Wednesday, June 30, 2010

My God, amazing how we got this far. It's like we're chasing all those stars*

I am the best buddy ever. 

I just found out that I have a summer intern "buddy".  They assigned each intern a buddy from the program they are trying to get hired into.  I'm supposed to be the person they talk to if they have a problem or want to discuss something happening at work.  I give assistance with their stand and deliver at the end of their term.  Stuff like that.  Sounds great. 

Except apparently I've been a buddy since MAY and I just TODAY found out.  Worst. Buddy. Ever. 
Anyways, hope everyone is having a fantastic day today!  Happy Hump Day!

*One Republic

Tuesday, June 29, 2010

Wonderboy, won't you take me far away from the mucky-muck now*

So, you know what's annoying?  Having a Tenacious D song stuck in your head all morning.  Thanks for that one KW. 

However, I DID get to eat a yummy bagel from up north this morning for breakfast.  Not one of those crappy things they call a bagel down here.  So yummy...I miss bagels.  (I've noticed that the majority of the things I miss from up north are all food related items...nice). 

Anyways, I had a lovely weekend.  A and M got married this weekend...and seriously...if you've never been to a Croatian wedding, you don't know what you are missing.  These people LOVE to polka and are damn good at it. 

The wedding was a fun mix of polka music and dance music.  I met some fun people from M's side of the family and had some interesting conversations with all sorts of people. 

And...free champagne all night.  How can you go wrong with that? 

I also got to meet lovely little V and she is even more adorable in person than she is in photos which justs seems ridiculously impossible...but she's pretty much just perfect.  She looks like her dad when she's awake but exactly like my sister when she's asleep.  It's an interesting combination.  :-)

We also celebrated little T's birthday this weekend while I was up there.  The the first day I was up there, she would look at me and run away SCREAMING and go hide her face in her mom's legs.  Apparently I am quite the menacing person (the nephews made up for it by giving me lots of hugs and kisses so that was nice).  However, the next day she was a little overwhelmed with all the people in her house.  I think she decided I was at least someone she had seen before and I was able to hold her without her screaming bloody murder. 

I felt like it was quite the accomplishment. 

It then took me about 13 hours to get home on Sunday.  What a crappy drive.  So glad I'm not going to have to do this for much longer.  Sigh. 

And now I'm back at work with Wonderboy and all the awkwardness that entails.  Two more weeks.  I can do it.

*Tenacious D

Thursday, June 24, 2010

Let's go on pretending that the light is never ending*

I should be so happy for today to be here, because it's like Friday a day early...but I'm not! 

I'm actually in a really blah mood today (I think it may have to do with my lack of coffee intake).  I kind of feel like everyone talking to me today is just really really irritating.  And all the little tasks people are asking me to do are DRIVING ME INSANE like I want to turn around and yell for no reason at them.  And it's not like they're asking me to do unreasonable things.  But I kind of want to go hide somewhere nobody can find me. 

Unfortunately, there's not really a lot of good hiding places.  The only places nobody goes to is over a 100 degrees or insanely loud.  Sigh.  Maybe I'll just curl up under my desk (although, I believe that is the cockroach's favorite place to hide...so maybe not)  :-)

Anyways, on a happy note, I leave to go to NJ for the weekend tomorrow morning.  Yay not working!  I managed to get an extra day off from work...so I can actually spend the evening with my sister and little V before heading up to the wedding.  I'm so excited.  Can't wait to meet the little one!  (You'd think my excitement would be enough to get past my blah-doms...but apparently not today). 

I am a little nervous about boarding Oscar.  He's never been boarded anywhere.  I always either bring him with me or leave him with friends.  But that isn't really an option this time...so I'm concerned how that's going to go.  I do believe the vet may want to strangle him after an hour.  He's actually pretty good in his crate at night when it's time to sleep.  But, if he knows you're there and just ignoring him...he freaks out and won't shut up.  It's so obnoxious.  Like I said...they may be strangling him...

Anyways, my bad mood is pissing me off.  I believe I will be attempting to go to the gym and maybe get some sort of attitude adjustment going on, because this is just driving me nuts. 

