Just Peachy

2008-07-26T12:38:00.002-04:00

I moved into a two bedroom apartment last week. Dave got heat stroke early in the day because it was nearly 110 outside. Around four, a whole crew of friends came and helped us finish up. It only took like an hour and a half to finish with the extra hands. I am really liking the new apartment. There's more room to stretch out and there's a linen closet too. I had been using my computer to watch tv. Since I have an office now, I have to buy a tv to go in the living room. Dave moved his 100 gallon turtle/guppy tank in. The turtles are living in the bathtub and the guppies are in a friends tank until he can make a repair and fill it. I am going to go shopping today to find stuff to decorate the apartment with.

School is a drag. I have to do a project this weekend in numerical modeling. My partner is the strange anti-social guy who sits in the front of the class. Lesson re-learned: pick your partner early. He's supposed to do one part of it and I'm supposed to do the other part.

I have been stressed out about work lately. It's been hard not to be totally obsessed over it because that's how I spend so much of my time. There are big changes coming up and I am waiting to see how the cards fall. Wish me luck. I'll post pictures of the new place when I get it dressed up a little more.

New Table

2008-06-07T20:01:00.004-04:00

I just got finished putting together my new table. I think if you click on the picture it will bring you to a bigger one, until I make a new post. It's bar height and solid wood. Originally, I wanted to put a colorful formica/chrome table there but I saw this one in an ad and it was easier just to go pick it up. The only new formica tables I could find were thousands of dollars and I didn't know how big a hassle it would be to find an old one I liked. Anyway, I do really like this one. It will be much sturdier than the card table and I will feel more comfortable sitting there to do homework. There's a basket on the table so Dave has a place to put his keys when he comes over. I hope those empty jam jars can be traded for full jam jars.

Nikki's Wedding

2008-05-31T16:33:00.004-04:00

Nikki's wedding was in the middle of may. That was a fun visit. The wedding was really nice and it was fun to be a bride's maid. All of Nikki's bride's maids were easy going and friendly. Dave came to Ohio with me and he was a great sport about me not getting to stick with him all day. He didn't know anybody at the wedding but he still had fun. I left a trail of glitter everywhere I went. I don't have any pictures of me at the wedding so I'm hoping someone will send some. I had my nails done in Dublin with my Mom and all the girls in the wedding party had their hair done together for the wedding. Nikki looked very beautiful.

School is going well, I guess. I am not so great at taking tests but I have been doing well on the homework. The school wrote up a little article to put on their website. I have a picture and a quote in it.

We got some unusually cool weather for the past couple of weeks and I think the temperature is rising for the summer now. Last weekend I made southwestern style chili (white bean chili with chicken). This weekend I think I'm going to have to make something more summer-y. I made cherry desert again, this time for the memorial day cookout over at a friend's. Well, I should get working on my homework.

one oh one

2008-05-04T23:16:00.002-04:00

I don't have much to talk about. This weekend was another busy one. I made apple stuffed sausage from the better homes and gardens cook book. It was pretty good. I served it with green bean casserole and french bread. The sausage was bought at the Hungarian sausage place east of Palmdale. Dave and I went to a park and threw a disk around.

Yesterday I went with a bunch of people to see Iron Man. It's a pretty good movie. I don't like watching violence very much in movies. I used to be able to stomach it more than I can now. I got caught up in the whole thing and screamed a couple of times.

Friday I worked pretty hard to clean up around the apartment and pay bills. I thought that I lost my checks so I went through all of the papers I had organized but not put away yet and couldn't find them. I figured out that, really, I had just used the last one already. So, I reordered them and had to make an online payment for the bill I was trying to pay. This is all boring stuff.

Wish me good luck on my midterm tomorrow.

100th POST

2008-04-28T01:12:00.002-04:00

WOOO HOOO If you have been reading my blog from the beginning, wow. You have read 100 random, poorly written, boring posts. Hey, I'm an engineer. I don't get much practice.

I have been trying to cook more. I go out to eat and it's hurting my weight and bank account. Sundays I have been cooking dinner for me and Dave and then I take it in all week for lunches. Last Sunday I made chicken casserole with spaghetti noodles and tomatos and green chili peppers. It turned out really good. Side note – it really bugged me that he told me what I should do next time to try to improve the recipe when he went back for thirds. Today I made pulled pork. I used the recipe that mom gave me for pulled beef and used pork loin instead. I like doing crock pot meals because you get to smell them all day. It made such a big pot that I am going to have to freeze some of the leftovers. I don't want to get sick of it before it goes bad.

My favorite thing to make is cheese cake from scratch. It's rich and thick and awesome. It's difficult to make but I'm getting better and better at it. It's expensive and takes a lot of time to make so usually I just do it for special occasions and gifts.

Sometimes I get pre-prepared stuff and mixes. I bought some stuffed peppers from the grocery store a couple of weeks ago. Next time I do that, I'm going to just buy one stuffed pepper, and one empty pepper. I'll split the meat up between both peppers and fill the void with rice. I think it will soak up some of the pepper juices and be healthier. This doesn't have to do with cooking but sometimes when I eat a frozen dinner, before I stick it in the microwave I'll add a handful more frozen vegetables so that it'll be more filling.

If anybody has a really easy recipe you want me to try, send it on over and I won't have to come up with something new for next week!

California Poppies

2008-04-13T23:44:00.002-04:00

Dave and I went out to the poppy preserve today. The hills were solid orange. We took a four mile hike up and down the hills (after playing ultimate the day before). Everybody in southern california should go. Well maybe not everybody because that would be a lot of people. Crowds and yappy jerks and people who don't stay on the path really bug me. It was nice going on the long loop because most people stayed close to the parking lot and we had a nice quiet hike. Poppies don't smell like anything but there were other flowers that did. There were some little yellow ones that smelled bad, but not as bad as a christmas cactus flower. Anyway, enjoy the picture.

runnin' 5k's is fo' sucka's

2008-04-06T23:57:00.003-04:00

I ran a 5k race friday march 28th. It was crazy. I ran the whole time, but really slowly. I finished in 44:30. I told somebody at work what my time was and he said, "so you walked it." I made a frowny face and said no. It was up a giant hill and back down its other side. I am going to download google earth and try to take a screenshot of the route and outline it. You won't be able to see the elevation change but you might be able to guess it by the picture.

I played ultimate again yesterday. It wasn't as much fun as the other week. Last week nobody guarded me the whole game so I was in a good portion of the plays. This week i was guarded better and I had a harder time staying on the person i was supposed to guard. Anyway, it made for a game with a lot of running without feeling like I helped much. The rest of the day I went to a one-year-old's birthday party. It was fun. I can't remember ever going to a child's birthday party where there was a keg.

I did my taxes today too. I am checking things off my to-do list and i'm feeling great!

The Run Around

2008-03-16T20:26:00.003-04:00

This was another busy weekend. Party Friday, party Saturday, bought plane tickets, laundry, take home exam, balancing quicken. I hate my bank. When I started they automatically enrolled me in a stupid program that made penny transfers from checking to savings, then the bank would match the total of those transactions over the year. It only made me like 70 cents and is making the accounts in quicken all messed up. I tried to cancel the "benefit" on the web and there weren't any options for it, so I called the customer service line and there weren't any options on there to cancel it either and there weren't any options to talk to a real live person. I wound up going to a website that tells you how to cheat the customer service lines and get a real human. It was tricky but I finally got in line to talk to a rep. It took 15 minutes on hold. When I finally talked to someone he said that I didn't have a savings account. He said that they closed it because of inactivity. Can they do that? They are still paying me interest, transfering money through the stupid program, sending me statements and I can check the balance online. It even downloaded the transaction information when I set it up in quicken. He told me I should walk into a bank and make sure that they hadn't closed the account or if they have, to reactivate it, because if I don't they will turn it over to the state. He's got to be mistaken. Anyway he canceled me out of the stupid program so I solved one problem and found out about another. Add it to the list. Well, I should probably get back to the take home exam.

A Shout Out to my Biggest Fans

2008-03-10T23:09:00.002-04:00

Thank you Mom and Nikki. You guys rock.

Shelly and I used the picture sharing application in Instant Messages and it is pretty cool. I was showing her pictures from dinner Sat. night. I went to a nice italian restaurant in pasadena for a friend's surprise birthday party. Oh man it was kinda funny. We thought we knew where it was ... some carribean place, that we found out doesn't exist any more. Then we kinda sorta ruined the surprise by calling the host of the party... and then the birthday boy. Anyway, it wasn't all our fault.

I want to see pictures of Ohio all covered in snow so e-mail some to my yahoo account okay?

Back after the long break

2008-03-08T18:09:00.005-05:00

Okay wow, so, I'm sorry. Let's start over. I'll be posting again. There is no excuse for not posting. There is even less excuse for never sending thank you notes from Christmas. I don't know what happened to me but i am trying to get all of my ducks back in a row. I stopped posting when I couldn't seem to find the password. Anyway that's how it's been lately. I have let too many things go. Next task; taxes.

I hear that Ohio is getting slammed with snow. I have to report that it is a sunny, windy, 64 degrees in Lancaster.

Lester and Eva showed everybody their pictures from Australia last night . It made me itch for travel. I need to buy plane tickets to Ohio for Nikki's wedding and tickets to Washington (for a trip to Idaho) .

I should get back to lining up my ducks and that homework isn't going to do itself.

post edit: Quick Australia fact, they call commiting suicide "topping off"

got a new purse

2007-06-30T01:33:00.000-04:00

just for nikki k, here's a link to a picture of the purse i bought. I got a black one so if you push on the black dot you'll see what it looks like.
http://www.coach.com/content/product.aspx?product_no=9245&category_id=904

2007-04-07T17:52:00.000-04:00

Wow I haven't posted in a while. Not much has happened though.

I went to Dayton for work so I got a chance to see the family and some ohio-friends. I got a lot of clothes when I was there and Nikki and Shelly bought me rollerblades for my birthday so I had to bring an extra bag home with me. I got a new phone when I was in town too. So if I haven't taken your picture yet you should take a picture and send it to me so I have a picture ID to use for when you call. I got to hang out with my sisters a lot and that was great I miss them when I'm not around.

I downloaded a program today that takes pictures and blows them up really big and seperates them to printable pdf pages so they can cover an entire wall. I have four empty walls and I don't know yet which wall or walls I want to cover or what picture or pictures I want to use.

Anyway I am just procrastinating because I should be finishing work that I didn't finish at work.

Update

2007-02-27T01:56:00.000-05:00

I have gambled a little in Tahoe but have not had a chance to ski. I am currently up $51 but if you only count my black jack play I would be up $58. I have been playing the penny poker machine for fun (I fully expect to lose everything I put in the machine ... not that I really expected to win at black jack).

My travels

2007-02-24T13:16:00.000-05:00

I am going to be all traveled out soon. On the 8th, in one day, I flew to Sacramento and back. Then I rode up to San Luis Obispo for the weekend, came home, turned around and drove back to Sacramento for meetings on the 12th-14th . I got a week at home and now I'm going to Lake Tahoe for an entire week for a meeting. It should be fun. We are going to ski (I might not it depends if another noob is coming) and we are staying in a casino. Whoa this post is all over the place ... just like me! Well I have to get back to packing ... I forgot jeans.

Saturday injury report

2007-02-03T17:49:00.000-05:00

I thought someone might find it funny how badly I have been beating myself up. Yesterday I ran into a sharp metal door frame and nearly knocked myself out. I have a big knot and bruise on my forhead. Then I played ultimate today and bruised my left index finger and twisted my knee. I have new cleats and half way through the game I wrapped my big toes and heels with duct tape. The blisters got torn up when I took the tape off (at home) and a bunch of adhesive was left behind. Then I was running oddly and my torso was moving faster than my legs and I fell/dove and did something to my ankle. At first I thought I really hurt myself and got all panic-ey and was having a hard time breathing so I sat out of the game. Then my ankle was feeling better but I stayed out of the game because I didn't want to admit that maybe I wasn't really hurt. But that was short lived. I came home and sat around for a while and figured out that I really did mess up my ankle ... and my knee is still all tweaked.
**edit** I just looked in the mirror and I have a sunburn.

