Party like it's 2006

So far I've spent New Year's Eve...

reading
writing emails
catching up on blogs
finding random things on the internet... the best being Adopt-A-Nun
all while watching rugby on the tv
snacking

Oh wow am I a party animal!

What's that you say? I'm sure you have big party plans to ring in 2007 later on?

Heck no! The plan so far is to watch the Bears play the Packers at 7 pm and then go to bed. If I'm feeling really wild I might go over to Noah's to watch the game. (Noah is one of my four friends here in the North Shore) He's having a bunch of his friends over, so I don't know if I really want to go and be the only one there who doesn't know anybody. But then again it would be nice to get out of the house. We'll see......

Happy New Year!

sleep

Hooray sick days!

Just to reassure everyone, my bout with bah-humbugness was brief and i quickly regained some christmas cheer.

Now I just wish this stupid cold would go away.....

I took a sick day to day in hopes that lots and lots of sleep will speed recovery. I'm not sure how much good it did though. I still feel tired and have a stuffed up head and scratchy throat, but maybe when I wake up tomorrow it will magically all be better.

In order to secure the aforementioned sick day I traded a shift and will be opening the nest three mornings. Which I guess will be a nice change seeing as I closed for about a week straight. I did also end up with new year's eve off somehow. Now if only I had friends.... or plans....

Celebrate

Merry bleeping Christmas. I'm exhausted. I'm sick. I still have to go to work and deal with the crazies.

I know that's not a good attitude, but right now I'm so run down I just don't even care. Is it sunday night yet? That's when I'll be able to let it all go and enjoy the holiday.

Sorry that I haven't posted in for ever. I'll try and catch up on Christmas Day.

Go on a trip

Hey look at me I'm a business traveller!!!!

That's right, I'm on my very first business trip. Right now I'm staying here and feel especially grown up and adult... but also a little bored and lonely.

Thankfully Jason should be free by about 730 or 8 and then we'll go out, so I'll be less bored.

All right well now I'm off to explore the hotel.

Holy December, Batman!

I guess I've been away a long time. So let's see... in the past three weeks I've....

1) Been put on and taken off the disabled list at work. I pulled a back muscle. Did I mention that before?
2) Gotten really frustrated with my job and coworkers.
3) Started liking my job again.
4) Bought plane tickets to St Louis for next week. Yay TJU. That's right. Trader Joe's University... where I learn to be better at my job, I guess.
5) Bought plane tickets to Seattle for the ski trip! I don't think I can explain how excited I am for this trip. It really can't come soon enough.
6) Started researching snowboards, seeing as I need to buy one before January.
7) Sent Angie and Amy some kick ass surprise presents. (Kinsey, yours in still in the works, so have no fear, well maybe you should have fear....)

I think mine is pretty.....

http://www.aharef.info/static/htmlgraph/

Catch a fish

Here it is... the picture you've been waiting for.....

Hooray for the end of the week! It's my Friday and it couldn't have come fast enough. If I haven't told you already, I strained a back muscle this week and I feel completely ridiculous. It's the muscle that connects to my right arm, so I can bend and all that, but can't really use my right arm. And I'm right handed.

I managed to talk the doctor into letting me go to work on "light duty" but I've probably just been making it worse. So between the back pain and just end of the week sleepiness I managed to reach a new level of confusion while driving home. Angie left a message on my phone where she was telling a story and at one point I had lost track of the fact that she wasn't actually on the phone with me. I started responding back and thought she was just ignoring my comments.

Yup. Like I said.... YAY Friday.

Be Productive

Since I started having two days off together every week, I've always followed the same routine. Day One: Sleep and watch movies and/or catch up on DVR'd tv from the previous week. Day Two: Be productive.

Starting today I have Sun/Mon off and since our schedules start with monday... I only have one day off by itself this week. I was going to keep the same routine and just forgo Day Two's productivity, but when I woke up there was a whole list of things to do from my parents. Boooooo.

So instead of being lazy I've cranked up the U2 (yes Angie, BONO!)and have begun being productive. I've already made the two of the three necessary phone calls and now I'm waiting for the oven to preheat so I can eat lunch. That's right. Feel the excitement. After lunch the to do list includes stopping by the hardware store for yard waste stickers, picking up milk and halloween candy and finding a mailbox so I can return some dvd's and finally send Angie and Kate support checks.

Things that may get put off for another day:
a) Buying a plane ticket for the ski trip
2) Starting the hunt for a snowboard, for said ski trip. YAY Merry Christmas to me.
3) Going clothes shopping
4) Learning Spanish (no for real, I need to and it's time I start)
e) all of the above

Also, I'll try and get a picture up soon of me and the bass.

Go Fishing

So Amy told me to watch the mail because she was sending me somthing. I didn't really know what to expect. A book? A DVD? A homemade craft project? I definitely didn't expect this.....




I actually got the largemouth bass, the walleye is pictured here. Oh Amy Lassen... you made my day!

Snow!

Remember how I smelled winter the other night? Well today it snowed!

Last night, as I opened the back door, I saw that it was trying to snow. Just the tiniest flakes, indistinguishable from rain until you got near the light. Then this morning I woke up, looked out my window and saw...



I love that it caught everyone by surprise. Only a week ago it was mid 7o's here.



When I went to work I had a huge smile on my face.

continue catching up

Angie called today and interrupted TV catch up part 2. Of course thanks to DVR I was able to pause and talk to her.

