Welcome to Candyland

List 2.0!

2009-09-18T16:03:00.003-04:00

Here's my new list. It's shorter than the previous one, but maybe that means I'll hit a higher percentage overall in the end. It took me a while to publish this. I've actually already accomplished a couple of things (going to Berkeley Springs and canning salsa). Maybe I'll hit a higher percentage of accomplishments this time around.

By July 14, 2011:

1. Take a trip to a country outside of North America
2. Go fruit picking
3. Plant a row for the hungry
4. Get a manicure/pedicure
5. Shoot a gun
6. Can my own salsa
7. Go camping
8. Bake bread
9. Take pictures with the SLR camera and print at least two of my own pictures to hang in our house
10. Visit 2 new national parks I haven't seen before
11. Tour 2 breweries I haven't been to before
12. Go to Berkeley Springs, WV
13. Complete a sewing project
14. Do a scotch tasting
15. Eat oysters
16. Complete four landscaping projects
17. Take another trip with friends
18. Write a personal email to catch up with friends at least once a month
19. See a movie at AFI Silver
20. Make our house more energy efficient
21. Brew beer
22. Go back to Wolf Trap to see a concert and have a picnic
23. Learn basic bicycle repair
24. Sleep under the stars somewhere without a lot of light pollution.
25. Obtain a graduate certificate or take at least three graduate-level courses toward another degree.

Two Year Anniversary

2009-07-12T10:37:00.005-04:00

The traditional gift for the two-year anniversary is cotton and the modern gift is china. What's the post-modern gift? Goal-attainment.

Well, my two year wedding anniversary is in two days. I suppose I need to account for how my list went.

Overall, I had some good adventures these past couple of years. The list gave me things to look forward to and pushed me to try to do things I wouldn't normally do at times. I'd say there was more excitement for the list at first and that has waned as time went on, however. It was also easier to focus on the list for the first few months when I didn't have a full-time job. I don't know if two years was a good time frame or not. It did take me a while to achieve some of the things on the list, so I suppose it needed to be longer than a year or a few months.

I estimate that I have completed 72-80% of the the things on my list, depending on how credit is given. I'm not sure if that's good or bad. Maybe it's average?

Here are some of the things that weren't completed:
4. Write a song
I did start a few times. I recorded a guitar riff I had made up onto my computer. I wrote myself a few little ideas for lyrics. It never came together.

5. Go canoeing.
I went tubing a couple of times instead. I would still like to get out in a canoe at some point, however. I wonder if it's more common to canoe in Wisconsin than out here on the East Coast.

6. Visit either Mexico or the Caribbean
I think I put this on the list thinking Jake and I might do one of these for our honeymoon. However, I did go on the Costa Rica trip. That was cool.

14. Learn to tell five more good jokes
I'm not entirely sure why this didn't happen. I only count learning one more joke in two years. That's pretty pathetic. Maybe my sense of humor isn't broad enough to find a lot of things funny. I read through jokes trying to think if I even considered them funny and mostly I didn't. Someone tell me a funny joke so I can memorize it!

17. Gain the upper body strength to do a pull-up
I'm pretty sure I thought this was not going to happen even as I wrote it into my list.

18. Stop being overweight.
As of last summer, I had lost 10 lbs. since the start of the list which was pointed out to me at a doctor's appointment. However, since last summer, I gained it all back. Eh, oh well.

24. See at least 5 new states I haven’t visited before
I wound up short one state. I thought I was going to get to go to Arizona on a helicopter ride, but because of flight delays out to Vegas I had to miss that. I also briefly thought that I'd get to go to Georgia for work, but that didn't happen either.

33. Write either my Congressman or Senator at least 3 times about issues I care about (using my own words, not form emails)
Yup, just didn't do this.

34. Write a letter to the editor of a newspaper or magazine
I think I may have started once or twice. Huh, I wonder why I haven't been able to get fired up enough about anything to do this.

35. Go to another continent besides North America
Again, just didn't happen. I really need more vacation time. And, you know, more money.

These are some things that are questionable as to whether I completed:
25. Throw a dinner party
We did have a party at our house where we invited over a bunch of people, I made a couple of salads, and we grilled. I'm not sure if this counts as a "dinner party". I suppose it might.

40. Trace Jake’s and my ancestry at least back to Europe on each side to have a family tree for our children
After our wedding, I did pull together most of this. We have it in a booklet in our house. It's good enough for now, I suppose.

39. Make Jake go to see a musical with me
Jake and I are seeing a musical on July 17th, which is three days after our actual anniversary. However, it is also in celebration of our anniversary, so maybe it can count?

47. Go to a book signing and get a signed copy of a book
I've been to a couple of book talks/signings since I made the list. I even stood there while Jake got a signed copy of a book by Amy Goodman for his mom. But, I didn't do anything to get my own signed copy of a book.

Some of the things on my list I wound up doing more than once. I saw a couple of shows at the Birchmere and I hiked in Great Falls on two separate occasions. I suppose I don't get double credit for those things.

So, what's next? I'm in the process of making another list. I have a few ideas I'm working on and hopefully I'll publish that soon. It'll probably be for another two-year time frame. I'm open to suggestions. What's something awesome I should do before 2011?

Fertility Rates by Education Level

2009-06-06T17:06:00.003-04:00

I just read that women in Ethiopia who haven't gone to school have an average of six children, while the women who have a secondary education have two children. This made me wonder what the stats are for women in the US. I'd definitely think that women with less education probably tend to have more kids, but how many more? I asked Jake what he thought the difference was, and his initial response was that he thought that women with a high school diploma probably have, on average, 1 more kid than women with a bachelor's. I wonder if it is even that high...That difference of four kids in Ethiopia is incredibly high. I suppose that was surprising.

I'm not sure where to look up number of kids by education level in the United States. Does anyone have suggestions about places to look? I sort of doubt that it's within Census information at all. It'd be a bit tricky to get accurate information on this. The numbers might change generationally, and a final number of children couldn't be calculated until a woman has finished her reproductive years.

Worlds are colliding.

2009-05-19T15:47:00.001-04:00

Some days (a lot of days actually), I think I have too many worlds colliding. I think I need to try to stop having that happen so much.

April has pretty much flown by...

2009-04-30T15:41:00.005-04:00

It feels like the month just started and now all of the sudden it's the 30th. Yeah, my age went up by a year at the start of the month and that hasn't even registered with me. I'm trying to think what even happened this month.

We did have plenty of visitors this month and got plenty of baseball in as well, I suppose. My parents were here at the beginning of the month. We saw an exhibition game at the Nationals Stadium with them. Last weekend, Maria and Rexx came to stay with us. We took a drive up to Baltimore with them to see an Orioles game at Camden Yards.

We got to a few things out in the yard and garden. We bought a push mower thinking that we'd use that for our yard, but that turned out to be a lot of work. So, we wound up getting the riding lawnmower left behind by our house's previous residents repaired so that we could cut our grass. Jake spent a ton of time planting arborvitaes along one of our fence lines one weekend. Maria told me that arborvitae means "tree of life", which she thinks comes from some stranded explorers needing to subsist on eating tree bark at one point in time.

We got a patio set for outside. We grilled twice this month. Once on our own and once with Maria and Rexx. Yeah, I'm ready to get some use out of the outdoor area at our house.

I think the dog put on four pounds in the last month. Should that concern me? I'm pretty sure she was a healthy weight when we got her, so I'm afraid I've been overfeeding/underexercising her. We have a vet appointment for her on Monday, so I suppose that is one thing I can ask about when we go in. We never did get her medical records from the animal rescue league, even though we've been bothering them to send them. I hope she's not going to have to get a whole bunch of shots or something when we take her in.

Huh. I guess when I sit down to think about it, a lot has actually happened this April. Well, I got my blog entry in for the month! I guess I need to make my May Day plans for tomorrow now!

We have a new member of our family!

2009-03-29T11:07:00.006-04:00

Here's our new dog! She's a hound/beagle mix we've named Lainey:

Also, I started a new blog. It's called Dose of Cute. You all should send me things to include on it.

How much is that doggie in the window?

2009-03-15T07:47:00.004-04:00

It's been a struggle to adopt a dog. It's starting to feel like we're in some sort of competition where judges are looking to eliminate us.

One of first steps we took toward our dog search was showing up at an adoption event at Petco about a month ago. It was totally chaotic. There were people and dogs everywhere. It was not clear who was a volunteer and who wasn't. We did finally track down a volunteer who told us that if we were interested in a dog at the event, we needed to fill out an application and a vet check, sit down for separate interviews, set up a home visit, sign a contract in blood, etc., etc. At that point, we decided that we weren't ready to do all the paperwork or anything, especially since we didn't have a particular dog in mind.

So, we've followed up by looking online for dogs that look interesting. Jake has sent out several emails and has also filled out a couple of applications. He hasn't even had a response to some of his emails. One place in Maryland rejected our application. They didn't even tell Jake why at first. Jake just got a response that basically just said, "Nope, you are rejected." So, Jake followed up and asked about it and they responded that it was because Jake said on the application that our backyard fence is four feet high. They said that it needed to be at least five feet high or the dog might be able to get out.

Then, we saw this dog, named "Joey":

Jake filled out an application, and we got a response to come to the next adoption event to meet him. We showed up, and the volunteers there told us we needed to wander around to try to find him ourselves. When we did find the dog, a couple and their teenage son were also there looking at the dog. We walked up and said that we had filled out the paperwork for Joey online. The family that was there said that they had also filled out the forms. They then launched into a story about how their terrier had recently passed away. The son was kneeling down on the ground with his camera phone, flashing Joey a picture of their previous dog. The volunteer standing around told us that Joey was very hesitant, has a lot of separation anxiety, and would do best in a house with another dog. Well, Jake and I did say that we both work and couldn't be at home with the dog all day long. The other family brought up that the husband had a home office and Joey could just curl up by his feet all day long. It seemed as though the volunteer was trying to steer us away from going through with the rest of the application process. It did feel pretty hopeless with this other family standing right there trying to sound like a better fit the whole time. Joey does have a brother, who had just received medical attention the same week we went in. We didn't go through the whole interview process for Joey, because it seemed pretty futile to us. We said we'd wait to see when Joey's brother becomes available, which the volunteers seemed to think would be in a week or two. It's been two weeks, we've sent follow-up emails, and haven't heard anything back from the animal rescue team. So, yeah, I think we've been rejected from the dog adoption process...so an email saying "You have been rejected" pretty much does sum it up. I think if we get another one of those emails, our next step is just to drive to West Virginia or Kentucky and pick up a dog from the side of the road somewhere.

So, this does pretty much sum it up...

2009-02-26T19:29:00.002-05:00

I took a "Career Advancement Test" online just now. Here are my results. Sorry they aren't pretty looking or in a chart, but I didn't have a way to link to the results page:

Snapshot Report
Stimulation
83
Your answers showed that you are ready to take on more stimulating tasks than you presently have at work. You may even find yourself feeling bored and would welcome some more difficult or demanding duties. Either you feel you have reached a high level of competency in your current position or it was never sufficiently challenging for you to begin with.

HA!

Can blogging make you happier?

2009-02-17T16:22:00.001-05:00

Check this out. Thanks kids, for creating more social connections through blogging. :)

I went to a garden party/ To reminisce with my old friends

2009-02-16T21:20:00.004-05:00

I'm getting antsy to start trying to do gardening. We got this hydrangea at our housewarming party, and I want to find a place for it outside:

It was doing fine for a while, then some of its leaves got a bit crunchy. I hope I can get it to survive until I'm able to get it outside.

Jake and I went to Green Spring Gardens in Alexandria on Valentine's Day. I've started some flower seeds in little pots. I chose penstemon digitalis, because the description I read said that the plants attract bees and hummingbirds. The seeds are super small. I could barely even see them as I put them in the pots. I'm afraid nothing is going to come up. Jake chose a plant called liatris spicata. I really need to learn the common names of these things. Go Google! Okay, the common name of mine is "beard tongue" and Jake's is "blazing star".

I also have a bunch of seed packets of vegetables, but haven't tried to start any of them yet. I have 2 kinds of tomatoes, 2 kinds of peppers, lettuce, mesclun, and cucumber. I'm not sure how much I should try to start. On the one hand, I don't want to start trying to grow too many things at once and become overwhelmed. On the other, I want to make sure that I'm successful at growing something (even if it is just one thing) and the more things I try, the more likely it is that something will work out.

Oh, and I got flowers from Jake on V-day. I just told one of my coworkers that I can't remember the last time I got flowers, so this was cool. He also bought the vase for me on etsy. Here are pictures:

25 Random Things About Me

2009-01-30T10:58:00.013-05:00

Okay, I'm doing this "25 Things" deal because I've seen so many people on facebook do it. I'm not going to "tag" anyone, but I do enjoy reading other people's lists. So, if you haven't made one and want to, go ahead and do it. I'll probably sit and read it and enjoy it.

Here goes:

1. I was the only girl in my grade school class from Kindergarten through 3rd grade and then again from 6th through 8th grade.

2. My sister and I shared a bedroom until I was in 5th grade. We would talk to each other until late into the night sometimes. I remember we would make plans to live next to each other when we grew up and have dinners and barbeques over at each other's houses.

3. I have two best friends with whom I have been close since high school. Maria lives in Michigan's Upper Peninsula and Lelani currently lives in Wisconsin not far from where we grew up, though she did go to college in Pennsylvania and also lived in Vermont for a while.

4. I have lived in the following cities: Princeton, WI; Madison, WI; Eau Claire, WI; Arlington, VA; and Alexandria, VA.

5. I love the show "Seinfeld". I know they call it the show about nothing, but at the same time I still find a way to relate it to everything.

6. I like drinking bloody marys. I like it when they basically show up as a meal in a glass along with a beer chaser. That seems to happen back in Wisconsin. I don't see them presented quite the same way in DC.

7. I grew up in the Midwest, but for some reason, thought of myself as being more aligned with the ideology of people on the West Coast. I wound up living on the East Coast.

8. When I was growing up, my parents competed in an annual trivia contest that played on a local radio station. It was 21 hours of trivia and my dad would collect books from libraries all around to have on hand to look up answers and call in. This was back in the day before everyone had the internet. I'd look forward to it every February. It was practically another holiday to me...one where we'd get to stay up all night and eat Twizzlers and Chex Mix.

