Twas the night before christmas...

I was sitting around today thinking about where I was on this week in past years, so I figured I'd write a blog about it, starting back from as far as I can remember.

December 1999 - Over xmas/new years by friend Becca and I took a cruise for 12 days for what we thought would be the time of our lives. We had been "hired" to go with two families to babysit their kids during the millenium cruise. We were stoked. As it turned out, we had a horrible time, but great stories for years to come.

2000 - I spent my first winter break at GT going to Israel for three weeks on the Jewel program. It was a nice experience, and awesome to get to take a nearly free trip to Israel.

2001 - Let's see, sophomore year for xmas I invited over all of my jewish friends, and we threw a party for my friend (and at the time roommate) JennY. JennY couldn't go home that year, so we baked kosher christmas cookies and my mom and sister whipped out the christmas carols sheet music and played music for the party. For new years I believe I threw a party at my parents' house when they went out for a party, but I don't remember many details other than that I still have a picture or two.

2002 - I remember this year I went to Jacob's house for new years with his friends. Before that, I spent winter break in Cancun with him and his family for a week or so.

2003 - winter break this year was on a cruise with my friend Leah, and her friend Antonette. The three of us gals partied like it was 1999 and enjoyed our break at the beach. For new years I party hopped - first to Jacob's and then to the great Keg drop the the old AEPi guys used to do in the grey house off bellemeade rd.

2004- I spent winter break this year in Chile. The dates fell so that we ended up with 4 weeks of winter break, and I really wanted to get out of town since it was my last winter break while in school, but couldn't find anyone that wanted to join me. So I ventured out doing a bit of research, and ended up going to Chile for the break, and helped out at the Hillel in Santiago, and had a lovely time, and met some awesome people.

2005 - This week in 2005 I closed on my house. My family was in Spain visiting my brother while he was spending the year there, and I went on my own and closed on my house. I (of course) still live in my house, and still love it. I just can't believe it's been 2 years. That same year I threw a new years party in the newly renovated room in the back of my parents' house. The theme was speakeasy, and it was a blast if I do say so myself. Josh and Leah were in town that year, which made it awesome. I still even have pictures here:

2006 - Before christmas, I drove to Charlotte with Josh, and spent a few days visiting with his family and friends. then once I came home, I spent my couple days off for christmas laying the new flooring down at my house. My dad, brother, and Leah W all endured the two days of obstacles to see the lovely final product. It was awesome, and way better than the ugly carpet that was there before. For new years, I hosted a party at the last minute and had lots of fun and fireworks, and used the "liquor cow" for the first time.

2007 - I went to the bagel bash (for the third year in a row), and for new years I'll be attending Lindy Focus up in Asheville, NC. I am actually looking forward to it a lot.

so there you have it. The past 8 years from memory of what I did during these couple weeks of holidays. As always, they were fun, and I look back on them fondly =)

Chanukkah!

Well, it’s been a pretty exciting week in the life of me! First off, Happy Late Chanukkah! While everyone else is currently scrambling for gifts, our holiday has ended, and let me say, it was a good one!

First off, My older sister Evin, her husband Noah, and my niece Kesiah all moved to Atlanta last week from Chicago. Evin has lived up there for 10+ years, and Noah is a windy city native, but I guess the bad weather and our begging and the hopes for built-in babysitters was enough for them to move. We all got together last Friday night for Shabbat at the ‘rents’ house. Kesiah who is now 18 months old is cuter than cute. She is talking, and speaks hundreds of words. It’s going to be fun having everyone in town.

Second, I got a promotion at work! This has been something that I have been working on with my boss, and making goals and objectives to get there, and I am thrilled to have been promoted. Now I need to set my goals for my next promotion in 2009/2010! My official new title is Project Engineer. I started out here as an Engineering Aide when I was in college, and when I came on full time I was a Design Engineer. Just a few more years and I’ll be running the place ;-)

Lastly, our office moved. The old office was in Norcross, GA, and my ride to work was 5.8 miles and took me 10 minutes. 12 minutes when there was bad traffic and I hit all the lights. No such luck anymore. The new office moved from being up Peachtree Industrial to being in Duluth, GA up I-85, and so now I have to get on the highway and go farther to get to work. The truth is, the ride isn’t really all that bad. The commute takes about 10 minutes longer on a good day, but I hate being on the highway since there’s always the idiot that stalls in the center lane and halts traffic for 3 hours longer than the usual rush hour. On a positive note though, the old office was split into two buildings, so we weren’t all located together. The new building is huge, and we have a ton of extra space with everyone in a single location. In the old office, my cube was at “grand central” – the corner that everyone had to pass to get to a door, the bathroom, or the breakroom, so people were constantly congregated around my cube chatting (to either each other or to me). I don’t mind the talking, but it was quite distracting when I actually had work to do. I requested a more secluded spot in the new building, and boy did I get it! My new spot is essentially in a corner where no one will ever go unless they are specifically coming to see me. Perfect. And lastly, we have a rec room here. Complete with a pool table, ping pong table, couches and an Xbox 360 to play on the plasma TV equipped with Direct TV. Unfortunately I haven’t actually used it yet, but I’m sure I’ll get to soon. Everyone was so excited about the new office, that our annual office party usually held at a nice location was cancelled, and rescheduled to be in the new office. They maintained the formality of the party, and they “unwrapped” the gift of the breakroom during the party. I brough Scott as my date, so that was fun, and after the open bar party, we (with DZ, Trent, and Anke) went out to the Highlands for some more fun.