What did we talk about? How North Korea is friendless. How NK is the kid on the block no one wants to play with, but South Korea has to cut across his lawn to go play with China. And Japan is the cool kid across the street who just wishes people would stop fighting.

No this wasn't a tangential conversation. It was the reason she called. Why do I encourage her ridiculousness? :D

Oh and when went to un-pause the TV I realized this is what it froze on:

Catch up

Yay! I'm almost entirely caught up with past posts. I was going to do this sooner, but kept putting it off because I wanted pictures from my camera and couldn't find the cord. I never did find the cord, but I bought a card reader so I was able to get the pictures. Then I realized I didn't have any applicable pictures. Woohoo.

So I've got one more post, about the crazy week I just had more recently, but otherwise.... Done!

I love watching Adult Swim. When I open on Sunday's I can't stay awake long enough to watch, so I record all my favorites and watch them on Monday's when I play tv catch-up. My favorites include...



Harvey Birdman Attorney at Law.

"Are those heisenburg bros bagels? Which one should I have?"
"I'm uncertain."








Robot Chicken. The only show actually designed for people with my attention span.










And my absolute favorite can't miss... The Venture Brothers.



Dr. Venture: I need more dead people...
Brock Samson: And?
Dr. V: Well I've got twelve including the henchmen you killed, but I need more, like a gross. A gross of dead people.
Brock: Where are you going to get them?
Dr. V: Well I was thinking...
Brock: No
Dr. V: Since you're you...
Brock: No
Dr. V: Can't you just....
Brock: No
Dr. V: Make me some dead people?
Brock: No


Home Movies used to be my favorite (woo thanks Kinsey!), but I don't think they're making new episodes anymore.

Slide

Slide as art? Yes please!

lose things

I lost my phone! Dang it! I'm not all that mad about losing the actual phone so much as I'm mad I lost the pictuers on it. Who thinks to back up the pictures on their camera phone? I didn't. Dang it!

Hopefully it will turn up in the store somewhere. It's been so crazy it could very well be in a box in the back room. This past week my boss decided to re mechandise about half of the store. This means 4 straight overnights. Thankfully I was only there for 2 of them. In the end I think it makes the store look better though. So I guess that means it was worth it.

Wake up happy

Woo! 12 hours of sleep.

Woo! Waking up to the sound of rain.

Woo! Waking up and smelling beef stew.

Seriously I couldn't have been happier in that moment.

I smelled winter last night. I like to sleep with my window open all year round. Last night the breeze picked up and as cold air rushed in.... I smelled winter.

This is a good thing. A very good thing.



It's only a matter of time.

My goal over the next few days is to catch up on blogging. I have a handful of posts I started but never finished. I don't remember where I got the idea, maybe Holly? but by starting the posts in advance I won't forget about them and also they'll be in the right order chronologically.

Right now... I'm sitting on the floor in the den eating Domino's pizza, watching Life Aquatic with the commentary turned on, listening to the down pour outside. I couldn't be more content.

Stolen from Angie's blog...



create your own visited states map

So when I say I don't want to live in the south, do you think it's because I've never actually really been there? I followed the same rules she did, only including states I actually visited, not just the ones I drove through or airports I had layovers in.

Leern tu cuuk zee svedeesh vey

That's right. 14 minutes of the greatest muppet ever.



I always liked the swedish chef best. Especially because his ingredients usually got the better of him. The clip includes classics like "Lobster Banditos", "Bananananana Split", "Chocolate Mousse", "Donut Boom." Unfortunately the quality is not so great, but I still laughed pretty hard.

Bork Bork Bork

Soup it up!

By special request for Angie:

Avgolemono Soup*

Ingredients
4 cups chicken broth
4 eggs
4 tbsp lemon juice
1/4 to 1/3 cup rice

Heat chicken broth and rice to boiling. In a large mixing bowl, beat eggs with a wire whisk until light, and beat in the lemon juice. Once rice is done, gradually stir half the broth into the mixing bowl, whisking constantly. Return contents to saucepan and place over low heat until soup is thickened, stirring frequently. Garnish with lemon slices.

*Stolen from "Greek Cooking" by Lou Seibert Papamihalopoulos, Modified by my mother.

I have never been more proud to be a Hawkeye than watching that defenseive line stop Syracuse again and again. THAT is Iowa football.

Have a crazy week

So this week was long. My bosses Ken and Tony were in Cali all week for a meeting, Nicole injured her arm and apparently Loni had a previously scheduled vacation. That left me, Mike, Laurens and Brian to run the store. And this was Brian's... 4th week I think. So really it was me, Mike and Laurens.

My schedule went....
Wednesday: 12 pm to 10 pm
Thursday*: 10 am to 10 pm
Friday**: 3 am to 2 pm
Saturday: 3 am to 2 pm
Sunday***: 3 am to 1 pm

*Thursday I was going to leave early, but then a register went down. As in stopped working. Great. I had to call the Help Desk (Trader Joe's ITS) where they talk to me like a 4 year old until they figure out that I'm actually computer literate. So I ended up staying until after 10 while Dave at the help desk rebooted our server and reset all the registers.

**Friday we met Stan. Of course Stan isn't his real name but I wasn't ok with Shannon continuing to call him the crazy bleeding man. Yes, that's right, the crazy bleeding man. It's 5:30 or so and I'm putting some produce back into the cooler when I here Chuy calling my name. Shannon is apparently at the front door calling for me. I come out of the back and she comes running up and says "there's a crazy bleeding man at the door and he keeps wiping his face then licking the blood off of his hand."