9. During my junior and senior years of college I lived in an apartment with 5 other girls. It was a really weird apartment. I think it was some sort of office that got converted into an apartment. We had an "Exit" sign that lit up our living room.

10. I taught myself how to play the guitar when I was 13. I'd been playing trumpet since I was in 3rd or 4th grade. I thought for a while that I wanted to have a career related to music. When I was 16, I took private trumpet lessons with a professor in Oshkosh, because my high school band teacher thought I should. Then the professor kicked me out of the lessons because I wasn't practicing as much as he wanted me to and because my musical ability wasn't improving as quickly as he wanted.

11. I like cooking, and I want to get better at baking.

12. Before I got married/engaged, I didn't want an engagement ring. I told Jake to get me something practical. Then, I backtracked and said that if Jake wanted to give me an engagement ring to show that we were engaged, he could. I think I confused him so much that he wound up giving me a ring, a trip to NYC, and a laptop as engagement gifts.

13. I gave Lelani a cheap gaudy ring from Claire's when I asked her to be my maid of honor. It was over a candlelit dinner of Domino's pizza.

14. When I die, I really don't want to be embalmed.

15. When the war in Iraq broke out, I was on vacation in Paris. There were huge protests there.

16. When I was little, I threw up in the movie theater while watching the Disney movie Cinderella.

17. I once went trick-or-treating with two friends on Labor Day. I think we seriously confused an old lady.

18. I wish I were better at speaking Spanish. I took four semesters in college. I understand a lot of what people say to me when they speak in Spanish, but I am never confident enough to actually keep a conversation going.

19. I never liked watching sports all that much until I went to Badger football and hockey games in college. I still don't like watching any sporting events as much as I liked watching those games in person with the crowd chants and the band playing.

20. I tend to be an early riser. I always got up on the weekends before my college roommates. I always beat Jake out of bed, too.

21. When I lived in Madison, I was a participant in a study about emotional regulation. I had to go in for 3 MRIs and get shown a series of images. I got paid a few hundred dollars.

22. I have a scar on my left arm from donating plasma for money while I was in college.

23. I hated swimming lessons as a kid. I remember my mom bribed me into going to my swim lessons one summer by telling me that if I went to all the lessons, she would buy me Super Mario Bros. 3 for the Nintendo.

24. I don't remember the day my sister was born, but I remember the day my brother was born. My great-grandpa had died recently, and we were cleaning out his house. My parents left for lunch and didn't come back. My grandparents took us over to their house and we watched the Miss America pageant on tv. My dad showed up in the middle of night to wake us up and say, "It's a boy!"

25. I never got a traffic ticket until I moved out East. Then, I got two in one year. One was for an illegal U-turn here in Virginia, and the other was because I was going too slow in the left lane of the highway while in New Jersey.

Happy New Year!

2008-12-31T11:31:00.008-05:00

Here are a few things I want to do in 2009

1. Start my own garden: I'll have to get to this this spring sometime.

2. Attempt to bike to work when I can: I'll wait until the days are a bit longer and warmer to do this. Hopefully, I can work out a way to do this a couple of times a week. I'm also hoping that it won't take me that much longer than waiting around for the bus, etc.

3. Shoot a gun: I know this is a weird one for me to have on here, but I want to know what it is like to do it once at least. Maria, do you think we can plan to go shoot clay pigeons over Thanksgiving? If not, I'll have to find a range to go to so I can try it out. I think doing it in Wisco with Maria would be more fun as well as cheaper, though.

4. Learn to can: I think I'll try to get to this sometime this summer.

5. Get a dog: I think Jake and I will start looking in February.

A couple of these might replace items on my big list (which has an ending date of July 14th...yikes!). I'm actually not doing too bad overall. I didn't really expect I'd wind up doing 100% of what I wrote on that list, anyway. I wonder if I should make another big list once my anniversary is done or not. It is fun to look back and see that I have done a lot of things in the last year and a half or so; however, I don't know quite how I want to define the next phase of my life. If I had to guess, I would think the next couple years will be spent: a) settling into our house, making it efficient and sustainable and b) enjoying fun activities before actually having a family. Also, I purposefully didn't write anything too specific for career goals on my current (big) list, but I wonder if I should think about coming up with a new direction for the next list. I've furthermore been kicking around the idea of doing some sort of service vacation...like going to another country for a couple of months to build schools or something (anyone have suggestions on good programs to go through? I doubt I could commit to a year like you did, Emily, but I think I could make a month or two work). I need to find ways to make myself feel useful. My job definitely doesn't make me feel useful. I did start volunteering once a month with The Reading Connection, but I think I need more than that.

The ideas for this next list are all very vague, I know, but at least my first few goals above to start the New Year are more specific and time-bound. These other thoughts are just seeds of goals for another list, if I wind up doing one. What do people think? Should I write another one? Should I do a list recap this summer to talk about the highlights of completing items on the current list?

Survey Question of the Day

2008-12-23T15:43:00.001-05:00

What's your favorite Christmas movie?

Should Candy's next holiday be an open road adventure or a return to "home"?

2008-12-14T07:43:00.006-05:00

So, I thought about writing out day-by-day everything that we did in Costa Rica, but I'm feeling a bit lazy. The highlights were: learning scuba diving, doing a canopy tour, relaxing in the hot springs, and getting a massage at the spa. It was a lot of fun and made me really wish I could spend like an entire year in another country. I wish I had more opportunities to practice speaking Spanish and it would be nice to have a different sort of experience.

Here's a picture of Jake and me, near Volcan Arenal:

Here's a link to Jake's photo albums of our trip, for anyone who's interested.

I feel as though there is always a tension between wanting to be out on the open road, doing new things, and wanting to have the comfort of a place to call "home". What wins out? Sometimes I think I shouldn't get too comfortable because then I won't grow enough as a person, but on the other hand, it's nice to feel like there's somewhere I belong. I'm not sure how long it will take to make our house feel like "home", or if it ever will feel like it. I find myself still calling Princeton "home" now and again, and I wonder if there will ever be a point where I don't call it home. When does that happen? Does it ever happen?

This weekend, we actually spent some time sitting around the house. I feel like I haven't had a chance to do that since we moved in. It's been kind of nice. I still sort of want to just have a day where I sit in my pajamas the whole day long and just relax around the house, I think that might make it feel like I'm breaking the place in.

Jake and I leave for Wisconsin on Saturday. We're flying into Milwaukee and plan to have Jake's parents pick us up. We'll stay with them the first night and see if we can borrow a car from them. think we'll take our time getting to my parents' on Sunday, just to avoid any conflicts over going to church (like we did last year). We'll stay with my parents until sometime on the 25th, and then see Jake's family until we leave on the 28th. I'm not sure what we're going to do each day exactly, or which friends and family I need to pop in to see while I'm there. Maria won't be around this year, so that'll be a bummer. I want to go see Lelani and Jon so that I can meet Memphis, so that is definitely on the list.

Yay...suck it, Jenny McCarthy.

2008-12-11T10:12:00.001-05:00

Check it out.

End of November! Eek!

2008-11-30T16:19:00.002-05:00

I made it a goal to blog at least once every month. Well, it is the end of the month and I haven't written anything in November yet. So, here I am...this will have to be short, though. I got back to my house from Costa Rica last night at around 3am. We had an awesome vacation, and I hope to write and post pictures soon. I crossed a lot of things off of the list and had a number of adventures. I definitely wouldn't mind going back some time. Now, however, I need to get my mind prepared for the fact that I am going back to work tomorrow. I need to finish the laundry, finish getting unpacked, and prepare to get back into the swing of things.

Moving

2008-10-31T16:56:00.009-04:00

Jake and I finished our move to the house last weekend! Yay! Here is a collection of pictures from the experience:

Jake with our moving truck. We got one for free from our realtor! We're also allowed to reserve it whenever we want now. Awesome. Anyway, the main point of this picture is to display the party bus parked in the front yard of our neighbors' house.

Here are some of the pictures of the inside of the house:

Our family room. I call this the "man cave". Note the new big tv Jake decided to buy.

The kitchen.

The dining room, along with a pile of packaging and crap from the new tv. I'm still waiting to throw that out. I'm hoping it's out by this Wednesday (garbage day).

The front room. This is the room you see when you walk into the front door. It's fairly sparse and random right now. We'll move the couch and chair from the "man cave" to this room once our sectional couch arrives in 8-10 weeks.

Hallway.

Bathroom. We also have a half bath right across the hall, but I didn't include a picture of that one.

Master bedroom.

Guest bedroom.

Office.

Tejal and Jon were nice enough to help us move. Yay! We went to Clyde's in the evening. We shared a lobster between the four of us and a few random appetizers. We all got to have pictures in the bibs, though.

Me and Tej in the lobster bibs.

Jake and Jon in the lobster bibs.

Now to plan the housewarming. The date is still TBD. I'm hoping January, but we'll have to see...

Election Yard Signs

2008-10-15T14:39:00.002-04:00

I read this article recently about yard signs and elections.

I've been thinking that yard signs are kind of stupid. I mean, who looks at yard signs and says, "Well, my neighbor is voting for candidate X, so I think I will, too"? I'd hope it wouldn't work that way. I don't really see the point in yard signs, so I read that article to see if they had any redeeming qualities, or even if they work in ways that aren't apparent to me. This particular article said that signs increase the level of support among the people who actually put them out. I don't know if I think that's good or bad. Good if it's a candidate I agree with on the issues, and bad if it's one I disagree with, I suppose. I guess if I were the person running for office, I'd try to get people to put out my yard signs, too, because it would be a smart move to increase my level of support. But, inside, I'd just be thinking how silly yard signs are.

Yesterday, Jake and I went for a walk after dinner. Our route took us past a large home with a big brick fence around it. It's probably valued within the multi-million dollar range, considering it's in Old Town. A couple of weeks ago, I walked past the same house and it had a couple of your average-sized yard signs out for McCain. Well, yesterday those yard signs had been replaced with a couple of GIGANTIC signs, one for McCain and one for a local candidate whose name escapes me now (though I do remember the slogan at the bottom of his sign: "Drill Here, Drill Now!"). They were so gigantic, I don't know if I can still call them signs so much as banners. They were at least a couple of yards long by a couple of yards high. I wish I had taken a picture to include because these signs were just ridiculous. Maybe if I have time in the next week before we move, I'll swing by there again, just to snap a photo. In conclusion, I can tell everyone that I have seen that yard signs do lead to escalation of commitment. The people who own this house have committed to much bigger yard signs over the past couple of weeks.

Performance enhancement

2008-10-07T11:35:00.002-04:00

I just heard about this stuff called Gamer Grub. Oh stupid marketing, I love it! The next time I get a chocolate craving, I think I should make sure it's "strategy chocolate".

Poll function

2008-10-01T21:11:00.003-04:00

I'm not sure if there's a way to embed the poll function right in my posts. So, if you're coming directly to my site, please answer the poll question of the week. Which is better, circus peanuts or candy corn? If you'd like to provide a rationale for your choice, feel free to post in the comments below.

Gallup is wasting its time with polling people about Obama-McCain, while I am here asking the important questions in life.

We're getting a house!

2008-09-14T08:48:00.004-04:00

Jake and I are signing an agreement with the sellers this afternoon. We still need to have a home inspection done, etc., but we finally had an offer accepted. Yay!

Here are some pictures of the place I stole from the online listing:

Electoral College Pool

2008-09-14T08:38:00.003-04:00

Jake and I were just having a conversation about how there needs to be a contest to see who can predict the results of the electoral college.

So, I searched online, and the Post is having a contest:

http://projects.washingtonpost.com/2008/pick-your-president/

The winner gets $500 to Best Buy!

My current picks have Obama winning 314-224. Is there any way to track this on a smaller scale, similar to comparing NCAA picks with your friends?

Random Labor Day Weekend Post

2008-08-31T18:01:00.002-04:00

Well, after a hiatus of a couple of weeks, we went house hunting again on Saturday and didn't see much that interested us. There were really problems with everything we looked at. I guess the most interesting thing we saw was a life-sized blow-up doll hanging from a ceiling fan. Yeah...I'm sure there was quite a party in that house.

So, we'll probably look again next weekend. :P

I do feel ready to move on. I want a new space with new projects and new opportunities. Things are starting to feel stale.

I have finished all of the things on the mini-list of stuff I wanted to do before we move out, except for karaoke at Rock It Grill. I was going to go with Tej last night actually, but gave up on it because a) I had some drinks early on and didn't feel like going out for more drinks after and b) because I decided I wanted to go check out Tej's new apartment with her. I'm sure I can make time to go some night after work in the next few weeks. It'd be cool if I could get a good group of people there, because that'd make it more fun.

Oh, I and I need to revamp the 50 things list. I know I want to add "Start composting" onto the list. The pull-up thing can probably go.

Today I made a salad with watermelon, tomato, red onion, basil, feta, and balsamic. I stole the idea for it off Rustico's menu. I have a crapload of tomatoes because it's that time of year AND I got a watermelon and basil from Farmer John this week, so it made sense.

Even though I can't seem to move on lately (and, you know, FINALLY get a house...), there have been a lot of other things happening around me. Change is going to happen whether I make it happen or not, I suppose. It may take me a bit to process all the recent events. At work, a couple of people are leaving/things may be shaking up/we may hire someone new. In the fam, my sister told me she and Paul are going to sign her divorce papers soon (okay, this one I've known was coming and am ready for it). Also, my Uncle Tom passed away yesterday morning. I hope my dad is taking it okay. It's hard for me to gauge him. He did mention it to me on the phone, but I don't really know how he's feeling about it.

Stalled Out

2008-08-04T13:05:00.002-04:00

Jake and I put an offer on another house this weekend. It's the third one we've put an offer on so far. I'm not optimistic that we'll get this one. There's already one offer on it and more will probably come in. We're not offering much above list because the list price was about what Jake and I have decided we're willing to spend. Yeah. I'm at this point where I feel that I'm spinning my wheels and not getting anywhere. If this one falls through, we may take a break from looking for a while. It just feels as though there are too many people looking in the same places we are and I'm getting tired of competing for houses. I just want to try to enjoy the rest of the summer instead of running around looking at real estate on the weekends.

