Random Musings...
Tuesday, December 21, 2004
- So here's my last post before my 12-day vacation! I'm so excited!
And
See you in 2005!
Posted at 3:30 PM
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- What a busy day! There is so much to do and wrap up before leaving on vacation, it's ridiculous! I've been running around all day.
So...last night's game. AWESOME!! WOW! How dramatic and beautiful. I was impressed from the start how the Fins were playing, but I never fully believed they were going to pull it off. "Why do I put myself through this?" I asked myself. Then, they clinched it at the very end. So exciting! Monday Night Football at its finest! Who would have thought the first or second best team in the NFL versus the first or second worst team would have been so great!
We had a guy come and look at our heater. He confirmed that, yeah, it was in terrible shape and very dangerous at that point, so we need to get the entire unit replaced. The estimate: $2100. AARGGH!! So last night, we slept with no heater and, of course, we had the coldest night of the year. Andrew and I both wore full pajamas and added on two extra blankets to our bed. We ended up being just fine until we had to get OUT of bed in the morning. Plus, there was not even a hot shower to warm us up! One of the major problems that caused the issue with the heater was that it was running at full blast despite being set to "off." So, we had to cut power to the entire utlity closet to ensure it didn't start up again. The water heater is in there as well, so, there we were. BAH! So cold! Perfect timing to be flying off to Venezuela where it is in the high 80's!
Fortunately, though, we got a second opinion and had a guy come over to take a look today. $1700, which still sucks, but is a lot better than $2100!
OH! And I got the DVD of the movie I did!! I'm seriously in it so little, but I don't care. I actually think I did a decent job. I was terrified to see myself in a movie in case I sucked, but I didn't. I didn't shine or anything, because I'm really not supposed to. I hardly do anything, but still, I'm impressed that I didn't stick out like a sore thumb in the movie. It was definitely a weird feeling to see, though. Can't wait to see it on the big screen. No close ups or anything, but still exciting.
And so I'm off to start my Christmas vacation in a few hours. Hopefully I can wrap things up and leave a few minutes early.
Posted at 1:27 AM
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Monday, December 20, 2004
- Oh yeah! The rest of the weekend!
Friday night, Andrew and I stayed in and watched Citizen Kane. I had watched it once before years ago, but I didn't remember it all that well. I had thought it was overrated when it was declared the best movie of all time, but I really loved it this time around and so did Andrew. Good stuff.
Most of our weekend was working. I went through every single article of clothing I own (which is A TON, thanks to my mom's shopping addiction), and finally decided to get rid of the stuff I don't wear or doesn't fit anymore. I filled eight bags of clothes to give away! Half of it went straight to Goodwill, the other half of the better stuff I kept to see if any of my cousins wanted any of it before it goes to Goodwill as well. It was satisfying to donate all of that for the holidays, but it was also really satisfying to get all of that out of my room so that I could actually organize the place. My closets are now perfectly adequate. I'm so pleased. No more junk taking up space. Now I can only say I have nothing to wear when the closet is actually empty! :) I did laundry the rest of the time to get all of my clothes all clean so I have an easy time packing for the big trip.
Saturday night, Andrew and I went out with some friends for sushi for the first time. I can't believe we had never had it before! We LOVED it. Oh man, yesterday (and even still today), I was feeling all these cravings for more. Wow. It was awesome. Of course, we went to the best place in town for it that always has a wait of an hour. I don't know how I'd feel about sushi from lesser places. But wow. If I had the money, I could see myself going there at least once a week. Amazing. What do they put in the stuff that makes it so addicting?
From there, we went back to their place and played the new edition of Trivial Pursuit, and I won. Woo! I rock at trivia, I must say. My moment of glory came, however, when it came to the last question. We played so that others pick the category to ask you the question. Being that I'm a girl, they all figured the sports and leisure category would be my weak spot (and indeed, I had trouble with it for most of the game). However, I lucked out, and got an NFL question. The guy asking me the question had a smirk on his face and asked which NFL team trains on Riker Island. The Jets! Woo! Go me. It was awesome to show another guy that yes, I am indeed a REAL football fan. He should have known when I won the green pie piece for it by answering which team had the worst record in the NFL in 2002 with only one win late in the season? Lions! Boo-yeah!
And speaking of football, I had a nice full day of it yesterday. Watched the Packers Jags game and the Colts Ravens game beginning to end, and kept the Broncos Chiefs game on in the background while I worked around the house. Tonight, Miami's on Monday Night Football....against the Pats. :( All Miami games have been painful this season, but this one will be particularly bad. Alas.