Michael is standing at the door telling him, no he can't come in. So I call 911, Michael continues to try to shout at him and Chuy's got his face pressed up against one of the windows trying to see what's going on. The ambulance comes and he's taken care of, but the whole situation was sketchy.

a) He claims to have fallen while fixing a flat tire across the street at the Red Roof Inn. But why did he not try to get help there?
b) He walked past Max & Benny's restaurant which not only had lights on but had an open door with workers coming and going to instead come to our door.
c) He was mad we called 911 because he'd already used his cell phone to call buddy to help with the car. I'm sorry, cell phone? Why are you at our door?

These are the moments that make me wonder if I'm really ready to be a manager and an adult. I didn't know how to handle that. Shannon and I were shaking like leaves, Chuy was making jokes and Michael was being our big tough protector :D

***Sunday Chuy called in sick, leaving me and Rob as the only people in the store until 7 am. Umm right, yea, I guess you work that half, I'll work this half? Basically Rob and I had to do the work of 5 people on a good day. Sure. Easy.

By the end of this week I was just happy it was over. I sure hope I get a raise and a promotion soon.

Be Thankful

Today was a good day. One of those days where it's easy to remember how great God is and how great this world He made is and how blessed I am to be living in it. It was a day of little things.

Tuesday 10 am:
Woo day off so I slept in! I ate some cereal. Took a shower. It was a perfect late summer day; Sunny, not too warm, blue skies, perfect for driving into the city.

12 pm: I drove downtown to a store called Fleet Feet Sports to buy some new shoes for work. www.fleetfeet.com This place is great. They measure your feet and watch you walk and send you through this whole process to get you the best possible shoes. I must have tried on 16 different pairs of shoes. In the end it came down to 3 different brands and I was able to pick a pair of adidas I really like. Like Angie said "turns out they're [adidas are] right for you? whew." Which is true, considering 90% of my shoes are already adidas.

1 pm: After leaving the store I figured I would go down to one of the downtown TJ's and visit my friend David who wasn't calling me back. I really wanted to go to the Brewer's game that night and had yet to find anyone. He said he'd go to games anytime, and I knew he had Wednesday off so why wouldn't he just call me back so we could make plans. Of course it's north side Chicago and I get lost. But that's ok, because then I got to explore. I found a bar that had Iowa Hawkeye flags outside of it so I'll have to go back to it to watch a football game sometime. I also made friends with a construction crew when I had to take a detour and ended up sittting at a light for almost 10 minuites. They liked Buck and had all sorts of questions.

Turns out David had opened that morning and I had missed him, so I still never got a hold of him. Which also meant I had no one to go to the Brewer's game with. I really wanted to go to this game because it would be the last one of the season for me. The only home series left is against the Cardinals, so i'm hoping angie and tim will go, but that might not work out. This series was against the Dodgers and the weather was so perfect I couldn't pass up the opprtunity.

4 pm: I get a hold of my cousin Sarah and make plans to go to the game with her and her fiancee Vinnie.

5:30 pm: I drive on up to Wisconsin. I pass one of those fields. Where there's a fog because the air has cooled and the ground is giving up the sun's warmth. But the sun hasn't quite set so everytime there's a break in the trees you get to see the rays.

When I got closer to Milwaukee it was raining and the clouds were doing that cool thing where you can see the rain in the distance and the sun was still shining just enough. It was pretty great.

6:40 pm: I get to the game, pick up tickets from will call and then I went to wait. And then I got harrassed by the cops.

7:15 pm: We were on the Jumbotron. Twice! Woo! We were actually joking with the people in the row in front of us about how they didn't realized they were on the screen and then we were up there! YAY Jumbotron!

10 pm: After the game I detoured up to Kopp's for a little frozen custard and then headed home.

Like I said. I couldn't have asked for a better day.

At first I found it funny but the more I think about it the more I feel mistreated....

So I went to the Brewers game tonight and I had the tickets and was going to meet my cousin Sarah and her fiancee Vinnie at the park. So I get there a little early and walk over to where we planned on meeting. There's this pedestrian bridge connecting the big parking lot and the stadium and everyone knows where it is so that seemed like the best place. I get there at 6:42. We were going to meet at 6:45. So I pick a spot and lean against a post at one end. At 6:48 Sarah calls to say they're running late. So I wander a bit. Looking at the big map, construction pictures, people watch. I walk over to the big windows and look into the park. I call Angie at 6:54 to tell her about the bucket brigade. 7:01 and I'm back to leaning against my post. 7:02 two bicycle cops peddle right at me, like directly at me and stop less than a foot away. The one tells me that they've been watching me and I look suspicious, like I'm trying to resell tickets. I apologize and say no I'm just waiting for my cousin. He says "yea well you've been out here for 45 minutes and we saw you talking to some of our regulars." Both of which are completely untrue. I'd been there 20 minutes maximum. I hadn't talked to a single person, except on my cell phone. He tells me that there's a camera watching me and that they're cracking down on scalping so I should watch out. They both ride off.