Sailing

2007-02-01T23:06:00.000-05:00

Okay now, I should let everyone know that i do not respond well to commands (ask my boss.) Suggestions, guidence, poking, prodding those work better for me. Sailing was awesome. A friend of a friend is a member of a sailing club. I don't know how the logistics work but I think the club owns a bunch of boats and you can rent them out as a memeber. The club held a race last Saturday from Long Beach to Catalina and back. We raced there but not back. They wouldn't have let me drive during the race. The photo is from the way back.

Sorry to inturupt your not so regularly scheduled blog. I just saw a commercial for a movie with a guy who tries to build a rocket in his barn. Even if the guy was most brilliant rocket scientist in the world it would not be possible for him to build a rocket in your barn. It's a difficult feat for huge organizations with connections and money. One dude can't even put the muscle into torquing down the nuts on the rocket.

Back to the show ... We got second place, racing "Turkana II." I think the monkey painted on the back of the boat helped us win. It wasn't a serious race, two of our crew race competitively so they probably took it a little more seriously than some of the other teams. I was a moving ballast, rail meat. I don't think any of the other teams bothered to weigh the rails. In fact, we may have been the only ones to have waited to start drinking until we finished the race, but I can't confirm. There was an awards ceremony with appetizers at a bar in Avalon. We got a little trophy.

It was a little cold up on the side of the boat where all the wind was whipping by so i went to the cabin to change. I'm sure you have all seen pictures of racing boats ... they tip over from the wind in the sail and roll around on waves. I went down to the cabin to put on more layers and was down for too long. My mind was keeping references to the floor and walls but my body said that it was all tilty and I got SUPER motion sick. I came out and just stared at the horizon until it went away.

Sleeping on the boat was different. It was loud and rocky and in the middle of the night I got scared and had to calm myself down to fall back to sleep amd Dave tripped on the boat and sat on my head.

Catalina is beautiful. We walked around and Dave talked about the diving he has done around the island and what he saw there. He talks about diving a lot, he'll probably get back into it. I took some pictures and I'll put them in the post. I also saw porpoises, dophins, pirates and HUGE ships. Someone else thinks he saw a sun fish. I don't know what was going on with the pirate ships but it sounded like they were shooting cannons and there were puffs of smoke. The trip was exhausting and I was so glad to sleep sunday night.

He says, "oh my!"

2007-01-26T13:42:00.000-05:00

Per request, little grassy. He's my office mascot. I'm going sailing this weekend. It should be fun. I have never been and I get super motion sick so I'm going to be doped up on dramamine. Found out that I need a rain coat but I left mine in Ohio ... you don't need raincoats in the desert, or so I thought. I named my fish finally. It's fishy fishy fishy fish, because that's how I greet him in the morning. I am still thinking about a real pet but I'm not home enough so I think I'll wait.

He monitors my calls

2007-01-22T23:18:00.000-05:00

I dressed up my phone with a couple googley eyes. I just used elmers glue so I'm sure they won't last. If I still like them in a week maybe I'll super glue them.

Shelly gave me a planter for my office that is a little head with grass hair. The longest blade is four inches high. It's filling in so pretty sure i'm going to have to give it its first cut. My stomach has been hurting all day. I'm going to bed early.

Current Events in Crystaland

2007-01-19T16:50:00.000-05:00

I started playing ultimate frisbee Saturday mornings. I haven't played sports in a long time so it's kinda hard to get back in the swing and I'm not too competetive. Everyone has been pretty encouraging. They say that I don't suck as much as other noobs. Everyone wants to give me pointers and help me out. Sometimes i don't want to listen. I have been swimming with Dave after work too. It's really tiring and time consuming, but I am trying to exercise more. My mentor at work thinks that it makes me more energetic.

Work is going to be really busy for the next couple of months because I have been given a couple big engineering jobs, some crappy inventory management jobs, I have to write two papers and evaluate a bunch of proposals.

Well I'm going to hold a little back so i can make more entries. Here's a picture I like that Shelly sent ...

oh tannenbaum

2006-12-10T09:57:00.000-05:00

Picture of my christmas tree with the card from Nikki at the bottom. I didn't realize until after I got off the phone with her that santa is playing a flute, but it's not really a flute it's words 'tis the season to be jolly fa la lala la la lalala. Since I didn't have any of my ornaments from home I bought all new ones (dollar store and michaels) and did a theme tree. They are all bright colors like lime green, pink, electric blue, purple and silver. I used the paper star shelly gave me for christmas for the topper. It's a little big but I think it goes.

I haven't posted in a while. Thanksgiving was fun. I spent almost a whole week in Ohio and got to see just about everyone I wanted to. The food and company were awesome. For work every week I have to write a summery of the accomplishments from the week before, so the week after thanksgiving I wrote a quick blurb about my vacation where I quantified everything... ate three kinds of pie, saw four movies, played five video games, saw six friends, four family members, etc. Anyway it was pretty funny but I can't remember it all.

I have a cold now that I am just getting over. It isn't hitting me so hard but some people are getting pnemonia. The base was offering flue shots for the civil servents on base but I didn't take them up on it.

I got my first christmas present in the mail. Shame on me, I opened it. A picture of the present was on the box, so it's not like I ruined any surprise. But it sure as heck was a surprise!! I got a mixer just like mom's only in red. I was planning on getting one just like it for myself eventually. It never even crossed my mind that someone else might get it for me. I made a cheese cake yesterday. It was a disaster but it was a practice cake and it might still taste okay.

2006-11-10T11:45:00.000-05:00

I told this story and it didn't make it past my test audience but I'm going to tell it anyway. TAKE THAT!!

I brought my car in to be fixed last weekend. My friends suggested this place called Hall's. I followed someone there. We were out on the edge of town in the middle of nowhere and we turned into a neighborhood (not like a development just land with houses on it.) There were goats and chickens running around. We turned into one of the driveways and behind the house was a giant garage filled with people working on cars. There were a bunch of cars waiting outside too. It was surreal. We were in a quiet little country neighborhood with animals and works then we went behind a house and found a busy shop.

I had to get my rotors replaced again. Good job Mitsubishi, design a car that has rotors that go out before the brake pads, you deserve a hearty pat on the back. I'll send a cake next week.

More on Camping

2006-11-07T23:45:00.000-05:00

Last weekend was great. Running around on the beach and trying to skip stones was fun. The water was still warm and we could have gone swimming if we had suits. We stayed at a state park, Leo Carillo, on the other side of highway 1. Tri picked a camp site that was up a little hill so we weren't right next to the road with everyone else. We had trees around our clearing so it was a little more private. We had the usual complaints about people running the generators on their massive RV's and teenagers yelling around about stupid stuff. I packed WAY too much food. It was all very good, like marinated chicken (just bought a bottle and poured it in the bag) and fresh veggies from the corner produce/meat shop and of course smores. I really want to learn how to play the guitar now.

Camping photos

2006-11-07T00:27:00.000-05:00

I'll add text later but the caption for this is "Tri, by the beach, his world view changing before our eyes, drinking a gatorade"

BOO! ... oh damn i'm late

2006-11-01T23:50:00.000-05:00

I have been busy. I have been so busy that I haven't been following up with getting my tickets squared away for my trip back to C-Bus. Something happened when I was buying the tickets and have been on hold with United.com customer service for a total of 1.5 hours. Anyway, I am kinda seething over this whole thing.

Last weekend was a holloween party. It was a ton of fun. It was great to do something social after having such a hard time at work. I have been working my little ass off. This weekend I am going to go camping down by the beach north LA area. We should be there for two nights. A guy at work set it all up. I think there will be 5+ people there. I am going to bring food, games and alcohol.

Mom sent me pumpkin sugar cookies. They RULED. I shared with everyone over at Lester & Dave's and then I brought them into work. They were gone within 24 hours of picking them up from the post office.

White and Nerdy

2006-10-09T17:51:00.000-04:00

oh man I'm just so white and nerdy. I got a new sound card so now my mic works. I had a tough time getting the auxiliary input to work for my TV tuner but I figured it out and now I'm rockin' out to Weird Al on VH1. It's still kinda buggy though. It keeps muting the aux input (that's where i have the tv sound output plugged in). The strangest thing is happening... When I have vent and warcraft running the warcraft sounds get all electronic sounding or scratchy. I was working that issue and the tv issue at the same time and I found out that I can have vent and warcraft open and warcraft wont get scratchy if I have the aux line unmuted. If it mutes itself, the scratchiness comes back. It just makes no sense. Enough with the nerdiness

This weekend has been awesome. I worked a little on Fri. in LA even though it was supposed to be a day off for me but the drive home was nice. Today is a holiday ... ROCK. I got a lot done this weekend. I cleaned just about my whole apartment, played video games, installed that soundcard, loaded up my new little flash mp3 player, got an oil change, I saw Jet Lee's Fearless, hung out with a bunch of people and tried to play my flute. It is so nice to be in a super clean apartment ... it's cleaner than it was when my mom was out.

question

2006-10-01T12:50:00.000-04:00

My appartment is wired with speakers in my bedroom in the ceiling. The input is in the other room with my computer and it is set up so you put speaker wires into the outlet. I want to connect my computer to those speakers but I haven't figured out how to do that yet. If anybody has an idea gimme a shout.

reno baby

2006-09-19T21:47:00.000-04:00

that doesn't quite have the same ring to it as vegas baby. I went to Reno for the air races. I had the most fun watching the thunderbirds and the comedy trick show. Parts fall off of the comedy plane and fall to the ground. The aileron falls off and then he throws out the users' manual, toilet paper and then after he tries to land a couple of times the wheel falls off. This time it fell off and hit a car. It wasn't supposed to hit anything and everyone in the stands knew it. The announcer was cracking up. It might have been kinda scary for the guy in the car. He was out in the middle of nowhere. The dent was pretty big. Below is a picture of us eating breakfast on the way home.

The drive up and back was really something. All of the mountains, trees and rocks. Pictures don't do it justice. It's different to be there and see everything. I took some pictures and they don't do it justice either. Everything is more colorful in person and it's all much bigger. One of the guys who came with us has been off roading in a lot of the mountains around the area we were driving through so he was able to tell me stuff about them. On the way back he showed me where they filmed bud's trailer in kill bill II. I want to go back there in the light. In the movie it looked really cool with all kinds of different colored mountains. Dave said that he saw the trailor in the park and didn't know that they were filming until he saw the movie and recognized everything. Another pit stop on the drive home is pictured below.

There have been fires in my part of the country since labor day and the smoke has filled the sky. It is spooky. It rolls over the hills to the west and blows through the valley. It looks like brown red dark clouds. I guess when the fires are closer and more intense it rains ash, but it hasn't gotten to that in this area. I uploaded some pictures but it stopped working so the smoke pictures may have to wait.

vegas baby

2006-09-15T11:21:00.000-04:00

So last weekend I went to VEGAS! It's close enough to be a weekend trip. I really don't have much to say about it. I didn't get a chance to cruise the strip at night. I stayed at the MGM Grand. It was Grand. We hung out and ordered drinks by the pool first. They have a lazy river that was really long and it was hot outside so it was good to take a dip. We had dinner at a nice resaraunt. Mom is going to get mad but I can't remember the name of the place. I guess I'll have to look it up. It's Delmonico in the venecian. I got pork chops, don't tell Steve I say so, but I think mom's pork is better. The next day Dave and I had breakfast at the rain forest cafe and walked around the strip and rode on the monorail behind the strip. There is still a lot to see, so I'll have to go back sometime soon.

I should get back to watching season one of arrested development because it's due back sunday and I'm leaving for Reno tomorrow. I am going with a big group to the air races up there. When I get back I don't have to go to work up at the lab. I am going to be in LA for IPD business for a week or two. Call me, I'm lonely.

**update** I just saw shelly's blog and I have to suggest that you have a look. There's a link on my side bar for easy navigation!

monday? feels like a sunday

2006-09-04T22:02:00.000-04:00

This weekend was long and fun I did something every day... and I thought I was going to be sitting around all weekend. I am flying back to New Orleans tomorrow. It is going to stink not being able to take toiletries with me. I mean ... I'm going to stink without my toiletries. I'm kidding, I'll get some travel crap when I get there. It just won't be the same.

I don't have much to talk about sorry guys

weekends are the best

2006-08-27T11:55:00.000-04:00

Yesterday was great. I went shopping with Jennifer and we bought all kinds of nice new clothes. Jennifer is a good shopper, quick and honest with feedback. I followed her to her soccer game in the afternoon. Her team lost but put up a good fight. I was the only spectator for her team and it was windy, very windy. Beside the wind it was cool and sunny. Sitting on the grass watching the game was relaxing.