Purposeless Living

2008-07-15T10:59:00.002-04:00

So, I just read thisthis article on purposeless living. It was interesting for me, considering the thought that I've put into purposeful living in the past few years. I want my life to have purpose! However, I agree with this guy in that I don't want to be enslaved by my goals. I want to enjoy the process of achieving my goals, yet at the same time feel that I am challenging myself enough to actually be developing personally. Can I trust that some growth and development will happen to me even if I'm not focused on goals, or do I need to push myself somewhat? What are the signs that goals have enslaved me, instead of my goals being tools directing me on a path to living a focused life?

The List- Year One

2008-07-14T15:21:00.003-04:00

Tonight is my wedding anniversary. Jake and I have reservations at Restaurant Eve. So, I'm through just over the halfway point for the timeframe for my Things to Do List. I'm feeling the need to re-vamp it. I don't think I ever took doing a pull-up seriously, for example. I also feel that I've done a lot of the "easy" things on the list. I feel the need to add some things that I can accomplish quickly so that I get some quick sense of achievement. I do think I'm on track to do a number of the other things if Jake and I get our house-buying in (Number 22 on the list). Once that one's out of the way, I can look into a new couch and a dog. That'll be more off of the list.

I feel that the list is stagnating a bit. I'm getting bored. Hmm...what do I need to do to make things more exciting?

Here's a mini-list I could start work on:

List of things to do before we move out of our apartment!
1. Go eat a cupcake at Bittersweet in Old Town.
2. Go back to the Tiffany Tavern to see another Open Mike night.
3. Sing kareoke at Rock It Grill- and get another thing off the big list!
4. Get rid of any clothes I don't wear anymore and donate them.
5. Take a water taxi or a boat ride off the end of King Street.

Tomorrow night, Jake and I are meeting with our agent to put an offer on a different place we saw on Sunday. It's another foreclosure and the bank's reduced the list price to draw in offers. They'll probably get a bunch of them...Jake and I will probably offer above list again and not put contingencies in. The last place we bid on went to some people willing to fix the basement on their own. The whole place needs carpet/flooring as well as a paint job before we move in, but we'll do that on our own. You all should see the paint on the walls of this place...it's like a mint green next to a pink next to a dark purple. It's craziness...and will have to get fixed. Still, I guess it isn't as crazy as this place I saw that had yellow and burgundy stripes painted in the living room. What are people thinking?

Huh.

2008-07-12T12:46:00.002-04:00

I came acrossthis post from Ripon's mayor. I guess Boca Grande has been buying up properties since last fall at least. It sounded more sudden and recent to me when I talked to people back home.

I'm getting antsy for Jake to do something with Blue Lava

2008-07-12T12:21:00.007-04:00

So I decided to pull a few Wisconsin pictures myself and put them up here for your viewing pleasure:

So I just realized right now that I can add this blog list thing.

2008-07-12T12:19:00.002-04:00

And, it shows the last time the blogs have been updated!

C'mon, I've Got Dispirito! Two years ago? You can make it back to the top of the list with a single post!

;)

House Hunting

2008-07-11T09:16:00.000-04:00

The house we bid on went to some other people. Bah. So it's back to the house hunt this weekend. Ugh. I'm ready to be done. I can't wait to have moving over with so I can settle in and do some projects. I'm feeling stuck in a rut at this point.

A list of the books Art Garfunkel has read!

2008-07-10T14:40:00.000-04:00

Check it out!

http://www.artgarfunkel.com/favorites.html

Next time I'm looking for a book suggestion, I'll see if Art Garfunkel has read something good...

At least there aren't any snakes on this plane...

2008-07-07T21:25:00.003-04:00

So, I'm writing this as I'm stuck on the plane in Milwaukee airport. We've been here for over two hours sitting on the runway. Ugh.

Anyway, Sarah and Emily told me that I need to update my blog, so I figured I should make the most of my time while I'm here. I'll at least try to be productive. I could be reading my book, but I'm a bit tired of that, so I'll just work on this.

First off, don't fly AirTran! They suck. They'll hold you hostage on a plane for hours and let water from the air conditioning slowly drip on you. Yeah, it sucks...

In other news, we had a fairly good weekend back in Wisconsin. We got to see Matt Troitter on Thursday night at Summerfest. We drank lots of beers and went to watch Gomez. Matt stumbled around and couldn't stand on the benches while we were watching the band, but he was full of fun as always. One of the best things about Matt is that he's always ready to dance and party.

On Friday, Lelani and I made a cake for Maria's B-day. We made a tree out of food coloring and frosting to decorate the top. Maria and Rexx came over in the evening and we played Yahtzee.

Saturday morning, Maria, Rexx, Jake, and I went to the flea market in Princeton. I ate a cheese roll at the Ho-made Egg Roll stand (Maria wasn't sure it would still be there...I knew it had to be!). I also saw some painted spoons. I was tempted to buy a spoon with an eagle painted on it for work. I didn't though, as I've probably spent an embarrassing amount of money on spoons so far this year. It's getting to be a problem.

We all went to the Sub Shop in Ripon before heading to Alison and Justin's wedding. The subs were tasty- I'm glad to see that the place is still in business. I like it when the little local guy survives. I heard some news while I was home about a bunch of buinesses in Ripon being bought up by the same company (Boca Grande?). I wonder what'll happen there.

Alison's wedding was a lot of fun. Beer, good weather, and lawn games...who can complain? I also appreciated the short ceremony. Sometimes I think that ideally someone would have just asked me and Jake, “Do you?” and “Do you?” and we both would have just said, “Sure thing...” and it all could've been over with.

In semi-related news, I learned that my great-uncle (who is a pastor) randomly resigned recently. He hasn't talked to anyone in my family, so no one is exactly sure why. I say more power to him. I asked him to officiate our wedding, but he turned me down. I always thought he was a fairly cool guy- you know, not as preachy as preachers could be- which is why I wanted him for our wedding. I can totally understand wanting to get out of the God business. My fantasy is that he's given up on religion.

Okay, they're telling us that we'll be able to take off soon...we'll probably get home three hours later than expected. Ugh.

Later...at home...

On Sunday, I saw Sarah and Emily. We had lunch at Laredo's, hung out around Em's apartment, and got some custard at Michael's. The flavor of the day was Elephant Tracks, which apparently is just PB cups mixed into chocolate custard. What's the point? None of us got the flavor of the day.

Sunday evening, we went to Jake's Aunt Lolly and Uncle Dennis's place outside of Waunakee. They're building a house, so a lot of things were unfinished there (including bathrooms...). The piece of land they have is huge...I think Dennis said 85 acres. It was really beautiful out there. They had a lot of family over for food and conversation in their garage. Jake's cousin Nora and her boyfriend Jeff were back from NYC, too. They told everyone that they plan to get married some time next year.

My mom was a pain while we were home. She did a lot of yelling in the car because we got stuck in traffic in Milwaukee (there was a fuel spill on the off ramp we needed to go on to get to the airport). My mom has a knack for making stressful situations even more stressful. She needs to learn how to chill out. Really. Anyway, being around my mom reminds me of how I need to learn to control my own stress levels. It also reminds me of why I'd never want to move back in with my family...

Well, it's been a long day. I'm going to wrap this up and try to relax for the next hour or so before going to bed.

Bah, work tomorrow... :P

I would have included pictures in this post, but I'm feeling lazy. Maybe I'll steal some later once Jake puts them on blue lava.

What Happens in Vegas...Gets blogged about?

2008-06-22T06:55:00.006-04:00

Our trip to LV started out with disappointment, as our flight was delayed from Friday night to Saturday. This meant that Jake and I had to miss the helicopter ride over the Grand Canyon. Our friends who went on the trip were good about pretending like they didn't have fun on the helicopter, but I know it was the highlight of the trip for a lot of them... :P

So, Jake and I got in on Saturday morning and I felt that I needed to start drinking to make up for lost time. We hooked up with some friends and got drunk in the mall. Here's me and Tejal with our Fat Tuesday glasses:

We stayed at Bill's Gambling Hall and Saloon, which was actually a pretty good deal for being right on the Strip. Outside the front of Bill's, they constantly played a recording of this guy with a southern accent plugging the steakhouse at Bill's and Bill's 99 cent margaritas. A cab driver we had at one point informed us that Bill's, which used to be owned by Barbary Coast, was recently bought up by Harrah's for a half billion dollars. Apparently Harrah's and MGM own pretty much everything on the Strip.

We went out to the buffet at the Bellagio on Saturday evening. The food was good, but I made myself sick by the amount I tried to eat. I somehow thought I'd be able to make up for the $45 we each spent by stuffing myself full of food. It didn't work. We saw the Wayne Brady show on Saturday night, which was all right. He did pull our friend Tonia up on stage to make sound effects for one skit he did. Our friends all had plans to go out afterward, but Jake and I were utterly exhausted at that point. We went back to our hotel and crashed.

On Sunday, we met up with Zac, who I went to high school with and who now works in LV as a chef at the Wynn. He's getting married in another couple of weeks and is also getting a promotion to work at a higher, more managerial level at the Encore, which is a new casino going up right next to the Wynn. At first, we tried to get together and spend time with Zac and some of our other friends all at once. They were down at Slots O' Fun, but then we went with Zac down there and realized Slots O' Fun sucks as a place to sit down, have a drink, and catch up with an old classmate. So, we went across the street to the Riveria and had one drink, then drove down to New York New York, where we sat in this Irish pub/restaurant and drank some beers. That evening, we met back up with our crew to have dinner at Circo and watched the fountains in front of the Bellagio. Jake and I went to the Rio to see Penn & Teller and we convinced Tej that she should buy a ticket to it as well. It was a good show. I really like P & T. It's more bang for your buck to just watch Bullshit DVDs at home, but the live performance was quite enjoyable. They make me want to do magic... After P&T, we saw a show of floats in the air within the Rio, where these women in their underpants threw us beads.

Monday morning, Jake and I realized that we hadn't even tried to gamble any money. I watched Jake lose money quickly at a blackjack table and then decided to take a free blackjack class to learn more. After the blackjack class, we sat down at a table for about an hour and both wound up breaking even (I'm pretty sure I could have gone up in money if we'd stayed, but Jake wanted to leave to get into a poker tourney to lose some more money...). Monday night, we went out to Tao, which is some hip, pricey restaurant with decor like this:

I thought things were overpriced and our friends showed no qualms about doing things like ordering a $65 dessert for the table or lots of expensive sake. I got kind of annoyed. Dinner took over three hours and I was trying to get out to meet up with Zac again. I thought we were going to go out and meet his fiance.

The bathrooms at Tao were totally confusing...all the doors said were "Yin" and "Yang". I wound up going into the men's bathroom at first and having to turn around. They also had one of those bathroom attendants in there, which makes me uncomfortable. I don't want to have to tip someone to come over and hand me a towel or put soap on my hands. It made Tonia uncomfortable, too. She was like, "Hey, do other people need to use the bathroom? We can all go as a group and I'll tip for all of us..." I went in there alone at one point to wash my hands because they had sauce on them and the attendant woman started speaking to me in Spanish. I didn't catch what she said, but I did notice that she was sitting there reading "The Secret". Ha! Oh, and over the course of the 3 hour dinner, I found out that Tej is a bit into Scientology. What a weirdo...I need to sit down and talk her out of that...

We'd planned to go up the Stratosphere after dinner, but then realized that to meet Zac at Fremont Street, we wouldn't have time. We took the Deuce bus to Fremont, which I wouldn't recommend to anyone. It's slow and crowded... However, we got to Fremont and caught the light show right away, which was cool:

I enjoyed Fremont. Cheap, old school Vegas. Yes. We found Zac, but his fiance couldn't make it out because she had some sort of bachelorette party plans. Oh well.

I had a goal of renewing my vows with Elvis while in Vegas, but the closest I got was a picture of Jake and me and an Elvis statue. Drats.

House Hunting

2008-06-12T18:59:00.002-04:00

This weekend, we're going to Vegas, baby! After we come back, Jake and I are planning to start doing some serious house hunting next weekend (July 21-22). I'm both excited and apprehensive at the same time. I'm excited for the opportunity to move into a new place and start fresh, to have a bit more space, and to actually own a piece of real estate. I'm apprehensive because it's a big commitment, we will have to put hard work into the upkeep of a home, and it'll have to be somewhere I'm happy living in for more than the next couple of years. Jake and I wrote up a checklist of what we'd ideally want in the house we find, so that should help guide us a bit.

I'm also thinking the change of venue will help jumpstart me in making a few good lifestyle changes. I find that moving helps me to reorganize and rethink my life sometimes. So, these are some objectives I have for after we get a new house:

Start a garden! (I really want to plant vegetables! Maybe I could also Plant a Row for the Hungry.)
Create an area of "sanctuary"- a good place to be alone, read, think, etc.
Buy comfortable furniture
Bake and cook more (with the larger kitchen I expect the house will have)
Set up a good system to deal with dirty laundry (similar to Maria's basket system at her house)
Find ways to get involved with my community (not sure how...volunteering? meeting my neighbors? hosting a neighborhood party?)

Okay, that's what I have for now. I'll put up an update if we see any good houses.

How can I not waste my life???

2008-06-11T11:24:00.001-04:00

I'm so bored...

A recipe I made up:

2008-06-08T17:02:00.002-04:00

I make up recipes sometimes, but never write them down. I've been meaning to do it (hence, the goal on my list of writing three recipes). I have a feeling I'll never use this again, but decided to write it up anyway. If anyone else makes this, let me know!

Smoked Tomato Pasta Salad
Ingredients:
16 oz. pasta (I used whole wheat fusilli)
3-4 green onions, chopped
one large tomato, chopped
small head of broccoli, cut into small pieces
cubed pieces of mozzarella
black pepper
italian seasoning
Drew's Smoked Tomato dressing

Boil pasta, drain, and place in large bowl. Toss pasta with chopped vegetables and mozzarella. Use about 1/2 bottle of salad dressing and add seasonings to taste. Chill and serve.

Some Things that Make Me Happy!

2008-06-02T16:38:00.002-04:00

Doing things that give me a sense of self-efficacy
Learning new things
Reaching goals
Spending Time with friends
Having people think of me and give me recognition
Laughing
Coming up with Ideas/ Being Creative
Being Silly
Eating Good Food
Meeting Interesting People

What's something that makes YOU (yes, YOU, my reader!)happy?