At first I just thought this was ridiculous. I look nothing like a scalper. I was standing there in a Brewers t-shirt, hat and jeans. At no point did I try to talk to anyone passing me by. But now I'm feeling a little offended. The cop handled that completely wrong. He was rude and threatening. If I didn't love going to games so much I would seriously consider never going back. I wonder if there's someone I can file a complaint with.

Make a freaking decision

I don't know what this post was supposed to be about. So really it's probably a very appropriate title for a blog entry.

I think I intended to write about moving to a new city. That isn't the only decision I was trying to make when I left the title, but it's the only one I would have probably blogged about and it's the only decision I still haven't made.

If I ask for a transfer it's a 3 year commitment before I'm allowed to ask to move again. This makes it a fairly big decision and at this point it's come down to two leading choices. Minnesota and Seattle. Let's break it down.

Minnesota:
a) I know people currently living there... Yay Colin!
b) I've visited the city numerous times and know I would probably like living there.
c) Kinsey and Greg are considering moving there.
d) Amy might move there.
e) We will definitely be opening more stores there. So there's room for me to grow and get promoted.
f) It's safe... meaning it's familiar... and not to far from places and people I know.

Seattle:
a) Mountains and the ocean.
b) It rains a lot. And I love rain.
c) I've only ever been to the airport.
d) There are lots of store there already.
e) The only person I know there is Matt. And Marta's in Oregon about and hour and a half away.
f) Matt's buying a house there which would make rent cheaper if I help him fix it up.
g) It's west coast. (well, duh, you're thinking) But in terms of work this is a factor. West Coast has limited growth opportunities. That's why so many people who work here are originally from California. They all moved out here where you can get promoted faster. I know we're starting to grow out there again, but it's a bit of a risk. I could likely get promoted faster if I stay here or move to the south.

Both cities have some important things in common:
Both have baseball teams (YAY! BASEBALL!)
Both offer a greater sense of freedom (aka get me out of my parents house)
Both are fairly major cities and all that goes along with that.

For the moment it's a moot discussion. There's no way I can transfer before January or February 2007. Supposedly our store is set to move and be open in the new location by Halloween. Construciton is underway, but I know we're still waiting for permits to come through. Right now it's looking like that will get pushed back a few weeks. Too long though, and it's the holiday season. That will put everything on hold until January.

So best case scenario we move, it's the holidays and then I'm free. Worst case we move in January and I don't get to leave until spring. Basically my store Captain has told me he won't ok a transfer until after we've moved. He can't afford to lose people he can count on to run the store. (more on this in a later post)

Work on my day off

So my phone rings at 1 am this morning and I check it and the ID says Shannon. Why is she calling? She knows it's my day off. Of course I'm sleeping right now. Grrr. If it's important she'll leave a message.

As it turns out, she's puking and is supposed to be at work at 3 am. What is she supposed to do? I have no idea. The problem here is that only 2 people work at that time. And you're not supposed to go into the store alone. So there's no good way of calling that person and letting them know you're sick. I don't know what to do, but now that I know about the situation I feel like I'm responsible for doing something about it.

So 2:30 rolls around and she's still sick so I volunteer to go in and cover that first hour or whatever until the next employee shows up. Yay light scheduling! means no one else will be in until 530. Great. And I get to work with one of my least favorite coworkers. Oh well. The other opener is one of those people that I just don't get along with. We can work together fine and I have no problem being civil, but I just don't have a lot of respect for her in the work place... for various reasons I don't want to get into here on the off chance that some day someone might read it and it gets me in trouble.

I go in, I work, I leave, I go back to bed. All of a sudden it's 120p and there went most of my day. Not that this is the end of the world or anything. I just had planned on running errands and getting other things done today. Now I'm spending the day lying in bed blogging and watching DVDs. Tragic, I know :D


This gets me thinking... What would you have done? Would you have gone in? I guess I didn't feel like I even had a choice, but I suppose I could have just rolled over and pretended I never got the message until morning. If the call had come from someone I wasn't friends with, would I have still felt obligated to cover?

Go Dancing

I have a dirty little secret to admit. Well it's not so dirty and not really a secret... but I am becoming a Friday night regular at a country line dance bar. Yes that's right. I hear the first step towards getting help is admiting that I have a problem. I blame my new friends. Shannon goes there with Rob and they know all sorts of people there. They actually are regulars.

There's this bar (and if me saying country line dance bar made you think of Swisher you couldn't be more wrong). This place is huge, like a warehouse. There are two giant projection screens showing ESPN behind each bar and in the center is a dance floor fenced off like a roller rink. And the people here can dance. Like really line dance and they look the part. Like a song comes on and everyone just knows what dance to do. It's great. :D

I don't really dance, only the one or two I know. Or if I've had enough to drink, then I'm more willing to make a fool of myself trying to learn a new one. Basically I look forward to going out every friday night because it's always a ton of fun.

If you ever visit and you're here over a friday night, we'll go. You'll see what all the fuss is about.

I'm completely, openly swiping this from Tim. Because it's far too cool not to:

Pandora

It's changed the way I listen to music. I leave it on for hours at a time.

You NEED to check it out.

Play ball!

As the summer begins to wind down I realized I hadn't gone to nearly enough baseball games. I even started off so well. There was the first Cubs game back in April. And then I went to another one in June. And then we dragged Mike and his son to country night in July.



But I had only made it to Miller Park once with my dad. So to remedy that I called up all my friends here in Illinois. (Yes all 4 of them, and yes they all at some point worked at TJ's with me) We went to see the Cubs play the Brewers in Milwaukee.