Then at night I went to Dave's birthday party. His parents were there and everybody thought his dad was super cool. I heard that his parents met one day and went to the fair that night, his dad proposed that day and they were married ten days later. The party was fun. I was dd and took a couple people home. I have started drinking less because I am trying to eat better all around and I think it’s making my mind mushy. It feels like I can’t concentrate or remember things that I normally would the morning after I drink. Dave’s dad tried to get Steve to dance. I think because he was bragging about being good at it. I said, “I’ve seen him dance in the office, it’s nothing special.” Everyone laughed and Jeremy said something about wishing he could see through the walls to know what’s going on in our office. Steve kicked my butt a couple times. He really can’t take getting made fun of.

I like traveling, but being in town is good too because you can make plans for the weekend. I probably wouldn’t have done anything with Jennifer if I was gone during the week.

2006-08-19T04:05:00.000-04:00

The most embarassing thing happened to me tonight. People were meeting at my place before we went out to drinks and a movie and someone called to say they were at the gate so I leave with my cell phone, gate remote and I was eating some cheese and crackers. I was wearing sandles with heels and my black pants with cuffs. I am not entirely sure how it happened but I think my heel got caught in the other cuff and I fell down the stairs to my apartment. I caught the railing and smashed the cheese (so what), my cell phone flew to the cement below and the remote fell in the bushes. I got all twisted up and somehow, got scratches and bruises all over my legs and toes and I bruised my arm pretty bad. They tell me I didn't scream but they heard the tumble. I thought someone might come out so I tried to straighten myself out so I was sitting on the stairs when someone popped his head out "any broken bones?" No, but it was really gross when I pulled up my pant leg and saw all kinds of skin stuck to the inside of the pants. Well I think I'm going to ice my bruised/scratched/swollen ankle and go to bed.

new couch and chair

2006-08-05T13:54:00.000-04:00

too big for my little room ... oh well. One day I will have a bigger room to put them in.

stuff

2006-07-26T00:28:00.000-04:00

This weekend my pops will be in town! He has a job down in LA for a couple of weeks and he's going to come up here to spend some time with me instead of flying home. I am pretty excited about it. I have to do some laundry so he'll have a towel.

I don't know what I am wearing to work tomorrow. I was thinking about wearing my yellow sleeveless shirt because it might keep me cooler but I'm afraid that I am just too boobalicious. I think that I look good in it but I don't know what the people I work with are going to think. They are all fat, bald, old farts and I don't want to offend (or treat).

It's hot out here. The power has been flickering. It's really bad for computers and I guess the cable company that I get my high speed internet from is having trouble with it too cause my internet went out twice on Sunday. I feel really cut off without internet. Some people might think that's a bad thing but I really don't.

internet don't ever leave me... tear

you waited and begged for this?

2006-07-18T00:14:00.000-04:00

I ran today instead of playing video games. Everyone was being lame and not starting anything so I did something constructive. I ran two miles and walked another half mile. Now my leg is all twitchy.

Since I last posted, my Mom, Dad and sister Nikki came out to lovely California and I went to Sacramento for the AIAA JPC and a class. Acronyms ... TAKE THAT! You can read Nikki's blog to hear what we did in LA. She's more eloquent than I. The conference was a lot of people talking about their research. I liked the presentations on papers about rocket history. I might have to look some of them up and read them. The class was okay. It was about liquid rockets. I didn't get a whole lot out of it because it was an overview and I knew most of it. Then when they got into stuff I didn't know the guy talked too fast and it was after lunch and I was all full of food and sleepy. Anyway I hung out with Jennifer from work every night and we had some good food eating out in Sacramento. I ran a couple of times when we were there too. The tredmills were awesome. They had TV's in them and headphone jacks and they supplied headphones.

Today was a busy day at work after being gone for a week (and leaving with work undone). I'm flying back to New Orleans on Wednesday for another IPD test. I am really excited about it. I am hoping that nothing goes wrong because I'll be the AFRL rep. again and I really don't want to have to make any decisions. It's past my bedtime ...

ballooning pics

2006-06-23T10:36:00.000-04:00

These are pictures from last week.

We're off!

Landed

Innitiation

summer's here

2006-06-18T15:57:00.000-04:00

Happy Fathers Day Pops! I am glad I'm going to get to see him again soon.

I went up in a hot air balloon yesterday. It was a smooth fun ride. The landing was really soft because there wasn't much wind by the ground. I got a good long ride because the fields we came down by had fences and power lines. I could see the jackrabbits hopping around. The picture I am posting is from last week, I'm not up there.

Then last night I went out with Jennifer and some of her friends. That was fun.

hot air ballooning?

2006-06-11T16:42:00.000-04:00

Next week will be different. I am going to go on a business trip alone! I hope everything goes exactly as planned because I don't know how I would report back if something went wrong. This week was okay but I was pretty tired because we had softball games three nights in a row. I have been playing catcher and actually hit the ball a couple times. It has been fun but my legs hurt from crouching.

Friday night I was supposed to practice at the batting cages with people from the team but it fell through and I hung out and played pool with other people. Today I helped a hot air balloon crew take off, chased them and then helped them pack back up. It was pretty fun so I think I'll keep helpin' out. They usually do it on saturday mornings. After that I finally bought a vacuum. It's just a cheapy thing.

Well I have to keep cleaning and packing ...

bad week good weekend

2006-06-04T12:46:00.000-04:00

I gave my presentation on Tuesday and I didn't totally blow it. Steve created the power point slides and coached me some. He gave me positive feedback when I went back to sit down. On Friday I asked my big boss for feedback and he said that I was bad. He said that he didn't want to judge me on that presentation because he felt that he messed me up by telling me to shorten it. He said I need to work on telling a story and doing transitions. I can totally see that. But he said some nice things too like that I spoke with good intonation and volume and looked and sounded calm. On Thursday Steve yanked me out of the office to go to a bunch of meetings and I didn't have time to grab everything I needed. That whole day was go go go do do do.

Friday night I went out to eat with Jennifer, Pete and Steve at outback and I got some burned chicken and a beer. Then we went to zoni's and played pool and drank. Then a couple more people joined us and we all sat around and talked. It was hard keeping Pete from talking about work. I had fun. Saturday Jennifer organized an ice skating outing. She, Pete, Rachel, Chad, Carla, Mike and I went to ice station in valencia. Then we went out to eat at claim jumper. I had meat loaf and potatos. It took them a while to get to our table so we got free drinks and apetizers. I was glad for that because I ordered a shake and mozzerella sticks. My legs didn't hurt today after skating so I was going to go for a bike ride. I went out to see if i needed to pump up the tires. I think the last time I rode was two weeks ago but the back tire was completely flat today so i think there's a problem with it and the front one was pumped up but look at the picture. I'm afraid to ride on it. I had a feeling that my tires were going bad. In carpool I joked "I think I need new tires, guess it's time to buy a new bike." I got a laugh but I was half serious.

I just visited vh1's vspot thing for voting for the top 20 videos and it rules. You can build your own playlist and watch all the full videos and the audio doesn't completely suck. I was surprised by the quality. And you don't have to watch any commercials. Anway, I am going to go see x-men III, the three-i-est.

holiday weekend my ass

2006-05-28T19:05:00.000-04:00

I am procrastinating. I have been re-doing my resume and writing essays to answer questions that I have to answer for that government job in my branch that I am trying for. It shouldn't be as stressfull as I'm making it. I am just not a writer ... you know. Hells you are reading my blog! After I finish up this application crap I have a bunch more work to do before I get back Tuesday. I feel behind. On the drive home (I carpool) one of my boss dudes jokingly said that if I don't have two months of work due in the next two days my load isn't heavy enough. I just want to do a good job and I am trying to stay on top of things. I have to make a presentation to my boss's boss and his entourage on tuesday or maybe it's my boss's boss's boss. It depends on how you look at things.

My IPod is even more dead than before. I updated it and wiped it clean in the process, then it failed while I was refilling it with music and it will not communicate with my computer anymore. So I can't even update it again. It has some music on it but it switches songs half way through and freezes up randomly. Rock.

well I should hop back to applying for that job
later

rambling sunday

2006-05-21T12:12:00.000-04:00

I don't have much to talk about. I have been trying to clean up around my apartment and I re-installed my i-pod's operating system and am going to start re-loading it today. Hopefully it won't keep messing up! Yesterday there was a big party a co-worker's house. We played washers, bocce ball and keep away soccer (with a volley ball). They had a lot of food and a fire pit. It was cooler outside than we had expected and I was glad that I brought more clothes. I got back at one ... waaaay past my bedtime.

I am watching "What Dreams May Come." I love the movie but it makes me cry and Robin Williams annoys me a little. I am folding all of my winter clothes too because I don't think I'll need them anymore. I didn't realize until now how ratty some of my clothes are. I am seeing holes and stretched elbows and discoloration. I hate shopping, but I think I am going to need get more winter clothes in the fall and I don't have enough summer clothes for work. If I really need more I'll go shopping but until then I'm just going to make due with what I have.

day oFf

2006-05-19T14:11:00.000-04:00

Today is my regular day off. Monday I flew into New Orleans and went out to eat at a nice restaurant with a bunch of people and walked around Burbon Street some. We had to get up early for work the next day so my boss and I turned back. We were walking to the car when this creepy lookin' guy lunged at me, made some crazy eyes and whispered "cocaine." I screamed and jumped a little and kept walking. Steve didn't know what was happening but he put himself between me and whatever was freaking me out. I felt kinda embarrased but not so much anymore cause it looked like the guy was going to do something to me.

The next day was better. We were at work 8 in the morning till 9:30 at night. We were there late cause there was a slight glitch ... uh it didn't work. It happened but not quite as expected.

Yesterday I went to aerobics at work. Today I am sore! I didn't work my arms out as much as I could have so next time I'll use heavier weights. The day before yesterday I went running with Jennifer and we ran at least a mile and a half. When I run I usually try to do about two and a half miles.

I got to level 60!

what's up

2006-05-13T10:45:00.000-04:00

I haven't updated in a while because I worked hard all week and was gone the week before in Myrtle Beach to watch my sister graduate from Coastal Carolina University WOO! Hanging out on the beach was nice. Nikki said what we did on her blog. The morning Nikki left we went to the movies and that night we went to Shelly's friends house for a big family party. We played beer pong and flip cup. I am good at flippin' cups! The next day was shelly's graduation and that night we went to a dueling piano bar. That was fun.

I went to LA yesterday for a meeting and got to go to Rocketdyne to tour their factories. It was cool to see everything and it would have been cooler if there were more engines in production. They had a visitors center with rockets on display too. Monday I fly back to Stennis for more work.

I did something funny playing warcraft a couple days ago. I ran around southshore ganking noobs in a red dress. I would cast one spell and punch them to death. It was pretty ridiculous looking. Then I was killing a bear by punching it and a high level rogue surprised me and I died.

I called Joann's this morning and talked to Bev. I was surprised to hear that the district manager guy that everyone hated got fired. He asked a lady working at another Joann's if she was a natural blonde and she said yeah and he asked her to prove it! Sexual harrasment! I couldn't believe it. How dumb is this guy?

2006-04-30T10:04:00.000-04:00

my IPod mysteriously turned on today hmmmm

2006-04-29T10:46:00.000-04:00

I actually used numbers for my job for the first time last week. It didn't get more exotic than division. But that's the closest I have gotten to what you expect from an engineer. I have been learning a lot about the IPD engine though ... I just haven't been doing the analysis. A couple people at work were shocked that I was wearing a skirt Friday. Mom thinks they are just trying to figure me out. I didn't think it would be unexpected.

Last night I burned the roof of my mouth really bad. It didn't hurt at first so I was surprised when I was done eating that the skin was dangling. It doesn't hurt today but it tastes bad. I think I'm going to buy a set of table and chairs from a coworker. It isn't my dream furniture but I don't think I want to put the work into finding what I really want. I was thinking that it would be really cool to have a set that looked like it came from a 50's diner. The one from my coworker is black iron and has a glass top. the chairs have red pads so that would go with my kitchen.

My IPod broke yesterday ... rock.