Planning My Future

2008-06-02T16:02:00.002-04:00

I wonder if something I project to people makes it so that they feel that they should be giving me advice. (You're right, Maria, that "arrow finds its way" advice sucked...) Does anyone think that people with doctorates tend to feel that they are more qualified to dole out life advice? Or maybe it's just people with psychology doctorates who feel that way? Has anyone else been given advice and not wanted the advice? Jake doesn't seem to have had lots of people give him "life advice" the way people try to give life advice to me. I've had that experience a couple of times in grad school and now again in this job. Wtf?

The reason I think that "arrow finds its way" advice is crap is that it feels far too religious in a way. It doesn't match up with the way I see the world. The woman at work who said it to me said something that alluded to trusting that there was a force or a power that was going to get her to where she's going. I don't buy into stuff like that at all. I do think people have to PLAN to get places in life. Sometimes that plan needs to be altered as circumstances change, but nevertheless, I think you do have to plan. Or maybe, I just want to believe that planning is needed. I want to feel responsible for where I've gotten in my life and feel that I have some control over it.

I think my real issue is that I don't have much for career goals at the moment. I was just pissed that I had to confront that during my performance review. I tried to convey that I don't think that "career" and "life purpose" are synonymous during my review. However, I did upset myself by thinking about how much time I fritter away sitting around at my job. I told my supervisor (at least, I suppose she's my supervisor...the role structure at my job is confusing...I've been told that on the one hand, she can't fire me-not that she would- However, she really is the main person that gives me work to do, answers my questions, monitors me, and gives me feedback, while the boss that sometimes doesn't even know my name is the "big boss")that I can't find a purpose in the work we are doing. She never gave me a real answer to that...

I had a performance review at work today

2008-05-30T22:33:00.002-04:00

It went something like this:

But seriously, I got the whole sort of "where do you see yourself" question...ugh. Yes, I've been labeled as having an "existential crisis". I was basically like, "yeah...I don't want to talk about this right now."

Oh, and I got offered advice. Jeez. It was something like, "An arrow knows where it's headed." Whatever that means. Bah. Advice.

Some Days I Think...

2008-05-28T22:25:00.002-04:00

It might be a good idea to stay up all night doing the things I want to do and then just go to work to sleep. Maybe I could even sleep 6 hours there and do like two hours of actual work. Maybe...

We're having this training. It started today and goes through tomorrow. I'm totally bored. We have no internet. It sucks. I decided to play minesweeper for a while...

I wanna neck, I wanna neck

2008-05-18T09:53:00.002-04:00

I wanna necklace made of pearls

I wanna pet, I wanna pet
I wanna petticoat that swirls

And when the dam, dam, dam, dam
Damage is done
I'm gonna run, run, run, run, run, run, run
To granny's
Sweet granny's

Swingin' on the outhouse door
Without a nightie on
Grandpa's layin' on the floor

Singin' "Granny"
"Granny, won't you give me some more."

Okay, so I vaguely remember some people in high school singing this song. Does anyone else know where this comes from? Emily (with her post about childhood nursery rhymes) got me thinking about all this little ditties I've heard in my life.

Candy's Last Will and Testament

2008-05-05T22:16:00.003-04:00

I've been thinking about wills lately. I realize that I have nothing to bequeath to anyone, but I have been thinking a bit about what I'd want done with my body once I die. How does that get decided? Do I need to have a formal will made up for that? I really don't want to be embalmed and put in some crazy casket. I don't want people to spend a bunch of money on something that gets buried with me. Really, just throw me in the ground as is or something. If you need to, I'll allow you all to cremate me. If you can, plant a tree on top of me.

If I'm all Teri Schiavo-ish, pull the plug. Yes, do it.

What is it that makes a will legally binding? I need to look this up. Jake said it's possible that wills might need to be notarized. I remember Lelani used to have a tool to notarize documents. I don't know how she got ahold of that thing. I remember being in her bedroom and she was notarizing pages in some of her books and she said to me, "Hey, need anything notarized?" What the hell is up with that?

Brighton, if you read this- do you have anything to add about wills? I know you've been looking some of that stuff up.

Anyone else? Do you care what happens to your body when you die?

Spoons!

2008-04-21T20:31:00.003-04:00

We've been collecting souvenir spoons at work. Anytime anyone goes anywhere, we ask them to bring a spoon! Here's a picture of the spoons we have so far on display just outside Cindy's desk:

So far, we have Tennessee, Chicago, Texas, New York, Delaware, Wisconsin, Georgia, Washington DC, Kansas, Virginia, Florida, Arizona, and Iowa. More will come soon!

Here's a picture of the Tennessee spoon. It's always a favorite:

You Get What You Get and You Don't Throw a Fit

2008-04-20T12:30:00.002-04:00

So, I know I've been negative about my job lately. Maria's told me to job hunt. Sarah's told me to check out a program on Oprah related to job satisfaction. But today, I've decided to write a blog focusing on some of the positive aspects of my job.

People quote Seinfeld quite often. I know this makes me fit in some weird way. When I would quote Seinfeld in grad school, people would say that they hated that show. I never really fit in too well there.

I work with highly intelligent people. They talk about current events and make all sorts of cultural references. I don't feel that I'm getting stupider at my job. It certainly beats working with children with special needs in that respect.

I can use the bathroom whenever I want.

I get to be on the computer and no one bothers me about what I'm doing. I can read on the job- yay! I had a co-worker at APTS tell me I shouldn't be reading a magazine once. Blargh.

I can go to CVS or walk down the street anywhere really and no one cares. I can be out for extended periods of time.

I can show up pretty much whenever I want and leave pretty much whenever I want. I do work regular hours just because I have this sense of responsibility and work ethic. I don't why I don't just get over that...

People go out for drinks at least once a week. We talk and complain and people seem to pretty much understand what I'm going through. So, yeah, it works out.

I'm still really leery about posting things about work on here. I think this sort of stuff is safe, but I wonder when it becomes against the rules. When I start talking about and naming specific people I work with? Is it okay if I disguise their identities? Some days I really, really want to blog about events that occur at my job because things happen weekly at least that are just totally bizarre. I sort of want to type up some of that stuff just so that it can go into my memoirs...

Advice and Consent- not just the responsibility of the Senate

2008-04-12T15:00:00.005-04:00

I have had lots of downtime at work lately. I've also been shaken up by a number of things happening to people close to me. This has led me to think a number of things about my life and my relationships with people. Maybe thinking too much. I've also talked to a number of people about these things and reflected on them a bunch. Bouncing my feelings about things off others has allowed me to refine more of my thoughts on some of this, but now I'm going to try to write out some of these things and refine them a bit more. Maybe I'm trying to find consistency in places where there is none. I feel like I could go on writing for a long time about all my issues. I'm going to forget to put something down here, I just know it.

My mom stayed overnight in the hospital last weekend. She was having chest pain and shortness of breath. The doctors don't think it was a heart attack. But, yeah, it was enough to shake me up. It was also enough to feel resentment for not being told that she has had high blood pressure for quite a while now...now I have to factor in that I actually do have a family history of high blood pressure. I've been blaming my own high blood pressure on other things. I hate the bullshit of people not talking about things. I hate it, hate it, hate it...

This is also an issue for me at work. A coworker of mine told another coworker of mine to not say negative things around me because I'm young and impressionable. WTF? I'm irritated that it seems all sorts of people feel that I need to be sheltered. I hate being sheltered when I want to know things...wouldn't knowing things allow me to evaluate them? To prepare for things? To change my behavior if necessary? To check this person's perception of reality against my own?

I've been thinking about how it's difficult for me to criticize my mom. I'm afraid that she's going to get angry and have some sort of tantrum. She can get pretty scary that way sometimes. Cory is able to laugh it off when she gets angry, but for some reason, I get scared.

I've also been thinking that I am similar to my mom in some ways. I have these anxious freakouts sometimes when I am put in positions I am unhappy or uncomfortable with. I find myself speaking angrily to Jake over these things (getting lost places and/or having to drive in large amounts of traffic is a huge trigger event). I don't know sometimes how to disconnect myself from the stressful event and just calm down about it. I realize afterwards how stupid and irrational it is to get upset about such minor things, but somehow I can't stop this torrent of anger and blame coming out of my mouth towards Jake.

I also wonder if people are reluctant to tell me my flaws and weaknesses. I randomly blurted out the story to some coworkers about the time I painted black eyed susans on the Rip Van Winkle mural in the nursing home in Princeton and how Maria told me they were summer flowers, not spring flowers. I got a reaction from them that made it seem that they were sorry for me that Maria said that to me. I wasn't expecting that reaction from them. I think I told the story to say that it's important to be accurate, that people should plan and have discussions with each other ahead of time, and that I would like to know when I do things wrong. I just suck at telling stories sometimes. I don't know how to make people understand me.

What are other people's feelings on advice? Advice confuses me sometimes. I feel uncomfortable giving advice most of the time. This is part of my what my issue was with school psychology. I didn't like the idea of coming into a teacher's classroom and acting as though I know everything. This came across as a lack of confidence. I also lacked the faith that most people would even act on anything that I suggested.

At what point does it go beyond a healthy tooting of your own horn and into becoming arrogant and pompous?

I never know if anyone can offer good advice. Has anyone had advice that they can say has really worked for them?

I get mothering comments from some people at work occasionally. It makes me feel resentful toward them for saying those things. It also makes me think that there's no point in me saying anything because nothing I say will be taken seriously.

I don't know. I both want and reject any sort of direction from other people.

I can't figure anything out anymore. I confuse myself and I confuse other people because of all of my mixed feelings on everything.

Ugh.

Twenty-Six

2008-04-01T18:32:00.002-04:00

My birthday is on Thursday. I'll be 26. I'm not sure if I feel old or young at this point. I feel as though I'm often told how I'm a child or a baby at work...or at least it's implied. I'm not entirely sure why. Am I too idealistic in thinking I want a purpose in what I do? Is it wrong to want things to have meaning? There are days when I wonder if things would be different if I worked with people less jaded. I wonder if there could be any change if there were a collective level of idealism instead of the pessimism I feel comes out from my coworkers sometimes. They're probably right in the end that it's not going to pan out and we aren't going to find a use for the information we're collecting. Sometimes I want to hold onto hope, though. It's probably naive, I know. I wonder if I'm even seen as immature for my age. Maybe I'm weirdly underdeveloped from a lack of social contact and experiences. I don't know when I'll ever feel mature. I think that if I continue to just have random experiences, it might not come exactly. I don't know where to pick out the patterns in my life quite yet. I know some are there, but I don't know where to focus. Where is the main theme?

Parents in Town

2008-03-25T18:07:00.003-04:00

My parents came to town this past weekend. I was dreading it a bit, because I knew that they were expecting to sleep on the floor in my apartment and because they also talked about taking me to church out here. Luckily, they only spent one night on the floor and then went to Holiday Inn. I also somehow got out of the church thing. I'm not entirely sure how that happened, but my mom left the door wide open for me to say that I didn't want to go. So, we went on a segway tour around town on Easter instead. Here's a picture:

Yeah, I can't make sense of it. One hypothesis that I have is that my mom didn't want to piss me off too much while she was here. I think she wants to keep things amicable while I live far away. My mom also kept saying things to suggest that it was my grandpa that expected all of us to go to church, which I don't understand either...

Whatever.

I'm just glad to have gotten out of it and to have survived the whole thing.

Falling Behind

2008-03-24T20:04:00.003-04:00

I constantly have the feeling that I'm not accomplishing everything I want. Do other people feel this way, too? I don't know if my day-to-day "to-do" lists are too ambitious or what...

Some of my recent examples of not measuring up to my own expectations:

I may shelve the idea of a weekly food blog. I did take pictures of a polenta chili bake I made two Sundays ago, but I've been too busy/stressed and possibly lazy to put them up. Oh, and the recipe was totally ad libbed, but I didn't bother to write it down. I think I'm waiting to make something more impressive before considering a recipe "authored". Yesterday, Jake and I made those brats and italian sausages from the guy who raises pigs in the woods on the grill. I didn't take any pictures though. Yup, the food blog is losing steam. Maybe if I make something cool once the CSA produce starts rolling in, I'll make some food posts...maybe.

I've been working on knitting this damn scarf for Jake for what seems like forever now. He'd better wear it after its finished.

When I started my job, I thought I'd get a lot more reading done, since I am on the train for 40-50 minutes total every day. However, I think my book reading is slowing down. I'll typically read the paper on the way into work. On my way back, I usually end up standing for at least part of the ride. So, I don't often get around to pulling out reading material coming home. Lately, I usually just listen to music. (Sidenote: I feel pressure to stay on top of the news constantly. Does anyone feel this? I feel like I need to be able to keep up with conversation at work...)

My parents were in town over the weekend. I want to try to write a blog about what we did and how things went. I may try to do that tomorrow...(Jake is busy with our cameras right now and I'll want to put in pictures).

Sometimes I really, really want to blog about work. A lot of what I want to say I don't think I should post online, though. Man, it's so tempting to do, though...

Maybe I can post about the disorganized catastrophe that was our last staff meeting. That might be safe. I wasn't over the line on the other staff meeting I posted about, was I? The one where we talked about the Meyers-Briggs?

There are things about how things operate at my job that I don't think I should put up, though. I also really want to write blurbs about the people I work with, but I wouldn't want them finding out I wrote about them or have their names up on here or anything.

Jeez, I wish I knew of a good set of rules about blogging about work. Maybe I should read up on examples of people who have been fired as a result of their blogs. Hmm...maybe I can do that while at work tomorrow.

Sunday Dinner 3

2008-03-09T20:37:00.004-04:00

This is called "Spicy Vegetable Stew with Dhal". This came from a cookbook Maria gave me a long while back...

It seems McCain is getting his science briefs from Oprah...

2008-03-04T21:09:00.002-05:00

Yeah, read this...whoops. I wonder if he'll put out any sort of statement to correct this comment.

Sunday Dinner 2

2008-03-03T19:59:00.003-05:00

I forgot to put this up earlier...but yeah, I cooked again this week. It's called White Bean Jumble and has potatoes, white beans, kale, and tomatoes in it. It's from the book "Student's Vegetarian Cookbook", which has lots of quick, easy recipes in it.

