants, Grassroots Campaigns (I applied for a job with them in Austin, but couldn't accept for financial reasons), and a couple of box office positions with theatres in Atlanta. I guess I should also get mom to print off a bagful of my resume; could get pricey since I'm so desperate I'm handing out the whole CV!
For now, though, I'll be thankful to be back in the real South. Inside the Perimeter, the real Atlanta, life is calm and happy. People might be in a bit of a hurry, but there's nothing wrong with enjoying a beautiful day, walking to work, or honking and waving to someone you know on the street. The weather is beautiful, and the people are nice-- if I get too bored, right up the street is the square with trees, picnic tables, and people I know. I know I sound a little bit like the Cheers theme song, but it's true. Big city feel, small town heart. It would be really nice if Jeremy could find a job around here-- I think he likes Decatur a lot, and since everything's pretty accessible through MARTA, he wouldn't have to deal with the traffic.
Here's to home, the place where you feel comfortable enough to take your shoes off and stay a while.
Sunday, October 19, 2008
Farmer's Market Day!
This morning was the weekly trip to Your DeKalb Farmer's Market (YDFM) which always puts me in a better mood-- something about being in such a bustling place with people from all over the world is refreshing, reminds us all that we're not the only people here. That, and fresh produce and meat and seafood pleases me. There was nothing like the YDFM in Memphis or Southaven, so finding fresh, organic food was really difficult and expensive. The spices at YDFM are insanely cheap-- a few ounces of Tikki Masala (or any other Masala, for that matter) is about 79 cents, and a bag of more bay leaves than I'll probably use this winter is also under $1. I left the rest of my spices with Jeremy because spices are just so expensive everywhere else, and the stuff you get here is better and fresher anyway.
I stocked up on leeks, a pumpkin, squash, cornishons (French cornish pickles), Masala Chicken spice, bay leaves, milk, bananas, fresh baked bread, naan, and fresh catfish.
I think I'll make some potato and leek soup, some potato and squash soup, some Ziti alla Zucca (gratzi Mario Batali), and possibly do some sauteed squash with chicken next week. I'm extremely happy to be cooking again, and I wish everyone's schedules had worked out the last month or so that I was in Southaven, I would have loved to cook for Marc and Jan, and I'm sure it would have been nice for them to eat some healthy homemade food than getting tired of cooking and hitting up Texas Roadhouse. I think I could get tired of baked potatoes! It also would have been nice to do since it's looking less and less like I have employment options to send them money for rent...
I'm hoping cooking will take my mind off some of that-- I hate not working or going to school, having something to do with my days, because I feel a little useless and pointless. Not depressed, just... pointless, I think, is the best word. I'm going to re-vamp my CV again and send it out to like everyone I know in the hopes that they can find something. I'm also going to take mom's car tonight and run up to Pier One and try to get an application in for holiday work. I'm sure they have more than they need already, but I'll never know if I don't try!
That's all for today, I'm going to watch a movie and put up some clothes, and start putting things back in the car to go to storage first thing. If you have any more suggestions for the squash or pumpkin, feel free to leave them-- I love learning new recipes!
I stocked up on leeks, a pumpkin, squash, cornishons (French cornish pickles), Masala Chicken spice, bay leaves, milk, bananas, fresh baked bread, naan, and fresh catfish.
I think I'll make some potato and leek soup, some potato and squash soup, some Ziti alla Zucca (gratzi Mario Batali), and possibly do some sauteed squash with chicken next week. I'm extremely happy to be cooking again, and I wish everyone's schedules had worked out the last month or so that I was in Southaven, I would have loved to cook for Marc and Jan, and I'm sure it would have been nice for them to eat some healthy homemade food than getting tired of cooking and hitting up Texas Roadhouse. I think I could get tired of baked potatoes! It also would have been nice to do since it's looking less and less like I have employment options to send them money for rent...
I'm hoping cooking will take my mind off some of that-- I hate not working or going to school, having something to do with my days, because I feel a little useless and pointless. Not depressed, just... pointless, I think, is the best word. I'm going to re-vamp my CV again and send it out to like everyone I know in the hopes that they can find something. I'm also going to take mom's car tonight and run up to Pier One and try to get an application in for holiday work. I'm sure they have more than they need already, but I'll never know if I don't try!
That's all for today, I'm going to watch a movie and put up some clothes, and start putting things back in the car to go to storage first thing. If you have any more suggestions for the squash or pumpkin, feel free to leave them-- I love learning new recipes!
Saturday, October 18, 2008
Watershed on Ponce
The Watershed on Ponce
4/5
The Watershed is a clean, neat looking restaurant in what I believe used to be a hardware store space. Headed by the Indigo Girls' Emily Saliers, they aim to serve simple food with rich flavors. I had never been before, but an old friend I hadn't seen in a while suggested we meet up for lunch. When I asked my mother what I should get, her response was simple, "Anything." I'd heard this about Watershed's food, with the exception of a one time spider-in-the-watercress sandwich. Laura (my friend) suggested the chicken salad sandwich, and upon seeing it was not only one of the less expensive things on the menu but a white truffle chicken salad sandwich, I went for it.