I had a pretty bad day yesterday

yet another business trip

2006-04-22T18:05:00.000-04:00

Last week was a busy week. I went to Stennis Space Center to help out with IPD testing and I got to watch RS-68 testing too. They both happened on the same day. If I could have stayed, I would have watched the SSME show firing the next day. I don't know what I can and can't talk about as far as the IPD testing goes so I'll just say that I was in the control room helping watch the data coming in. I got to see it on the monitors and the building was shaking as it fired. At edwards the control rooms are closer but built more like bunkers. It was mostly successful and they have a good idea about what to do to make it better. We went out to the test stand as soon as it was safe to check out the hardware. Parts of it were still covered in ice and dripping everywhere. There might be another test as early as next week so I might be making another trip soon.

While they were preparing the IPD test, Steve threw the keys at me and said "go watch the 68 test." I got quick directions because I forgot where it was and drove out there. I wasn't out of the car two minutes when it started firing. The day before I got a tour of the test stand they are using for the RS-68 and got to get up close and see the engine. The stand is huge. It was kinda cool to be in open air that high up. At edwards the stands hang off the edges of cliffs so they don't have to be so tall (but still have a great view off one side). The engine was covered up by the test stand but you could still see a lot of fire and a HUGE plume. It was loud! I felt it in my chest and it shook my pants. I could only get to the gate so I was pretty far away.

Steve and I went to Burbon Street one night last week. We ate at a pretty nice restaurant and walked around stopping into the bars for drinks and to watch the bands. There weren't many people out with New Orleans as empty as it is. It should have been shoulder to shoulder in some places. I can't remember the name of the bar now ... patty o'brians... some bar famous for hurricanes, isn't even open mondays and tuesdays. A lot of the restaurants closed early evening. I saw a lot of the landmarks mom and dad took pictures of on their trip. I believe that it will take way over ten years to re-build New Orleans. Just looking out from the highways you can see areas that are completely deserted and wreaked. I guess they haven't turned power on in huge sections of the city because they have condemned it. I got turned around a couple of times getting back to the airport. One of the exits I turned around at was completely empty and the street lights weren't even on. There were piles of trash in strip mall parking lots and I saw a boat in another lot. At Stennis there were a lot of fallen trees but that's all that I noticed. I stayed in Slidell and had to pay higher than usual. Some of the hotels haven't re-opened yet because they are still fixing them up and I guess service has taken a nose dive. I know my hotel was a shit hole I could go on about that for a whole blog entry!

I think I am going to try to run today. I didn't get a chance last week and I want to keep this up.

2006-04-13T22:57:00.000-04:00

i miss my cat

2006-04-09T19:28:00.000-04:00

I just saw a commercial for bail bondsmen ... just thought i'd share

I saw a GREAT commercial on TBS too. They have been showing commercials for the lord of the rings trilogy and they have this one with scenes with frodo and sam that show their strong friendship ... you know what I mean. Then if you listen the music in the backround it's talking about a secret love ... teehee.

nerd party night ... but not for me!

2006-04-05T22:59:00.000-04:00

This is my new computer bag. I have been taking it to class with me and I took it on my business trip. I am taking Lab 101 from AFIT. It's about AFRL; organization and the way stuff gets done. I am also taking Acquisition 101 and I got a small business innovative research project to help watch and another assignment to find information about some stuff (i don't remember what i am doing but it's written down somewhere and i have a contact number and deadline) and I am learning about the IPD project and doing stuff for the hydrocarbon boost project. Whew! We are trying to name the hydrocarbon boost thing ... i'll give you some descriptive words for the project and you guys help out with the acronym!
operable
reusable
liquid oxygen
hydrocarbon
it'll have a quarter million pound thrust (scalable to a mil)
there's more info on fed biz ops ... we have an RFI out that says more

Back ... bet you didn't know i was gone

2006-04-01T09:57:00.000-05:00

Monday my boss sprang a last minute business trip on me. We had a really big important meeting in LA on wendesday morning so I stayed the night in LA tuesday. I wasn't planning on going down early for the meeting until I planned the red-eye wednesday night. So Wednesday night I flew to Huntsville Alabama to go to NASA Marshall and spend the day there Thursday and Friday. I flew home friday alone 'cause my boss drove from huntsvill to florida for family stuff. I didn't tell people i was going to be gone until i was on my way to the airport. Justin knew because we talked during monday-guild-night in warcraft. I had to rent a car last minute to get back to Lancaster because I had just been catching rides everywhere with my boss. I have to turn that in today. My shoulders really need a good rub. Next time I take a red eye I am going to take some medicine to knock me out.

i made curtains!

2006-03-26T14:05:00.000-05:00

I made curtains yesterday. There are two pannels so they can be opened up on either side. I like how everything in my room matches. The brushed silver metal on the curtain rod matches my lamp and the colors on the curtain match my sheets. I like how all of the hardware in my place is silver instead of brass. Maybe i'll get a better picture at night when I can control the light more. I took dad's art (blue chicago) out of the boxes yesterday too and they are lined up, propped against the walls of my living/dining rooms. I'm not going to hang them until I know where furniture is going. It's going to take me a while to get furniture. I want a chair for my bedroom, a couch and coffee table for my living room and a dining table. I haven't started buying furniture but once I have saved up, I will.

So now I have a bunch of really nice art boxes and packing peanuts in my dining room that I don't know what to do with. They are a pretty specific shape ... big, flat and perfect for moving framed stuff around in. If anyone wants them they can come get 'em.

I wanted to go for a bike ride today but i think it's too cold. Yesterday I went for a run outside early in the morning when the sun was out and it was warm but the sun went away and it got chillier. Anyway I ran about a mile and a half and walked probably as much. I went to a park that's a little over a half mile from my apartment. I forget what it's called but it is like a big garden with desert wildlife in it. There are paths to walk around on and plaques to read. I don't think that it's really like a garden in that everything was planted special. I think that they just roped it off, put in some paths built a visitor building and called it a park. It was really pretty and I saw a rabbit hopping around.

the desert out here blooms every spring. So far, I haven't seen much. There are some little purple flowers that i have been seeing that are really low laying and tiny. I have also seen some yellow flowers carpeting the desert in the southern part of the base and on my way home from work. I haven't seen them close up but it's like the bushes and tumbleweeds are floating on a yellow pond er yellow brown cause they don't completely fill the ground. I don't know what they look like because I haven't gotten out of the car to see. In lancaster poppies bloom in the spring and people come from all over to see them. There might even be a festival I can't remember.

so much to do and too little weekend to sit around and do nothing

2006-03-24T16:31:00.000-05:00

Today is a really nice day. It's my regular day off so I am sitting around thinking of all the things i should be doing. It's over 70 outside so I walked to the grocery store. I paid exactly $20 for what I could carry on my back. Everyone gets confused when you want to bag your own groceries. I also made some calls to try to settle insurance issues ... car and health. I still have to set up my car insurance for California but I have insurance until May. Might as well do it today. I still have to write a letter to the health insurance company canceling my old plan and return a video to blockbuster and i really want to get a hair cut, go to the post office and grab some cash. But i'm happy for now just sitting around in my underwear. I want to go for a bike ride too but i don't know where any paths are. There are bike lanes on almost all of the streets but I don't like riding with cars around. I guess I could go into a neighborhood close by. There are too manythings i want to do. I want to go to Joann's to get a curtain rod and things to turn a couple of shower curtains I bought into window curtains.

I am played some warcraft today too. I am trying to level up because everyone I play with is ahead of me ... like they have been since the beginning. Justin's level 60. By the end of the weekend I hope to be 57 and maybe half way to 58.

I didn't say much about Justin's visit. We went to the getty one day, we went to dinner with his uncle and his girlfriend after work one day and we went to a park that has crazy rocks. I hope there aren't any big earthquakes while i'm livin' here. We went out to eat a couple of times and saw a movie and we rented a couple of movies too. Justin made dinner for me a couple of times ... yummy pasta, tacos and quesadillas. Here are some more pictures from the park that Justin and I went to.

suck me dry

2006-03-20T23:31:00.000-05:00

alright you ... soul drainers ... always be requesting more posts! I will post ... BUT you shall get NO SATISFACTION! justin was here for like ten days and he requires constant attention so i couldn't update for you leaches. He stole all my blood.

Work was busy. We had that industry day thing and I made pretty power point slides that everyone liked and I actually said something in a meeting and my big boss said he was happy that i spoke up. And I made a map and colored everything in pastels (lots of pink) and gave them to an airman to pass out and he got made fun of.

When justin was here we saw this

and a whole bunch of other things but like i said before you get no satisfaction ... no soup for you!

same old

2006-03-04T09:37:00.000-05:00

There isn't much new with me. Last weekend i went shopping in LA at a place called the grove. It's like easton only smaller and everything is closer together and less grass. I bought a skirt, sweater, polo, long sleeve t-shirt, pants (catalogue) and a jacket. At the Clinique counter in Nordstroms i bought a blush brush, eyeshadow, mascara and foundation. I bought a book about sex in the city from barnes and noble and last i got a pair of jeans from lucky brand.

Work is going alright. I said that i was still interrested in moving over to a government job so one of my bosses worked out an expected salary worksheet and is writing the application questions. I still have to apply to the job. They are tailoring the questions so that i should be the best fit for the job. I have to apply through the government jobs website still. They'll ask questions about the things i have been working on since i started and require training in the areas that i studied in school. The job will be posted for a week and as long as i fall in the top three they'll be able to give me the job. I am still kinda scared about having too high of expectations but the big boss said that he could write up a document that promises that they won't push me too hard... I don't know how you could get anyone to stick to it and he said himself that it would be hard to hold anyone to it legally. But the really big boss okayed it as a condition of acceptance. Speaking of the really big boss we had a meeting with him thursday and he changed the direction of our project. We have a week and a couple of days until we host an industry day at the labs to tell everyone what we want to do and ask for feedback.

Justin's coming on thursday. He got sweet plane tickets ... super cheep and direct. I could only afford to take one day off of work but i have a regular day off on friday so i'll at least have a four day weekend with him. I don't really have anything planned but maybe we should do something cool in LA friday because I have to go down there to pick him up thursday night anyway.

I can't believe how much money I have spent since I came out here! I expected to pay a lot for gas (about $10 to drive to and from work one day) but i have been buying housewares, clothes rent groceries and bills. I think i have the basics now (and probably a little more) so i am going to slow down. Heck I am spending money like I don't owe anyone! That might be a bit of an exageration. Well I am going to go for a run before it gets late. I think I am going to the library today to check that out.

2006-03-02T23:27:00.000-05:00

This is a fun screen shot from Scarlet Monestaries tonight. So what's that like 4477 DPS?

presidents' day

2006-02-20T10:17:00.000-05:00

I am home today reading and researching on my own. I wanted to go to the library but i guess i should have done that saturday cause it was closed yesterday and today. I did go to the book store though. I bought Can You Keep a Secret by Sophi Kinsella (i don't know why i picked that one over a million others), a picture book of Lancaster pre 1930's, Jane magazine, and a los angeles county street guide. Then i went to Best Buy and bought a couple of CD's ... Fall Out Boy and All American Rejects. I liked the singles they are playing on MTV i'm not sure if i like the rest yet. I kinda doze out when i am listening to music and don't really hear anything.

I was just looking through the book on lancaster and it had a picture of a soda/candy shop and quoted that Judy Garland frequented and i looked it up in Wikipedia and it said that she did live in Lancaster for a while. I guess John Wayne (Marion Morrison man i can see why he changed his name) and Frank Zappa lived here too.

Besides shopping and working i have been playing a lot of world of warcraft. My character is level 53 Kick ass! I want to start playing more player versus player because warlocks are supposed to be good for that but i kinda freak out under pressure. I can better predict what's going to happen when I fight mobs but other characters run around and have different abilities.

I haven't said anything yet but my computer for work came in like a week and a half ago. I brought it to the computer guys and they said that it would be ready to use last monday or tuesday but i guess something big and unexpected came up because it won't be ready now until wednesday (maybe). They wipe everything off the computer and reload it. The base has a bunch of extra security things. Work has been going okay. I have told a lot of people but i don't think i have said anything on my blog yet about my job changing. I might be going from a contractor to working for the government. It would be the same job basically but i would have to take on more responsibility. I would have to manage some programs on my own and there would be more paperwork to do. There are a lot of trade offs i have to think about. I don't know which way i want to go yet. The contract that my company (spiral) has with afrl is up this summer so if i stay a contractor i'll probably switching companies then and i don't have a clue what that's going ot be like. I am not comfortable with my work yet. There is a really steep learning curve and i really don't know if i am in it for the long haul. I like the people i am working with though. There are a lot of issues to weigh.