*Beach House

Tuesday, June 22, 2010

I have reason to believe that I have victories to taste*

I had a rough workout yesterday.  I started at work and running up and down the steps 50 BAJILLION times during the day (it's 5 floors (each floor has 20 steps between them)...the elevator is INSANELY slow...I need to go to the 3rd and 5th floor A LOT during the day).  It's a lot of steps. 

After work, I went to the gym and did my new lifting routine.  It's actually my long day at the gym, so it's supposed to be my short day of cardio.  However, I really didn't want to do cardio at the gym...I really wanted to run outside.

So, I left the gym and went to the park.  Except I didn't want to do hills, so I went to a different park than I normally do.  The one with a 4 mile loop.  I planned to run two miles and call it a day.  But I am stupid.  Once I started running...I didn't want to stop.  So I did the whole loop. 

However, there were many issues with this:

A - The loop is not 4 miles like I thought.  It's actually 4.7 miles. 
B - There was a lot less shade than I remember there being.  I swear I remember running in this park and being under trees the whole time and running in a "woods like" environment.  No.  That is NOT the case.  In fact, the majority of the trail is directly under the sun.
C - It is INSANELY hot outside this week.  My phone registered a temp of 93 (which means it was feeling hotter as I was running). 
D - I was not properly hydrated. 
E - The trail was TERRIBLE.  There were so many more roots than I remembered.  There were A LOT of hills...and I remember this trail being flat.  The weeds were overgrown on the path.  I had to do a lot of jumping/dodging whatever on the trail to avoid falling.
F - I am not ready to run almost 5 miles.  I am just not there yet. 

So...I had a ridiculously difficult time running.  I was disgustingly sweaty.  I was covered in bugs (even though I put so much bug spray on).  I got slightly burned in weird tan lines (even though I was wearing SPF +50).  And I was FILTHY at the end of the run.  The trail was dirty and dusty I was CAKED in dirt. 



The Dirt went all the way up to my knees.  (For once my family really COULD say I had dirty knees!).  Seriously.  I was so gross. 

I got back to my car and collapsed on the grass to stretch.  I quickly drank two bottles of water and tried to stretch out my ridiculously sore calf muscles before driving home. 

I got home and out of the car and didn't think my legs were going to make it into the house.  They kind of balked when they saw the stairs...it was sad. 

I took a quick shower and passed out at 7:30.  And only woke up for 10 minutes to take Oscar on his last walk of the evening.  I was right back to bed and didn't wake up again until 5:30 this morning.  And then came to work.  However, the 10 hours of sleep were greatly needed.  I feel wonderful today!

Other than my ridiculously tired legs.  I've been taking the elevator as much as possible today....

*Dashboard Confessional

Monday, June 21, 2010

Cause ain't no way I'm let you stop me from causing mayhem*

I unfortunately do believe I have given up on sleep this week.  Again, for no reason this morning, I JERKED awake at 5:30ish and couldn't relax to fall back asleep.  Which completely sucked since I was given permission to be LATE this morning. 

Who gets the go-ahead to come in late...and then comes in EARLY instead?  RAR!

So, instead, I'm back at work less than 12 hours after leaving it last night, and I've decided I am going to leave early today, and seriously, anyone who gets in my way is getting dropped kicked to the parking lot.

Yeah, that's a lie.  But I can pretend I'm tough right? 

So, moving on from work...I'm so excited for this weekend!  I am going home for the wedding...and along the way I am DETERMINED to stop at my sister J's house and meet little V.  I don't care what it takes...I will meet her this weekend.  (Obviously, it will be nice to see J and JP...but V is the most important!). 

I just need to figure out my travel plans and when I'm actually allowed to leave and go up there.  Sigh.

Have a wonderful day today!

*Eminem

Saturday, June 19, 2010

Can we pretend that airplanes in the night sky are like shooting stars*

Guess who has a computer at home again!

That's right...that would be me.

I'm so excited I just don't know what to do with myself!  So...of course I sit at home on a Saturday night and write a blog post.  Yeah...I'm only slightly pathetic haha.