The chicken salad was fantastic-- well balanced flavors, a nice surprise with golden raisins instead of the currently popular mandarin oranges, and the bread was fresh and tasty. The portion was enormous, and well worth the $9. Had I not been so enamored I couldn't stop munching, I would have been able to make two meals out of it! I would give Watershed a 5/5 simply for that sandwich, but our service was less than exemplary. I used to hesitate to criticize service, but having been a waitress for six plus years I now feel as though I can do so comfortably. Our waitress really didn't seem to care about us, and while I can understand wanting to pay attention to the larger checks, you can get just as little tip off ignoring a small table as well as not garnering more business for the restaurant. We were there for nearly three hours, we hadn't seen each other in six years, and we saw her more often when she was trying to get us off the table that nobody was waiting for than when we were actually eating or requiring refills on our drinks. I ended up leaving her a little extra on the basis that we had taken up valuable table space, but it was grudgingly so since my half was only $12 and we had to ask for refills every time.
The only other complaint I have with Watershed is that they don't serve sweet tea-- they buy in to the Texas mentality that sweet tea is the same as unsweetened tea with sugar or sweet and low.
All in all, I would highly suggest the restaurant. The atmosphere is relaxed, but crisp, and surely the entire staff can't be as uncaring as our waitress was.
Edit: They apparently also have a habit of charging the wrong amount to credit cards, so I would suggest cash. I have to go talk to them tomorrow, and when I mentioned it to mom she said the same thing happened to her, but they are good about taking care of it.
4/5
The Watershed is a clean, neat looking restaurant in what I believe used to be a hardware store space. Headed by the Indigo Girls' Emily Saliers, they aim to serve simple food with rich flavors. I had never been before, but an old friend I hadn't seen in a while suggested we meet up for lunch. When I asked my mother what I should get, her response was simple, "Anything." I'd heard this about Watershed's food, with the exception of a one time spider-in-the-watercress sandwich. Laura (my friend) suggested the chicken salad sandwich, and upon seeing it was not only one of the less expensive things on the menu but a white truffle chicken salad sandwich, I went for it.
The chicken salad was fantastic-- well balanced flavors, a nice surprise with golden raisins instead of the currently popular mandarin oranges, and the bread was fresh and tasty. The portion was enormous, and well worth the $9. Had I not been so enamored I couldn't stop munching, I would have been able to make two meals out of it! I would give Watershed a 5/5 simply for that sandwich, but our service was less than exemplary. I used to hesitate to criticize service, but having been a waitress for six plus years I now feel as though I can do so comfortably. Our waitress really didn't seem to care about us, and while I can understand wanting to pay attention to the larger checks, you can get just as little tip off ignoring a small table as well as not garnering more business for the restaurant. We were there for nearly three hours, we hadn't seen each other in six years, and we saw her more often when she was trying to get us off the table that nobody was waiting for than when we were actually eating or requiring refills on our drinks. I ended up leaving her a little extra on the basis that we had taken up valuable table space, but it was grudgingly so since my half was only $12 and we had to ask for refills every time.
The only other complaint I have with Watershed is that they don't serve sweet tea-- they buy in to the Texas mentality that sweet tea is the same as unsweetened tea with sugar or sweet and low.
All in all, I would highly suggest the restaurant. The atmosphere is relaxed, but crisp, and surely the entire staff can't be as uncaring as our waitress was.
Edit: They apparently also have a habit of charging the wrong amount to credit cards, so I would suggest cash. I have to go talk to them tomorrow, and when I mentioned it to mom she said the same thing happened to her, but they are good about taking care of it.
Adam and Erin
I wish I knew where my card reader was-- Adam and Erin got married last night and it was so wonderful, and so very them. They had the ceremony and reception at the Moulin Rouge room at Paris on Ponce (antiques store, for those of you not from 'round here). Erin looked absolutely beautiful, and Adam as strangely adorable as ever; they really are perfect for each other, and I can't imagine two people who will be happier together. The food, of course, was amazing and Adam's brother Drew did all the cheesecakes-- I think there was a total of six or seven cakes, the "wedding cake" had a little pumpkin bride and groom, and I munched on a Saffron Spice cheesecake with homemade raspberry sauce. Tres magnifique.
It was also really beautiful the way that everyone was included in the ceremony-- Adam and Erin feel like all their friends are family, and family is extremely important. People were invited up to tell stories and make their own toasts, and the ceremony was done in the middle of the room and led directly in to the celebration (aka, reception). I hope that Jeremy won't mind doing something like that, I'd really like it. Plus, there are a lot of logistical upsides to it. Short ceremony means kids (and I) won't get antsy, being there already means that the entire thing doesn't have to pick up and move the entire thing somewhere else (which cuts costs), and we can do pictures while everyone else gets settled in with food and whatnot before toasts.