Posted at 11:41 AM
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- I woke up around 5:30 this morning to Andrew getting out of bed. "Do you smell that?" he asked. I suddenly noticed that, yeah, I did smell something burning. I was a bit groggy, so I said, "Oh, that's just the gross heater," but it soon became very clear that there was, in fact, some sort of problem. We didn't see any smoke, but there was definitely something burning. We checked all of our appliances, looked all around the house. We fought for a minute or two on what we should do. I wanted to call the fire department, but Andrew thought that was maybe overreacting since there was no smoke or fire. It eventually got so bad upstairs we couldn't even breathe, so that settled it. Made my first emergency 911 call. I was happy with how quickly they responded. They told us to get out of the house, and by the time we put out jackets on (because it's in the 30's out this morning!), Lucky's leash on, and walked outside, we could already see the flashing lights approaching. We had three fire trucks and a police officer arrive. Lucky got quite excited at all the activity.
So the firemen went in and explored the house for a bit. Finally, the chief came back out and told us that what happened is that one of the pieces of our heater got jammed. This caused the rest of our heater to overheat. He said that when he opened the heater box, it was glowing bright orange. He said he'd never seen something that bad without worse consequences. He said we should be happy that we woke up by the smell, because he said he was surprised it hadn't started flames yet looking how it did. Yikes!
So that's how we woke up this morning. I'm still nauseous from the smell. It was just horrible. I'm also very freaked out to realize how close we came to a housefire. When I went back upstairs, I realized that the carpet in the very specific area of our bedroom that is right over the heater was warm. THAT's how hot it got! The fire would have started in the floor of our bedroom. What a horrible thought.
I used to have a real phobia of fires for a long time. I hated candles and fireplaces. I didn't even light my first match until I was in late high school or early college. When I was in fourth grade, one of the houses in our neighborhood burned down and someone died. That was also right around the time my vision was started to go. When I would go to bed at night, the blurry, dark room to me looked like smoke. I used to scream and cry night after night and wake my parents up thinking that our place was going to burn down too. I eventually got over it to the point where I actually love having candles around, but it's always kind of in the back of my mind. I just always figured it's so rare to have a house burn down anymore, and when they do, it's usually some sort of kitchen negligence. I'm always careful with those kinds of things, and I keep a fire extinguisher right there, so I thought we were basically safe. I hope I'm not taking a giant step back here. I had finally gotten it out of my mind that a fire was a possibility, and now, we came within minutes. Ok, so we're getting the problem taken care of...but don't our neighbors in the adjacent units have the same heater unit?? If they go, we go too. Great. Back to the sleepless nights for me. :(
Posted at 8:28 AM
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Friday, December 17, 2004
- Update on the Bitch Prof thing: I just read an evaluation. I haven't been able to read any of the others because they've been handed to me in sealed envelopes in an envelope I typed up, so I knew what it was. I received this one in the mail, however, so I didn't know what I was looking at until I read it! It wasn't pretty! :)
Posted at 2:58 PM
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- So glad it's Friday! After today, just two more days of work left in 2004!
This weekend, Andrew and I wanted to go through all of our clothes and get rid of the ones that don't fit or we never wear. We haven't ever really done that, so we are long overdue. We have way too much. Also, we need to pack. We are going to have to do some serious, serious packing! We are packing for all kind of weather! In Venezuela, we'll be going to the beach and to the mountains. I'll be in the baptism in Puerto Rico, so I'll need something nice, and then it's straight to North Carolina for the cold New Years. I won't get home in between it all! Wow! 12 days worth of clothing for every different climate and occassion. Plus, I need to pack small, because we are having to lug down all of the presents to my family in Venezuela, and we are already almost at our baggage limit. (Plus, it's just a pain to carry that much luggage all of those places!) What a crazy holiday. I'm looking forward to each piece of it, though.
Posted at 9:39 AM
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Thursday, December 16, 2004
- Ok, I've been obsessed with Yahoo games at work recently. My favorites: Collapse, Jewel Quest, and Text Twist. Well, I just played a hell of a game, but was missing one last possible word at the end. I just couldn't think of it. The letters were: NSIEPS
So I got Nip, Ins, Pie, Pen, Pin, Sis, Sin, and Sip for three letter words, Nips, Pens, Pies, Pine, Pins, Snip, Sips, Sins, Sine, Sips, and Spin for four letter words (I tried Piss, but it didn't work!), Pines, Snips, Snipe, Spies, Spins and Spine for five letter words, and Spines and Snipes for the six letter word. I was missing one last five letter word...