However, in my defense, I have to be at work at 6:30 tomorrow morning (BLECH) and I went out last night and I'm still tired from that.  So going out again, and getting no sleep seemed like a bad idea (even if it would be fun). 

So, instead, you will get a fun re-cap of my weekend!  Yay!

Friday.  Can I just say it was very AWK-WARD.  I am CONVINCED my boss is out to humiliate me in every way possible.  We have some contractors here doing work and she was on FIRE with the comments ALL DAY.  Sigh.  Then, ran into non-date in the cafeteria and he totally blew me off (I was very polite I smiled and said hi).  Which I am SO CONFUSED about since I still haven't figured out why we stopped talking in the first place...but man, he seems like he flat out HATES me now.  So that was annoying/weird.  Then, I went out for happy hour with some friends and practiced my stalking skills.  But they suck.  If the person you're stalking isn't actually at the bar...it totally doesn't count as stalking. 

Then, this morning, my friend A and I had a play date for our dogs (ok, more like an introduction because little O is going to be staying with them next weekend while I'm back home for my cousins wedding).  And we got bagels (yumm...bagels and lox...) and went to a yarn store (where we bought nothing) and a fun bead store where I did buy some stuff. 

Then, I went to best buy to drop off the recovery disc for my computer and went to Michaels where I spent a little too much money but had fun doing it.  And the bookstore for some yummy coffee and back to best buy to actually GET my computer.  And I got my car washed and I vaccuumed it.  And now, it's still really dirty looking (stupid me always spilling my coffee inside it), but it's clean.  It's actually clean!

So, while doing all this I was outdoors in the sun approximately 20 minutes TOTAL the entire day.  Guess who has a slight sunburn?  Oh yes, that would be me again. 

Seriously, who gets a sunburn while running back and forth from stores to your car?  I'm amazing. 

And I did all this while feeling INSANELY sore.  Seriously, A the new trainer (again...not so new but whatever) is EVIL.  I got my new workout plan and it's ridiculously core centric.  My belly is WEAK.  I'm ok with that...honestly.  Oooh! And he trusts me with kettleballs (or is it kettlebells...so confused!)!  Is he INSANE??  Coordinated I'm not.  I keep waiting to throw that thing threw the window (or the mirror) depending where I stand.  Sigh.  It's only a matter of time. 

It's almot 3 days later and sitting up/laying down is STILL ridiculously painful.  But, I am planning to go running tomorrow after work so hopefully that will help a little. 

But yes, that is the update on my horrifically boring life.  I hope you are still awake after reading this (if you even made it this far!).  I am going to go walk the dog and go to bed at 9 so I can get up at 5:15.  Again.  Just Blech!

Have a wonderful rest of your weekend!

*B.O.B./Eminem/Hailey Williams

Wednesday, June 16, 2010

There is wonder in most everything I see*

A little glimpse of perfection:



Welcome to the world little niece.  I'm so glad you're here and I can't wait to meet you.

V. L. T.   Born June 16, 2010 at 10:04 in the morning, 8 lb, 2 oz, 21 inches.

*Carpenters

Tuesday, June 15, 2010

Sun kissed skin so hot we'll melt your popsicle*

I LOVE Snoop Dogg.  Seriously, almost every song of his...I love.  However, I DESPISE Katy Perry.  Pretty much everything she does makes me want to scratch someone's eyes out.  I'm so torn about if I should like California Girls (or is it Gurls?  I can't figure it out) or not. 

The parts Katy Perry sings.  AWFUL! 
The parts with Snoop Dogg.  AWESOME!

Yes, I realize there are worse things in life than liking/disliking a song.  But it's really bothering me.  And...to make it worse...whenever I hear the song, I get it stuck in my head for DAYS at a time even if I'm just flipping through the channels and don't actually LISTEN to the song.  Like today.  I've got that stupid "sun-kissed skin so hot we'll melt you're popsicle" line in my head.  On repeat.  Over and over and over.  ARGH. 

And you wonder why I dislike her so much :-P

On a happy note...I got an email from my dad from somewhere in Beijing which is always a a happy plus to the day.  It's kind of weird, I usually see my parents about every two to three months (or if there is a lot of family acitivites going on I see them about once a month), whenever my dad goes on a long trip I get this sad feeling that I can't see him for a month. 