So overall it's been a pretty good couple weeks. Hope the update was as exciting for you to read as it was for me to experience! =) now time to cook for 14 people. Yikes!

Traveling and California

First, I am going to go on a quick rant about traveling. I travel enough that although I am not what some call a "road warrior", I usually fly at least a couple times a month. I was in the LAX airport yesterday, and it looked really familiar, and it took me ten minutes to remember that I was actually in this airport about a year ago (though for a while had no recollection of this). Most people know exactly what airports and cities they've been to in the last year. Here are a few of my pet peeves of traveling. In the airport bathrooms, everywhere it seems, the stall doors open inward. The direction of the swing on stall doors is never really an issue, except when you're dragging a bag, and you have to walk into a tiny stall, and try to get your bag in far enough to get the door closed. What a pain in the butt! Another pet peeve is when there is a very fat person in the seat next to me. It just so happened that my flight last night was a large lady wearing a large coat. When I get to the seat first, I always lower the armrest to create a barrier of sorts, but she was already there when I arrived, so I was essentially restricted to the other half of my seat. Because taking a red eye next to a fat person wasn't bad enough, some parents brought their screaming baby on the plane, and sat directly behind me. This baby was SCREAMING for more than the first hour of the flight. I thought it would never end. Well I finally got home, and thankfully they didn't lose my luggage too.

Now that I've railed on flying, I'll talk about my trip to California. The trip was actually a business trip to Bakersfield (a bit north of LA), but I extended my trip a couple days to have a chance to visit with friends. I first saw Rina - a friend of mine I've known literally my whole life - since before I was born. Rina got married last year, and just had a little baby boy a month ago. I hadn't seen her since she'd been out there, so I was excited I'd get to see her. I met baby Noam, and although she said he was being fussy that day, I thought he was acting great. He even fell asleep in my arms!! It was nice seeing Rina too since it'd been a while!!

While in LA, I also got to see Ben D. He works for Sony Imageworks and so I met him near his office in the afternoon, and we went to get some food. After working long and night shift hours, Ben has moved up in the ranks and now has a normal daytime job, which is nice =) We went to this Argentine Cafe, and it was really yummy. It really was reminiscent of the cafes I ate at in Argentina earlier this year - Good selection Ben!

I managed to not remember to take pictures at all while still in LA, so sorry for the lack of pictures to this point.

I went to Oceanside (about 90 miles south of LA) to visit with Josh while I was down there, and Josh reserved a time and was cleared to take me in a plane on an "aerial tour of San Diego" so that I could both see him fly AND see S.D., but in the day and a half I was down there, the weather was horrible raining the first day, and really cloudy and windy for flying the second day, so we didn't get to go =( However, we did get to go to the Science museum (a bit reminiscent of SciTREK if anyone is from Atlanta), and a Natural History Museum (similar to Fernbank), but they had a traveling exhibit of the dead sea scrolls, which I'd seen in Israel years ago when I went with my family in middle school, but don't really remember, so that was a pretty interesting exhibit, although I think Josh was a bit disappointed in the actual scrolls - hoping they'd be bigger and more intact. Josh cooked up some yummy fajitas for dinner too (I even ate one or two vegetables with them just to make him happy hahaha) The second day we went to Camp Pendelton where he trains, and I got to take a tour of the base, but specifically his hanger and helicopter. The Cobra was pretty cool, and I actually got to go inside both the front and back seat and check out all the controls and stuff. pretty nifty. We also went down to Carlsbad where the Pacific Ocean beach was really pretty, though it was really windy and way too cold to actually sit out there.

I left Oceanside to go back to LA to meet back up with Ben, and I got to see his new Condo that he bought which is really close to LAX, and he is currently remodeling. It looks awesome. It's pretty big with a great view! you can see the beach from his windows! It will look really good inside when it's done. I can't wait to see the pictures. Ben and I met up in Santa Monica with Miles and his friend Dan to walk through the 3rd Street Prominade, which is a walking/shopping/movie/eating district. We walked all around the blocks surrounding there too, just enjoying the conversation and checking out the stores. We discussed and deliberated what restaurant to go to until there were no more options left, and finally settled on an Italian place Miles had been to once before. It ended up being pretty good, and we sat in there and talked and ate for probably 2.5 hours. After dinner we walked more through the promenade, mostly in the direction of the parking deck since I had a flight to catch.

all in all, it was a nice weekend, and I'm thrilled I got to see everyone!! What an awesome way to get an essentially free vacation from work. I love extending business trips when I have the opportunity!