Me, Stefan, David, Rob


Rob and Shannon


David and I. I stole his broke down Braves hat to mock him and his Thug Look


He then pulled out a stylish 80's sweatband.


Stefan remembered why he'll miss us so much now that he's living in Boston. We're just more fun than anyone else :D


It was quite the outing and well worth the fact that I think only Stefan paid me for his ticket.... By the end my voice was completely hoarse and I was ready to pass out.

Say goodbye

This is Shadow:



When we first got her she was 4 months old and as you can see had huge ears and paws, but was pretty skinny. Everyone kept telling my mom that she looked adorable, but wow was she going to get big. This didn't really help me out any, seeing as I had told her that she probably was as big as she'd get already.





She loved Christmas because of the tree and the wrapping paper. Every year we'd get her a new toy, but she was always far more interested in the paper and ribbon that went everywhere as gifts were unwrapped.



Shadow was an obedience school drop out. She barked too much. She only learned two or three tricks. Sit, Wait and Don't just run out the door first. The last she learned at school when she was the "example dog" and the trainer squashed her head in the doorway. It wasn't as horrible as it sounds. It was actually pretty funny. She learned Wait as the first step in me trying to teach her to balance food on her nose. She never actually made it to step two. But she got pretty good at step one.



The first time I went away for more than a few days she didn't know what to do and camped out in the doorway of my bed room. When I went to college she didn't really understand that either and I think it confused her all the more when I'd come home for a day or two.



The last couple weeks she had been deteriorating fast. Her back right leg started to give out and she'd sway every few steps. She also couldn't really do stair anymore. Up or Down. I'm glad we didn't drag it out. The decision was made. The next day it was over. She was 12 and a half. Big dogs usually only live to be 9 or 10. Doesn't make it hurt less.



Now it just hurts when I forget that she's gone. Like I wake up and go to take her outside. Or I get home at 2 am and expect to see her at the top of the stairs. Her food and water dishes are gone. The toys too. At least I got the chance to say good bye.

Take a mini-vacation

Since I had already taken a few days off work for the wedding, I figured it was a good time to go back to Iowa City. It's still nice to go and see everyone I miss so much and the city that was home for so long. It was pretty low key and relaxing. I had been hoping to play some sand volleyball but the weather didn't cooperate. Instead I did get to see some pretty amazing clouds when the storm passed through. So I guess it's an ok trade off.

Get Married!

Jess and Eli got married! and the wedding was pretty great. I would post pictures, but I didn't take any so instead I'll just post links to Angie's blog. She took lots of pictures and gives a pretty great summary.



Pre-Wedding



Those bouquets were crazy, and heavy, and amazing. It was my job to arrange them so that the bead sphere looked as nice and uniform as possible. It was ridiculous and tedious, but bizarrely enough Jess's dad ended up taking over for me. I think he just felt like Finally! something he could help with.



Those bug sprayer things Tim's got worked surprisingly well. I didn't feel any mosquito bites until about 10:30... 6 hours after he sprayed... just like the cans said.



After the bouquets were done Marissa and I played with the left over art supplies (aka wire, beads and hot glue). This is the awesome hot air balloon I made. I was pretty impressed that I could hot glue the balloon without it popping.


The Wedding

The Wedding itself was short, due to a bit of rain. I think it worked though. It was raining lightly so Jess and Eli didn't get wet, just the rest of us. And unfortunately I think I'm on the wedding video running up the aisle with an umbrella for Jess's parents. oh well. The best part about rain at a wedding is the rainbow afterward.






I really like the way the lights turned out. And Angie was definitely wrong about Tim just doing what he was told because it was his idea to drape them that way at the front. Which I think looks pretty cool. And the lights probably wouldn't have gotten done without his help. At the very least I may have killed Eli's uncle and that would have put a damper on the whole day.
When Tim got there I was happy to have someone else around who was useful and creative in a non-artsy sort of way. If that makes sense. Because that's what I am. And I don't mean to imply everyone else there wasn't useful or creative. It's just the difference between having to explain what your doing step by step to someone and being able to tell them the general plan and have them not only get it, but be able to make suggestions.
Hopefully I didn't just put my foot too deeply into my mouth.



And while we're on the subject, when did I become the useful friend? Not that I have a problem with it, I just realized lately that I'm the go to for anything practical. Like, algebra quesitons, lighting, furniture assembly.... just curious.

Like I said before, Angie's got lot's of great pictures, so you should really go look at the rest of them there. After the wedding we had to take everything down and return it to the Laug's in Carol Stream. While Angie and I did this, Tim was in charge of going out to buy beer. He didn't succeed, but he got points for picking up some grape soda instead. The three of us went back to the hotel and flipped channels before fianlly settling on the leaving the spanish channel up and watching YouTube videos on Angie's laptop.



Nice and relaxing after lots of wedding craziness.



The next day we went to Arby's for lunch and then caravanned back to Iowa. We had to stop at the Dekalb Oasis so I could get new velcro strips for my IPASS and Tim could get gas and Angie could get coffee. Right before we hit I-80 Angie took some random exit... and I never did find out why or where she went..... Angie?

Add an extra day to the week

So I really do mean to blog more often. Except I never seem to find the time during the week. And then the weekend comes and all I want to do is sleep and watch ridiculous movies.