...
Penis. Man, I'm so disappointed in myself!! LOL Once Piss was rejected, I guess my mind left the gutter. I'm sad, though. That should have been the first one I saw. So close to a flawless game! :)
In other news, I'm excited to go to the pot luck lunch in a few, mostly because I brought some amazing looking broccoli salad that I can't wait to monopolize! :)
Posted at 11:06 AM
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- Yesterday afternoon, just as I was getting ready to leave work, I found out some very interesting news. Bitch Prof may get DEMOTED!!! OMG!!! That NEVER happens. Slowly but surely, everyone who has made my life miserable in this place has gotten their comeuppance. First PT, whose mission for nearly two years was to get me fired (even though I felt I was quite convenient for him since I was always his scapegoat) was fired himself...and this College NEVER fires people. Now, we're talking about a potential DEMOTION for a tenured professor!?! Wow! I know I shouldn't relish the misfortunes of others, but I just feel redeemed and validated. These two people have driven me absolutely crazy and have pushed my patience to the absolute limit. I wondered if it was me--if I have problems with interpersonal relationships at work, if I'm not used to the way offices work, if I'm unreasonable in my expectations of the way people should act toward me. But no, I'm not unreasonable! These people really ARE that bad. Bad enough so that unprecedented steps are being taken. I just think it's interesting that I sit at this desk taking shit all day since I'm just a stupid little secretary, while those who have taken advantage of me with their advanced degrees and expertise have had to be dealt with at last. I'm sorry, but it's just so validating.
So here's the story on what's going on. Remember about a month or two ago when Bitch Prof was driving me absolutely insane to the point of me nearly having a total nervous breakdown at work? Well, that was when she was working on her Promotion package. She is a tenured professor (meaning she has permanent status at the University and cannot be fired), but was submitting a proposal to be promoted from Associate Professor to Professor. The only real difference is that taking off the "Associate" part gives you a little more prestige because it indicates real seniority and proof of your accomplishments in the academic world. It also means a pay increase and an extension of a few benefits. In order to be promoted, a vote needs to be taken by the other professors in the School. That's where it gets juicy. Apparently, the meeting to discuss her promotion became a total bashing session about how much everyone hated her and didn't want to promote her. The Dean had to step in and point out that she is already tenured. Therefore, the only criteria you are allowed to judge are those qualities directly related to her scholarly and teaching achievements. Unfortunately, she is beyond reproach in those areas. She has won more grants, gets more papers published, and is invited to more talks than any other professor here. In addition, the students love her for some reason. She always gets high marks in her class evaluations. So, the Dean had to explain that based on all of those facts, there was no way she could be denied the promotion.
He pointed out that the issue everyone seemed to have with her is in her capacity as Assistant Director of the School. The story goes that the faculty then all got up in arms and asked why she can't have that position taken away from her! Wow! The Director of the school is evaluated every two years, but the Assistant Director never has been. The Dean declared that since there was sufficient enough "interest" in an evaluation process, that the School is free to do it. Now, it's all flooding in! Everyone is taking advantage and finally letting loose on what they think. Oh to be a fly on the wall in those meetings! So apparently, her position as Assistant Director is in jeopardy, as she has a virtual mutiny on her hands. No one has asked me for my opinion, and I'm not part of the evaluation process (other than collecting the sealed envelopes), but I have confidence that if any of this is taking place, it's because I'm not alone in my opinions of Bitch Prof!
Posted at 9:26 AM
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Wednesday, December 15, 2004
- Man, I'm terrible. As soon as I can think of a company name, I'm going to begin submitting paperwork to start my business. I just can't think of one. I'm so indecisive.
I love the name Lucky Pants Productions.
The name Rosalie Designs or Designs by Rosalie is fine.
But none of those really let you know what the company is. I wish there was some way to give an indication.
Words that would describe my products:
Personalized
Custom
Gifts
Promotional Items
Etched
Engraved
Most of those words might limit too much. Gifts, for example, is a lot of what I would expect, but I would love to also be able to branch out and make things for companies with their logos, etc. for promotional purposes of for their business.
Hmmm....
Posted at 1:07 PM
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- Cold! There was ice on my car, but fortunately none on the windsheild, so I've managed to avoid ice scraping so far this season. I finally caved, though and am wearing my big, heavy Norwegian sweater. Last time I wore it was in Rochester almost an entire year ago! How time flies.