Everyone keeps asking why I'm having children there, and I happen to think children are loads of fun at wedding receptions. Apparently friends of mine up north have never had a good experience with children at a wedding, and the way I put it to Shelby is that we always understood that it was a privilage to be at an adult function and we better behave or we would be in deep crap, possibly for the rest of our lives. Also, it would be entirely rude to even tangentially ban children from the ceremony and reception given the number of people I know with children (in both the literal and colloquial senses). Most of the weddings I've been to start early evening and go to late evening, giving those with children an opportunity to come celebrate, and leave when they're ready, and those who might have earlier obligations to celebrate as well.
I'm dying for some sushi, but it'll have to wait for lunch Monday-- that's when Sushi Avenue does their amazing specials, lunch during the week. I'm excited, also, to maybe try a new lunch every week...
On that note, I'll write up my restaurant review and go try to find something to amuse myself until it's an appropriate hour to sleep.
It was also really beautiful the way that everyone was included in the ceremony-- Adam and Erin feel like all their friends are family, and family is extremely important. People were invited up to tell stories and make their own toasts, and the ceremony was done in the middle of the room and led directly in to the celebration (aka, reception). I hope that Jeremy won't mind doing something like that, I'd really like it. Plus, there are a lot of logistical upsides to it. Short ceremony means kids (and I) won't get antsy, being there already means that the entire thing doesn't have to pick up and move the entire thing somewhere else (which cuts costs), and we can do pictures while everyone else gets settled in with food and whatnot before toasts.
Everyone keeps asking why I'm having children there, and I happen to think children are loads of fun at wedding receptions. Apparently friends of mine up north have never had a good experience with children at a wedding, and the way I put it to Shelby is that we always understood that it was a privilage to be at an adult function and we better behave or we would be in deep crap, possibly for the rest of our lives. Also, it would be entirely rude to even tangentially ban children from the ceremony and reception given the number of people I know with children (in both the literal and colloquial senses). Most of the weddings I've been to start early evening and go to late evening, giving those with children an opportunity to come celebrate, and leave when they're ready, and those who might have earlier obligations to celebrate as well.
I'm dying for some sushi, but it'll have to wait for lunch Monday-- that's when Sushi Avenue does their amazing specials, lunch during the week. I'm excited, also, to maybe try a new lunch every week...
On that note, I'll write up my restaurant review and go try to find something to amuse myself until it's an appropriate hour to sleep.
Naan-- it cures all ills
In the midst of trying to figure out what on earth I'm going to do with my car since it apparently has an exhaust leak and I don't have my handy dandy boyfriend to fix it, nor do I have any money, I decided I needed Naan. There's a little Indo Pak groceries up the street and so I stopped in and picked up some frozen garlic naan, completely missing the fresh stuff until after I had gotten in the checkout line. It took a lot of maneuvering to get to the line, too. I'm sure a market in real India is much more chaotic, but for the tiny little grocery, there were too many carts, babies, and (yes) jackhammers for the space. No worries, though, I liked it there. The smells were great, the people completely unbothered by anything else-- it was nice. I also was reminded how much easier it'll be to cook different stuff now that I'm back in Atlanta than it ever was in Memphis. I did, however, forget my mole sauce and curry mix at Jeremy's.
It was a somewhat stressful day, apparently I'm psychic which is a bigger burden than I thought it might be, but things will settle soon enough. Mom and I are going to look at houses and apartments, and hopefully by this time next month I'll have my own room and our bathroom will be at least mildly more functional than this one. I do enjoy my bed, though. I have a daybed in the living room next to the windows that look out on to the street. The neighborhood is quiet, but since it's not a dead end like Westchester, there's still through traffic to watch. Loads more bikes than I remember from a few years ago, so hopefully that bodes well for possible mechanics jobs in Atlanta-- it would be nice if we don't have to go anywhere near Memphis again, we're both pretty sick of that city.
Anyway, I'm watching Jericho (which is awesome) and considering thawing out a chicken breast to cook up with some herbs de provance or something. Since it would appear my family's new version of dinner is cereal and whatever the heck my brother decides to dig up for himself. This will have to change.
It was a somewhat stressful day, apparently I'm psychic which is a bigger burden than I thought it might be, but things will settle soon enough. Mom and I are going to look at houses and apartments, and hopefully by this time next month I'll have my own room and our bathroom will be at least mildly more functional than this one. I do enjoy my bed, though. I have a daybed in the living room next to the windows that look out on to the street. The neighborhood is quiet, but since it's not a dead end like Westchester, there's still through traffic to watch. Loads more bikes than I remember from a few years ago, so hopefully that bodes well for possible mechanics jobs in Atlanta-- it would be nice if we don't have to go anywhere near Memphis again, we're both pretty sick of that city.