Except...if he was home...I STILL wouldn't see him for a month.  So I'm not entirely sure what the difference is.  I have a weird brain.  It thinks in weird ways. 


*Katy Perry/Snoop Dogg

Friday, June 11, 2010

Would people think so harshly of crack, if it were called 'crackle'

I was head hunted yesterday!  I've NEVER in my life been head hunted before.  Granted, it was for a ridiculous company I've never heard of, and honestly, I'm still not entirely sure why they were attempting to hire a process engineer...but it was a job!  And they wanted me!  So weird! 

However, the guy I spoke to seemed completely out of it, and since I still can't figure out WHY they would need a process engineer...I pretty much turned them down.  But still...I WAS HEAD HUNTED! 

In other job related news.  I was supposed to have to work Saturday AND Sunday this week.  Now it's been pushed back to just Sunday!  I am so ridiculously excited.  It's going to be one of my last free weekends (well...last free day...) until mid July.  And my one and only non-working weekend is going to be spent traveling north to attend my cousin's wedding.  So while it will be a FUN weekend...it will not be a relaxing weekend.

Anyways, other than working, there is not much going on. 

However, on an exciting note...L started her own blog and in it she keeps posting pics of the nephews and nieces (and randomly pictures of tables and chairs).  Insane gratuitous cuteness.  Plus, she's a much better writer than me so you should totally check it out.  (http://www.trappedinnorthjersey.blogspot.com/)

I'm just waiting for updates from J about Baby T and her arrival.  I'm so excited...New Baby!!!  Coming Soon!!!  (Although probably not soon enough for J). 

Hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!

*Tompkins

Wednesday, June 9, 2010

And now I know that you'll be ok, and that I got what I want...and that's rid of you*

Another run in with the evil Best Buy.

My computer broke MONTHS ago.  I just haven't really had the time to go and get it repaired.  My roommate took it in and they told her they can't repair it, but they can just give her a replacement one.  But...rather than taking the replacement one, she just brought back the broken one and told me to go get the replacement one (she didn't want to be the one to pick it out for me).

Now, if I had to buy an entirely different computer, yeah, I wouldn't want to do that for someone else either.  But, they pretty much were just swapping out for the same thing.  WTF?

So, anyway, I haven't had time to actually go myself and get a different one.  I FINALLY went last night and they told me that NOW they send them out for repairs and I can't just swap it out.  However, since it's a hard drive issue they will not be able to fix it and will just send it back and tell me to swap it out.

WTF!

If you know it can't be fixed.  You know I'm going to just be swapping it out...WHY do I have to even send it out!?!  Can't I just swap it out now. 

Instead, I have to wait until June 26th-ish for it to come back unfixed. 

ARGH!

Seriously...it's so stupid.  If it's something you know they can't fix...why spend the time and money?  Makes no sense.  So I'm STILL without a computer.  I just want my computer back. 

On a positive note...I went to Starbucks today...and they finally got the order right.  Go you!

*BNL

Monday, June 7, 2010

Thought we're safe but we're dangling, and it's too far to survive the fall*

So...random question of the day. 

Is it possible for brake pads to randomly regenerate themselves?  My guess is no...but apparently that is what happened with mine.  I'm so confused...

When I had my last oil change I had them check my brake pads because they've felt all squishy and I was concerned (plus my car had 75Kish miles and I feel like I should have already changed my brake pads).  They were at 3/32" which is definitely low, but still passable (they fail at below 2/32" apparently).  I asked if they would be ok until the next oil change (this was right around the time of my grandfather's funeral and I had just spent WAY TOO MUCH money in a 3 day period and was trying to avoid paying an extra couple hundred dollars).  The guy said they would be fine and we could just change them next time.

Fast forward 5000 miles (ugh...HOW do I drive 5000 miles in a month and a half?????), and I took my car in this morning for an oil change (however, how awesome is it my car goes 5000 miles before it needs an oil change...so much nicer than my last car that went every 2...I swear I was getting oil changes every other week with that car).  I had them check my brakes again and this time they said the pads were at 4/32". 