So, I've been talking to Jesus lately...

2008-02-28T20:25:00.001-05:00

You should, too! It's hilarious!

Go here.

Monday Monday

2008-02-25T18:54:00.004-05:00

Last week was a busy week. Here's some of the stuff I did:

On Tuesday, Jake and I went to Iota Cafe near Clarendon and saw Brian Vander Ark (the lead singer from the Verve Pipe). The Iota was a cool venue to see music. We sat at the bar and were only a few feet away from the stage. There were probably only 30-40 people in the audience. I also really enjoyed the opening act, Kristy Kruger. She's playing every state in memory of her brother, who died in the war. She said Virginia was the 20th state she's played.

On Wednesday, I went for drinks after work...

On Thursday, the PTO had free food at the Patent Office after work, so I sat with Jake and some of his coworkers.

On Friday, Jake and I went out with some of my coworkers to Zaytinya in Chinatown and ate mezze. Afterward, Jake and I made our way over to Hamilton's to watch Badger hockey against Minnesota. Jon, Ellen, Michelle, and Lisha were there. I got a margarita that was pretty much entirely alcohol. I watched the bartender pour it and he only put in a splash of mix...

On Saturday, Jake and I had a treat and went to Elevation Burger in Falls Church. It was the first time either of us have had a beef burger in a while. Woo...grass-fed beef! I totally want to own a franchise. Anyone else in?

Then, Jake and I helped out at a neighborhood clean-up. We found a whole car door out in this wooded area. I don't know how it got out there. We both had achy muscles afterward from hauling trash around. It felt good though. I was glad we were able to prevent some waste from finding its way into the watershed.

On Sunday, we went to the Ethical Society and listened to a talk on atheism. The speaker summarized the books from the "Four Horsemen" pretty well. It was nice to hear a thought-provoking talk and people's reaction to it. At least it got me going enough to have something to talk to Jake about later on. While we were there, the people were friendly and went out of their way to inform us about the group. They had coffee and snacks afterward. Jake really wanted to get to some of the treats that were on the table, but there was a flock of kids milling around. It was an interesting experience, but I'm not entirely sure if I'll go again. It does require the work of going out to Vienna on Sunday mornings. Also, there really wasn't anyone our age there. I don't know...I guess I'm still working out where to find my niche and where I really want to invest my free time.

So, today is Monday. I think I'm going to aim to take it easy tonight and relax. I need to hide these girl scout cookies I bought from myself. I already ate too many... crap, I can't plow through these suckers too fast. Oh, but I think that I need to put on some pajama pants now...I think I need something with a stretchy waist to accommodate me and my cookie-eating ways...

Sunday Dinner

2008-02-24T20:05:00.004-05:00

I've been wanting to do a weekly food blog, so here's my first attempt. I thought that I'd write about one meal I make a week. I think this will get more exciting as the spring and summer CSA season starts. Maybe I'll even get around to actually writing down those three recipes I want to write as part of my goals list.

So, my Sunday dinner was Persian Spinach and Black Eyed Peas. I got the recipe from Vegetarian Times. I've been wanting to make something with leeks, so this fit the bill. I also think it was the first time I've cooked black eyed peas. So, it was a little adventure. It wasn't bad, but I think I prefer dishes with some more spices in them.

Who Blogs?

2008-02-24T16:41:00.002-05:00

I took Maria's suggestion to hit the "Next Blog" button and track whether the blog's author is male or female. I only did it twenty-five times, but here are my results:

Male bloggers: 8 (32%)
Female bloggers: 8 (32%)
Can't tell/ Multiple authors: 9 (36%)

I'm surprised at how many had multiple authors . Why am I not on a team blog? Who wants to start a team blog with me?

I know that I counted one blog that was a mother/daughter team as "female". I also questioned the gender of one or two authors...like, it says it's written by a woman, but could be written by a man posing as a woman.

Some blogs didn't seem very active (had only one post, for example), but I still counted them.

Also, I think more than half of my results came up in languages other than English. Which really shouldn't be surprising, since there are plenty of people out there who don't speak English as their native language. It just really highlighted to me how I think I really should know more about languages. Is it too late in my life to really pick up Spanish and be fluent?

So, those are the results of my study. Hope you all enjoy them! If anyone else feels like doing a replication of this, let me know how your findings come out.

Why Blog?

2008-02-22T08:53:00.002-05:00

Jake and I were having a conversation about writing the other day. I said I like to feel that I have the time to sit and write down my thoughts (which feels harder to do lately...). Personally, it allows me to organize my thoughts and helps me to remember things. Jake said that blogging a) makes him leery because he doesn't want all of his thoughts out there for anyone to see and b) is kind of a chore. I said, "But how about just writing your ideas on paper so only you can see it?" Jake was like, "That's girly!" However, it also came out that he thinks that blogging is more of a girl activity. I disagreed, but neither of us had any evidence to back up our opinion. Does any one know stats on this? Are there more female than male bloggers? Do women blog more often than men? How do other people perceive this- is blogging more of a woman thing?

Finding Meaning

2008-02-18T10:05:00.002-05:00

I'm having trouble finding any real meaning in my job. I've asked a few times about the real purpose of what we do, and can't find a satisfactory explanation. Other people I work with feel the same way. I've been told that by others that they do the work because they are being paid and because they want resume fodder to eventually move on. I'm trying to find a way to reframe my job in my mind to make it seem more worthwhile, but it's difficult.

So, since I can't find any meaning in my job, I'm working to find a purpose in my life somewhere else.

I came across the website for a group called the Northern Virginia Ethical Society. It seems to be like a church that's not a church, you know? I'm partly just looking for like-minded people to interact with. A few weeks back, I went to a group for atheists. But, I don't know if that is entirely my thing or not. I'd rather have the focus be on what I can do to be a better person rather than just bitch about religious people the whole time (although that can create some funny moments...). I can't really find a purpose in the atheist group because all their activities revolve around promoting atheism and not a lot else, though. I guess I don't have much of an atheist agenda...although I don't believe in god, I wouldn't make atheism my "religion". Does that make sense?

There are a couple of people from atheist group that I've invited to check out the ethical society thing. So, yeah, I think I'll check it out next Sunday and see if it's my thing at all.

Oh, and I'm trying to get more on the ball with doing good things for the environment. Ever since I've started my job, I feel like a terrible person for the amount of waste I produce. I eat out more, which creates all sorts of packaging waste. I sometimes go to this salad bar place that gives you these huge styrofoam containers. Hell, I thought styrofoam went out in, like, 1987. I'm also always printing stuff at my job (most of which doesn't need to be printed, but I do it anyway because people ask me for hard copies of things...), which feels like a waste of paper. Next Saturday, I plan to do a neighborhood clean-up with Arlingtonians for a Clean Environment. It won't make up for all my environmental evils as of late, but at least I'll be doing something. And, I'll get to cross something off of my list! (my list is my religion...just kidding...)

Derrr....

2008-02-17T22:58:00.004-05:00

I read today that 20% of Americans think that the sun revolves around the Earth. (A National Science Foundation study cited in Susan Jacoby's Outlook article in the Post today said so...)

Shit, we're all screwed.

Are things going to become like the movie "Idiocracy" in another couple of generations?

Potomac Primary Day is Tomorrow

2008-02-11T21:44:00.000-05:00

I vote tomorrow morning. I'm actually surprised because a month ago, I thought that by the time Virginia's primary rolled around, the nominees would be decided.

I'm excited. I'm voting for Obama. I'm hopeful that something good is going to happen this fall...there seems to be lots of commotion around this primary (which I've been told is actually a bit unusual).

Regarding the nomination for the Democratic candidate, I don't understand why there is such a thing as "superdelegates". What's up with that? Can someone justify to me why we have them? I heard that superdelegates started up in the 80s, and the last time they made a difference was when Walter Mondale ran. I think I'm going to be pissed if they are the ones that decide this thing, because it isn't clear to me why they should be given so much weight. Shouldn't the voting public decide?

I wondered to myself who my parents might possibly vote for in this upcoming election, so I mentioned something about it on the phone to my mom this past weekend. I basically got from her, "I'm already sick of hearing about it. I don't care for any of them."

Yes, the times are changing. Yay.

Flu News

2008-02-10T18:37:00.000-05:00

I'm really finding news about influenza interesting this year, for some reason.

Anyway, today I read in the paper about how scientists didn't do a good job of predicting the right strains that would wind up circulating in the population this year. Check it out here.

And, I learned that this week is when scientists meet up in Geneva to come up with the next flu season's vaccine. It seems really early to figure that out. I suppose that's why this season's vaccine didn't take into account this Brisbane mutation and some other stuff, though.

Is this even interesting to anyone else?

I work in Dilbert.

2008-02-10T11:38:00.001-05:00

Communication at my job sucks a lot of the time.

Some examples:
My boss walked over to Sabrina's desk one day. He said to her, "Could you tell Candy to do..." She thought to herself, "Or, you could walk two steps in the opposite direction and tell her yourself..."

One day, there was a meeting scheduled in the conference room. Several of my coworkers were sitting in the room waiting for my boss to arrive before they started. As they were sitting there, he emailed them to say he wasn't going to be able to make it. Yup, not exactly the best way to communicate that information...

So, anyway, everyone else at my job had to go through a performance evaluation recently and provide feedback to our boss about how things are going (I didn't because I'm too new). They all told him that, basically, communication sucks. Soooo, my boss's "solution" to this was to have us all take this Meyers-Briggs type test and to schedule a brown bag lunch to discuss communication styles. (Take the test here! I came out as INTJ, the "Mastermind" or the "Logical Visionary"...) Our meeting on this test started off with my boss saying that he didn't think the test came up with the right type for him, so he told us what type he thought he was instead. He didn't prepare anything for us to discuss about the test. However, I did make copies of a handout on Meyers-Briggs, which everyone had and sat and stared at for a while. Another woman that I work with took the initiative to ask everyone what their profile was and write it on the whiteboard. Overall, the meeting was disorganized and nothing was really communicated too well. Cindy had the same profile as me and during the meeting she talked a lot about how it's important to have clear definitions of what it is we're doing and how it is important to touch base with each other on a regular basis. After she was done talking, my boss called on me to ask if I agreed with everything she said because, obviously, if we had the same profile, we're clones or something...

Ah, yes...

Delaware. I'm in Delaware.

2008-02-04T20:27:00.000-05:00

Well, I'm in Wilmington, Delaware for work right now. I'm in my hotel room because there is nowhere I'd want to go around town. The town is frankly quite run-down. The only nice buildings I've seen are some of the skyscrapers owned by the credit card companies (lots locate here for DE's very tax-friendly environment, I guess), the courthouse, and this building on the riverfront that had a restaurant in it as well as a food market and some other shops.

Things I've learned about Delaware:
Their state bird is the blue hen. See the picture above.
Wilmington is said to be the first city in the country to install security cameras downtown in an attempt to curb crime.
Delaware actually did worse on their second CFSR (Child and Family Service Review- the way the Feds check up on how the state child welfare agency is performing) than on their first.

Uplifting, eh?

I watched five dependency court hearings today and I should see four more tomorrow. It's interesting to see the process and to see the families that come in for these things. I don't know if it gets quite as exciting as seeing a "Who's my baby's daddy?" episode on Jenny Jones, but it's pretty darn close. Definitely more excitement than going to the office.

BRAT

2008-01-28T14:17:00.001-05:00

I'm home sick from work today. I woke up with a stomach flu (which isn't the same as influenza...what the vaccine prevents). Well, I'm pretty sure that it's stomach flu and not food poisoning because Jake and I ate the same thing for dinner and he is totally fine. Some women that I work with were sick/throwing up last week, so my best guess is that it's a virus I picked up from them. I'm still trying to figure out what I can eat that won't make me nauseous.

Some reading on WebMD led me to what's called the "BRAT diet". It recommends bland, easy to digest foods. BRAT stands for: bananas, rice, applesauce, and toast.

Luckily, we have all those foods in our apartment right now. However, I don't think it's worth it to cook up rice right now, the way I'm feeling...

Does the fact that I want to pronounce BRAT like "bratwurst" instead of like the the word for a spoiled child show that I'm from Wisconsin? Or does it make sense because bratwurst is a food and would make sense in front of the word diet?

Farms!

2008-01-26T19:35:00.000-05:00

I'm super pumped because I went to the farmer's market this morning and there are two new meat vendors there.

One sells pork from forest-fed pigs.

The other one sells grass-fed beef.

Awesome... so, Jake and I got brats and Italian sausage from the pig guy, and a roast from the beef people. Maybe we'll have some meat meals in a couple of weeks.

It's making me hopeful that sustainable farming is really catching on and that awareness is growing about the environmental and health effects of factory farms.

Oooh! And Farmer John (our CSA farmer) emailed me this week to say that he's doing some spring crops if I want to get in on some veggies before the big summer season. I'll probably also start buying eggs from him. Yay for farms! Yay for locavores!

MLK weekend

2008-01-22T15:54:00.000-05:00

Jake and I skiied Saturday at Bryce Resort. I think I've decided that skiing is not really my thing. I find myself freaking out about injuring myself more than really enjoying or feeling exhilarated by speeding along downhill. I took a class before Jake and I hit the slopes and felt proud of myself for not falling and generally being able to control myself pretty well compared to most of the other people taking the class. However, going down the hill later on was painful. I really try to go pretty slow, which can be painful on my knees. Also, the ski boots really killed my calf muscles. They've hurt the past couple of days. I really notice it when I walk down stairs.

Saturday night, we met up with Daine in Charlottesville. We went out for dinner and then hit a couple of places for drinks. I was glad to see Daine and catch up somewhat. He lives in a different apartment than he did the last time Jake and I went to see him (in fall 2006). He also let me know that Alison is engaged and will probably have her wedding this summer. However, the pace of drinking with Daine was too much for me. I had too many beers in too short of a time span. I should have known to cut myself off. I was definitely feeling it after a beer or two at dinner, but I had more after that when we went to a different bar and then to a pizza place. I think I was mostly drinking so that we could have something to do while we socialized. I really should have switched to soda or something, because once we got back to Daine's apartment, I threw up in his kitchen sink and Jake had to help me out to the car and back to our hotel room.

I woke up Sunday morning hung over and feeling like a disgusting person. I'm really ready to not drink beer for a good while.