Anyway, I'm watching Jericho (which is awesome) and considering thawing out a chicken breast to cook up with some herbs de provance or something. Since it would appear my family's new version of dinner is cereal and whatever the heck my brother decides to dig up for himself. This will have to change.
Putterin' 'Puter
My dear friend Emily is having computer issues-- we figure that the answer is to just get a new computer, but I'll put it up in case anyone's a genius or Dell savant.
She's got an "ancient" Dell, I believe an Inspiron, and Windows XP Pro. It's been a little sluggish, so I suggested she install SP3, which Jeremy and I just installed with success. She said she'd never done SP2 because it had killed a lot of computers (HP) at Agnes Scott. She's been trying without success to install SP2 (after my assurances that Dells were made for Windows) for about a week now-- it'll get all the way done installing and then go "fail!"
Any thoughts?
She's got an "ancient" Dell, I believe an Inspiron, and Windows XP Pro. It's been a little sluggish, so I suggested she install SP3, which Jeremy and I just installed with success. She said she'd never done SP2 because it had killed a lot of computers (HP) at Agnes Scott. She's been trying without success to install SP2 (after my assurances that Dells were made for Windows) for about a week now-- it'll get all the way done installing and then go "fail!"
Any thoughts?
5 Days Late...
| The yellow fog that rubs its back upon the window-panes, | 15 |
| The yellow smoke that rubs its muzzle on the window-panes | |
| Licked its tongue into the corners of the evening, | |
| Lingered upon the pools that stand in drains, | |
| Let fall upon its back the soot that falls from chimneys, | |
| Slipped by the terrace, made a sudden leap, | 20 |
| And seeing that it was a soft October night, | |
| Curled once about the house, and fell asleep. |
from "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" by T. S. Eliot
For everyone else who hates they even MADE those movies...
Rawk. These guys should be shot out of a cannon over the ocean. The actual directors, not the guy(s) who did the chuckletastic YouTube video.
Don't Vote
While I'm cynical about the way that the whole popular vote/electoral college thing works, don't be apathetic is the central message of the video. If you feel strongly about something, then let it be known. If we all stand up and say what we feel, then our representatives can't say they're doing the opposite "for our own good". If you are an American, make sure you vote. I don't care who you're voting for, though I certainly have my preferences, as long as you get up off your butt and do something about it. If you don't vote, I don't want to hear you complaining about anything that happens in the next four years.
All in a week's work
"You would be the one to wear a red dress to a little black dress party!" -Shelley
Went back to Atlanta this weekend to start moving back and had a fairly decent time. I had my substitute teacher orientation on Thursday, which went pretty well. The people were an interesting mix, to be sure. A couple of really rude women-- one a cranky old black lady and one a middle aged white New Jersey woman who thought she was right about EVERYTHING. With the Jersey lady, I kinda felt like I should be rolling my eyes as she griped about the Newark flight being late... There were a few other former teachers, pretty chill people, and then the three people I was sitting with I made friends with.
The first was Liz, who had taught Social Studies in, I think, Middle School for a long time and decided she wanted to change school systems because she and her husband moved to Decatur. She sat right next to me and even though she came off as your average nice, pleasant, generally funny kind of gal, she had a little bit of a wit to her, we made fun of all the training videos together. She was really interested in my Senior Paper topic, turns out she was an Econ major with history minor in college and had studied literature as a side-track (her college curriculum was a little different from what we're used to-- she was probably about 40-45 maybe) so we talked a lot about imperialism and society and the economics of imperialism. It kinda made my day :)
Next up was Victoria, who had moved down from Memphis about a year ago, where she taught and did her graduate work. She worked at one of the worse high schools in Memphis, Sheffield (from Google: "hated it. I think it is a terrible school. The teacher and staff doesn't care about any of their students and i think that is awful.") where 75% of the students qualify for free or reduced lunch. She's a social studies teacher, and she wants to work at Renfroe, our MS, but the principal wants everyone to be gifted certified... but won't pay for it. Yeah. Anyway, she was a lot of fun, we bonded over how awful Memphis is, and when we got to the part about fights in school, she turned to me and said, "In Memphis, it was just weave and press on nails all down the hallway!" Which, let's be honest, is probably true.
Wayne came in late, he'd taken MARTA and the shuttle from the High School pulled away with him running after it. He's a middle aged black man, his son just graduated from Emory and is going to grad school there, too, I think. He was a lot of fun, and we had a great discussion about racial and economic lines, especially in a city like Memphis where so much has happened. He thought the Rhodes BSA's stunt from a few years ago, calling the white lights on the Christmas tree racist, was utter crap-- most educated people do, regardless of race. They also agree that the colored lights on the tree is kinda tacky looking-- good for retail, not for the home. Anyway, he was really cool-- worked for HP, another computer company, and then Cingular --> AT&T and decided he was sick of the corporate world and he wanted to teach.