Explain that to me. 

However, I was expecting to spend a couple hundred this morning, and walked out with only an oil change and a tire patch (I had a stupid screw in my back tire), all for under $50.  So that's sweet.  But still confusing.

WTF?

How did they get BIGGER? 

Anyways, the weekend was lovely. 

I saw BNL on Friday and that was entertaining.  However, I realized the last time I actually liked/listened to them (as in bought their CDs) was "Everything to Everyone" which was back in 2003...and I didn't really like that CD so never listened to it...and I don't know most of those songs.  Apparently they've also realeased like another 5 CDs since then (and obviously didn't know those songs either)....so I didn't know most of the songs they played.  I was sad. 

I kind of just wanted to hear a Live-er version of Rock Spectacle (yes...I know it's a "Live" CD...I just wanted to hear them play those songs for real Live).  Sadly, they didn't play Brian Wilson (OMG Since when do they NOT play Brian Wilson in a concert???? or Break Your Heart which is my ALL TIME FAVORITE song of theirs).  They DID play "If I had a Million Dollars", BUT...they totally changed the whole treehouse part and got rid of the lines about the fancy dijon ketchups which is kind of my favorite part.  SO...another disappointment. 

But, overall, they still are good entertainers and I had fun and it was a super cheap concert...so I'm done complaining.  :-) 

I then spent the rest of the weekend hanging out with friends and chilling around the house (and SLEEPING...A LOT OF SLEEPING was done).

However, now I'm dreading the next 5 weeks because the slamming of work is starting this Friday.  UGH.  Let me NOT think about it. 

Hope everyone else had a great weekend. 

J- Is Baby T here yet? (You know, after that dream I had where you didn't bother to tell me she was born...I have to ask you constantly). 

*The Stiff Dylans

Wednesday, June 2, 2010

She likes the warm feeling but she’s tired of all the dehydration*

I hope everyone had a fantastic long weekend!  I worked...but hey...what's a few more days at the office right?  I also had some time off to myself (yay beer!) so it wasn't all bad. 

I have also started a new hobby recently (again with the hobbies!) and I made my mom a birthday gift (I hope she likes it and doesn't think I suck at my new hobby).  I also started my sister L's birthday gift and hopefully will finish it in time.  However, this is my old hobby, so nothing exciting there. 

I've been quite the busy bee.

I've also continued running in the park and it is SO MUCH FUN.  Even when it's completely miserable...it's WONDERFUL!  I've been limiting myself to 2-3 miles so I'm not pushing super hard, however, I've been doing the hilly run so it's a harder 2-3 miles than a normal run is.

Yesterday's run was my toughest run.  It was SO HUMID when I started running (I was soaked about 20 feet into the run...no lie) and it was just so gross.  It started thundering when I was about 1/4 mile into the loop, but I figured it would be fine (and I always bring my phone in case I get stranded somehow) and I would just run a 2 mile loop. 

I love this park and the loop.  The dirth path is about 1.5 feet wide and it's completely covered in trees at all points and it feels like you're running alone in the woods (but there's actually a lot of people so I never feel unsafe) and it's just so peaceful.  I tried to take a picture to show how pretty it is...but it's kind of a sad attempt.  This is the biggest part of the path (almost 2 feet wide here) and it was in the biggest "clearing" so it's not the best portrayal.  However, when I tried to take a picture deeper in...my phone took a blurry green thing.  Apparently the light sucked or something.  SO...kind of an idea. 


So again, this run was so humid and I was so gross and sweaty that I was COVERED in a BLANKET of dead gnats on my face and neck by the time I got back to my car.  The last half mile I was just praying it would start raining (it got all dark and ominous and thundering louder) just so it would cool off.  Sadly, I made it all the way back to my car in this horrible humidity before it FINALLY started raining.

I swear the temperature dropped 15 degrees in a minute.  It was very refreshing (but would have been more refreshing if it had actually rained while I was running). 

Then I went home and sat with my dog as he freaked out over the storm and attempted to bark it into submission.  So not fun. 

Anyways, back to work....but first...

Have a good trip daddy!  Stay safe and see you in about a month or so!

*The Hold Steady