I am going to grow my hair out so i am going to be pretty ugly for a while. I have to get the back cut on the bottom cause it's starting to look ragged. On an unrelated note why the hell is Sarah McLachlan singin on this new dmc song? It sucks!

procrastination station

2006-02-12T14:04:00.000-05:00

I am procrastinating. I am writing a paper for work and it's really coming together. I have one more section to write and a conclusion then i'll be done. It's going to be edited though and i'm sure i will have a lot of corrections to make. If you read my blog you probably already know how bad i am at writing!

I am procrastinating in more ways than one. I painted my nails and they are drying. I bought a peach and white color to do french manicures with. It's sally henson beyond perfect protein nail color (comes in a square bottle). I really like it so far. I painted my nails with it a couple of weeks ago and it took more than two days to start chipping.

Now i'm talking to Nikki on the phone. I have to get the paper done so i can play video games today!

not much to say!

2006-02-08T23:12:00.000-05:00

Sorry nothing to talk about. I work long hours and have no time in the evenings so all i have been doing is work and paying bills. I guess i did start reading a book about the indescresions of monarchy. It's not very well written but kinda interesting. I got my new keyboard (natural elite) and a tiny mouse at work for the computer that hasn't come yet. I hooked the stuff up to the old laptop that i'm using now. I can type so much faster with split keyboards. I can't talk about work because it's all top secret (just kidding i don't have top secret clearence). Actually i thought i would only get confidential clearance but i have interim secret clearance so eventually I'll have secret. So at work I have been working on this document for like a couple days straight and my boss messed up the format. I was out of the room for ten min. and in that time he changed everything and he couldn't figure out what he did. It was the very end of the day so i e-mailed it to his computer and went home i hope tomorrow when i get in it'll be fixed... right. here's a picture of my new chair and the house warming plant my sisters sent and some cute kitchen stuff.

2006-01-29T00:35:00.000-05:00

I stayed up late taking pictures just for you guys! I finally took a picture of my bed. The pictures make my room look smaller than it is. I don't have the bed centered so there's more room to the left of the bed. I don't know what to do with that stiff little fabric bag yet. It was clearanced and I thought it might bring out the aqua in the sheet. I have to repaint the white boxes and paint the cd crate things.

back from the trip

2006-01-28T00:20:00.000-05:00

So I am happy to be back from the conference. I like seeing new places and getting to shop and go to museums but I am really happy to sleep in my own bed. I met a whole bunch of people I won't remember and listened to a whole bunch of presentations that I won't remember. But I had fun right before I left. I walked from the hotel to Georgetown and walked around and shopped. I didn't get anything except a sudoku book to work on for the flight back but there was plenty to look at. I rode the metro to the national mall and went to the smithsonian air and space museum. It was fun to look at things but museums always make ask more questions and the answers are never on the plaques. By the time I get home I don't remember what I wanted to know more about so I don't do any research. It was really windy in DC. I don't want anyone to think that I have turned into a weather wimp ... you shoulda seen me my cheeks were all red and my legs turned red from the wind through my jeans. I spent too much time walking around outside in the cold. My left calf and the balls of my right foot are really sore. It's past my bed time so i'll post again later

2006-01-21T10:46:00.000-05:00

I went to see brokeback mountain last night. It was the first time I have ever gone to the movies alone. I really need to make some friends out here. It's really hard to make friends when you don't like people that much. People keep saying to me, "I think I recognize you, did you go to ____ or do you hang out at ____." I'm like "uh no, I don't even know what that is."

I am going to be in Rosslyn, VA next week for the IHPRPT meeting. I don't know if I can explain what that is so I’m not going to try. There are going to be a ton of people there and my bosses have already told me that they are going to try to overload me with introductions. As if I can even remember the names of the people I work with directly.

I really have to use this weekend productively. I have a lot of cleaning left to do and I have to shop. I want to get the place to a point where I can take some pictures. Right now it is so messy that I would be embarrassed to post pictures. Here's a pic of my desk with my new monitor.

The movers came!

2006-01-13T21:56:00.000-05:00

There is a mountain of empty boxes in the middle of my living room. It's a good thing I don't have much furniture because it makes it easy to to put stuff everywhere! I didn't really think about what I was going to do with all these boxes. I guess i'll have to break them down and maybe there's a recycling place near by.

Now that I have dishes and pots and pans and glasses, I felt ready to do some real grocery shopping. I bought a whole ton of food. I can't wait to do my first load of dishes ... man I'm a nerd.

It is so easy to blog it up with a desk. I don't have to sit on the floor on a couple of pillow shams! I don't have to sleep on an inflatable bed ... but I do have to sleep in a sleeping bag because I didn't go sheet shopping today. Alright I have to get back to work. I have a mound of clothes in the closet that have to be delt with ... clothes yer goin' down!

first day of work

2006-01-09T22:27:00.000-05:00

So my first day was uneventful. I just filled out a bunch of stuff and drove around. Talked a whole bunch and met like three new people. I am advertising for justin's blog on mine cause he has updated it. Check it out!

Spoils

2006-01-08T21:47:00.000-05:00

This is what I got shopping yesterday and today. Look at the pants they have two sets of buttons on the sides to make them like sailor pants.
The elastic on those shoes really does match but the flash makes it look strange.
These are my new dkny's.

Liked these so much i bought two ... black and gray. The gray isn't really that dark.
This was hard to find. I think it's a lot cuter than you would expect from sag harbor (old lady brand). The light is bouncing around on it funny. It's just kinda shiny black
This is the suit. It looks darker in the photo than it is. It's very plain but I'll find a really bright shirt to wear under it.

More on my apartment

2006-01-05T19:11:00.000-05:00

Now that i am a little more settled in, I'll tell you all a little more about my apartment. The kitchen is really pretty nice. The counters and sink aren't scratched up and the dishwasher and stove/oven are big and all of the appliances are clean. The only problem is the ant infestation. I used some raid yesterday and the day before. I haven't seen any in the kitchen today but i saw a few in the living room. It creeps me out to use raid near where i'll be preparing food. I'll have to scrub up before I make anything. Someone sprays outside the apartment every couple of days and he'll spray inside next tuesday if I ask. My dining room is completely empty because i don't have any furniture yet.

The carpets througout are new. I already tracked in some plant crap by the front door. I have a coat closet but it's across the room from the door. The gas fireplace is cute. I haven't seen it on and I may not light it because I don't want to mess with the gas. There's a mantle and mirror. I already put a bunch of prints and paintings justin made and framed for me on the mantle. There's a sliding glass door to the patio. I could probably fit a couple chairs out there. Like I said before I have my computer on the floor because I don't have my desk yet and I am sitting on a pillow sham so I don't get rug burn.

I am sleeping on an inflatable bed and will be for a while after I get the queen from the movers because I don't have any queen size bedding! Unless I get sick of the inflatable and use the sleeping bag. The bedroom is a nice size and I am thinking of using two of the wooden boxes dad built as nightstands. The closet is a huge walk in with sturdy poles and shelves.

The bathroom is fine. The tub has doors and you can see yourself taking a shower in the medicine cabinet ... weird. I keep forgetting to open the medicine cabinet door so that doesn't happen. The fixtures are new and the counter has enough room for me. The shower head is above my head (yay) and it has a couple of settings including some that pulse. I think i am going to stick something on the shower doors to add color. I don't like that the fan turns on when the light is on because it's pretty loud. The thermostat, in the main room, hums too.

There are night security people in the complex and the whole thing is gated. I have a garage door opener that opens the main gate. My apartment has a security system that is wired to the door and windows. The mail box is in front of the tennis court that is in front of the pool in front of the office. The office has laundry machines that you can use a money card with and they have a collection of dvd's and vhs that you can borrow for a night.

Well that was long ... later!

Moved in ... sorta

2006-01-04T01:53:00.000-05:00

My arrival in sunny California was anything but. Almost right after crossing the Arizona border it started to sprinkle. By the time we got to Palmdale it was a full blown storm. And I do mean full blown. There was no more rain than a normal storm in Ohio but there was more wind. Justin and I were shopping for a new monitor in office max and the wind was so strong it was shaking the roof and plaster was falling all over the store. The locals were all acting like it was the storm of the century. Someone working at circuit city was so excited, she was happy to run after the flying garbage can in the parking lot. When the storm was letting up yesterday patches kept blowing over head so it would be sunny one minute and pouring the next.

It was sunny and warmer than I am used to for January today. I moved into my new apartment. It almost feels appropriate to call it new because everything is very clean and feels new. I have a gas fireplace a large closet and a kitchen that is fine for the cooking I will be attempting. I’m on the second floor and I have a little patio I can go out onto. The movers haven’t come yet so my computer is on the ground and I will be sleeping on an air mattress. But the important things are here, no not food, no not anywhere to sit, I have the internet and cable tv! I’ll post with more info tomorrow.

I don’t have time to pick out which pictures to post so you will have to settle for pictures of the kitchen.

in ohio but not for long!

2005-12-16T22:03:00.000-05:00

I got back from my house hunting trip a couple days ago. I guess in California they don't care if you get to see the place where you'll be living before you commit to it. Most of the places I visited had models but nobody would let me see the rooms that are available. When I apartment hunted on campus they would set an appointment for the next day and notify the resident. As long as they notified 24 hrs in advance it was okay. Hell people were in my apartment all the time.

The place I picked out is a one bedroom. It's Park West Village in Lancaster, CA. You can actually see the grounds and a virtual tour at forrent.com but you have to kinda piece it together because most of the rooms they show in the virtual tour are from a different layout from the one I'll be in. I think if you look at the kitchen and model you get a better idea of how it'll be. There will be a large walk in closet but a little kitchen.

I am getting more and more excited about my job. They have my first six months planned out and over booked. It looks like I'll be traveling a lot for the first couple of months. In June the project that I will be working on the closest will start. My boss joked "yeah, you will have too much to do and over worked then your real job starts." They gave me all kinds of reading to do to catch up on the current project and to refresh what I learned in school plus a text book on measurement uncertainty methods and applications.

I have a moving company coming out to take most of my junk to Cali. After Christmas my family is going to Iowa to see my grandparents and from there Justin and I will drive to CA. He's going to fly home when we get there. I still haven't laid out the trip but that will come in good time ... dang it'll have to ... I am running out of time! I have to pack, get Christmas gifts and do my homework. With that I am signing off I am too busy to piddle around online!

2005-12-05T14:32:00.000-05:00

I think I am kinda sick. My stomach has hurt for a couple days and today I threw up. But I haven't been feeling really terrible, just kinda. Tonight is video game night. Five of us from our guild get together and do dungeon runs most Mondays but today we are going to do Warsong Gulch. Yesterday, Justin, Evan, Sarver and I practiced in WSG and I did pretty well. I got credit for a lot of kills because I'm a warlock and can spread out my wrath!

Today I got my official offer letter so I have to read through that and fax it back quick. So far everything is looking good. I have a trip planned from 10th-14th to find an apartment. It's 46 degrees today in the part of California where I will be living. I have started trying to get all of the state quarters again. Maybe when I move it will be easier to find "D" ones.

My last day at work was Saturday. Everyone wished me luck and some people pitched in to get pizza. It was kinda fun. Normally at work I try to be a good example but sat., I walked around and talked to everyone, sat around on the counters, and refused to do stuff that I didn't feel like doing. I still had to post signs in the store which is a big job but it was the last time I'll have to do it!!

Nikki asked for my Christmas list. I really don't have anything specific in mind. I don't have anything to wear to my new job so something like that would be nice.

2005-11-30T13:22:00.000-05:00

My life is so strange right now. I got unofficial offers from AFRL and am waiting for a formal one. Maybe it's was a little too presumptuous to but I already quit my job and started researching moving companies. I had someone come out Monday and have others coming out today and tomorrow. I have been thinking about a lot of options. What I think would be really cool is to have everything shipped, even my car. That way I wouldn't have to drive all the way out there. I think that will be too expensive. Anyway I am nervous sitting around unsure about the month ahead, waiting on official offers and plans when I have already told everyone that I have the job! Then I think they won't back out now because it wouldn't be smart on their side so I really do have the job. But nothing is really set yet. ARG. I just don't want them to back out and have to say hey ... maybe i can keep working my part time job ... take me back? Well that's what's going on with me.