Friday was errands day, then Saturday was hangin' out with Emily and doing not much day. Went and had my hair cut at the Van Michael salon at the Forum and even though it made me want to cry to spend $60 on the haircut (with Coke and mini facial), it probably is one of the better haircuts I've had in a while. Granted she mostly just cleaned up what I'd done last week, but it does look pretty good. Then we went for nail time, I got a manicure and Em a pedi, and my French manicure is possibly the worst one I've ever had and I do my own nails usually... oh, well.
The Little Black Dress party was fun, there were horribly dressed people, good food (even if it was cold) and good company. I ran in to a friend from Rhodes, and then Em, Susie and I judged people the rest of the night which was actually a lot of fun. We also decided to go in to art thievery, it's a very lucrative business these days.
Sunday, I drove back, and here I am.
Went back to Atlanta this weekend to start moving back and had a fairly decent time. I had my substitute teacher orientation on Thursday, which went pretty well. The people were an interesting mix, to be sure. A couple of really rude women-- one a cranky old black lady and one a middle aged white New Jersey woman who thought she was right about EVERYTHING. With the Jersey lady, I kinda felt like I should be rolling my eyes as she griped about the Newark flight being late... There were a few other former teachers, pretty chill people, and then the three people I was sitting with I made friends with.
The first was Liz, who had taught Social Studies in, I think, Middle School for a long time and decided she wanted to change school systems because she and her husband moved to Decatur. She sat right next to me and even though she came off as your average nice, pleasant, generally funny kind of gal, she had a little bit of a wit to her, we made fun of all the training videos together. She was really interested in my Senior Paper topic, turns out she was an Econ major with history minor in college and had studied literature as a side-track (her college curriculum was a little different from what we're used to-- she was probably about 40-45 maybe) so we talked a lot about imperialism and society and the economics of imperialism. It kinda made my day :)
Next up was Victoria, who had moved down from Memphis about a year ago, where she taught and did her graduate work. She worked at one of the worse high schools in Memphis, Sheffield (from Google: "hated it. I think it is a terrible school. The teacher and staff doesn't care about any of their students and i think that is awful.") where 75% of the students qualify for free or reduced lunch. She's a social studies teacher, and she wants to work at Renfroe, our MS, but the principal wants everyone to be gifted certified... but won't pay for it. Yeah. Anyway, she was a lot of fun, we bonded over how awful Memphis is, and when we got to the part about fights in school, she turned to me and said, "In Memphis, it was just weave and press on nails all down the hallway!" Which, let's be honest, is probably true.
Wayne came in late, he'd taken MARTA and the shuttle from the High School pulled away with him running after it. He's a middle aged black man, his son just graduated from Emory and is going to grad school there, too, I think. He was a lot of fun, and we had a great discussion about racial and economic lines, especially in a city like Memphis where so much has happened. He thought the Rhodes BSA's stunt from a few years ago, calling the white lights on the Christmas tree racist, was utter crap-- most educated people do, regardless of race. They also agree that the colored lights on the tree is kinda tacky looking-- good for retail, not for the home. Anyway, he was really cool-- worked for HP, another computer company, and then Cingular --> AT&T and decided he was sick of the corporate world and he wanted to teach.
Friday was errands day, then Saturday was hangin' out with Emily and doing not much day. Went and had my hair cut at the Van Michael salon at the Forum and even though it made me want to cry to spend $60 on the haircut (with Coke and mini facial), it probably is one of the better haircuts I've had in a while. Granted she mostly just cleaned up what I'd done last week, but it does look pretty good. Then we went for nail time, I got a manicure and Em a pedi, and my French manicure is possibly the worst one I've ever had and I do my own nails usually... oh, well.
The Little Black Dress party was fun, there were horribly dressed people, good food (even if it was cold) and good company. I ran in to a friend from Rhodes, and then Em, Susie and I judged people the rest of the night which was actually a lot of fun. We also decided to go in to art thievery, it's a very lucrative business these days.
Sunday, I drove back, and here I am.
Lee R. Sizemore
Mr. Lee R. Sizemore, age 84, died on the morning of Sept. 13, 2008, at his home in Muscle Shoals. He succumbed to cancer after a brief illness.
Visitation will be 6-8 p.m. Sunday, Sept 14, 2008, at Morrison Funeral Home, Tuscumbia. The funeral will be at 2 p.m. Monday, Sept. 15, 2008, at Morrison Funeral Home chapel, Tuscumbia.
Burial will follow in Glendale Cemebary, with the Rev. Bill Bedsole officiating.
Mr. Sizemore was a veteran of World War II, landing with the D-Day invasion force on Omaha Beach, Normandy, France on June 6, 1944. Following the invasion, Mr. Sizemore served with the famous "Red Ball Express," delivering munitions and supplies to Gen. Patton's armored division on their drive toward Berlin.
He and his beloved wife, Dorothy, raised their children in Muscle Shoals, and he subsequently retired from Reynolds Aluminum after 30 years as a security officer. In his retirement years, he enjoyed hunting, fishing, gardening and spending rich time with his many friends and family. His dedication to his family and friends is legendary, and he will be sorely missed by all who knew him.