Thanksgiving Weekend

Today is my first day back at work since thanksgiving. After a busy morning, I left and headed to the airport for my flight to California. More on that later. For now, I’ll give an update on what’s been going on over the last week since no less than five people have pointed out to me this week that I haven’t posted lately, and I don’t really remember beyond last Wednesday. This’ll be a long one =)

Thanksgiving at home was uneventful. It was the first time in years that we’d done thanksgiving at my parent’s home with the family. The last few years we’d been apart, on a cruise ship, or at other people’s homes. The week began with Wednesday. I went into work to discover that there was nearly no one there! So few in fact, that the company bought pizza for the lone souls who decided to show up. However, with the projects I’d been working on, I had a lot to do, and managed to be the last one in the building before the holiday. I used Thursday to relax and get a bunch of stuff done around the house. I made a big fruit salad, and in the afternoon headed over to my parents’ house. We celebrated with a family friend and my friend Matt. The food was delicious. I must say that my mom’s first attempt at parve (non-dairy) cornbread was delicious. It might have been because she snuck in some extra sugar when my dad wasn’t watching ;-)

Friday was a day for catching up with everyone. Smitha had organized for all of us old GT Orchestra people to get together for lunch, so six of us met at flying biscuit and had a yummy fill for a couple hours (as if we hadn’t eaten enough the night before). We then walked over to Piedmont park, and played Frisbee for a while, and Moshe took some photos while we played. My college friend Leah was also in town, and we met up in the afternoon to walk around the GT campus and go to the varsity, and walk around Atlantic Station. It had been a while since she’d been in town. We proceeded to the Atlanta Brewing Company, where it was pretty busy with people. We met up with Scott, Courtney, Matt, and a few others for the tasting. From there, Leah had other dinner plans, so she headed out and the rest of us went over to Matt’s for dinner. He had wanted to cook a thanksgiving dinner Thursday, but since most people were going to their own families houses, he opted to host Friday Shabbat instead. I brought some Challah, but other than that, Matt cooked everything. He made a traditional thanksgiving meal – turkey, stuffing, homemade cranberry sauce, and pumpkin pie. An impressive showing of his cooking prowess.

Saturday was dedicated to one thing, and one thing only. FOOTBALL. My favorite game of the year is the GT/ UGA rivalry game that always takes place the Saturday after thanksgiving. It is the only time of year we (the GT fans) really bother talking smack to the opponent, and we do it whether we think we’ll win or not. Although many feared the blowout that could’ve been the result of this game, UGA was only favored by 3.5 points, so we continued our smack talk. I decided a few days before the game to host a tailgate, and at 10:00 AM we found a nice spot at Yellow Jacket park (where the old Hightower building was) and set up our tailgate. Everyone was responsible for bringing something, and once everyone arrived, we were set. We had delicious food, and a great turnout! It was a little cold, but everyone was dressed for it, and so we managed fine outdoors. DZ headed up the grilling while Matt E. actually made some of the hamburgers from scratch! Betsy was in town and stopped by for a while, and with her came her famous mankiller cupcakes. I didn’t actually get to eat one, but they sure looked good! After four quarters of cheering as much as possible for my team, we came out with a loss. Our seventh loss in a row to UGA. It’s interesting still that we can have a winning season but if we don’t beat Georgia, the season goes as a disappointment. We’ll still be going to a bowl game, although again it is a bowl that no one really cares about.

Sunday I went down to Locust Grove (south of Atlanta) and spent the AM with Leah before she left town back to WA. We don’t get to see each other that often, so I was trying to take advantage of any opportunity to meet up. After visiting with her and her family, I took a detour to the Tanger outlets and did a little shopping before it got too busy for the day. In the afternoon, I came home to do some cooking. I had dinner guests coming over. A woman I work with, Suzanne, lost her husband a couple months ago, so I wanted to have her over for dinner. Turns out she knows a friend of our family – Manuela - that lives in the complex next to me. So I made a date of it, and invited Suzanne, Manuela, and my mom over for dinner. On the menu was spicy cream of potato soup with homemade wheat bread for starters. For the main course we had my “famous” salmon with Spanikopita, and tomato spaghetti – Cuban style. Then was papaya and melon, followed by chocolate molten lava cake with ice cream. I made brownies too, since I was worried the lava cakes weren’t going to come out, but they came out perfectly, so the brownies were untouched. All this went perfectly with some white wine that Suzanne brought from her visit this week to the Biltmore Estate in Asheville. When you put a Belgian, Parisian, and Cuban and me at the dinner table, the conversations flows beautifully. I think everyone had a lovely time until I ran everyone out of the house after 3 hours since I had dance practice. Dance practice was hilarious. We had a smaller group that usual (about 10 showed for practice), and we were learning some jams for future use at different upcoming performances. We did one called “the worm” that was hilarious. I won’t even begin to describe it, but during the practice, I was kicked in the head and slammed my butt on the floor a bunch of times, and hit my knees on the floor a lot too. Needless to say, I am a bit bruised up today. I can’t complain though, I laughed so hard during practice, my abs were hurting.

So like I said, I am writing this entry on my way to CA. I am heading to CA for the week to work on my ice cream project in Bakersfield (about 2 hours from LA). We were slated to come back at the end of the week, but the office is closed for the big move on Friday anyway, so I opted to stay in CA for a couple extra days, and am taking back the Saturday red eye flight to arrive in Atlanta early Sunday morning. While in CA, I have plans to meet up with four different friends, so hopefully I can juggle it right to get to see everyone. For now though, I think I’ve written enough for one entry to keep everyone appeased for a few more days. Happy Post Thanksgiving everyone!

I are an Engineer.