On Sunday afternoon, I was feeling better and Jake and I toured Monticello. Monticello was cool. Thomas Jefferson was the man. I'm sure it would have been a lot better to go at a time when there is warm weather, but I was still impressed. I decided that I want to live in Monticello. I want the big vegetable garden and the cellars for my wine. I want the plantation lifestyle...only I'll call it a "co-op".

We headed back home yesterday. We drove through Culpeper and stopped for lunch at a tavern there. I wouldn't recommend the tavern... I got sick eating clam chowder and Jake ordered a sandwich that took them forever to make. The rest of the day was pretty low-key while we did chores around the apartment after getting back home.

I think Journalism majors should be required to have a course in the proper way to cover science news.

2008-01-21T21:25:00.000-05:00

We stayed at a hotel in Charlottesville this weekend, which gave me chance to sit and watch tv. I typically don't get to see how stories are covered in television news. I felt utterly bombarded by the news story about the study that found that women who drank more than two cups of coffee a day while pregnant were more likely to have a miscarriage. I know I saw it on Fox News, CNN, and in USA Today this morning. Of course, the news media sensationalized the whole thing by saying caffeine "doubles" a woman's chance of a miscarriage. I get really annoyed when I hear science news and no one reports n's and I have no real way of evaluating exactly how risky certain behaviors are. Luckily, the New York Times did a slightly better job of covering it. Here's the article.

I love the quote at the end that talks about moderation and how human beings are more robust than dying off over tiny bits of any one things during pregnancy. I'm glad the Times actually tries to temper the freak out factor a bit. Oh, and I'm glad they tried to discuss a bit of the scientific debate surrounding the results because it is only one study. Kudos, New York Times.

Awesome...

2008-01-16T21:21:00.000-05:00

This made me smile:

http://www.theonion.com/content/amvo/study_counters_autism_vaccination

Now they just need to replace the first woman's head with Jenny McCarthy's and it would be perfect!

ATM Fees

2008-01-14T12:16:00.000-05:00

Jake and I went out for dinner at Bar Louie in Chinatown with a group of people on Saturday. When the bill came, he and our friend Rob both realized that they didn't have enough cash to pay for dinner (and splitting up the check would have been a major pain at that point...), so they went out into the lobby/movie theater area right outside the bar to find an ATM. When they tried to use the ATM, they realized that the fee to use the machine was $8. $8!?!?! I think that is the most ridiculous ATM fee I've ever heard. Highway robbery for sure. Well, Jake didn't use the machine, and he's lucky because I had enough cash on hand to pay for both of us...

DON'T FLINCH

2008-01-12T11:25:00.000-05:00

How to win a silent auction and how to be lucky at an alumni event.

Jake and I went to a DC Badger Alumni event Thursday night at Hamilton's Bar and Grill. I heard about it through an alumni email and signed up because they advertised free beer and wine with admission and because the money they earned goes to a scholarship fund for DC area students who want to attend Wisconsin. Unfortunately, the only free beer was Coors Light (wtf?). Otherwise, though, it turned out to be a pretty good night for Jake and me. Jon and Ellen didn't come, but we hung out with Scott, who usually comes to watch the football games with us. Then, Jake and I each won prizes in a raffle. I got a "Visit Milwaukee" cooler bag, headband, and coffee mug. Jake won "Don't Flinch", Barry Alvarez's autobiography. It was only after he grabbed it off the prize table, came back to mingle with people, and started flipping through the book when he realized it was signed by Barry himself!

There was also a silent auction, which Jake and I got into as well. I decided that I was interested in winning a behind-the-scenes tour of the National Zoo and the Baltimore Aquarium, so I bid on it. A man named "Tom C." kept bidding after me. Jake figured out who he was and pointed him out to me. I was going to wait him out and head straight over to the tables at 8:30 (when the bidding was to end) to try to win it. Fortunately, we saw Tom C. leave the building a bit before 8:15, so I swooped in and put in my bid. We watched the papers get picked up at 8:30, and we think that I had the winning bid for the Zoo tour and that Jake had the winning bid on a Bo Ryan signed basketball. We're waiting for the alumni chapter to call and confirm our good fortune.

A Few Random Christmas Pictures:

2008-01-06T16:39:00.001-05:00

I learned recently that by posting photos on Facebook, you grant Facebook rights to ownership and distribution. What's up with that? Anyhow, here are a few pictures for your amusement:

Me singing karaoke with my cousins. "All-Star" by Smash Mouth. Oh yes, I am so damn cool...

Jake got a head lamp from my parents. I never knew he was into spelunking. My parents must know something I don't...
My parents and Jameson at my grandpa's house.

The Manthei residence on Christmas morning.

Update on Goal List

2008-01-06T16:22:00.000-05:00

Well, since I have so much going on with my 50 things before my second wedding anniversary list, I haven't made any specific, formal New Years Resolutions. However, I think I'm going to have to be prepared to make more goals soon, because I'm racing through the list. I have solidly completed 16 items on the list. (The most recent thing I completed was #29- seeing Jenny Owen Youngs at the Kennedy Center on Saturday.) It's likely that I will complete two more items over Martin Luther King weekend. Jake and I are talking about going skiing in the Blue Ridge Mountain area (where I could take a skiing class- #13) and then checking out Monticello (#32). #23, #30, #36, and #37 are well underway. I'm only about 6 months into a list that's supposed to take 2 years and in my mind, I'm close to halfway through...I suppose a lot of the hardest ones are left, though.

I'm really tempted to add new goals. Is it silly to come up with secondary lists now that I'm getting bored of my main list?

Happy New Year

2008-01-01T19:04:00.001-05:00

Well, I'm back in DC now. I'm ready to try to start getting into something of a routine once again. Being home forced me to deal with: my mom's anger and grumpiness surrounding the holidays, lots of snow, lots of germs being passed around (which caused me to get sick during the 2nd half of my trip), my grandma randomly breaking into racist rants, and much more! Now that I'm back, I'm currently dealing with a 5+ pound weight gain (every time I go home, there's all sorts of unhealthy food lying around and I end up grazing on it...ugh...I gained weight while at home for the wedding, too...), general grogginess involved in recovering from a cold, the fact that the heat in our apartment had to be fixed again today (which required having our landlord in our apartment for a couple hours this afternoon), and the feeling that I really need to get my stuff organized because I'm trying to incorporate Xmas gifts into my life. I'm really glad that I don't live close to my family because then they can't buy me a lot more shit. I need to be able to get my Xmas gifts back on the plane.

I'm happy that I got a chance to see my family and hang out with some friends, but part of me really thinks that maybe next year I should go to Mexico for the holidays.

Wow, I feel like such a big complainer lately...

Anyway, I guess if I had to have one overarching "resolution" for the New year, it would be:
Get on (and keep) a routine that is healthy for both my physical and mental well-being.

I feel all over the place lately. However, right now, I'm feeling ready for a new start. My landlord finally left our apartment just a bit ago, I got to have a shower after a couple of days of grossness, and I'm ready to relax and prepare myself to return to work tomorrow.

The New Normal?

2007-12-12T18:13:00.000-05:00

*So, I had to sign something at my work orientation related to blogs. My employee handbook says: The company prohibits posting any employer-related information to a blog and discourages employees from criticizing or making negative comments which could affect morale and possibly lead to lawsuits against the company. So, if any of you think I'm ever crossing the line, let me know so I delete the post, deal?*

My job has been all over the place. I really still don't have a sense of everything I'll be doing. My first week on the job, I went to three days of conferences, so I wasn't even in the office those days. Then, I didn't have my own desk until Tuesday of my second week on the job.

I went to the office holiday party on Thursday of my second week, which was actually really nice. We got to go to a hotel for the afternoon and eat buffet-style food. The dessert buffet was awesome. They had a bunch of little cakes, crème brûlée, and make-your-own ice cream sundaes. The only bad part about the party was that no alcohol was served. Our company's clients were invited to the party, so I think they wanted to avoid any alcohol-related mishaps.

This week, I went to a Child Welfare conference on Monday. People have been out of the office a crazy amount because employees who have been with the company at least six months are given four days of personal leave that need to be used by December 15th, or they just disappear (the days are intended for use when there is bad weather and the government shuts down).

But...yeah...I still have no sense of what a "normal" week of work is going to be like. I'm sure I won't figure it out until sometime after the holidays either.

Vermont!

2007-11-29T20:17:00.000-05:00

We got to go to Vermont for Thanksgiving, which was lots of fun. It was also the first year ever that I went without seeing my family and that I cooked a substantial amount of food. I brought two pies, sweet potatoes, and squash to Lelani and Jon's. Jake brought a cranberry salad. I also made green bean casserole and mashed potatoes while we were there. Lelani made lumpia (egg rolls) and potato salad. Jon made cheesecake. Lelani and Jon were awesome enough to go out and buy a free-range turkey from a local farm. We named him Stephen. He weighed 18 pounds. He took a long time to cook through. Here is his picture:

On Friday, we made our way up to Middlebury, VT. On the way, we stopped at the New England Maple Museum. While in Middlebury, we went to a bunch of little shops, saw Otter Creek Falls, and toured the Otter Creek brewery (which also produces Wolaver's Organic Beer).

On Friday evening, we helped out at the Boys and Girls' Club. A whole bunch of kids were there to see Santa. Jake and I had the job of giving each kid that sat on Santa's lap the choice of a cheap toy out of a basket. Most were OK (pencils, punching balloons, little plastic cameras with Xmas images inside, etc.), but there was one toy that I wished wasn't in there. Mini-sticky hands...oh my. We had the problem that one kid actually thought it was candy and started to eat it. His parents were like, "Is that food?", and Jake and I had to be like, "NO!"

On Saturday, we drove around to Woodstock and Quechee. We saw the Quechee Gorge, which is advertised as the "Grand Canyon of Vermont". Here's a picture:

Saturday night, Lelani and I got into a debate over whose eye Mallory Nelson shot acid into while we were in high school. Lelani though Andy Disterhaft, and I thought Andy Wesner. We wound up calling Bill and asking him. Bill thought Andy D., so I lost that bet.

Jake and I had to take off for home early on Thursday morning. Sadness...

Random Pictures

2007-11-15T15:24:00.000-05:00

Our photography class ended this week. I didn't really shoot anything I'm totally in love with, but I thought I'd include some shots I took on here for fun. One day, when I take the time, I'll take some good pictures. I just need some good subject matter. A good vacation. A puppy. A baby. Yeah...

Vicodin Makes Me Tired

2007-11-15T15:11:00.000-05:00

I went back to the doctor again this morning. He took off the big bandage on my hand, which I'm excited about because I can actually take a normal shower now and start using my hand a bit more. I'm typing with my finger right now, even though it hurts some. It's still really gross and has stitches in it. I'm getting the stitches taken out on Tuesday morning. I hope this heals up the right way this time. This morning, the doctor said, "I've never seen anything quite like all the fat that built up on your finger. It was really a mess under there," which is really not comforting coming from someone who has been practicing medicine for 40+ years.

I'm on pain medication, which has been making me kind of goofy and tired.

Oh! I got a job in Arlington! I'll be working as a research assistant and I start the Monday after Thanksgiving. I'm hoping that I won't have to deal with any more doctor's appointments for my finger at that point.

Surgery

2007-11-09T08:33:00.000-05:00

The hand surgeon looked at my finger yesterday. He doesn't think my problem is an infection, but an inflammation. I'm going to the hospital this afternoon to have surgery. The more I think about it, the more I'm a little freaked out. They're putting me under. It hit me when I was on the phone with the surgical coordinator and she asked me if I have any religious objections to anything that they should know about. I thought, "Holy crap...I'm not going to have any idea of what's going on." All sorts of wild things could happen to me and I would have no idea...

Jake is going with me to take me back afterwards. I have to be in by noon and they are putting me under at 1:30.

Ugh...it's like a re-do of the whole thing. He's going to cut along the line where the glass cut me originally and re-stitch me up afterward.

I hope this is the end of all of this...

I've got some good news and some bad news

2007-11-07T14:01:00.000-05:00

Here's the bad news first:

I have an infection in my pinkie finger. I'm seeing a hand surgeon tomorrow. It's a long story. I'll try to edit it down to a few bullet points though:

I got referred to the wrong doctor by the ER originally (she wasn't in my PPO).

After that doctor took out my stitches, I noticed that my finger was red and swollen, but I thought I'd wait to see if it went down.

The swelling didn't go down, so I called the same doctor back to make an appointment to come back in. The earliest time she had available was in two weeks.

During that time, I figured out that my insurance wouldn't cover going in to see her.

Then, I went to a drop-in clinic on Friday so I could see someone. I was sick of waiting.

They put me on antibiotics.

I had to go back in on Monday to have my finger re-evaluated. They told me I should see a hand surgeon because I've developed a fibroma, which is an abnormal growth of healing tissue.

I was referred to someone actually in my PPO and I'm seeing him tomorrow.

Here's the good news:

I interviewed for a research assistant position when Sarah was here visiting. I followed up with them on Monday and they told me that they want to offer the position to me. They're doing a budget analysis and should let me know if I can have a job with them by the end of the week. I'm glad that they want to give me a job, but the waiting and uncertainty is bothering me. In the meantime, I've subbed at the schools twice. My first time was as a paraprofessional in the kindergarten room and the second was as an LD teacher at the middle school. Both were pretty easy. I was surprised at the amount of people helping while at the middle school. I only had six kids in my first class. A para came in to help right away, and then two OT/PT women came in mid-class to help out. So, it was basically four staff to six students, and these students didn't even have severe disabilities. I thought myself, "Hell, there have been times when I have been left alone with four to six kids with severe problems. This is nothing..."

Last Thursday, I convinced Jake to go to E Street Theater with me to see the movie King Corn. I heard about it over the summer and have been wanting to see it, so in my opinion it's good news that I did see it. The movie basically just rehashed a lot of things I've learned previously by reading Michael Pollan, etc., but there was some good entertainment value in it. One of my favorite parts was watching the two guys who made the film trying to make high fructose corn syrup in their kitchen at home. There's also a gross part where they actually reach into a live cow's stomach and pull out corn parts to show how the cow actually can't digest it.