Visitation will be 6-8 p.m. Sunday, Sept 14, 2008, at Morrison Funeral Home, Tuscumbia. The funeral will be at 2 p.m. Monday, Sept. 15, 2008, at Morrison Funeral Home chapel, Tuscumbia.
Burial will follow in Glendale Cemebary, with the Rev. Bill Bedsole officiating.
Mr. Sizemore was a veteran of World War II, landing with the D-Day invasion force on Omaha Beach, Normandy, France on June 6, 1944. Following the invasion, Mr. Sizemore served with the famous "Red Ball Express," delivering munitions and supplies to Gen. Patton's armored division on their drive toward Berlin.
He and his beloved wife, Dorothy, raised their children in Muscle Shoals, and he subsequently retired from Reynolds Aluminum after 30 years as a security officer. In his retirement years, he enjoyed hunting, fishing, gardening and spending rich time with his many friends and family. His dedication to his family and friends is legendary, and he will be sorely missed by all who knew him.
Loooong Weekend
Last Wednesday, we left for Indiana for the Inaugural Indianapolis MotoGP (Grand Prix) at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. It effing rocked. The rest of the time, however... well, here's a brief timeline...
Wednesday: Travel Day
Drive up was good, leisurely. We dropped off my bid day CDs (which were a big hit) and cookies for the chapter, and sauntered on up. Lost our way a couple times, but then I discovered Google maps for the Blackberry which is FREAKING AWESOME and Jeremy and I were thoroughly amused for the rest of the trip.
Thursday: Pit Walk
Talk about fun. I've never been to a race of any kind, so it was a totally new experience. Pit walk involved looking at all the bikes in the pits while the mechanics and techs worked on them to get them ready for qualifying rounds the next day. There was also a stunt show going on which was loads of fun.
The Rossi team (Fiat Yamaha) revs up the bike
15 year old Aaron Colton smokes out his back tire at the stunt show with Christian Pfeiffer
Friday: Qualifying Day 1
Otherwise known as the day the stupid crackhead in the Hyundai ruined my week. On the way from Martinsville to Indy, some lady who was letting the whole world in front of her (since talking on her cell phone was more important than driving) slammed on the brakes to let someone in last minute to get on the highway. The roads were wet, but not soaking, so all the oil and crap was all over the place and when we had to slam on OUR brakes, the brakes locked, we skidded, and rear ended her. The Toyota was a 97, which of course is apparently the year BEFORE Toyota started getting good crash ratings, so the car was entirely totalled. To make matters better, the car was only liability. Awesome. Jeremy's sister in law came and picked us up, and we went home for the rest of the day. Later that afternoon, my mom called to tell me my brother and dad had gone up to Muscle Shoals because my grandfather had a stroke the night before and probably wouldn't make it through the night.
If you're ever in a wreck in Indy, don't let the police set up the wrecker service, they are running a massive scam. A total of less than 20 miles, 200 bucks. Ruh-diculous.
Saturday: Qualifying Day 2
Otherwise known as... Qualifying Day 2! My grandfather passed about 5a, but it's ok. He was really really sick at the end, he needed to be
able to rest. The day was actually beautiful, nice breeze, sunshine, perfect for pictures. We walked around a bit to try and keep my joints loose (I strained all the muscles in my knees and thighs because of how I was sitting in the car), and watched all the qualifying rounds which was awesome. Ben Spies rocked the track out, finishing 5th in qualifying which put him behind Nicky Hayden and next to Casey Stoner for starting positions the next day. It was amazing to see the GP riders in person, not just on TV. Completely stunning the things they do with these bikes going as fast as they do! I'm going to be putting all the pictures up on my flickr page, so just check it out over the next couple days.
Sunday: Race Day
I didn't go to race day, there was only one extra ticket so Jeremy took his brother, which was probably for the best. That day, it poured down rain like nobody's business and the winds were gusting up to about 70mph and sustained around 45mph. They red flagged almost every race that day, cancelling the one that wasn't red flagged, including the GP race at 7 laps to go. Rossi led the pack after lap 12, when Hayden's lead fell, probably because he's not comfortable in wet conditions. Casey Stoner took 4th, and Spies took 6th. We think he would have done better, but apparently there was a problem with his visor so he couldn't see well enough to pass without causing some major issues. I watched on tv from home and stayed dry, and not windblown. Rossi says it's the worst weather he's ever raced in.
Monday: Travel Day... oh, wait
We were supposed to travel back today, but that didn't quite work out so much. I was waiting to hear from the shop about my car, then they called back with $2500 which would be a new freaking car just because Toyota couldn't build a sturdy front end. Panic attacks ensue. Start trying to find a salvage yard and the title for the car.
Tuesday: Sit and wait day...