I was sitting at my parent’s house about 7 years ago, and we were all sitting around the table having dinner. My dad had prepared ravioli for dinner, and I remember the following happening: The ravioli were triangle shaped, and I was cutting them into three parts before eating them. By doing this, I’d created three quadritateral pieces, none of which were square, but all of which were identical to the next. My dad was watching me do this, one by one as I was eating them. He finally commented on it and although I was consciously doing the cutting, I wasn’t really focused on the fact of how I was doing it. I’ve realized over the years that I do weird things like that all the time.

On long road trips, I am constantly calculating based on how many miles I have left and how fast I am going, exactly what time I will arrive at the destination, or where I will be by a certain time. I do the same thing to a smaller scale when I go for a run. I come up with shortcuts on my drives until I have figured out the best timing based on traffic patterns, traffic lights, and what days the garbage trucks come. When I eat M&Ms, I pour out the bag, and collect one of each color and set them aside. I continue doing this until I can’t anymore, and then I collect one of each remaining color, etc. until I have a pile of 3 or fewer left. At that point, I eat them, and eat them backwards until my remaining candies are exactly one of each color. I keep my DVDs in alphabetical order. When I step into the garage, I open the garage door and always get the car turned on immediately as the garage door finishes opening. When I get in the car, I have a method so I close the door, put on my seatbelt, and start the car in one swift move. When I set up my kitchen, I put the cups over the dishwasher rather than the plates, so that I minimize trips to put away dishes (since plates can be stacked and all put away in one trip). I plan my recipes when I cook so that I can multitask the recipes and finish in the least time possible. I almost always fall asleep within 5 minutes of getting into bed.

I pin my socks together so I don’t have to match them later, and keep two laundry baskets so I don’t have to sort them later. My closet is arranged by clothing type and then by color. I couldn’t tell you how the internet works, but I can sure find anything I want pretty fast, as I am convinced I am a master of Google. I can’t solve a rubik’s cube, but I could probably solve a Sudoku puzzle faster than most.

I’m weird like that. Or maybe it’s that I am wired liked that. Is that the brain of an engineer? Or the brain of an overly compulsive person? Who knows? I just know that if I leave my house by 8:21, I get to work at 8:30.

Tiny Bunch

For those of you who are in the dark about who "Tiny Bunch" is, here is the update. Tiny Bunch is a new swing dance "team" here in Atlanta. They formed as a one-time deal for a team competition last month in Nashville (which I couldn't attend), and then since decided that it would be fun to continue as a group. That's where I come in. We had our first meeting a couple weeks ago and made the "rules" and "ideals" of the group (aka "the family"), and we had our first post competition performance on Friday night. After just a few hours of rehearsal, we all learned the lindy chorus routine and performed it twice over the weekend. The first time was Friday at the Emory Swing Club dance, and even though we all knew it, we botched it a bit with each couple apparently making a couple mistakes. We had fun anyway though. Sunday we did the routine "perfectly" (at least, as good as we could get it) for a high school group who LOVED it. We gave them a bit of history of the dance and taught them a bit, but we were just thrilled we got the whole routine! This is the first time I have done anything like this, and I am looking forward to getting over my fear of performing, and having some fun while I'm at it. The people in Tiny Bunch are awesome, and I can't wait to do more together!

This is the tiny bunch catch phrase:

The "second string" is a phenomenon as old as competition itself. Not everybody can be an astronaut; every Dumb needs its Dumber. The Tiny Bunch is a ragtag company of drinking friends with a dancing problem, who have been marginalized, rejected, and passed over—and for good reason. But what others have in training, talent, and technical ability, we more than make up for in alliteration. Always stress free, we take dignity, modesty, and irony to new heights. We dance like no one's watching and hope that is, in fact, the case.

We are...the mighty...Tiny...Bunch.

oh, if you're wondering, Tiny Bunch is a famous dancer from the 30's when Lindy Hop was first "invented", who was anything but tiny. The name kind of compliments the other (and original) Atlanta Lindy Hop team: Big George. But like we said. We're happy to be second.

7 flights in 7 days and homecoming!

Well, for those of you who missed me over the last week, I was traveling all around! I literally flew in 7 flights in 7 days.

Destination 1: Washington State. All photos are here
I went to Washington to visit my friend Leah. She has been stationed out on Whidbey Island for the last 8 months or so, and keeps telling me how beautiful it was there. So I took advantage of going to the west coast already, and went to visit for the weekend. We spent one day visiting areas in her neck of the woods - specifically Deception Pass State park where we hiked a trail to a cool lookout point and saw this really cool bridge. The same day, we also went to the base where she is training. It was nice getting to catch up with her. Then Sunday, we went and acted as tourists in Seattle, going to the space needle, the original Starbucks, Pike Place Market, and a wonderfully hilarious and interesting tour of the history of underground Seattle.






Destination 2: Las Vegas.
Having not been to Las Vegas since I was about 18, I was looking forward to this trip. I was going for a packaging trade show that happens there every other year, and I had to meet with about a million vendors for a project I am working on. I spent all day for three days talking about equipment. But after dinner, we were on our own, and we took advantage of it. A couple of my coworkers and a few of our former coworkers and vendors and I went out walked around lots of the hotels, got drinks, listened to bands, and caught up. It was fun. However, the week did not include nearly any shut-eye, which by day three was catching up with me. The only picture that is proof I was there is the one here.