Oh, and I HATE having the heater on in the house. It makes my throat dry. The vent blows right onto our bed, which is fine when it's cool air, but NOT fine when it's burnt air. I had to put on massive amounts of lotion this morning. We're going to see if we can turn it around this afternoon.
Yesterday after work, I met up with Kim and two of her friends from work for Happy Hour. I ended up zooming through an entire margarita in a matter of minutes without even realizing. Oops. I only had two total, but about 9pm last night, I was slammed with a major headache. D'oh.
I'm meeting Andrew for lunch today. I love when we can do that.
Posted at 8:21 AM
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Tuesday, December 14, 2004
- I can't believe that it's noon, and the temperature is still in the 40's here! Wow! It's breezy too, so the wind chill is in the low 40's. We're going well below freezing tonight and everything. I guess this is the signal that we finally have to turn our heater on at home! Checking out the forecast, it looks like we're going to have cool weather for a while.
I really like this kind of weather, but it's kind of annoying in a way here. I just don't like the idea of wearing any of my heavy sweaters or jackets here in Florida. This morning was freezing, but I was just wearing a long sleeve shirt and pants. If I were in NC, I'd be wearing a sweater with no problem. I just don't like doing that here. I don't know why. It's even an effort for me to wear anything other than sandals! I always figure that it's going to heat up throughout the day, that I'm only going to be outside briefly, etc. And yes, usually we heat up quite a bit during the day. We can wake up very cold, but be downright warm by noon. I remember my frustration in high school from wearing a heavy shirt or sweater, and then be dying of heat during lunch. We get these stronger fronts, though, that keep the air really cool throughout the day. I guess there wouldn't be any shame in wearing a light sweater today. It just feels silly. I always laugh at the people I see with gloves, hats, and scarves on walking around, even if my teeth are chattering.
Posted at 1:28 PM
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Monday, December 13, 2004
Posted at 1:54 PM
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- Brrr! It's cold out! It's in the low 40's right now. Friday afternoon it was so friggin' hot. It was in the high 70's. Now, it's freezing. Florida weather is so schizo this time of year...but I love it!
We had a great weekend. Friday, we rushed down to Orlando as quickly as we could to help out with a Christmas party my parents were throwing. They had 30 people for a sit down dinner. Wow! Very extravagant. We helped out quite a bit. Andrew and Bobby were the water boys, I retired the plates, rinsed them out, and handed out the desserts. It was actually a lot of fun, and the food was AWESOME! I miss good Puerto Rican food so much.
Saturday morning we celebrated Christmas morning, exchanging our presents to each other. My brother, as he always has every Christmas morning, came knocking on our door at about 7:30am to wake us up. When he was a kid, we had to institute this ridiculous rule that he wasn't allowed to wake us up to open presents until at least the sun was up. Seriously, there were years he tried at 5am, so we had to draw the line. Of course, I would have liked it to be a little later than 7:30am after we had gone to bed around 2am the night before due to the party. Man, we were dragging, but the presents were great. I've already worn several of my new clothing items. Everyone seemed to like the things I got for them as well. I was pleased. We hung out a little around the house, my dad and I talked more about my business, and we went to see Oceans 12 (which sucked!). As soon as we got home from the movies, we went right to bed. We were exhausted!
Yesterday, I went shopping with my mom to buy Robert a little soccer themed rocking chair for his baptism gift. It's so cute! I hope they all like it. We had to make it back to Gainesville for my office Christmas party at my boss's house. It was surprisingly nice to hang out with everyone outside of the office context.
When we got home, we had to figure out how to fit this giant TV Andrew decided to get with the Best Buy gift certificate he got for Christmas. It's a 24 inch, but it had to fit on our dresser in our bedroom. Wow, it looks enormous! I guess he got sick out our little 13 inch! The TV is exactly as wide as the dresser, and we had to pull it out a few inches from the wall, because the TV is deeper than it is! It'll take some getting used to seeing that monster in there! I mean, 24" isn't a giant TV, but it sure looks that way in our bedroom!
So now I'm starting my last full week of work of 2004. I can't believe we're already heading for Venezuela next week! Can't wait!
Posted at 8:07 AM
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Friday, December 10, 2004
- I'm gonna just say it. I look damn good today. Seriously. Go me. My haircut totally compliments me and I've been working a lot on my skin lately, topped off with the facial. I feel restored after months of neglect.