Tuesday there wasn't much I could do. Mom was supposed to mail the title, so I just decided to forget about all of it. Jeremy and I drove around and went up to the Oliver vineyard in Bloomington which was actually a nice little winery. But, in tradition of the weekend being awful, when we went for the tasting, we discovered Jeremy's ID expired the day after the accident (which, by the way, was his birthday)! Went home, had burritos, watched the premire of House and the second episode of Fringe (which I think is awesome).
Wednesday: Actual travel day
Since Jeremy's license was expired, I had to drive the whole way back. Illinois is boring and you have to go exactly the speed limit or they give you a ticket, so it felt like I'd driven 5 hours after 2. We made it back safely, though, and cleaned up a bit before watching a movie and having some of the cider we brought back from the winery.
So now, I wait for the headlamp assembly for my Hyundai and try to get everything ready to leave Mississippi. I'll probably leave progressively because I want to see Jeremy a few more times before he starts school. Also, it'll just be easier than trying to shove everything in a car and go. I got a position as a substitute for the City Schools of Decatur, so the orientation is on Thursday next and I'll hopefully start getting calls after that. I'm excited, I love CSD, and it'll be fun to be back in my old school system for a while. Plus, I found out that CSD pays first year teachers with a bachelor's upwards of $38k and THAT my friends is almost incentive to talk Jeremy in to staying in Atlanta after he's done with school...
Wednesday: Travel Day
Drive up was good, leisurely. We dropped off my bid day CDs (which were a big hit) and cookies for the chapter, and sauntered on up. Lost our way a couple times, but then I discovered Google maps for the Blackberry which is FREAKING AWESOME and Jeremy and I were thoroughly amused for the rest of the trip.
Thursday: Pit Walk
Talk about fun. I've never been to a race of any kind, so it was a totally new experience. Pit walk involved looking at all the bikes in the pits while the mechanics and techs worked on them to get them ready for qualifying rounds the next day. There was also a stunt show going on which was loads of fun.
The Rossi team (Fiat Yamaha) revs up the bike
15 year old Aaron Colton smokes out his back tire at the stunt show with Christian Pfeiffer
Friday: Qualifying Day 1
Otherwise known as the day the stupid crackhead in the Hyundai ruined my week. On the way from Martinsville to Indy, some lady who was letting the whole world in front of her (since talking on her cell phone was more important than driving) slammed on the brakes to let someone in last minute to get on the highway. The roads were wet, but not soaking, so all the oil and crap was all over the place and when we had to slam on OUR brakes, the brakes locked, we skidded, and rear ended her. The Toyota was a 97, which of course is apparently the year BEFORE Toyota started getting good crash ratings, so the car was entirely totalled. To make matters better, the car was only liability. Awesome. Jeremy's sister in law came and picked us up, and we went home for the rest of the day. Later that afternoon, my mom called to tell me my brother and dad had gone up to Muscle Shoals because my grandfather had a stroke the night before and probably wouldn't make it through the night.
If you're ever in a wreck in Indy, don't let the police set up the wrecker service, they are running a massive scam. A total of less than 20 miles, 200 bucks. Ruh-diculous.
Saturday: Qualifying Day 2
Otherwise known as... Qualifying Day 2! My grandfather passed about 5a, but it's ok. He was really really sick at the end, he needed to be
able to rest. The day was actually beautiful, nice breeze, sunshine, perfect for pictures. We walked around a bit to try and keep my joints loose (I strained all the muscles in my knees and thighs because of how I was sitting in the car), and watched all the qualifying rounds which was awesome. Ben Spies rocked the track out, finishing 5th in qualifying which put him behind Nicky Hayden and next to Casey Stoner for starting positions the next day. It was amazing to see the GP riders in person, not just on TV. Completely stunning the things they do with these bikes going as fast as they do! I'm going to be putting all the pictures up on my flickr page, so just check it out over the next couple days.Sunday: Race Day
I didn't go to race day, there was only one extra ticket so Jeremy took his brother, which was probably for the best. That day, it poured down rain like nobody's business and the winds were gusting up to about 70mph and sustained around 45mph. They red flagged almost every race that day, cancelling the one that wasn't red flagged, including the GP race at 7 laps to go. Rossi led the pack after lap 12, when Hayden's lead fell, probably because he's not comfortable in wet conditions. Casey Stoner took 4th, and Spies took 6th. We think he would have done better, but apparently there was a problem with his visor so he couldn't see well enough to pass without causing some major issues. I watched on tv from home and stayed dry, and not windblown. Rossi says it's the worst weather he's ever raced in.
Monday: Travel Day... oh, wait
We were supposed to travel back today, but that didn't quite work out so much. I was waiting to hear from the shop about my car, then they called back with $2500 which would be a new freaking car just because Toyota couldn't build a sturdy front end. Panic attacks ensue. Start trying to find a salvage yard and the title for the car.
Tuesday: Sit and wait day...