Today is Shelly's b-day! Happy Birthday shelly!

BACK!

2005-11-10T18:00:00.000-05:00

This is the view from the hotel in Palmdale. I have a bunch more pictures but they were all taken from the car and are pretty boring. Flying in was misserable and the rental car was a crappy neon but Palmdale/Lancaster was nice. My interview went really well. I got some positive feedback on the presentation and the site tour was really cool because I got to go walk around on some of the huge test stands that they have built off the side of a cliff over looking the base. It's all on a flat plane except for the hill with the labs on it so you could see a far away. It was fun to learn what everyone was working on there.

I had another interview yesterday and I think that went okay. It was with Orbitec. I am not quite as excited about that oportunity but it might be kinda cool. They are doing a lot of small business innovative research in space propulsion. They are located in Madison Wisconsin.

All I really want to do is play video games ... so that's what I am going to do. If you want to know more about my adventures in Cali, you'll have to call!

on my way ...

2005-11-05T05:16:00.000-05:00

It's really early ... I couldn't sleep. I set my alarms for 5:30 but I can't sleep that long! I have to leave for the airport at 6:15. I still don't know what I am going to do when I am in California. I think the first thing I need to do is get a map and then just wander around ... after I check into the hotel. Maybe the rental car people will have maps. I have a day and a half to see the area and then Monday is my all day interview/presentation. There are still things I have to fix about what I say during my presentation. Everybody at work wished me luck but at the same time they don't want me to get a new job. Mom belongs to an audible book club on the internet I'm not sure exactly how it works but she downloads audible books. I put one on my ipod to listen to on the plane. Man this post is all over the place ... stream of tired consciousness.

OH what a day!

2005-10-25T16:15:00.000-04:00

I got a call this morning when I was eating breakfast from central ohio endodontics asking if I could come in at 11:15 instead of my 3:45 appointment. I said okay and got ready quick to make it over in time. After the work that they did on friday, I was feeling much better. I wasn't even taking much pain killer but I was afraid that they were going to have to numb me up again. That was the worst part last time but that was probably because there was already too much pressure in the area. This time I only had one shot and it hurt pretty bad ... but not as bad as before! It hurt when they were working deep in my tooth but that didn't last too long. Now I just have to go back to my regular dentist to have my crown fixed.

Right as I was finishing up at the dentists I got a call from the people with that job out in California. He was calling to set a date for the interview. I told him I would call back. I talked to the dentist some more and filled out a follow up post card then left for home. I stopped to get gas and locked the keys in the car. I had too much going through my head I guess. It was at the united dairy farmers on the corner of hard and smokey so I walked home, got the keys and walked back. When I was settled in and home I called the guy back to set a date and discuss travel details. I'll be flying out sat. nov. 5 and interviewing mon. then flying home tues. They have me coming out a little early so that I can see the area and they are arranging for me to have a rental car to get around. I have to prepare a thirty minute presentation on something as part of the interview ... if you have ideas for topics leave me a comment! I told him that I would get back with him tomorrow. If I gave a presentation on my senior project I could definitely fill up the time but it was a group project and I can't answer questions on the parts that I didn't actually work on so I am not very comfortable with that idea.

Even with everything I have done today, including several phone calls not listed above and a trip to joann's to work on my schedule, I still have a lot to do today. I have to clean my room, do laundry and think about this presentation. But tonight I get to have fun with Justin!

later noobs

Infected!

2005-10-21T22:00:00.000-04:00

OH my recent dental drama! Remember a while ago when I was complaining about my face hurting? Well that went away and from what I gather it was a bacterial infection... cause it happened again. About two days ago it started hurting the same way only worse. Yesterday at work it was so painful that I couldn't concentrate and I went home. I called the dentist and I think they stayed late just to see me. My mom drove me over there because she wanted to help and she knew where their new offices are. I had slight swelling in my upper lip and my gums and teeth were hurting like hell. They took a couple of x-rays and poked around. The dentist perscribed some antibiotic and a pain killer and gave me refferals to some Endodontics because he believed my root canal (in tooth 8) had failed, allowing bacteria to fester. It wasn't my fault or anybody else's but I feel dirty being all full of bacteria.

Well last night my upper lip swelled up more than I thought a lip could swell and mom bought soft foods and made me jello. Later, I called the dentist to ask what I should do about it and they said that they meant for me to try to get into the endodontist (if that's the right term) today. I didn't understand that. I thought I was supposed to try to get rid of the infection first and that fixing the tooth could come later. well no. Justin drove me to the endodontist who was able to fit me in. Justin was really patient and learned about day-time tv ... guiding light. I get really nervous and scared when my teeth are worked on and I really freaked out today. The shots were the worst part but they numbed me so much that I really didn't feel much when they were working on my tooth. I was really shakey and nervous after the shots and he explained to me that one of the anesthetic shots he gave me got partially into my body's blood stream and the shot right after that closed up my blood vessels so not much more of the first shot got into the rest of my body. The shakeyness and my heart flutters were a result of the anesthetics. But it felt like it could have just as easily been my own reaction because I was pretty scared. While I was numbing up Justin came back and kept me company. To keep a long gross story short they drilled out my old filler for the root canal and left it open to drain and they cut my gums up by my lip to let that drain too. They gave me some ibuprophen to take with the hydrocodon and I am staying on the antibiotic until it's gone. I am supposed to be icing it and pushing as much of the fluid out through the cut as I can without hurting myself. On Tuesday I go back to fill up the hole.

I am still very swollen but am feeling much better. Relieving the pressure did a lot for the pain. The vicodin and ibuprophen are also certainly helping. Here's a couple of pictures of me when I woke up today:

and here are some pictures of me, more swollen, after the procedure today:

looking forward to halloween!

2005-10-19T13:10:00.000-04:00

At Joann's last weekend I had two new costumes. On Saturday I wore the t-shirt my sister got me at her work ... it says Michigan State Police, aviator sunglasses, handcuffs looped to my jeans, and I carried a night stick. It was pretty fun. Then on Sunday I wore black pants, a red sweater with a red lacey camisole under, red lipstick and red eye-shadow, a felt tail and I spiked my hair up to make two horns. It was pretty cute. So far I haven't been putting much money into my costumes. The sunglasses were the most at $13.58 and I bought the felt to make the tail and that was $0.06. I am going shopping with someone from work today and we'll see what we come up with for next weekend.

I have an interview scheduled on campus for November 9. It's with orbital technologies corp. doing mechanical engineering ... design and analysis. I don't think I have what they are looking for but we'll see.

The house keeps creaking the way it does when people are walking around inside the house but I am home alone and it's creeping me out. It would be cool to be a vampire because then I wouldn't have to be afraid of people getting into the house because I could defend myself. Justin told me that if he is ever turned into a vampire he would turn me too so I guess I have twice the chance to be turned. Or maybe it's four times as much because I think Justin's friend Sarver have the same deal going and Sarver has the same deal with his girlfriend. So if any one of us is turned all four of us will be. Then we can double date as vampires.

2005-10-13T00:04:00.000-04:00

The job search is going alright I guess. It's hard to talk about because there are never any developments worth talking about and it makes me feel like a loser. This week I applied to a bunch more places and got a hit back on an application ... they asked me to fill out a longer application because I guess I made it through the first screening. I don't want to get my hopes up but it would be in aerodynamics. I think given a chance I might be really good at that. I took computational fluid dynamics as a senior elective and junior year in aerodynamics I got an A- and most people really struggled with that class. I remember on one test the average was around 45 and I got 80. I talk too much about that ... I'm sure everyone has heard that story but I can't really describe how that made me feel. My heart started beating faster and it felt like it was in my throat. I wanted to run and jump and cry. Anyway I'm off topic, but there's nothing more I can think to say.

Back by Popular Demand

2005-10-10T00:03:00.000-04:00

We are allowed to wear costumes every weekend of October at work. On Saturday I was a big nerd. I had a pocket protecter, short black pants up to my chest with a brown belt that dangled funny, I buttoned the shirt all the way up, I taped a dryer sheet to my pants, I wore my dad's old huge glasses frames, had a laminated card hanging from my pocket that I kept calling my conversion chart and my manager Dora taped a sign on my back that said nerd. Well even with all that, customers didn't know I was in costume and kept telling me that I had a sign on my back and kept ripping off the dryer sheet. I mean come on! Everyone thought I was a real nerd. It kinda hurt my feelings.

Sunday I went in as a hula girl ... nobody thought that I was in my normal clothes. I wore a coconut bra with a t-shirt on under-neath and a couple yards of hawiian print fabric tied on as a sarong. I got a lot of laughs so that was good.

alright that's it for now i am tired

Back to Back

2005-09-21T14:30:00.000-04:00

Hey! I don't usually do posts two days in a row. I wanted to tell everyone to look at the picture I edited into the last post.

I am really looking forward to this weekend. I requested Saturday off so I can go to the OSU game! Nikki is going to be in town so we are all going together. Mom had an idea that she might get her hands on some tickets a while ago but I didn't let my hopes get up too much until she said that she had them ... now I just can't wait. It will be the first game I have gone to and I went to school there for four years!

WoW!!

2005-09-20T11:30:00.000-04:00

I am weak. I bought World of Warcraft yesterday. I installed it and played my character up to level 5. It probably took me longer than it should have, what with all my trying to climb the mountains around noobton. I am playing a gnome/warlock. I know that gnomes in our group of friends are very uncool but I thought it might be fun. I just started yesterday and I am already a charter member of a guild. I am playing at Twisted Nether, it's an rppvp server (whatever that means!) I kinda know, you can kill other player characters. I already killed a dude in a duel, 'cause I pwn. He was a level lower than I was so I don't really know what he was thinking. I have died a couple of times because I ran into a troll cave when nobody else was in there fighting trolls and aggrivated all of them and tried to out run them ... into a dead end. I think i had five on me. I really like trying to climb mountains.

Besides the few accomplishments of last night i am totally overwhelmed by the enormity of the game. They have holidays during the year and carnivals. You can join parties and do quests together or alone. There are guilds. There are a million skills and spells and paths there are even jobs. I can't keep that all straight. So like, there can be different types of paladin depending on things you choose to learn and use and you get different kinds of bonuses depending on what race you are. I have a hard enough time remembering what quests I accepted, what I need to do to complete them and where I can find the guy who will reward me. I always forget where I picked up the quest! You can sleep, sit, tell jokes, flirt and I don't even know what else. On top of all that there's a long history of the HUGE land with 8 perspectives! I get lost in the snow all the time. I don't even want to start thinking about what can happen in contested land as opposed to enemy territory or your own land.

I am having a happy two days off. I applied to a couple of NASA jobs. I guess they aren't going to have an independent job site anymore but are going to be mixed in with the USAjobs site. That might totally suck. Today I have to look into a couple of companies, update some old applications, work out, shower, scrapbook for work, play wow, watch House and clean the house!

Here's a picture of my character, dancing on a mountain.

shallow thoughts with crystal

2005-09-14T13:00:00.000-04:00

okay, I tried this story out a couple of times and it didn't come off funny. But it is still really funny to me, so i am telling it anyway. My bike is awesome. I got it when I was ten. It's bubble gum pink and has purple lettering on it "Schwinn" and "Caliente". It's super girly, it's a track bike and it has the girl-style bar that dips for a skirt. I am driving to the gym a couple of days ago and I see a squat lookin' dude riding my bike! It wasn't really my bike, after I was done in the gym I went home and checked. It was just ridiculous looking. He was riding really slowely so I had a chance to even read that it was the same bike.

I got my hair butchered a couple of days ago. Well the hairdresser would say that she cut it. But ... it was attacked. It's uneven over my ears and messy over my forehead. It just looks bad all around and it's too long towards the top of my head so it sticks out and makes my head look square. That is the last time I let someone use a straight razor on my hair. And she told me that I looked like I had moved to the states, that I don't have typical "american" features. Whatever! Like there is such a thing. Almost everyone in america isn't native american. I didn't know what to say to that so I just said "i'm like all german."