My final bit of good news is that we're only two short weeks away from Thanksgiving and I'm going to Vermont! So, soon I'll be able to say that I've seen another state that I haven't seen before (I need to see five new states before July 2009 so I can cross an item off my to-do list). And, I'll get to see Lelani and Jon! Yay!

Candy Corn!

2007-11-06T08:46:00.001-05:00

I went as candy corn to the wedding reception in Milwaukee this weekend. Here are a couple of pictures:

Scary Stuff

2007-10-31T10:19:00.000-04:00

Happy Halloween!

On this holiday, I thought I'd write a short blog about things that scare me. Nope, I'm not afraid of ghosts or anything like that... but infectious diseases freak me out. I've been thinking a lot about influenza lately. It's flu season, and there has been a lot of coverage of the flu vaccine in the news. The Skeptic's Guide and NPR's Science Friday have both put out podcasts on it recently. Scientists say it's only a matter of time before we have another flu pandemic like the one that happened in 1918-1919. And, 30,000 people die a year from the flu on an average year anyway! The more I learn about the flu vaccine, the more I think that it's really important for just about everyone to get it. It strengthens your immune system and makes it more likely that you will survive if another major flu pandemic breaks out. It also reduces the mutations of the flu virus because it doesn't kill the flu directly. You're already injected with killed flu. It's really kind of interesting to hear about. I'm trying to convince Jake to go with me to get a flu shot this year. I don't think I've ever had a flu shot, but there should be plenty to go around this year and now I think it's important for just about everyone to get the shot. I might have to really harp on Jake to go with me because he's a bit squeamish about needles. He admitted that I have a point when I went on and on about how getting the flu vaccine is important to protect public health.

Another thing that freaks me out is the "superbug" MRSA. People think they are being clean by using antibacterial soaps, etc. when really they are contributing to the mutations of super-bacteria. It also seems to me that it's just another reason to avoid factory farmed meat (as if all the environmental reasons weren't enough...) because of how it's necessary to pump the animals full of antibiotics in those conditions. The idea of dying from super-bacteria is freaky to me.

Creepy:

More amusing than creepy, really:

Question for Maria

2007-10-30T15:09:00.000-04:00

So, I decided I want to try to knit my mom something for Christmas. I just bought some yarn that is a blend of acrylic and alpaca. I noticed when I got home that the label has the FSC logo on it. Why would that be? What relation does yarn have to wood products? Or is it just the paper label itself that came from well-managed forests?

Maria, if you read this, I expect you to answer.

PS Maria, you probably already know this, but I'll write it out for anyone else that might be reading...I recently read something about the difference between FSC and SFI. Apparently the Sustainable Forests Initiative (SFI) is a load of crap. If you want to make sure that your wood products are coming from properly managed forests, buy FSC.

Aw, these are the days that make me miss the ole message board...

Jobiness

2007-10-29T15:04:00.000-04:00

I'm officially in the system to substitute teach now. It seems that I really won't have any problem picking up sub jobs. I got two calls to come in today, but I didn't pick up the jobs because I felt like taking today to run errands, do laundry, and clean the house. I have picked up a job for Thursday. All I'll be doing is filling in for a paraprofessional in a kindergarten classroom, which seems like a pretty easy gig to start off with. I'm excited to do it...I don't have to have all the responsibility of being the head of the class, yet I still get to hang out with kindergarteners for a day, which can be fun. When I was in grad school and helped out in the schools at Lac du Flambeau, I think the best afternoon was when I got to sit in the kindergarten room and help the kids out with drawings of their families. Fun times. It was a nice break from doing testing with kids and more fun than working with the kids in special ed.

Yeah, subbing doesn't seem that it will be that bad. I sort of like the idea of working when I feel like working.

In other job news...there is still the possibility that I could get offered a job at the Children's Hospital. The guy who interviewed me there is out of town until November 6th. He told me he'll be in touch when he gets back. He suddenly decided that he wants to interview more people once he's back in town, but let me know that I am still in the running for the job. It's kind of irritating because it seems that a candidate that he's a bit more interested in probably applied during a job fair the hospital had at the end of that week I interviewed. I'm annoyed that I have to wait around for this...

On Friday morning, I had another interview to work as a research assistant at a place in Arlington. I think it went fairly well. They'll probably let me know sometime this week if I get the job.

Well, things are looking up. If nothing works out on the permanent job front, at least I have the subbing now...

A Walk to Remember (And other activities with Sarah in DC)

2007-10-29T12:47:00.000-04:00

Sarah came to visit this past weekend. She and Stacy flew in Thursday and stayed through Sunday. It rained for first two days they were in town, which sucked for sightseeing, but was good overall because it ended the terrible drought we've had in the area. The rain forced us inside quite a bit. On Friday evening, I put Sarah through the pain of listening to a podcast on the flu vaccine (sidenote: I think I want to try to get a flu shot this year...I might write more on this later) and we spent a low-key evening playing cards. I know, I'm such a great host...

Here's a picture of some of our fun times indoors! I'm reading Date Lab out of the Washington Post Magazine!

On Saturday, the weather cleared up which allowed us to walk around outside LOTS. Sarah and I walked to the farmers market in the morning. Then, Sarah, Jake, and I walked to the metro, got off and meandered around Eastern Market, strolled down to Hamilton's (a bar near the Capitol) to watch part of the Badger game, traversed the mall in order to tour the monuments, advanced across the bridge into Virginia (and almost got to see George Clooney filming a movie in the process), treked the area surrounding Iwo Jima, and slogged our way up to the Rosslyn metro station. From there, we rode up to Dupont Circle and did a crapload more walking to meet up with Stacy, Jason, et al. for dinner as well as pop into the Brickskeller for some after dinner beers.

Here's a picture of Sarah from part of our MONUMENTAL walk:

On Sunday morning, Sarah and I got up early and watched Stacy, Jason, and Ken run a 10K and tried to see Dan running the Marine Corp Marathon. We came back to Alexandria in the afternoon and ate lunch at Hard Times Cafe with Jake. Then, Jake and I drove Sarah over to Maryland so Jason could give her a ride back to the airport.

I'm hopefully on-track to becoming employed.

2007-10-18T13:29:00.000-04:00

I've been getting antsy about getting a job. I had a free phone consultation with a career counselor and he gave me a few pointers on ways to improve my resume and cover letter. We talked for about 35 minutes. He said that he would follow-up to provide me information on how he could be of more service to me. He hasn't yet, though. I'm sort of surprised, because I would think he'd want to try to make a bit of money from me.

Well, after a severe drought of hearing nothing back from jobs, I had a job interview on Tuesday (the result of my "old" resume). The position is with Children's National Medical Center. If I get the job, I'll be working in the Psychiatry department as an "Education Coordinator". I'll be in charge of communicating with the kids' schools, sharing information from school counselors with the nurses in the hospital, and making sure that the kids are provided with age/grade appropriate learning materials while in the "school" at the hospital. Oh, and I'll have to do some grant-writing. I have a feeling I might get an offer from them because they didn't ask me any tough questions. When I said that I've never written a grant before, the guy said, "Don't worry...you can go and get a book from the library and figure out how to write one." So...yeah. I think they are going to try to make a decision by Friday (tomorrow). We'll see.

Yesterday, I got an email back regarding another job as a research assistant (which I applied to using a "new" resume using some of the tips from the career counselor). Here's what it said:

Candace,
I wanted to email you to let you know we think you have a super resume and background but unfortunately we are looking for a more junior level candiate for this particular position. Please do keep a close eye on the positions however, if we open up an Analyst or Associate level position we would want to consider you for them. Sorry not to have been able to give you better news but pelase don't be discouraged.

WTF is that? Why tell me that I'm overqualified? Ugh, and I feel like I'd be underqualified for the higher level positions. I just want to get my foot in the door somewhere. And, yeah, next time you should at least run spell-check on the email you send back to me, lady. Well, thanks for the ego-boost that I'm so super-qualified but no thanks for the news that you have nothing to offer me.

I just got another call today to interview with a place in Arlington as a research assistant doing contract work examining data related to children and families. The interview isn't set up until next Friday. So, I'm not sure what I'm going to do if I get offered this other job.

Tomorrow, I'm going in for an orientation to do substitute teaching. Blargh. I wonder if I'll even end up doing any subbing. If I don't sub at least once, I don't get paid for going to the training. I think I also have to sign up to get a background check done, which is going to cost me $42.

Okay, I'm just hoping that I'll get a call tomorrow and find out that I have a job.

At least now it feels like something has to happen soon.

Trip to State College

2007-10-14T19:22:00.000-04:00

Oh, we went to the Penn State game with such high hopes...

Well, at least the fans there were civil to us and we got a chance to enjoy each other's company on the ride there and back.

We also had a chance for some drinking and tailgating. Always a plus.

However, it's a little rough watching your team lose by more than 30 points. Ouch.

I a smartie.

2007-10-08T19:35:00.000-04:00

JustSayHi - Free Personals

Bad Boys, Bad Boys, Whatcha Gonna Do?

2007-10-01T12:56:00.000-04:00

I got my first traffic ticket ever this weekend. It was actually a fairly frightening experience. It also made me disappointed with law enforcement.

So, here's the story:

Jake, Jon, Ellen, and I went to Rob's apartment Saturday night because he was throwing a birthday party for himself. I told Jake that I would drive after the party, so I limited myself to a single drink early on in the evening. Everyone else drank a little bit, but not heavily by any means. We got to Rob's at a bit after 8pm and didn't leave until almost 1am. When that time came, Jake and I told Jon and Ellen we would drive them to the Metro so that they could get home.

Coming out of Rob's apartment complex, I wanted to take a left turn onto Seminary Rd., but couldn't because of how the road is set up. I had to take a right. As we approached the first stop light after getting onto Seminary, we all noted that there was a sign indicating "No U-turn". Jake said to me, "Aw, just do a u-turn..." It was late, there wasn't any traffic on the road, and I was eager to shave a little bit of time off of driving home, so I didn't need much prodding. I did a u-turn. Immediately after I pulled around, a police car pulled out from around a corner and the lights came on. Shit.

A police officer came up to the car and said he pulled me over for an illegal u-turn. I said, "Oh...yeah," and gave him my license and registration when he asked for it. A few minutes later, a second police officer came up to my window. He said, "What's your current address?" I told him. He said, "Have you been drinking tonight?" I said, "No..." Everyone else in the car told him that they'd been drinking and I was the designated driver. He said, "Well, I smell alcohol coming out of the car. If I ask you for a PBT, will it come up all zeroes?" I was like, "Uh, PBT?" He said, "A Preliminary Breath Test. Will you blow all zeroes?" I said, "Um, yeah, I guess..." The second officer walked away from our car. A bit later, a squad car pulled out from behind the car that pulled me over. I hadn't even realized until that moment that I had been pulled over by TWO cop cars. I was freaking out. I really didn't want to give a breath test. I knew if they did give me one, it wouldn't come up as all zeroes, but I was definitely under the legal limit. I'd had about four hours of sobering up and I'd eaten food in between as well. The first officer returned to my window and informed me that he was going to administer a field sobriety test to me. I was really nervous. The first thing I was asked to do was recite the alphabet from "I to X". I was not allowed to sing it. I was so nervous that when I got to "S", I said "X" instead. I quickly figured out that that was wrong and corrected myself, but still, I felt like a moron. Then, I was asked to touch each of my fingers one at a time to my thumb, starting with my index finger and ending with my pinkie. Then, I had to work backwards, starting with my pinkie and ending with my index finger. Each finger was assigned a number and I had to say the number as I touched it to my thumb. I had to repeat the entire sequence three times without stopping. So, I was saying "1-2-3-4, 4-3-2-1," as my fingers tapped my thumb. After I was done with that, the officer told me that he was just writing me up for the u-turn and that I was free to go.

Ugh.

The whole experience was just very nerve-wracking.

Don't cops have anything better to do than pull people over for little things like u-turns? It wasn't as if I was endangering anyone or anything like that. Gah, so annoying...

Cross 'Em Off the List!

2007-09-25T08:40:00.000-04:00

Yesterday, I completed two of the things on my "50 things" list. I chopped my hair so I can donate it! See!

I sent my hair to Pantene's Beautiful Lengths instead of Locks of Love. I think most of their wig donations go to women who have undergone chemotherapy while Locks of Love's go to kids with alopecia. Pantene only required 8 inches of hair, while Locks requires 10. When I measured the ponytail the woman chopped off my head myself, I think it was about 9 inches.

The second thing I can cross off my list is making a homemade pizza. I found out that I had a pizza dough recipe in one of my cookbooks, so I used that and topped off the pizza with some stuff from the CSA (tomatoes, basil, green peppers, arugula) as well as tomato sauce, onions, and mozzarella that I picked up on the side. It turned out fairly nicely. Look:

I'm really flying through this list! If I get too many things done before the due date, I guess I'll just have to write a new list early on!

The weekend

2007-09-24T15:39:00.000-04:00

Jake and I went on a trip to Delaware on Friday and Saturday. On Friday afternoon, we drove out. We stopped at this awesome place called "Yoder's Country Store" and I bought random cheap spices and stuff. Then, we toured the Dogfish Head brewery. Their beer is interesting. A lot of it has a very high alcohol content. Jake and I both really like their "Punkin' Ale". It tastes like pumpkin pie. Yum!

Then, we drove to Econolodge in Rohoboth Beach, DE. I wouldn't recommend staying there. They gave us a smoking room when we requested non-smoking (and the room smelled bad, despite what they told us about cleaning it up for us...), there were a couple of broken lamps, and the bedspread had holes burned into it. Ick. Whatever...it was just a cheap room.

On Saturday, we hung around on the beach. Here's Jake on the beach:

This is one example of my fine photography. Oh, and it will only get better as I continue in my class...

It rained Saturday afternoon and I got totally soaked running to get the car while Jake sat under a gazebo and managed to stay dry.

On Sunday, Jake and I toured the National Arboretum. Now I sort of wish that I had taken Maria there when she visited because I'm sure she would have enjoyed it. We took a tram tour first. Then, we walked around and saw an exhibit of bonsai trees, an herb garden (there were a bunch of different types of peppers growing in there and I was very tempted to try to steal one...), and some columns that were removed from the Capitol building in the 1950s. Awesome.

Oh, I almost forgot...

2007-09-20T13:25:00.000-04:00

I wanted to blog about Oprah yesterday, but my internet wasn't working.