Strange confession...I don't have DMB Live at Red Rocks. *Gasp!* I KNOW! I did own it at one point, but it disappeared mysteriously sometime sophomore year of college. I miss it terribly. Would someone want to do a trade for it? I've got a handful of shows. I know you're not supposed to trade official releases, but I did pay money for it the day it came out however long ago that was. Drop me an email if you want to help a Red Rocksless soul out.
Alright, I'm out soon. Have a great weekend everyone!
Posted at 3:07 PM
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- I'm leaving early today. Yay!
This morning, I dressed all nice and cute so I could go directly to the party like this. I ended up 15 minutes late...and still was the first person here. I don't know why I'm ever on time, really.
Posted at 10:24 AM
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Thursday, December 09, 2004
- OK, now they are having a luncheon downstairs in the lobby that my office overlooks. No doors to close, so I'm deafened by the sound of piano, clanging glasses, and useless chatter. I can't even think straight. Plus, the food smells good, and I'm not having any of it. Grrr.
Posted at 11:37 AM
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- Everything has been on the fritz lately in the building with these electricians working. Yesterday, the lights kept coming off and on, and they managed to blow the air conditioner. Of course, this is normally not an issue in December, but it's been freakishly warm here. It's in the upper 70's out, and this "airy" building has become quite stuffy. Just this morning, we lost our network and, consequently, our phones. Apparently, they don't know what switch goes to what, because they had no qualms about shutting it off while they went to work somewhere else. Yeseterday was the last day of classes, which means we completed an entire semester with two of our classrooms with no central lighting. We had lamps hooked up to the walls. Yes, classes had to meet there. I don't know how long it really takes to hook up electricity to a room, but apparently, it's more than four months.
Tomorrow we're heading down to Orlando for our pre-Christmas Christmas. We'll be arriving just in time for a Christmas party my parents are hosting for 30 of their closest friends. Should be interesting. Saturday is pre-Christmas Christmas, when we'll be opening up presents to and from my family. I'm going to try and split up my presents to Andrew so he can open up half on Saturday and half during out post-Christmas Christmas with his family. I wrapped most of the presents a while ago, so I hope I can remember what's in what so I can divide it nicely. I didn't think I would be, but I'm getting excited for my presents, only because I'm so anxious to get new music. I put a lot of CDs on my wishlist. I hope I get some then.
In the meantime, everything is still the same. Andrew and I have become addicted to Snood and fight each other for the computer. When one of us beats the other's high score, it's all out war! I've been getting my fix lately here at work on Yahoo games, especially collapse. It's not as fun, though, because most of the games are timed in some way, and I get interrupted every 30 seconds, so I can't beat very basic levels. I find myself getting annoyed with people who come to my desk. Well, actually, when am I not annoyed??
Posted at 9:51 AM
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Wednesday, December 08, 2004
- I just added a list of blogs I read on a daily basis over on the right. No, I don't really know everyone there on that list. I just enjoy them!
Posted at 1:02 PM
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- Went for my facial yesterday. Soooo nice. My face is so nice and smooth. I also got my brows reshaped. It's amazing how much changing your eyebrows affects the way you look. I like them, but they're a little TOO neat. It's kind of weird. I'm hoping that they'll grow out a bit to look a little less like I get them worked on.
So Andrew is all giddy about some fantastic present he has gotten me. He's been torturing me about it! I wasn't thinking about it at all, and then he goes to tell me that "it's better than everything on your entire wish list combined, I blew the budget, and I don't care." Ahhh!! What could it be?? At first, I was thinking it may be the Elton John concert that is coming to town (yes, to GAINESVILLE! What's with this town getting the biggest acts in the world lately??), but getting two tickets isn't completely blowing the budget out of the water. I really want to go, but I'm afraid to buy them or ask him to just in case this is it. Bah! I'm going to have to ask about it anyway, just because I want to make sure I don't miss it.
Update: No, that wasn't the gift. :) We're going to see Elton John right here in our little town this March. YAY! I can't believe that out of only 8 dates, Gainesville is one of them! Can't wait!
Posted at 8:44 AM
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Tuesday, December 07, 2004
- Andrew and his brother John have gone into a deal together. Andrew had an enormous GI Joe collection that he is now wiling to sell since it is just taking up space in his parents house. So, John has agreed to sell the items on eBay, so they'll be splitting the profits 50/50. While we were over on Thanksgiving, they set them all up, and I was the photographer. He has three items up right now, featuring my excellent photography. LOL. Anyway, check 'em out. I just emailed him, though, to let him know that he'd get more hits if he put GI Joe in the titles of them. The Cobra Hydrofoil, for example, only has 15 hits, with 3 bids. It means it's getting a great response, but not enough people are actually seeing it! Hopefully he can change that before the auctions expire.