Destination 3: Bakersfield, CA
I was going to Bakersfield for work for an on-site visit for an ice-cream project I am working on. As expected, the plant was FREEZING, but I am looking forward to this project since I am working with a new client for me, and with new coworkers as well.

I finally headed home Friday to make it back in time for the GT JSU reunion. I had been trying to get this planned for a bit, and finally compiled a list of alumni. It was homecoming weekend this weekend, and the perfect opportunity to have a JSU reunion! Even with the somewhat late publicity and the lack of email addresses for alumni, about 10 alumni came along with about 30 current students. It was a lot of fun, and we all got to catch up a bit with each other. It brought back memories to my days at GT. I also dropped by Buzz Bash that evening and ran into a million old friends and classmates.

Then yesterday was the GT/Army homecoming game. My company was having a tailgate, which was actually more of a tailgate for Army alumni than one for our company, but it was fun. I brought my dad along, and we then went to AEPi for him to catch up with his cohorts from his days at GT. The game was pretty good, with GT almost beating the anticipated spread with a 34-10 win. DZ and I went to campus in time to watch the Ramblin' Wreck Parade, which is a homecoming tradition and a lot of fun to see.

Scavenger Hunt Recap

For my birthday, Matt, Scott and I created a scavenger hunt to send my friends all over Atlanta earning points and taking pictures. I have posted the clues, their answers, and the submissions here so everyone can see. I was really impressed with how well all the teams did, and I think they all had a great time doing it. Thanks to everyone who participated!!!
Pictures of the hunt are here. Each picture is labeled with team # and clue name, and are in order of the following clues.

Team #1: Jen, George, Amy, Jeff, Heather
Team #2: Ethan, Matt, Josh, Allison
Team #3: Kevin, Chris, Michelle, Sebastian
Team #4: Moshe, Matt, Randy, Avital

Team #4 was the winning team with a total of 106 points.

Scavenger Hunt Rules:

• Teams may be comprised of 2-5 people.
• Teams must return BY 9:15 to the party room or will be disqualified
• Teams must ALL be in EVERY picture (Except one person to take the picture)
• Bonus points will be given on a subjective basis by the judges (Bela, Scott, & Matt) for creativity and “going beyond the call of duty”
• Winning team will receive a gift from the judges.

1. Go Cosmic Bowling with the cast of “That 70’s Show” [5] Answer: 10 Pin alley in Atlantic Station
2. Fly to Atlanta, but not to ATL [9] Answer: PDK airport
   
3. We take this park for granite [20] Answer: Stone Mountain Park - No submissions for this clue (although we know you guys solved it)
4. Bela scared the crap out of her driving instructor here exactly 10 years ago. [9] Answer: Any DMV, Driving School, or the church parking lot I learned in would be accepted.
5. Hickory, Dickory, _______ . [6] Answer: the dock at piedmont park, but the creativity of Doc Chey's, Doc Green's, and a loading dock were all accepted.
6. These GT boxers don’t give me enough NUT SPACE. [8] Answer: The GT Ballroom.
7. 2.5 Venn Diagram Sprinklers [4] Answer: Centennial Olympic Park by the rings - again, no one did this one, but we know you solved it.
   
8. This Atlanta staple finally came out with something new that was liked better than the original. [3] Answer: The Coke Museum
   
9. The honeymoon is over, and poor Alice and Trixie are widowed. [3] Answer: The Aquarium
   
10. It was her Tara. They should have put a crosswalk in. [5] Answer: The Margaret Mitchell House
    
11. Don’t bite this Reuben, he may bite back! [15] Answer: family dog Reuben's picture
    
12. Where can you find a festival of Beer, Books, or Beach, all in the same place? [10] Answer: Decatur Square
13. WORK this problem: ((3E/12)(4))² * (MZ⁰) [20] Answer: Bela's office (E squared M)
    
14. Here they let the p*ssy out of the bag. [5] Answer: The Cheetah
15. It’s a Breeze. [4] Answer: Marta
    
16. The only bank in Atlanta that serves martinis. [7] Answer:Fernbank (although Pie Bar was also accepted)
    
17. With all the bars closed, this fish is out of water. [6] Answer: The Atlanta Fish Market
    
18. Instead of Cardinal Directions, Marrietta’s directions are based off of this. [20] Answer: The Big Chicken
19. The only place in Atlanta that you can always see stars. [6] Answer: The Fox Theatre
    
20. Various Arteries Run Slowly In To Your <3 Answer: The Varsity
    

BONUS: Bring back any of these items and you’ll get bonus points:

a) 1 Dozen Krispy Kreme donuts [3]

b) a Varsity hat [1]

c) A receipt from inserection [3] (get 9 points if the receipt is dated for any day/time before 7:00 pm today)

article is online.

well, I didn't get so much as an email resulting from that article. I did notice today though when I googled mylsef that the article is now online. So I guess I need to join a convent since I didn't get a date ;-)

http://www.juleponline.us/catch-907.php

Wine and shoes?