It was bothering me that I had this kick ass schedule where I start at 1 pm on my "monday" and get off work by 1 on my "friday" and yet I was still always tired. Then I figured it out. What makes this schedule so great is that it gives me a three day weekend. Which means I'm working 50 hours in 4 days. Yea no wonder I'm tired. Maybe if I wasn't so tired I would have figured this one out sooner....

So today will be catch upday. I plan on blogging about all the things I should have been blogging about over the past..... oh goodness, the last 2 weeks? Have I mentioned that I've started saying goodness gracious? What am I? My grandma? Where did this come from?

Learn

I really do intend to post about the wedding an my mini-vacation but I find it hard to make the time during my work week. So have no fear, more posts are coming.... but for now....

You need to watch this.
Just when I'm getting comfertable with the idea of a TJ's career, statistics starts sucking me back in. Maybe I can just make statistics my hobby... would that be weird?

Listen here

This is Jonathan Coulton's website. I know nothing about him except he makes some pretty awesome cover songs and also does some funny original work. And if there's one thing you ought to know about me, it's that I love a good cover song. So far my favorites are his cover of Baby got back and his original Skullcrusher Mountain.


Ok so this just keeps getting better and better because Coulton did a song about curling! That's right, my favorite Olympic sport.....Curling! (ok for some reason this link reroutes so just copy and paste http://www.jonathancoulton.com/mp3/Curl.mp3 if you'd like to hear it.)

AND he's apparently friends with John Hodgman, writer and co-star of those awesome new apple ads. (He's the PC) And apparently there was some sort of incident involving cat sitting that has led up to the creation of a mudslinging Flash cartoon

I love the internet some days

Learn something new everyday

Today's life lesson: Don't eat chips and salsa while watching a gory movie*


*The story: It's a rainy afternoon here in the HP, I have the day off, and there are 3 netflix movies sitting on my bedroom floor. I head to the kitchen, collecting a soda, a bowl of chips and a jar of salsa. I set up the first movie, Doom**, because it's one I have to watch while it's light out. I settle into the recliner, hit play and then someone loses an arm. I look away from the screen, I look at my snack. Now I want to puke.

**The backstory: No it's not a typo I watched the movie Doom. See but I also played the game Doom. Back in the day when we'd ride our bikes to the internet cafe place and pay 5 an hour to play games against each other over the internet. We played Doom and Quake and all sorts of fun stuff. And then we'd go next door to Bucky's ice cream shop and I'd win free ice cream by beating the owner in cribbage or chess. And then we'd grab one of those nerf soccer balls and move all the tables off to one side and play indoor 2 on 2. Wow, that was a great summer.

Welcome back indeed!

Vacation

Hopefully this is me showing off my amazing soccer skillz not my dance moves.



Water skiing was cut short when the weather changed and a storm blew through. Those guys out there decided to stay in the water even though lightning was striking the lake...



We took the boat into town to watch fireworks and the sunset was amazing!

Do Lunch

I had my first "lunch meeting" today. As in, hey let's meet and discuss all of this over lunch that the company is paying for. My boss Kevin owed me lunch for completing this ginormous evil paperwork project that no one else was willing to touch with a 10 foot pole and radioactive gear. I'd give you more detail but you probably don't actually care. So anyway, we covered all the work related stuff we had to and then just chatted about what I think my future is with TJ's. It was very enlightening. The big things I took away from our talk, the things I'll have to think lots about...

1) Am I going to stay with TJ's long term?
2) If so, do I want to someday Captain my own store? (he thinks if I want it enough, I could be a first mate inside 2 years)
c) Am I set on moving to Milwaukee?

The whole Milwaukee move is actually something I've thought about a lot lately. The new Minnesota store is doing ridiculously well, and the expectation is that MKE will be good, but probably not quite the same. And Milwaukee will never have more than 3, 4 stores max. That's a small pool. We're opening in the southeast next year and that's going to be a huge growth area. Atlanta into the Carolinas and then Florida. Oh goodness gracious will we do well in Florida.

So where do I want to be? Am I really open to moving anywhere? Even if that means florida? MKE would be easy... and safe...

I guess the biggest problem I have at this point is reconciling my dislike of big city life with the fact that stores will always be in cities, usually big ones and their suburbs. Not someplace like Iowa.

I have a new nickname at work... Little One. At first I didn't think it would stick, like so many of the previous ones. It actually works in two ways.

a) There are two Alex's at the store and I'm the younger/smaller one
b) I'm the newest full timer so I'll take this over rookie

and to be honest I kind of like this one. I don't mind responding to pages for Little One.

PS thanks Angie for the pictures of Chicago I used earlier

Never visit Italy

So far I've avoided posting about the World Cup. Mostly because I was busy either working or actually watching games, but also a little because I know a large portion of my friends don't even really care about soccer.

I can't, however, hold this in.

Italian soccer! The players, the fans, the style in general... I'm fed up. They should all be ashamed of themselves. It makes me physically ill to watch them play and sitting here now remembering this morning's game makes me want to throw up. (for those of you who don't know, this morning an Italian player took a dive in the penalty box in the 93rd minute forcing a PK giving Italy the win after being fairly well dominated all game by Australia) Even typing that just now hurt. I'm really at a loss for words. how do they keep getting away with it? Why isn't there more outrage? Did you know that when Italy was knocked out of the World Cup 4 years ago the man who scored that goal... he played for an Italian club team. I say played because his team boss promptly fired him for "insulting Italian soccer and the nation." This poor guy, all he did was play his heart out for South Korea, the host country! And he got fired!