Posted at 11:21 AM
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- Ok, THIS is what I REALLY want for Christmas. WOW. Amazing.
Posted at 10:35 AM
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- I'm going to get a facial after work today. I'm very excited!
Last night I went to visit my coworker who has breast cancer It was a fun visit, even though our great conversations were peppered with reminders that she is fighting for her life. So tough.
This past weekend, I bought my mom a keychain and had it engraved. I was a big geek and was proud of myself for recognizing the two engraving machines they had in the shop after all the research I've done. I'm pretty sure these Things Remembered stores are all over the place. They are somewhat along the lines of what I want to do but are much more limited. They only had the flat engravers that engrave letters and numbers onto metal in different fonts. Therefore, all of the glasses that they had to engrave and personalize had a big metal piece that had to be tacked on. The online store has a few more options, but not many. If I were to have a full blown operation, I would definitely have one of these flat engravers, but I would prefer not to be so limited. I want to be able to do more than just letters and numbers. I want full blown designs on various different mediums. The product I'm most excited about is Epilog Laser. It's very expensive, but it has the highest quality and versatility. I can create a higher volume and diversity of products. Letter engraving, monograms, designs, and even photos on glass, wood, or metal. This is the ultimate machine I can aspire to. I'm going to be having a "business meeting" with my dad this weekend when we go down to Orlando. We're going to finally get down to the nitty gritty of this all and crunch some numbers. I'm excited!
Posted at 9:34 AM
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Monday, December 06, 2004
- Weirdness...
Posted at 1:56 PM
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- I fell down the stairs on Saturday, and I'm still sore. I've had several near-falls in the few years we've been living with this carpeted staircase, but this weekend was my first full-blown fall. Fortunately, it could have been a lot worse. I was wearing socks and just slipped. I ended up landing on my butt on one of the steps. Well, actually, my butt hit two steps along the way. Ouch. I'm glad I didn't fall forward and onto the tile floor! Anyway, it wasn't so bad, really. I just laid down for about 15 minutes recovering, mostly from the shock of actually falling. I remember when I was a kid, my parents would receive a call from time to time about someone falling, and they'd go on about how awful it was. I didn't get it. Kids seem to just bounce. It's a lot harder for an adult to fall. Man, I'm all achy from a really simple fall, and I'm still a young, spry 20-something! If I have stairs when I'm sixty, I'm going to put some non-skid stuff on it, even if it looks tacky!
Posted at 1:37 PM
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- By the way, my hair looks COMPLETELY differnt now than it did on Thursday when that picture was taken. Instead of blow drying it, I've just been letting it air dry, and let me tell you, I LOVE the results!! It's curling naturally in all the right places. People have been telling me this morning that they love how I have styled it, but I tell them that I didn't do anything with it! I even think I forgot to put a brush through it this morning after I washed it. I just toweled it off and left it as it was. Dear God, as much as Meg Ryan makes my skin crawl, I must say, it looks like a dark haired version of this hairstyle...
...and I LOVE it. Seriously, I'm so in love with it that I'm considering not growing this out for a long while. It is so cute and just WAAAY too easy to manage. I'll take an updated picture tonight, perhaps, to show it off.
Posted at 1:00 PM
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- Had a nice weekend. We got the house all decorated for the holidays and finished up our Christmas shopping. The last ones left were the gifts for my mom and dad. Everyone else I finished in a day. My parents are IMPOSSIBLE to buy for. Absolutely impossible. I ended up buying a couple of things that are nice. None of them are particularly special, I guess. I got my dad three books, including one giant, very colorful book of photography of Italy, a bottle of wine, and a big bar of one of this favorite candies that isn't available very many places. For my mom, I got her an engraved keychain, a picture frame that I plan to put a picture of Andrew and I in, and a gift box of her favorite perfume, Oscar de la Renta. So, it'll be fine, I suppose.
We also went to see the movie Sideways. AWESOME. I LOVED it. I love these simple movies that are just about character development. It's hilarious and touching all at the same time. I highly recommend it!