This weekend was just jam-packed full of stuff! On Friday, I had Shabbat dinner in the sukkah at my parent’s house. They were very excited because they built a bigger sukkah than usual this year, so they could host more people. They even hooked up lights and a fan in there. After dinner, I went to the ASEDA KOC dance. It was the first I’d been to, but I can’t base this weekend’s experience off of the norm since most of the Atlanta dancers were in Nashville for a competition. Needless to say, it was a slow night. Meanwhile, the next day, ASEDA was asked to dance in Warner Robins, GA for a literacy fundraiser. I did it last year and this year, and it’s a nice event to go and help support, so I went. We got there early, so we got to watch GT beat Clemson from a sports bar there. It was certainly not the same as being at the game, but at least I got to watch it. The event was not a religious event, but the local radio host emceeing the evening kept referring to how “Christian” the band was, and how they have good “Christian” values, and how one of the other dance performers came from a “nice Christian family”. Now, it’s all nice and great that he feels this way, but is it truly necessary to bring religion into something that is not a religious event?? But I digress…

Sunday brought more exciting things…like going to Costco! Haha actually, I really did go to Costco, but that wasn’t the most fun of the day (believe it or not). I went to Wine South with Matt since he won a pair of free tickets. We went around tasting probably 40-50 different wines, and took a "wine appreciation" course, which we really didn't pay too much attention to. There were also a ton of restaurant exhibiting, so they had some amazing food from some NICE restaurants! I had some amazing lamb, fish, beef, and chicken at different points throughout the afternoon, and then there were a few bakeries here and there too, so I got my fair share of fancy desserts as well. Deeeelicious!

We got out of the wine show around the same time that the Falcons game let out, which was not good for traffic, but we eventually made it, and I took DZ and Matt to get new shoes. Both had told me that they "need a girl's opinion", so I went along. It wasn't sooo bad ;-)

At night, there was an event hosted by Etz Chaim Synagogue called Sushi in the Sukkah. There were about 120 young jewish people there, some single, some dating, some married, and at least one that I saw that brought their baby! It's always fun socializing and meeting new people...although it seems there are fewer and fewer new faces each time!

But overall it was a fun weekend, and I am looking forward this week to a ton of dancing and my birthday!!!! =)

Kickball!

Sunday was so much fun. Chris B. was organizing a game of kickball at Piedmont, and between me and her, we got 25 people together to play! Before hand, a few of us ate at flying biscuit for breakfast, which was fun since I hadn’t been there in about 2 years (since I was at tech probably). And then at 1:00, we all met at the park, met each other, and divided into teams. I hadn’t played kickball in at least 10 years, if not much longer, but it was so much fun we decided we’d have to do it again soon. While we were playing, Moshe came and used his fancy shmancy new lens to get some great shots from all the way on the sidelines. See his pictures here:

http://www.focalfinesse.com/gallery/3536948

After the game, I went to Trent & Anke’s for dinner, which was delicious, and Anke and I topped it off by going to IKEA. What a fun day!

Last Comic Standing

This is a little late of a post, but on Sunday, Sebastian and I went to the Funny Farm to see comedian Matt Kirshen - who recently made it to almost the end of Last Comic Standing. He was HILARIOUS. I laughed so hard. Anyway, at the end of the show, he posed in a picture with me =) here it is!

Such a Catch.

So, every month or so, the Atlanta Jewish times runs an article titled "Such a Catch" where they feature a single young Jewish person in Atlanta. I got an email a couple months ago that my "friend David" had nominated me for this article, would I like to participate? Sure! that sounded like fun to me. Well, the article came out in this past Friday's times. It's a weekly newspaper, so I figured hey, this is a pretty good week to be in the times since it's Rosh Hashana, and if there's one week a year that people will read the magazine, this is it! I was joking about it with my mom, and she said "if this doesn't get you a date, you'll have to join a convent!" which I thought was pretty funny. Let me clarify though, it's not that I can't get a date, it's just that I manage to get the ...how do you say...less than desirable...ones. Even if this article doesn't get me a date, it was a nice article, and the photo attached was taken by my friend Ethan, who did a very good job =)

I have attached the article in case you don't get the paper (or if you're my mom and want to send a copy of it to every relative across the globe...)

Greg/Rachel's wedding weekend

What a weekend! This weekend was the most fun I've had in a long time, and one of the most amazing weddings I've been to. Greg and Rachel were married last night in Dallas, TX. Greg is a co-GT grad, and has been dating Rachel as long as I've known him. Rachel and I hit it off when we first met, and I am glad Greg married such a great girl. (Pictures are posted here)

The weekend was great. From the tiniest details, Greg and Rachel had planned the whole 3 days start to finish. Now, I am not sure what happened (if anything) Friday, but DZ and I caught the first flight out of Atlanta on Saturday morning because we wanted to get to Dallas in time to go to the Shul and be at the Auf Ruf.

Our plane arrived early, we had no problems getting a car, and we got to shul probably earlier than I normally would when I'm in my own town. I'd forgotten that they attend a Chabad shul, so I wouldn't be able to sit with the guys, and that is when it occurred to me that I was often the only girl in this group, and sat by myself on the women's side for the first half of the time I was there at services. About halfway through though, Rachel being the perceptive host that she is, noticed I was sitting alone and brought me to sit with some friends of hers, so that was nice. After services ended, there was a lovely Kiddush lunch, and I got to say hi to most of the guys who'd come in for the weekend. I always love seeing these guys that I went to college with - they're a fun group. During the kiddush, Greg came around with a bottle of vodka and we did a "l'chaim" with him. Not five minutes later, the rabbi came around and asked if we'd do one with him too. So two shots down, and it was still 1:00 in the afternoon. We knew it would be a long weekend of drinking.