Tuesday there wasn't much I could do. Mom was supposed to mail the title, so I just decided to forget about all of it. Jeremy and I drove around and went up to the Oliver vineyard in Bloomington which was actually a nice little winery. But, in tradition of the weekend being awful, when we went for the tasting, we discovered Jeremy's ID expired the day after the accident (which, by the way, was his birthday)! Went home, had burritos, watched the premire of House and the second episode of Fringe (which I think is awesome).
Wednesday: Actual travel day
Since Jeremy's license was expired, I had to drive the whole way back. Illinois is boring and you have to go exactly the speed limit or they give you a ticket, so it felt like I'd driven 5 hours after 2. We made it back safely, though, and cleaned up a bit before watching a movie and having some of the cider we brought back from the winery.
So now, I wait for the headlamp assembly for my Hyundai and try to get everything ready to leave Mississippi. I'll probably leave progressively because I want to see Jeremy a few more times before he starts school. Also, it'll just be easier than trying to shove everything in a car and go. I got a position as a substitute for the City Schools of Decatur, so the orientation is on Thursday next and I'll hopefully start getting calls after that. I'm excited, I love CSD, and it'll be fun to be back in my old school system for a while. Plus, I found out that CSD pays first year teachers with a bachelor's upwards of $38k and THAT my friends is almost incentive to talk Jeremy in to staying in Atlanta after he's done with school...
I'm Alpha born, I'm Alpha bred...
I'm sitting around today doing not much other than AOII stuff. Maybe it's dorky, but I do love my sorority very much and would do anything for my girls! So this time around, since I can't help out in house, I'm doing up some goodies. I'm making CDs for bid day bags, cookies for the girls post-philanthropy tomorrow night, and doing up the poem for Caroline's jersey. Wheeee! AOII Makes me Happy! I even did my whole AOII family tree, which is ENORMOUS by now and getting bigger all the time... I can't get the thing to upload properly, so I'll just post it in a few minutes.
In other news, I saw my grandfather this weekend. He's doing well enough, all things considered, just really really tired. I'm heartened by his spirit-- I didn't think it would wane, but seeing him insisting on doing all the things he normally does (or at least trying) is good to see. I also got to see my Uncle James, who is I think 93, and Uncle Hubert-- or was it Hershel? Geez, who knows. I think it was Hershel.
I was supposed to get much more done today than I actually did, like packing and cleaning, but I don't suppose it's any different from any other time I've thrown it all together quickly quickly. Tomorrow morning, we're leaving to head up to Indiana for the MotoGP race this weekend, about which I'm really excited. We're taking my car since Jeremy's is really loud, not that the Toyota is much better. Now that the panda is working again, I'm itching to drive that one instead. If I'd thought about it, I would have seen about renting one from Enterprise since they do a really great weekend rate. Maybe I still can... who knows.
Talked to Valerie and Analia tonight, all the way from Singapore. I feel so bad for poor Ana, she's a year old next week and teething in a part of the world not known for being cool. She does, however, still absolutely adore her Uncle Jeremy-- he came in and made faces at her for a minute or two and she smiled (and kinda looked a little stoned) and smiled for the first time in the half hour we'd had her on Skype, then he left and she got her serious look, and the second he came back in to view she just started grinnin' and laughing all over again! He's the magic trick when it comes to her, maybe I should just get a good picture of him being goofy and send it over!
Anyway, back to burning CDs, hitting Jeremy with a book, and packing for IN.
Ciao.
In other news, I saw my grandfather this weekend. He's doing well enough, all things considered, just really really tired. I'm heartened by his spirit-- I didn't think it would wane, but seeing him insisting on doing all the things he normally does (or at least trying) is good to see. I also got to see my Uncle James, who is I think 93, and Uncle Hubert-- or was it Hershel? Geez, who knows. I think it was Hershel.
I was supposed to get much more done today than I actually did, like packing and cleaning, but I don't suppose it's any different from any other time I've thrown it all together quickly quickly. Tomorrow morning, we're leaving to head up to Indiana for the MotoGP race this weekend, about which I'm really excited. We're taking my car since Jeremy's is really loud, not that the Toyota is much better. Now that the panda is working again, I'm itching to drive that one instead. If I'd thought about it, I would have seen about renting one from Enterprise since they do a really great weekend rate. Maybe I still can... who knows.
Talked to Valerie and Analia tonight, all the way from Singapore. I feel so bad for poor Ana, she's a year old next week and teething in a part of the world not known for being cool. She does, however, still absolutely adore her Uncle Jeremy-- he came in and made faces at her for a minute or two and she smiled (and kinda looked a little stoned) and smiled for the first time in the half hour we'd had her on Skype, then he left and she got her serious look, and the second he came back in to view she just started grinnin' and laughing all over again! He's the magic trick when it comes to her, maybe I should just get a good picture of him being goofy and send it over!
Anyway, back to burning CDs, hitting Jeremy with a book, and packing for IN.
Ciao.
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