Posted at 10:48 AM
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Friday, December 03, 2004
- So here my haircut was being billed as professional and sophisticated. Indeed, I thought I looked more sophisticated than what I was. (This is me less than a week ago. Yeah, I needed an update!) So why am I getting, "You look younger" and more people thinking I'm a student?? Geez!! I'm not on a quest to look old or anything, but if people thought I looked somewhere between 18 and 20 before, what must I look like now?? Andrew's gotta be careful that he doesn't get arrested or something, I suppose.
Posted at 4:53 PM
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- Arg! Another post disappearing into Blogger oblivion! Oh well.
I'm hunting around for potential domain names for my company's website. It is so frustrating! I know that sometimes people buy up a bunch of names and then try to sell it to you. But that's not even the problem. There are people just stupidly sitting on some of these sites. Like I really like the name Lucky Pants Productions. Well, luckypantsproductions.com is available, but it's so long. So, I gave luckypants.com a shot. I was expecting it to be taken, but not as stupidly as it is. All it says is "Watch this space." Umm..ok. So I tried a couple random names I had tossed around. Dreamingtree.com only has an image and an email address. Firedancer.com is just a company website that hasn't been updated since 2001! Frustrating. I could add words to all of these, like "designs" or "creations," etc., but I was really hoping for a simple web address. I guess I can't have it all!
Posted at 2:25 PM
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- Ok, so I was freaking out last night over my hair, but it looks MUCH cuter this morning. I didn't like how she styled it, flipping it under. It looked so...round. This morning, though, I added some curl to the very ends around my face so that it's flipping out a bit instead, and it looks extremely cute, I must say. I'm feeling a ton better now. I feel hot. Hee hee. I now know what it's like to have short hair. Fun. I think that my ideal length is longer than this, but I definitely love this for now.
Ok, so I told Kim and Brent like two weeks ago that we'd have them over for dinner tomorrow, but I can't think of anything at all to cook. I was thinking of kabobs briefly, but I'm not sure anymore. Erg. Maybe I should just propose going out together instead?? Bleh.
Posted at 8:11 AM
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Thursday, December 02, 2004
- How short did I go?? THIS short!!! AAAHHHH!!!
Posted at 9:34 PM
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- I'm getting my first ever bonus in my next paycheck. Heck yeah. I heard about it way back over the summer and lamented that I wasn't going to be here anymore to receive it. Alas, I am still here, so this bonus has become my consolation prize. I'm sure that they intended this bonus to make us happier and motivate us. Indeed, had I not known about, I might have actually told everyone here exactly where they should shove this job just a few short weeks ago. So, the bonus is a milestone for me. "Congrats on surviving far, far longer than you thought you could." In the meantime, I'll enjoy my money, thank you. It's more than I make in a month, so it's a decent chunk of change. Maybe it'll let me get out of here a month earlier than whenever it's appropriate then?? :) Man, it's going to take every ounce of self-control not to quit as soon as I roll out my business next year. Must keep head on straight.
Speaking of head, I got a call from the salon asking if I wanted to move up my appointment. I'm going to be looking that much cooler 45 minutes earlier. Go me. Maybe I'll post a pic of my new do later tonight for all to admire.
Posted at 4:04 PM
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- I made an appointment for a haircut this evening. I'm so excited. One of my friends recommended this woman very highly. It sounds like she's exactly what I've been looking for. Supposedly they do this whole consultation at this salon where they help you choose a style based on your shape, your hairtype, etc. My friend has never gone in with anything particular in mind, and always comes out looking like a movie star. Hopefully I can get some of the same treatment! I'm going to tell her to just come up with something, like I intended to do last time until that ghastly woman with the 80's hair came out to greet me. I don't care how short, as long as it looks good.
Then, on Tuesday, I have an appointment to get a brow shaping and a facial. So, I'm in the midst of a gradual makeover. I can't wait for the ego boost of looking better after all of this. I was whining to Andrew about how I've been desperately needing these things because I've felt so ugly in the past few months. "You've never been ugly," he tells me. "But I have looked better," I responded. "Well...yes, I suppose you have." We had a good laugh at that.
Posted at 10:16 AM
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Wednesday, December 01, 2004
- We're now 11/12 of the way through 2004, and I saw someone else do a "Year in Review" kind of thing. Figured I'd give it a shot...
I will remember 2004 as the year not very much changed for me. I live in the same place, drive the same car, and, despite my repeated attempts at change, work in the same place. Well, that's not quite true. We did move offices, and consequently, I park in a different parking lot now. Sad, but at least it's all a change of scenery. The office is spacious and sunny, the parking lot is much easier to find space, and my computer screen is now a lot harder to read by random people. Improvements, but I had been so certain this would be the year of my big career move. I applied to several jobs, including the one I had been holding my breath for at the Center for Performing Arts. After becoming a finalist for the position, I notified my current job about my interview, only to be rejected a few days later. Ouch.