In the afternoon, GT was facing Notre Dame in the football season opener. ND is always a recognized team, and this is the second year in a row we've opened with them. Last year we had a last minute devastating loss, but we were ready this year. We all went to a sports bar across from the hotel to watch. GT pulled through to embarrass the "fighting" Irish, who didn't put up much of a fight - losing 33-3 to GT. We were thrilled.

We went back after the game to get ready for the rehearsal dinner at the hotel. The hotel was the Adolphus Hotel in Dallas. It's a non-chain hotel, and was beautiful inside. It was built in 1892 and has been taken care of meticulously. The rooms are large, the fixtures - quaint but beautiful. As a matter of fact, I heard they used the hotel in the movie Borat for one of the Hotel scenes! All of the hotel that I got to see was gorgeous. Check out the pictures for some of the lobby and the ceiling of the French room.

The rehearsal dinner was for all out-of-towners and members of the wedding party. There were probably 120 people just for that. That's when I realized it'd be a pretty big wedding. We enjoyed the Mexican food, unlimited beer and margaritas, and a lovely movie put together by some of Rachel and Greg's friends. After dinner, we went to a bar near the hotel with a refreshing rooftop terrace. Unfortunately, it was pretty hot outside, so it was pretty much just hot, but still more time to hang out and spend time with everyone.

In the morning, Becca and I had plans to work out in the hotel gym. we followed through with them, as did a few others. After a good workout, we went to lunch with a bunch of people, and afterwards the boys went for a walk, and Becca and I stayed and chatted for a little while in a nearby courtyard. After a few hours, it was time to get ready for the wedding.

The wedding was lovely. Before the ceremony, Greg's Tish was in one room while Rachel was in the other. Greg and the rest of the men paraded in for the Bedeken for him to ensure that he was indeed marrying Rachel, and veiled her. This is a long time tradition stemming from the matriarch Rachel when Jacob was deceived into marrying her sister Leah. We then moved into the room where the ceremony would take place, and the decorations were amazing. You could tell Rachel (and probably Greg) spent hours perfecting the final details and making decisions on the smallest of things. After the ceremony, there was a "cocktail hour" with a buffet of everything from Thai to Sushi to Middle eastern food. We weren't sure if we should eat then since the food was so good, or wait for the sit down dinner that was expected an hour later. So we did both. When we entered the reception area, the decorations immediately stood out. The band they'd hired was exceptional. I've never heard a band at a wedding that was this good. There was also a guy that I assume was hired separately who played a lot of the Jewish music at the beginning. After all the Horah dances, dinner was served, and dancing commenced. Hours of enthusiastic dancing later, we benched and the wedding was over. A few of us stayed around for a few more hours in the lobby chatting and joking until we just couldn't keep our eyes open any longer.

This morning was a brunch for the out of towners, which was more welcome food for our mostly hungover crowd. After lunch, we packed up and walked to the area where Kennedy was shot and took a picture, and then hung out and talked more for another hour. At that point, we all had flights to catch, and called it a day and headed for the airport. I have just arrived home and can't believe how well planned out and executed this whole weekend was. Thank you Rachel and Greg for being such a beautiful couple inside and out, and allowing all of us to share in your obvious happiness!!!

Tango.

Beginning the first week in August, I began taking an Argentine Tango class series. I saw Argentine tango for the first time when I was in Argentina back in January. For the most part, people did it for tourists on the street and at shows, but there were also Milongas or dance parties at night, but I never went seeing that I didn’t know how to tango. Upon entering my first class, the first thing I noticed was how many faces looked familiar. About ¼ of the class looked familiar from other dance events I’d been at. I suppose I should have expected that people who dance may do more than one type of dance, but for some reason, I just didn’t think about it. Anyway, I got to my first class, and was surprised by who was teaching. The class is taught by a pair – neither of whom are Argentinian. The lead sounds like he’s from somewhere rural in the south, and the follow has a thick eastern European accent. But they seem to know what they’re doing, and I like their teaching style. Another thing I really like is that they seem like they enjoy dancing. Well, being the girl, my job (as it is in most dances) is to follow. While I think it’s easier to follow than to lead, many guys say the opposite. Basically, we have to figure out what the lead is attempting to do, and follow it. This dance is much more upright than swing dancing. Well, almost all dancing is a lot more upright, but since all I’ve really done in the past is swing, this is different.

I have been doing pretty well in the class learning the footwork and the basics of the dance. I can’t say how good I look doing it, but it feels OK. After the hour long session, there is an “advanced beginner” class that we have the option to stay for. It is essentially an extension of the beginner class with a few variations. They encourage you to stay for the second class, assuming you’re understanding the beginner class. This week (week #4), I didn’t want to stay for the second class because although I do get a few new moves out of it, they do an exercise at the beginning and end of the class that I really don’t enjoy too much, so I was going to blow it off this week. Meanwhile, at the same time as the advanced beginner class, there is an intermediate class going on at the same studio. After changing into my street shoes to leave the studio, my teacher stopped me and asked me to join the intermediate class as a follow. I asked him if he thought my 4 weeks of beginning knowledge would really be enough to jump in halfway into the intermediate class. He said he thought so, so I thought about it for about half a second and joined in. I of course didn’t know a lot of the moves they’d taught earlier in the semester, so I was a little behind, but I picked it up pretty fast, and really enjoyed the class. After it ended, I was so excited, I wanted to come to the class again next week. Let’s see if he lets me =). I spent the next half hour dancing with the teacher learning a few of the other steps I’d missed, and after 150 minutes of straight dancing, my feet hurt and it was time to go home. But I was excited and now of course even more likely to dance more tango in the future.