Ok ranting over. I know it's not fair to hold this against an entire nation, but I will... at least for a little while.

go driving

Sometimes I forget that I live near Chicago. I don't think I'm allowed to say I live "in Chicago" what with being out in the suburbs and all, but I also refuse to ever use the term "chicagoland." Anyway...

Last night leaving work I didn't feel like going home and since I had just made an awesome new mix cd it seemed like a good time to just drive. I'd never really done this before since moving to Illinois so I wasn't quite sure where to go. (this is, btw, how I ended up on a gravel road outside of Solon one night last year) So I got on the Edens and headed downtown. Now I didn't plan on going all the way into the city, but I did. And it was well worth the trip. It's just so big. and bright. and alive. and it's almost as if I live too close to be a tourist, but because I've not been here long and am still discovering a lot of places, when I'm downtown, I feel like a tourist. Still a little bit in awe.



I knew I'd finally adjusted to living here when I felt both in awe and a little bit proud. Like, hey look, this is my city.

Paint

ok so I'm off work, bored, and decided to do this. Some songs seem entirely appropriate, others I couldn't rationalize to save my life... also, I fully expect you to listen to all these songs so you know what I'm talking about. I did it for you. I swear.


Put your music player on shuffle.
Press forward for each question.
Use the song title as the answer to the question.


How am I feeling today?
What you think about... - St Germain
No lyrics, just straight jazzy groove. That works.

Will I get far in life?
I Summon You - Spoon
Ignoring the line "The law enforcement’s impressed you’ve survived to this age..." I'll just go to "Got the weight of the world/ I summon you here my love"

How do my friends see me?
Junior Kickstart - The Go Team
I don't know what to say, but for some reason it feels entirely appropriate...? Maybe it's the loud brassy parts that make it work.

When will I get Married?
Tomorrow is a Long Time - Nickel Creek
Wow. I had to look up the lyrics to this one and yea, that's about how I feel about marriage right now.

What is my best friend's theme song?
Tug of War - Nikka Costa
hmmm not really sure how this one works...

What is the story of my life?
So Long Sweet Summer - Dashboard Confessional
It's so corny and yet so true. What am I? twelve?

What is/was high school like?
Animals (live) - Coldplay
The angsty version of high school... It probably fits someone's high school years, but not so much mine.

How can I get ahead in life?
Volcano - Jimmy Buffet
Well can you ever really go wrong taking life advice from Mr Margaritaville himself?

What is the best thing about me?
Another Night - Real McCoy
Obviously this one is less about the actual song and more about my collection of ridiculous 90's dance/pop music. It's ok, I know you're just using me for my Ace of Base collection.

How is today going to be?
Step on it - Teddybears STHLM
ummm this is a very angry song and I didn't even know I had it... I downloaded a bunch of stuff from the band because I love "Little Stereo" and apparently everything else they've done is crap.

What is in store for this weekend?
He's a Rebel - Crystals
Hmm yea, another "I have no idea what the connection is" song. Check back with me monday and maybe it'll all make sense.

What song describes my parents?:
Firesuite - Doves
So this is totally the part of the survey where I think it falls apart. It's a great song, amazing instrumental and I love it, I just don't have an explanation.

To describe my grandparents?
That song from Ferris Bueller's Day Off. You know, the "dun dun chika chi kah oh yea" song

How is my life going?
Faithful - Common
It feels right... plus it's a song that is very "now" in my life. If that made any sense at all.

What song will they play at my funeral?
Get it Together - The GO Team
Actaully a song I would be ok with them playing. It's far too upbeat to be appropriate however.

How does the world see me?
The Game - Jurassic 5
"I'm a rebel with the ghetto finesse..." Yea that sounds about right. See J5 songs are like cheating because I could pick and choose to fit a lyric. Like if I wanted to sound super amazing "I'm sought by most recruiters and heavily recommended..."

Will I have a happy life?
Let Forever Be - Chemical Brothers
I think this means, don't worry about it.

What do my friends really think of me?
Too Much - Dave Matthews Band
Hmmm yea, I'll let you all weigh in on this one...

What should I do with my life?
Papillon - Twilight Singers
French for butterfly, also the title of a Steve McQueen movie about escaping from prison... I'll let you draw your own conclusions

Will I ever have children?
Hey Ma - Camron
No lie. I don't really know what to say. I am slightly embarassed to have to admit I have this song. And that I really do kind of love it.

What is some good advice for me?
Can't Get Next To You - Temptations
I choose to focus on all the things this song claims I can do: turn a grey sky blue, make it rain, build castles from sand, fly, live forever, turn back the hands of time, make the seasons change,

How will I be remembered?
If I Ruled the World - Nas, featuring Lauryn Hill
Like Junior Kickstart, I don't have any explanation, but I still like it.

What is my signature dancing song?
I'm in love - Audio Bullys
I do love the Audio Bullys and really any electronic/dance music would be appropriate here.

What do I think my current theme song is?
This Time - the Verve
Slightly depressing, slightly fitting, slightly optimistic

What does everyone else think my current theme song is?
Rebel Rebel - Seu Jorge
haha oh team zissou. I'm ok with this.