Beside the job thing, I had planned to change a few other things in my life, none of which came to fruition. I was "discovered" by a film director in the play I did in January, Shadow Box. By early May, I was in my first real film shoot, albeit a low budget one. Still, it will be released in the next couple months on national television. It got me thinking about doing film/TV acting gigs on the side. I considered getting an agent in Orlando, but I just never went through with it. Really, I wouldn't have been able to do anything like that with my current job. Hopefully my next career move will allow that kind of flexibility to pursue that desire. I was able to do another play in the meantime, To Gillian on Her 37th Birthday.
These two shows finally opened up the door for me to make my own girl friends, something I hadn't had since college. The four of us girls do Happy Hour, do dinner parties with our husbands/boyfriends, etc. It's great, and one friendship in particular, with Kim, has turned into a closer relationship that I had missed in my post-school years. So finally, this year, I felt like I developed my own social life, not dependent on Andrew's or whoever felt like inviting me to some large gathering.
One of the biggest highlights of the year was my cousin Jennifer giving birth to Robert Matthew and then asking me to be his godmother! So exciting. I don't think a day has gone by since he was born on February 20 that I haven't thought of the little guy.
I did quite a bit of traveling in 2004 as well, though never as much as I like. I went to North Carolina in May and November (and coming in December), NYC in May, Lake Ontario in June, Wisconsin in July, Puerto Rico in August (and coming in December), Buffalo in May and August, Savannah in November, St. Augustine in November, and Venezuela coming up in December. I also saw DMB a whopping 4 times this year, my record. Once in Tampa, twice in Wisconsin, and once right here in Gainesville.
Andrew and I celebrated our three year anniversary this year, which seems incredible to me. We are tighter than ever before and seem to get better by the day. I can still probably count on one hand any fight that we've had that took longer than half an hour to resolve. We act as goofy with each other as ever, and still feel the sparks like always.
2005 will be my last full year in Gainesville. It will be a year of research for Andrew and I, to see where we will end up in 2006. My biggest hope is that it will also be the beginning of my new business. I want to do this. I want to go back to being creative, to be my own boss, and to control my own schedule. Hopefully 2005 will be the year I remember as the year I broke out and took my life into my own hands. The year I stopped going with the flow. The year I lived each day for myself, rather than just to get myself closer to the weekend. These are my hopes for 2005.
Posted at 12:37 PM
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- I decided this morning that not only am I going to get a kickass haircut ASAP, but I'm also going to get a facial and an eyebrow wax before Christmas. I need to stop feeling gross.
Andrew and I are going to have three Christmases this year. Three! The first one will come Dec. 11 at my parents house. Since we are going to Venezuela, we have a limited amount of things we can bring, so we're going to open the presents my parents, my brother, Andrew, and I are giving each other then since that is the last time we're getting together before flying out. Then, actual Christmas day, we're going to be doing presents to and from our family in Venezuela. Finally, from there we were going to spend New Years in NC with Andrew's family, but everyone decided they would wait to do presents until we got there, so then we do those. Wow. That's a lot of present opening. Very weird year.
I got some more info on some heavy duty machinery that can produce the kinds of things I want, but it's a ton of money. I'm trying to decide whether I should jump into that or not. I could either get a loan to buy it (either from the bank or my dad), finance it myself, or lease it. Leasing would be the best option for someone as hesitant to commit as I am, but if it takes off, I'll have spent a lot more in the long run than if I had just bought it. Still, it may make sense anyway, especially since we're only going to be in Gainesville another one and a half years. It may be too complicated to ship to wherever we'll live next year, and then again wherever we live after that. If I do decide to get this machine, I'd have to rent some sort of tiny studio space somewhere. It needs one of those industrial electrical outlet and leaves dust, apparently. My hardest decision is whether to start small for now or jump in and do the highest professional quality I can from the beginning. Still can't make up my mind after all this thinking and research.
Oh, and also, company name. Andrew and I both keep coming back to Lucky Pants Productions. Love it for the corporation. For the specific company I want to begin with, I guess just Lucky Glass. Not necessarily the most elegant name. How about Dreaming Tree Glass? Firedancer Glass? Ha! Maybe stay away from the DMB names! ;)
Posted at 8:39 AM
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