I had a follow up interview from that one last thursday. I didn't think the thursday one went that well but I guess it was okay because I got a call back. The second interview went well I thought so maybe I'll be flying out there some time soon. It would be crazy. As much as I want a real job there is just sooooo much change involved and it's kinda freaking me out. I know everything winds up working out but it's just pretty scary to look at it all at once. If I get and take this job I would be moving to California. I don't know how my classmates seem to do all of this without any worries. Maybe they are all just more grown up than i am.

I am not sure what kind of job I want to have. This one that I just interviewed for isn't doing design or analysis it's more business-y. I hadn't really thought of taking a job like that. I got a business minor so that I could understand what's going on around me but not really use it for anything. I just don't know what to do. I don't know if I should keep trying to get the kind of job that imagined having or take the job I can get. Maybe I am thinking too far ahead. Let's just wait and see what comes of this and keep applying to other jobs.

I still don't know what to think about monday night. Mary called me in to work. She said that she had a job that she needed someone special for. So I thought it must be something that takes more than any idiot, so maybe it'll be okay to do. Then she tells me it's grunt work in the backroom. So then I start thinking that she is manipulating me. She tells me she needs someone who is not an idiot to flatter me then I accept before knowing it's grunt work. But then when I look back at the conversation maybe special didn't mean smart but someone who wouldn't complain about grunt work. So maybe she wasn't trying to flatter me but said that I am good for grunt work. I can't get a real job early enough.

Brothers Grimm

2005-09-11T18:00:00.000-04:00

Alright, so, in the last post I lied. I saw 40 year old virgin when it came out. I really liked it. Sometimes Steve Carrel is too much to handle/watch but in the movie he wasn't so over the top. I know some people who maybe are kinda like him so it had some relevence.

A couple of days ago I went to the brothers grimm with Justin. There were some problems with the story line and some things that didn't quite click. But it was fun to watch. There were great computer generated parts and the sets and costumes were fun to see.

that's all for today folks

interview

2005-09-08T21:00:00.000-04:00

MAN My interview was today and it was bad and good. I really don't want to get into it. I'll just have to wait and see. Yesterday at work I had to dig through trash and then today they tried to call me in, right. Even if I had recieved the message in time, I wouldn't have gone in.

I have been trying to eat less. I normally eat when I am bored, but now I am used to it. If I don't snack before bed, I wake up hungry in the middle of the night and I get headaches. I am trying to be more healthy but I don't like being uncomfortable.

On a better note, I haven't seen next weeks schedule for work but the person who writes it said that she might have to cut a bunch of my hours. I would kind of like it because I have been working extra days. So it will even out and it'll feel like I am getting days off.

We haven't been to the theatre for a while. There haven't been any movies that really interest me. I kinda want to see the transporter 2. The first one was pretty bad but kinda fun to watch. I really hated the girl in it. I thought the brothers grimm might be cool but all of the reviews told me that it might not be so good so maybe I'll wait for video for both of those.

2005-09-06T14:00:00.000-04:00

last wednesday I said that I got an e-mail that may lead to a phone interview. I think that is going to go down on thursday. I am pretty sure I have said this a million times but I have this dream. It's a wonderful attainable dream. I have a job where I don't have to take out trash and I am using my education. I have my own apartment and I am not a free-loader. I have a flat screen monitor for my computer and a big mixer for cheese cake. I don't know who i'll be making cheese cake for though. I am 100% sure that when I find a job it is going to be out of town and probably out of state. It's not easy for me to make friends so we'll see.

At joann's yesterday I helped thwart an attempt to cheat the store out of like $12. Some guy and girl came to the store and took the shelf tag off a rack with cheaper canvases and put it over the upc of a more expensive canvas. I could see a new person not noticing ... mostly because they are young and not too bright but this guy came to Catherine and I was standing right there. I couldn't tell if Catherine could see the tag (she did) and I did what I always do (butt in) and said "hey, how did that get there? That's a shelf tag. That doesn't go there!" Anyway, they didn't get away with it. I think it might have bugged Catherine a bit that I stuck my nose in there. She said she would have taken care of it just fine. I am sure she would have. The canvas was big and I couldn't tell if she could see around to the back. We also had a customer bring back two little (but stupidly expensive) pads of paper that were stuck to a pad that she bought. She thought that it was a bigger pad and when she realized that it was three and she hadn't paid for the other two she brought them back.

I know work stories are lame but I don't seem to have much to talk about. Last week i bought a my chemical romance cd and a killers cd. I know neither is cutting edge or anything but hey, at least they are pretty good.

I almost forgot to mention that I helped justin build some shelves for his desk. I really like projects where i follow simple instructions to make things like furniture because it's not hard work and in the end you have something to show for it.

Moved out

2005-08-31T00:05:00.000-04:00

I have officially moved out of my apartment. I am now totally living at home. I really need to find a job man! I got an e-mail monday that may lead to a phone interview... we'll see. I am not going to say anything about it cause it probably won't happen.

I am totally miffed. There was a big lan party last weekend and i wasn't invited. Nobody told me about it until my boyfriend said, the day of, "oh yeah, i think the guys are having the lan party tonight." I mean what the hell guys. I told you i would want to come to play tfc and stuff. Whatever, i am going to have a totally kick ass party and not invite any of you. Probably not really, but shame on you.

Well i should get some beauty sleep cause I have been feelin' ugly lately.

i feel trashed

2005-08-24T23:00:00.000-04:00

How many people would search through the trash at work for a $19 check? Do you think a person who would do that deserves the higher rate for a raise? I do. At least I would like a little respect like maybe they could schedule me the right way. I want a real job.

I moved some more things out of my apartment. I still have some stuff there that I didn't have room for in the bags and boxes I took. And all of the cleaning supplies are there because I still have to clean the place.

I finished that last book and I really dind't like the end. Next up is war of the worlds. I didn't like the end of the movie so I am pretty sure that I won't like the end of the book but given the period in which it was written I think I can give some allowences.

I am waiting to hear more about job I interviewed for on tuesday. I felt really confident after the call but who knows.

Update

2005-08-22T11:00:00.000-04:00

It has been a while since I posted. I have been very actively working on my job search. I updated my monster account on tuesday last week, and I recieved a call on thursday about a job in Springfield, VA. I hadn't applied to the job, someone saw my resume and thought it might be a match. It is with Raytheon. I get really nervous when I am talking to people directly but the guy I am speaking with seems really friendly.

I started reading a book called Normal People. It goes back and forth in time to tell stories about a family of a slightly retarded woman. It centers around her sister, mom and niece. I am about half way through. I don't like how some of it is told ... I don't feel like real people would think the way they do. But maybe people really do. I mean, everyone is different so maybe some people would be that way.

I had my performance review at work on sunday. My manager had several nice things to say and only one thing to work on, but I still only got the middle raise. I was one point away from getting the high raise. I always seem to be one point away from excellent. In elementry school they told my mom that my IQ was one point away from being in the special kids group (i was in tag when we lived in Iowa) and they didn't let me take the high math class until i was in fifth grade. Then when i went into sixth they dropped me down again only to let me take pre algebra in seventh. My grades have always been good enough but I was never the smart kid in class.

At work I had to put up a lot of signs for the new sale that started yesterday and i was thinking the whole time, "how many times have I done this? I don't want to do it ever again. I want a real job." They have been hiring all kinds of new people around the store. One of the new cashiers is doing really well. She should, she's in her late thirties and has been cashiering as her career since high school I think. It may work for her, but there is no way I want to do that.

Besides the work stuff that is kinda getting me down I have been doing alright. I have been going out to movies and dinner a lot. I had dinner at Justin's last night and there was a lot of food. I have been helping him clean his room. It's a dusty, sticky grody job but I really think it's worth while. As much as he acts like he doesn't care that his room is dirty, I think he likes the progress. It's really funny to see how much clothes he has. He has like three times as much clothes as i have but he never wears most of it and he doesn't want to get rid of it either. I have been feeling guilty for hanging onto a couple shirts that are old or don't fit but not any more!

stickers and mtv

2005-08-15T16:00:00.000-04:00

Thank you Nikki for giving me something to talk about. When i was in Michigan Nikki, Justin and I went to Krogers. They had price stickers on everything in the store ... you know like before the days of computers and scanning devices. She tells me that everything has to be re-stickered when it goes on sale and then changed again after. So they are employing people to do this! It's some crazy michigan law. I do mark downs in my store. We only sticker something when there is a chance that it will be moved from a spot where it has a price label ... like when it is clearanced and thrown in the black hole of the clearance aisle. Anyway isn't it expected anymore that you have to look a couple of centimeters away for a price?

I am watching a strange show on MTV. I don't know how much mtv you guys watch, but this show is freaking crazy. Three moms go on a dates with a guy and try to sell him on dating their daughters. Then in the end the guy picks a mom and dates the daughter. The guy is never worth the trouble of trying to date let alone "win" a date with. The mothers are always stark raving mad. It's the same thing with room raiders ... the person doing the "raiding" is never worth dating!

Gunna go work out later dudes

Those Michiganders are Crazy!

2005-08-11T17:30:00.000-04:00

Dudes, I am in Michigan, visiting my sister nikki. Some how we managed to avoid all the crazies on the road and the pot-holes. Justin and I were at his grandmothers for a day and then we came here. It's been nice to sit around and not do much. We went to a Joann's in Rochester. It was a new one so everything was white and a lot of their fixtures were newer. I like my store better. We went to a best buy up there too and bought a bunch of dvd's. Well i only bought one, Super Troopers. Cause they are the superest. I brought the game boy so i have been playing a lot of that. Wario Land I is what I played a lot of today. Yesterday I was all about Tetris and Dr. Mario.

Tonight we are eating calzones and later i think i'll make more yummy south west style cheese dip. Tomorrow I think we'll be going out for lunch and dinner!!

I brought a bunch of at stuff too but eh ... feelin' lazy though. We brought our bikes up here but as of yet they haven't made it out of the car. We'll be coming back some time on saturday ... oh vacation you will be over too soon. Nikki's computer is nice. Not to say that i prefer it... don't get me wrong i love my shuttle baby it's so cute. I am rambling.

ready set go!

2005-08-08T20:07:00.000-04:00

man there are a million things to do before I go on my one and only vacation this summer. I am going with justin to visit my sister for a couple of days and justin's grandma. I don't even really have time to write this so this is me ... signing off

2005-08-05T23:14:00.000-04:00

Today has been a slow hard day. I tried to sleep in because I went out last night and was pretty sure I would have a pretty bad hang over. But I couldn't stay asleep that long. My teeth still hurt and there are some muscles over my lip that hurt and my tongue on one side hurts too. I have been taking ibuprofen or how ever it's spelled.

Nobody wants to hear about my messed up face. I bought some comic books two days ago. I don't read comic books very regularly. I read other everyone else's. Sometimes justin will have some out and i'll read those... bondage fairies and the like. He has some crazy stuff. So i bought the first two in a series that just started last spring. It's called The Grimoire. It started with a teenager running away from home and there's magic and intelligent racoons. Now I want to go out and get the other ones that are out.

I want to start my own comic but I am not that creative or funny so we'll see what happens.

iiiiiiiiii want caandy do do do, do do

2005-08-02T15:00:00.000-04:00

I love candy. Everyone who reads this already knows I love candy. But it's worth stating because this love is not a healthy love. It is unrequited, it is obsessive, it is one of the pillars of my character. I am out of school, working out and trying to shake my candy habbit.

On the drive to the olentangy trail where Red Beard and I rode yesterday we heard a sound clip played on the Howard Stern show where some dude was saying that there is no such thing as addiction... repeated use of a harmful substance is the individuals' fault because he/she kept making the decision to do it. Well, I think I understand addiction. You do have a choice, but the decision has already been made and you can't argue with yourself. I am at the check out at the grocery and the devil on the left side says "mmm snickers that would rule oh man you are starting to drool see ... get the snickers," then the angel on the right side says, "Crystal, you already had four giant chewy sweet tarts today." The devil does a little dance and says, "Candy is so yummy your taste buds will tingle and your mood will most certainly be elevated. You are having a long day, you deserve it." The angel pouts and says, "you are trying so hard to cut sugar intake. Don't give in. Aw fuck it. I want candy." (my conscience is as dorky as i am)

what is everybody's favorite candy?

here's a picture of a painting i made ... on sketch paper ... on the fridge ... i rule ...

the first ... rent day

2005-08-01T22:00:00.000-04:00

Have you ever seen a pirate ride a bike? It's kinda hard with the peg leg and the parrot from his shoulder kept getting spooked and flying away. Red Beard is turning into a land lubber here, land locked. I have like, totally, nothing to like say.