What type of men/women do I like?
Beautiful Soul - Jesse McCartney
This is the point in the survey at which I was ready to cheat. a) I have to admit I have this song. b) if you already knew I had it, you probably know I secretly kind of love it. c) it's painfully corny. Like I thought the dashboard song was corny, but this just absolutely topped it.
Thankfully it's also the end, so I was spared the private shame of cheating at a blog survey.

So this is my dog. And she's getting old and falls down a lot. Well actually she has always fallen down a lot, but lately has had trouble standing back up. It's sad and a little bit scary. You hear this big thump (not new) and then the little whimpers. Stupid hard wood floors that I fall on too...

Play Ball!

It's baseball season! From now until October, there will always be something to watch on tv. How great is that!

shame, shame, shame

At work we have XM radio. Most of the time we listen to the rock station or the classic rock station or even the 90's, but every once in a while we flip on 20 on 20. This is the top 20 songs on channel 20. And everytime we do I'm left in awe. The top 20 songs... suck. Of the 20 songs, 2 or 3 are decent and/or tolerable, 9 are awful whiny rock songs, and the last are horrible rap songs. I think this is part of what is wrong with people my age. If this is your taste in music, what sort of other life decisions are you screwing up?

That's right, I'm a bit of a music snob. I find humor in the fact that I've been listening to 2 of the top 20 songs since early last summer. Generally speaking, I think I have better taste in music than you.*


*you doesn't include the obvious people... you know who you are...

Socks... rhymes with smocks...

...and smocks is almost my favorite word. My favorite word being smock, in the singular. Say it. Isn't it fun to say? smock. smock. smock.

So apparently I do have things to blog about. I just don't immediately think to blog about them....

I have a new favorite thing! It's one of those little things that can make your day.... new socks. I buy socks in bulk, on the cheap, generally from Target. And I wear them out. Which is a mistake. I recently rediscovered the joy that is brand new socks. The feeling of how your foot can slide in a shoe and how smooth they are on hard wood floors. Of course I have such amazing balance and proprioception* this doesn't cause me any problems at all.

So go out and buy yourself some new socks and share in my joy.



* I've noticed lately that I seem to bump into things a lot and decided it's either dodgy peripheral vision or wonky proprioception. I prefer wonky proprioception to the theory that I might be losing my sight. That's kind of scary.

ugh I feel like I'm dying. Ok so that's not entirely true. I felt like I was dying. now I'm obviously feeling a bit better. Were I actually dying you can bet I would not take the time to blog about it. So Monday night I get home from work and have this cough, so i down some nyquil and go to sleep. When I "wake up" later in the day I sure wish I were dead. My head was throbbing and I kept coughing and basically I didn't want to ever move again. more nyquil = more sleep. now it's noonish on thursday but I'm just confused because I've lost so much time. As of this morning it just feels like the worst congested migraine ever. So I'm gonna keep sitting here in the dark and hope I feel better soon. Oh and nothing makes you feel cooler than having your parent call you in sick to work because you can't talk without coughing up a lung. great. what am I twelve?

Buy stuff I don't need

I spent money again today. A couple weeks ago it was shoes. This time it was DVD's. Here's the thing: I spent less than I made in overtime last week. So really I ought to work less, but because that won't happen any time soon I may as well have fun with the money I'm making off it.

*Disclaimer*
The rest of this post will make me seem like a HUGE geek. I'm going to try and get all my "squeeeing" out in one post. If you don't know me in that capacity maybe you ought to skip this...

I am now the proud owner of Seasons 1, 2 and 3 of Farscape. Well Volume 1 of Season 3, the other two aren't out yet, but I bought them and some random day in April they're just going to show up and I'm going to be super excited. Because by then I'll have forgotten all about it. And a while back I bought all the episodes of Firefly. So really I'll be all caught up soon. I'm only missing season 3 of La Femme Nikita. And I don't own any Battlestar, except the 3 episodes on my iPod, and I'm not sure I want to buy that show yet. I know eventually I will. Just not yet. Yea SCI-FI Channel. I wonder if I can buy just the Stargate episodes with Aeryn in them...

OOOH and I recently got season 3 of Home Movies. I forgot I never finished watching all of those. And I finally watched The 4400 and got hooked. But of course season 2 isn't out on DVD yet.

Speaking of the Sci-fi channel, I saw that they're going to start running Passions from the beginning. Yes that's right. The NBC Soap Passions. It totally fits, but is still pretty funny.

Back to Battlestar... I just don't know how I feel about this show anymore. I mean I love it and would be crushed if it was cancelled, but from an individual episode point of view it's losing my interest. It feels like part 2 in a trilogy. Certain groundwork has to be laid for the future story lines and Characters have to grow and change.... on the upside I think the whole fandom is feeling much the same way, so I know it's not me, it's the show. And yes that's right I just used the word fandom. I did warn you earlier but you just didn't listen did you?

Chew Gum

There's something bizarrely satisfying about chewing gum "like a cow chewing cud" as one of my teachers used to like to say. I try not to ever do this in public, but when there's no one else around? pretty great. In fact... doing it right now.

So I spent an absurd amount of money on shoes today. And see how I'm willing to admit that? I know I didn't need three more pairs of sneakers.... doesn't mean I didn't want them though. I think this is symptomatic of a problem facing all TJ's employees... we get paid more than seems right and all have some sort of spending weakness. Now I know I've been all about the shoes since before TJ's, but still... at least it's not going into drugs like a lot of the people I work with.