She had a show on Tuesday where Jenny McCarthy came on and talked about her son, who has autism. Jenny made the claim that she thinks her son developed autism as a result of the MMR vaccines. I seriously wanted to throw something at my tv when she said that. I'm sooo pissed off that there will be parents that see the show and decide not to get their kids vaccinated based on Jenny's statements. The research doesn't support the idea that vaccines contribute to autism. Thimerisol was taken out of the MMR vaccine in the US in 2001 or 2002, and autism rates have still been increasing. Gah...people are morons.

Why do I continue to watch Oprah? First there's all this crap about "The Secret", then she plugs psychics, then she spreads all this misinformation about autism... Oprah, you are quickly falling from grace. I really think you mean well, but sometimes, "The road to hell is paved with good intentions." (I suppose that quote would be more powerful if I actually believed in hell...but maybe I just mean hell metaphorically or something...) Really, woman, you need to do better on the fact-checking...

My Finger is Healing and I'm Having Random Fun

2007-09-20T11:09:00.000-04:00

I got my stitches out yesterday. Yay! The nurse told me to be careful with my finger for he first 24 hours of the stitches being out. She actually said, "You know, don't whack your kids with that hand or anything..." WTF?

Jake and I started a photography class on Tuesday night. Did I mention earlier that we bought a digital SLR camera with some of our wedding money? Well, the class is going to teach us what all the buttons and doohickeys are on it. We are supposed to take pictures every week and bring them to class to be critiqued. I took a few already yesterday while on a walk through the cemetery near our apartment. Jake wants to leave for the beach this weekend, so I'm sure we'll take a bunch more. Maybe I'll post some examples of my finest photography later as the class rolls on. :) Our teacher is Pete Duvall; he and his wife do freelance photography. They have a website.

We've been watching Badger football on the weekends at Hamilton's, which is the new alumni bar in DC. We all (Jake, Jon, Ellen, and me) like it better than the Exchange, the old alumni bar.

Here's a picture of me, Jon, and Ellen dancing around in the bar:

This past weekend, we wandered around after the game and found out that a new Shakespeare theatre opened downtown. We got a bunch of free food that Target was giving out, and Ellen and I made crowns:

Last night, Jake and I saw Naomi Klein speak about her new book "The Shock Doctrine". It was interesting, but I felt like I only had a vague idea about some of the stuff she talked about (I'm not really hip to stuff about Chicago-style economics or Bolivian history or anything...but it was interesting to learn a bit about). It also made for a bit of a late night, but I think if there's ever anyone speaking again at Politics and Prose that I'm interested in, it's worth it to go and hear a talk. Plus, it's still on my list to go and get a signed copy of a book (I suppose I could have done that last night, but I think I'd want to get a book about something that I know more about and could actually possibly have an intelligent conversation with the author about...is that too much to ask? Or should I just resign myself to the fact that I'll probably have anxiety talking to anyone while getting a book signed? Well, maybe I could get a signed copy of Wayne Williams's book without worrying that I looked like a moron...)

If anyone is interested, there is a short film advertising Naomi Klein's book:

I have a phone interview tomorrow morning, and once that is over, Jake and I are planning to go to the beach in Delaware. Yay beach!

Gah, I want these things out!!

2007-09-18T11:56:00.000-04:00

Sorry, people who are squeamish. Here's a picture of my stitches. I'm getting them taken out tomorrow (finally!).

Halloween

2007-09-11T18:49:00.000-04:00

Jake and I just bought plane tickets to go to Milwaukee the first weekend in November. We're going to a wedding reception for his friends Feryl and Erika. The thing that's different about this reception is that it's going to be a costume party, so we have to come up with costume ideas before we go.

I thought it would be cool if Jake went as Duff man and I went as a beer bottle, but then Jake saw me looking at the steps some other guy went through to make a Duff man costume and said it would be too much work. We'd have to make a belt with beer cans attached to it somehow. I don't know how I'd make myself into a beer bottle either...

Anyone have any cool costume ideas?

Trip to the ER

2007-09-05T17:12:00.000-04:00

Yesterday I was busy doing dishes around noon when a glass slipped and broke. I got a huge gash across my left pinkie finger. I wadded up a tissue on the injury and tried to apply pressure, but the cut was so deep there was no way it was going to clot up. I called Jake at work freaking out about what to do and he said he'd bike home and drive me to the ER.

So, after a few hours, a tetanus shot, some x-rays, and six stitches, I came back home yesterday. Thankfully, I'm covered by Jake's insurance. This would have really sucked if it happened before the wedding. The doctor also told me that I was lucky that I didn't end up with a severed tendon. I'll probably end up with a crazy scar on my pinkie. It's weird to type with a messed up pinkie finger...

I was actually supposed to go to the gyno yesterday, so I called and rescheduled my appointment for Thursday. It is going to be a couple of weeks filled with medical appointments. The ER referred me to a doctor to get the stitches taken out, so I called to try to make an appointment for that. The doctor probably won't be able to take them out for another 2 weeks, but I was told that I needed to schedule an appointment in a week "just to check on it". The receptionist woman also told me that I should try to swing by the hospital to pick up copies of my x-rays before coming in for my appointment. WTF? What a waste of time...I'm not going to do that. Doesn't that seem like a strange request? Screw that...

Now Jake has to do the dishes and stuff at home because I can't put my hand in standing water. It also puts a kink in his plan to go to the beach in two weekends...yeah, I don't think Jake is too happy I got hurt.

I wanted to take a picture of my gross looking finger with all the stitches in it, but I couldn't find a good way of doing it on my own. This picture of me bandaged up taken by Jake will have to do:

SPACE ELEVATOR!!!!

2007-08-31T12:48:00.000-04:00

I was talking to Jake last night. We returned to the familiar conversational theme of me complaining that I don't have a job, I don't do anything worthwhile, and even if I had a job, it probably wouldn't allow me to do anything all that fantastic. After I throw myself a little pity party, I tend to joke around about what I would do with myself, given money, power, etc. I throw out a bunch of BS ideas. Sometimes the ideas have to do with saving the world. Sometimes they are just get-rich quick schemes.

Anyway, last night I told Jake that I was going to solve the "climate crisis". I told him all we should do is pump all the excess carbon into tanks and shoot it into outer space. Of course, Jake rightfully laughed at my inefficient, unworkable BS. He may have laughed more at this idea than the horrible idea I had for a restaurant selling BBQ tofu on a stick. He said, "Do you even realize how much fuel gets burned up shooting something into space?" Then he laughed even more as I stupidly suggested the development of a solar powered rocket. Then Jake said, "Why not just use a space elevator?" And I was like, "What's that??" He rolled his eyes like he couldn't believe I've never heard of a space elevator. Then he explained to me the idea of hooking up an elevator onto an object in geosynchronous orbit as a way of reducing the energy required to get into outer space. People have actually thought of this! Look! Jake said, "Okay, maybe we have to get a subscription to Popular Science or something so you know what I'm talking about..." Is it weird that I've never heard of a space elevator? Oh, I love my husband. Yes, this is what makes marrying him worthwhile... I'm not kidding. The space elevator made my day.

One in a Million

2007-08-30T13:27:00.000-04:00

Lloyd Christmas: What are the chances of a guy like you and a girl like me...ending up together?
Mary Swanson: Not good.
Lloyd Christmas: You mean not good like one out of a hundred?
Mary Swanson: I'd say more like one in a million.
[a long sad pause]
Lloyd Christmas: So you're telling me there's a chance? Yeah! I read ya.

~From Dumb and Dumber

I typically write down every job to which I apply.

I just counted and I've applied to 99 jobs since leaving my old job.

Fuck.

This is such BS. I'm so ready to give up.

Gah...I'm just grasping onto the hope that more places will be hiring in the fall and that there will be less competition from recent grads, etc.

99 is a lot, right? I would hope that my chances of getting a job are better than one in a hundred...but who knows, right? Maybe it's more like one in a million...

Chicago

2007-08-28T09:26:00.000-04:00

Jake and I flew to Chicago this weekend for Dan's wedding. Here are some quick highlights:

We rediscovered how much CTA sucks. We tried to take the train to downtown, only to be forced onto a bus because they were doing trackwork. It took forever. At least in DC, they've worked out a way to single-track trains so passengers can still use them when maintenance is required...

We took a sightseeing boat tour of downtown. Here's a picture taken on the boat:

We walked around downtown and went to Millennium Park. Here's the big jellybean sculpture thing:

Here's a picture of a little boy throwing a ball underneath the sculpture thing (which wound up hitting me in the head):

Can you find Jake and me?

We met Jake's family and ate at Cheesecake Factory on Saturday night. Jake's parents were in town for an art fair and they also brought bicycles down to ride around town. Jake's brother and one of his friends drove down separately. Jake and I planned to get a ride back to our hotel from his parents, but then they told us that they had bikes in their car, so they initially suggested that we catch a ride with Seth. However, then we had dinner and Seth had obviously been drinking and intended to stick around downtown late into the evening going to the bars with his friend. We suggested that Jake's parents put their bikes into the car Seth drove down and drop us back at our hotel. After dinner, we had a little adventure looking for the car, because Seth and his friend weren't sure where they had parked... It all worked out, though, and Jake's parents got us back to our hotel safe and sound.

Dan's wedding started on Sunday afternoon. Mitch and Danielle picked us up and took us to the banquet hall. We had to change our driving route several times because there were a lot of roads closed due to flooding.

I don't think I'll ever experience another wedding quite like Dan's again in my life. Mitch and Danielle both said that it was one of the most religious weddings they've attended. During the ceremony, the men and the women had to sit on separate sides of the room. I'm glad Danielle was there, or I would have had to sit by myself. Here's a picture of Dan and Anya at the chuppah:

During the reception part, the men and women also had to dance separately. They put a screen up between the men's part of the dance floor and the women's part. I think the amount of alcohol available was part of the Russian influence on the wedding. Each table had a full bottle of vodka, whiskey, white wine, red wine, and...I think I'm missing one bottle...and another bottle of alcohol. We ate Chinese food prepared by a kosher catering company. The evening's entertainment was interesting. Some people put on a skit, which included someone wearing a mask of Dan's face and Anya's brother dressed in drag. Lots of the men did all sorts of crazy dances trying to get Dan to laugh. The band's repertoire included a version of Men At Work's "Down Under" in Hebrew. Dan juggled fire. Yup, definitely an interesting evening...

Here's one last picture of Dan and Anya. This one includes Dan's parents and sister and I believe someone's grandma...

The two of them are moving to Israel in less than two weeks! Jake and I only got to meet Anya very briefly at the wedding. She asked Jake if he had any insider roommate tips of things to watch out for living with Dan. The two of them have some big changes coming up. It will be craziness, I'm sure...

Hair Cut

2007-08-21T17:13:00.000-04:00

The next time I get my hair cut, I want to donate my ponytail to Locks of Love. I was really thinking about doing it today. I thought I had enough to cut off. I got a trim a bit before the wedding while I was in Madison and the woman who cut my hair then told me that if I took off 10 inches, my hair would be just at the base of my hairline in the back. I thought I could deal with that. So, today I went into Hair Cuttery (a hair salon chain something like Cost Cutters or Fantastic Sams)and asked about Locks of Love. The women there looked horrified that I wanted to cut my hair that much. One of them said to me, "If you cut it off now, your hair will look like that," and pointed at a man sitting there looking at a magazine. His hair was pretty short...above his ears at least. Ugh...how much time will it take for me to grow my hair to a decent length?

Another thing I wonder about is whether or not I should go into a place like the Hair Cuttery to have this done. The only time I've had my hair cut while I was in Virginia was at this little barber shop owned by a Korean family. Jake likes to go there because it's cheap and they cut his hair there the way he likes it. However, when I went in and tried to explain to Kim, the woman there, that I'd like to add some bangs, she didn't understand and told me her English wasn't that good (even though she's lived in the US for over 30 years...). I wound up just having her trim my hair because I was afraid she'd chop it all off when I didn't want her to. She was a nice lady and all(she probably talked to me more than any other hairdresser I've had in my life...really, she told me about coming to America, where her daughter works, introduced me to her bird, etc.), but I don't think I'd go back there to do a style change. Something easy like a trim again would be fine. When I went into the Hair Cuttery, the only people working there were a couple of Asian ladies and they both definitely had accents. Is it wrong of me to worry a bit about their English language skills when I'm looking for a drastic style change? I'm awful at explaining things and it probably won't help if I go in and talk to people that have difficulty with English. I'm afraid at this point that if I go in for a cheap haircut, I will have to deal with people with limited English skills. It just seems to be the case around here. Will I be fine if I just provide them with pictures of what I want? Or should I look into some pricey salon and pay 3 or 4 times as much just to have someone who can decipher my explanation of what I want my head to look like? Or, should I just wait until the next time I'm in Wisconsin or something to just avoid this whole ordeal?

Ants/ Go Away/Come back/Another Day

2007-08-21T11:37:00.000-04:00

Jake and I have had an ant problem in our kitchen this whole summer. I keep seeing all these little brown ants all over our countertops. Jake even has a song about the ants. The title of this post contains all the lyrics. It's a really annoying song that he sings in this high-pitched voice. Now, every time I think about the ants, I think about the song, too.

So anyway, I didn't want to buy traps, so I've tried all sorts of crazy stuff to get them to leave. I tried stuffing mint leaves into the cracks I where thought they might be coming in, wiping down with this mint concoction I made, pastes made of baking soda and turmeric, etc., etc. I was hopeful when we left for the wedding for a couple weeks, there wouldn't be anything to draw them into the kitchen and they'd disappear. No such luck. So, last week I started wiping down the counters with a mix of white vinegar and water and (I think...) finally they're gone. I haven't seen any in a while. Yay for white vinegar!

We might finally get recycling!

2007-08-18T20:46:00.000-04:00

My landlord stopped Jake and me on the street this morning and told us that he's meeting with some other property owners on our block as well as with some people from the city government on Thursday about setting something up. Yay! Finally. I wrote an email to the city about this a while back and they were basically like, "Yeah, you should have recycling...we passed an ordinance last summer about that..." Then nothing happened. Then, Jake forwarded along the emails between me and the city to our landlord to see if he'd do more about it. Let's see if they finally get something going this week. *Crossing fingers*