I worked a lot this weekend and slept a lot. I am starting to get over being sick but one side of my throat still hurts and something strange is hurting deep in my gums over my front tooth.

Has everyone heard the story about how I chipped my front two teeth? It's so lame. I don't remember how old I was. It was sometime right before the fourth of july and Elizabeth and I were spraying eachother with the garden hose in the driveway. Plastic hose ... it hit my teeth and they shattered. They were like two little triangles. The goo that's supposed to stay in the middle of the tooth was sticking out and the exposed little nerves hurt like a bitch. I tried to eat like that! Mom and dad got me to an emergency dentist pretty quick and sealed it off but I looked horrible for a couple weeks before I could get better caps. Root canals hurt.

Logans Run II: The Island

2005-07-27T23:00:00.000-04:00

I saw The Island a couple of days ago and was thuroughly entertained. I really liked that they created a whole new world for the story. I would like to see more stories told there! I liked all of the characters. Ewan McGregor is hot and Scarlett Johansson is not bad to look at either. My favorite part in the movie was the scene where some of the clones learn the word dude. There was this whole issue with memory that wasn't explaned very well. It seemed more like fantasy than science fiction. I said it was like logans run but the story really is different ... it just had the same feel. I'll leave it up to you to defend or critisize my statement.

At work today I was awarded "a cut above" pin. It's given if a customer is so pleased with the service in the store that they get a hold of a manager to compliment or write a note. I usually hear about it if I get compliments so it was a surprise to me. It was extra surprising because I thought that the lady who nominated me wasn't happy with me. I think she said thanks but I wasn't all cheery when I was helping her. I do that a lot. I am one of the best workers there and find/have answers for customers more often than most of the people who work there but I don't do it with a smile and a kiss to the ass. So anyway ... that makes 9. One more and I get a gold pin.

I like posting pictures with my blog ... so here's a random one. Me with long hair winter '03 right before i chopped it all off

Sin City

2005-07-23T13:00:00.000-04:00

I haven't had much to talk about lately because I am obsessing over my wierd cold and you guys don't want to hear about that. Have I talked in my blogs yet about how i have been working out? I go about three times a week to california fitnes in new market mall. I usually ride on a bike for a little while and run. I don't run that fast, about 5.3 mph, and I don't run that long, for only about five minutes but I do that four times with walks about 3.6 mph in between. Last summer I went on bike rides two or three times a week but I think this workout is harder. My goal isn't to lose weight but to feel better and lower my clothes size. I know that I am going to be building muscle so i know some of my fat weight is getting traded in for muscle. So far I have lost four pounds though.

I went to see Sin City at the dollar theatre last night. It's the second time I have seen it and I can't remember if it was harder to watch the first time or the second time. It comes from a comic book and they really made the movie look like it. It's all black and white except for some accent color on some things for effect. Sometimes it doesn't even have gray scale it's just black and white or they white out or black out just parts of it and leave the rest gray scale. The movie has a really cool look to it but i just can't get over the story and dialogue. Everything is super saturated with this machismo. I can't stand stuff they say. About two thirds of the way through the movie both times I watched it I was hoping for it to be over. It has three distinct stories but they overlap and change time frames. Maybe it would be easier to watch in sections. It didn't help that the air in the theatre was really dry and my throat dried out and my nose hurt and my lungs started to hurt when i breathed. When we walked out I tried to talk and found that I lost my voice.

this is a creepy picture of me if i was in Sin City.

Sic-Sac

2005-07-20T11:00:00.000-04:00

I think everyone who reads my blog knows me outside of cyber-space, so you all know that I recently graduated from The Ohio State University with a B.S. in Aeronautical Astronautical Engineering (yay me). There really isn't much humor in science and engineering but every once in a while there's something that's odd enough for a chuckle. I think this one made me laugh for like five minutes. For one of my classes we were studying performance characteristics of a cesna so some of us got to ride in one and run a couple of tests. This was the motion sickness bag given to me ... just in case. Notice the sick elf with the envelope and the happy elf with the full bag.

Subject of the day: cadavers

2005-07-18T18:00:00.000-04:00

I finished reading stiff and i want to know what everyone wants to have done with their bodies when they are dead ... write to me in the comments section! Details would be appreciated.

burial

cremation

body donation if so what would you hope that they would do with it?
imapct tests?
ammunition tests?
anatomy studies?
surgical practice?
decomposition studies?
made into skeleton?

made into fertalizer

liquified and flushed into the sewers

burial at sea

mummified
in ice?
plastic?
dried?

the funniest thing i came across in the book is at the very end the author talks about this guy who wrote about how he believed his skeleton was a sentient being working to free itself from his body and that when he dies it will have achieved its goal to usurp power from the body.

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

2005-07-16T22:30:00.000-04:00

Saw the movie last night! I really liked it. I haven't read the book but i think i want to after seeing the movie. I think I read that when they were doing the movie they weren't trying to re-do the 70's version but work from the book so I want to see what happened in the book and figure out the differences for both movies. Anyway, I was thuroughly entertained. The theatre we went to (the most awesome theatre in columbus ... the arena grand) had a chocolate fountain! When we bought movie tickets we were given golden tickets that let us through a snack line with the fountain. The computer generated parts were okay. I didn't really like the oompa loompa songs but i loved the way they/he looked. I liked Johnny Depp in the movie, I thought he was the right kind of wierd.

I am reading Stiff. It's about "the curious lives of human cadavers." It's really interesting. The author writes about reasearch she has done in the history of the use of cadavers and how they are used now. She writes about what she experiences when she visits organizations who deal with cadavers. So far I have read about disection as a learning tool, impact tests for engineering, experiments done with decomposition, a little about embalming and the history of body snatching and anatomists. It is written with some humor and the author goes out of her way to pack it with interresting side facts. It can get a little grusome but with this subject what do you expect?!

I finished Slaughterhouse five. It was a really quick read. I kinda wish I had read it in school because I think it would be interresting to learn more about what it all means. I understood some of the symbolism but it would be fun to discuss.

and here's a fun picture of me and Nikki in June ... my graduation!

Profilers Gone Wild

2005-07-14T13:00:00.000-04:00

Last night I saw a creepy movie. Red Beard and I saw MindHunters http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0297284/ at the dollar theatre. It was really graphic. Let me give you a summary ... a group of FBI agents studying to be profilers is sent to a remote island used by the Navy for training exercises for their final test. Their teacher is a tough creepy Val Kilmer. Christian Slater takes lead of the group and shows his butt in a shower scene (surprise surprise). To join the group is an unknown detective, L. L. Cool J., then the training session turns into a fight for all their lives as a real murderer starts taking them out one by one. I groaned aloud in disgust with some of the dialogue said by ll cool j. There's a part toward the end where ll cool j's character, knowing how the movie ends, would in no way do what he did. It was predictable otherwise. It was really gross. They all had really grusome deaths. They didn't act like very good detectives. There were cameras all over the island but when people started getting killed they didn't try to find where the tapes were so they could review them and figure out what was going on. They searched the entire island in 2.5 hours with heat sensors ... right pretty arrogant to think that there aren't things on the island they don't know about.

I'm coming down with a cold or sinus infection or something. I knew i was going to get sick because I got a headache and my nose started tickling on monday. Then it started hurting. My nose really hasn't run very much but it's bloody and hurts like hell. I hope that my 10 hours of sleep last night will help.

Here's a completely unrelated picture of my sister Shelly. She's so cute just watch out for her bite!

Who needs to see you braking?

2005-07-13T17:00:00.000-04:00

Today I wasn't scheduled for work at Joann's so I vacuumed my car, cleaned some spots on the seats and replaced a brake light all by myself. I also applied for four more jobs and applied for health insurance. I was really happy about the whole brake light thing because it made me feel capable. I almost can't wait for another to burn out so i can replace it. Wow i am boring. I really should get some kind of mechanical hobby if I have to wait around for a brake light to go out to get my jollies. I have been thinking about making rockets and launching them in my back yard.

I should also go to workout today but I am not feeling motivated ... motivated or not I will wind up going.

I have almost eaten all of the sugar cookies that I made and didn't give away. I am learning how to cook/bake finally. The sugar cookies that my mom taught me to make are the best I have ever had. A problem that I notice when I eat a lot of home made sugar cookies is that it tastes like there is too much of one ingredient or another that makes it not so good but these are mmmmmmm mm good. She taught me how to make the frosting too.

here's a pretty photo I took last year

Monday

2005-07-11T12:45:00.000-04:00

I worked all weekend and i was looking forward to being home alone. Dad starting his new job today and mom is going to a garden party but nooooooo dad came home early because they had no work for him and mom isn't going to her party until this afternoon. I had to take her to the grocery store because her car is getting looked over and later I am going to have to go with my dad to pick it up. It's monday so I have to work out and I have to get some health insurance today and i have to figure out what to do about the doctor visit that my old insurance didn't pay for. I had insurance when i went in for the appointment but mom gave me the wrong card ... old policy number i think. I no longer have insurance but they should still pay right? I am just going to have to do some leg work.

I watched a new Family Guy episode last night. It kinda sucked. I don't think it's funny how they make meg out to be such a dog. I did like Stewie's evil-ness ... is this the first time he actually killed someone? "oh, it's just this whole big crazy ... thing."

I have to go make lunch for the fam ... croissants with ham, colby jack, lettuce and tomato.

Fantastic Four

2005-07-09T11:00:00.000-04:00

Look back at the old posts I published pictures from the cookout.

Saw Fantastic Four last night. They really weren't that fantastic. Some of the special effects were pretty cool. There really wasn't much to the movie. People get super powers, learn about their powers, become famous, come to terms with their differences and save the town from a super-villain who may or may not really be down for the count. There are plenty of comic book corny lines and jiggly boobs.

Oh man, i have nothing to talk about. My life is so boring. All i do is workout, go to work, apply to jobs, go to movies, eat and sleep. I guess i could talk about smart ass things i say to people in the store. When people ask me where the stitching post is, I say "it's in the center of the store" and when they ask me again where that is I say "in the middle." When people stop me in the store and ask me if i work here i say "kinda." I wear an apron at work that says Joann's on it ... i mean really.

and now, a really cute picture of cosmo

Work Rant

2005-07-07T01:00:00.000-04:00

work was kinda funny today. I came in when there were plenty of people working the front end (registers for those of you not in retail) so i went and worked on stock for about an hour but when those people left I was needed back where I belong, monkeying around on register. "OOH OOH EEE EEE your total is $19.95 ... can I see your licence with this" *wave hands emphatically over head while jumping around* No, i guess i don't act like a monkey, but that would be pretty unexpected. Someone might actually pay attention or remeber me. Both of my co-workers were given breaks and the manager (who hadn't been on the floor since we were over-staffed) thought it would be a good idea to send someone home. I didn't argue and left. I probably left them understaffed for closing.

People are really funny. We close at nine. No biggie right? I mean who really needs crafts so desperately that we need to stay open any later? "But ... but if i don't get more yarn to knit tonight my knitting levels will plummet and i'll die ... die!" We lock the front doors and damn is it fun to turn people away. It happens. There is one door to the lobby to store and after close it is left unlocked and still swings open with sensors but the main doors into the store from the front doors are locked. The out door stays on with a sensor so that those who are checking out right at close can still get out without help. People actually go in the small out-door after finding the front doors locked and insist that what they need is so important that 15 people's plans for the night should be delayed for them. I really like to be the one to say "I am sorry but we really are closed." They usually say something like, "but i am only looking for one thing." To which i reply, "I'm sorry we are closed." The few times I broke down and let them in, they wound up spending waaaay too much time and needed a lot of help. Hmmm this reminds me of something that has been in the news about Oprah and Hermes. When i do it, it has nothing to do with race, I mean I can only remember ever turning away caucasian women. I just want to go home. It has never happened with a famous person though. I wonder if i would act differently if i recognized someone. I really think though that just 'cause someone is famous or rich, it doesn't mean that they should get any special treatment.

Anyway that was a long post today hopefully it was the tiniest bit interresting.