I'd better move to Scotland...

well apparently, redheads are doomed to extinction. According to a few studies recently, one specifically published in the latest National Geographic, there is a population of somewhere between 2-4% of the world that is redheaded. They think this gene is assimilating so much that as soon as 2060, there may be no more redheads left!

So basically, in order for anyone to ever meet someone like me again, I'll need to meet a redheaded Cuban Jew, and reproduce a lot. Any takers?

here's one of the many articles on the subject:
http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,22289183-2,00.html

Pet names.

My name is a top 5 most popular pet name. Don't I feel special. I've always loved my name, one reason is because no one else has it. Until Now. Apparently, when seeing the list of most popular pet names (not like any of these lists are official), "Bella" is at the top.

According to 450,000 insured pets

no backup at all

oh well, it was fun while it lasted. Over the past 5-10 years, when I introduce myself to someone, I often hear "really??! my dog's name is Bella" apparently, they weren't lying.

The swing dance ladder

I am just reposting because it is exactly true.

The Swing Dance Ladder
by Noëlle Gray
June 15, 2007

Lindy Hop and Blues instructor Noelle Gray gives us her insight as to what defines the various levels of dance within the swing dance community.

Beginner: Has taken one class but is still afraid of everyone and probably won't ask anyone to dance. They see better dancers and hope one day they will be half as good!

Novice: Has taken a couple of classes and has started to build a knowledge base. They have started to get past the fear and are starting to watch the dancers they think are better then them dancers to see if they can pick up some flashy or new stuff. They only try the flashy stuff on each other. They want to dance with the better dancers and when they get up the courage they feel really happy!

Beginner-Intermediate: They think they know more than they actually do and as a result, try stuff that hurts their partner. They are beginning to take risks which is good, but don't have enough knowledge base to understand that moves they are trying are still probably beyond their technical level, which is very bad. These are the dancers that tell the beginners, novices and intermediates what they are doing wrong. They haven't quite developed the humility it takes to move on.

Intermediate: They've realized they only know what they know and it isn't as much as they thought they knew. They keep dancing because it's still loads of fun, they have friends in the scene, and they are beginning to understand there is more technique to learn and they have enough of a knowledge base where they can discover those techniques while social dancing. They are open to feedback and while they still take risks (which is great), they do so with concern for their partner. They recognize there are subtleties in lead/follow and want to know more about them.

Intermediate-Advanced: "Oh my god! If I take lessons I'll improve more! Gimmie classes! Lots and lots of classes!" OR "I know enough. I just want to have lots of fun and learn by social dancing. Boy am I lucky to have this awesome fun thing to do!" OR possibly "God, I'm bored. It used to be fun but now it's just not. Maybe I'll go learn Tango." (or possibly all of these at once)

Advanced: Don't ask me. I'm not there yet!


Noëlle Gray
http://swing-dancer.com/page.php?60

Who has custody of the friends?

What do you do when two of your friends break up? You’re friends with both of them, and the circle of friends between them is close. So there’s essentially a group of friends, two of whom were dating. When the relationship ends, who gets custody of the friends? As tough as it is, friends will start siding with who they knew longer, or whose side of the story they heard first, etc. Will the friends team up and become two clusters? How do you manage continuing to hang out with the ex of your good friend? Hopefully everyone can all stay friends, but we all know it’s not a perfect world, and not all people who break up stay friends.

....and more dancing.

It’s funny. 6 years ago you wouldn’t have caught me dead on a dance floor. Funny thing is, I still won’t get on a dance floor alone. But if I have a partner, I am up for any type of lead/follow dance. I have been dancing Lindy hop/swing for about 5 and a half years now. I love dancing, and wish sometimes that I had the time to set aside and take classes. I see people who started dancing way after me fly by in their skill level. Sure it bugs me a little, but I love dancing anyway. Lately, the Monday night dances (Hot Jam) have been packed. Last night they even had a fabulous live band - Hotlanta Dixieland Jazz, and I don’t know that there were many more people than normal, but I saw 80 on the check in sheet. Spectacular!

I am also really excited because in the past couple months, we have had 3-4 more experienced leads (read: guys) move to our scene. It seemed for a long time that we’d have guys leave, and girls join, making the ratio almost unbearable. But, it seems we’re on our way back up, and I am excited. It’s refreshing getting to dance with new people. And there are enough old people that I don’t get to dance with any one person that often, so it’s still really fun dancing with the ones that have been around a few years.

Ahh, I've caught the dancing bug again! yay!

A week of dacning

what a week! I managed to dance 4 times in the past 5 days. Sunday was the third monthly ABC dance. It is maintaining it's initial level of participation, so I can only assume that people like it and can't wait until the next one! =)

Monday was hot jam. My friend Scott from Knoxville was in town this week, so I picked him up and we went to Hot Jam. I am not sure if there were more leads there this week than usual or if just I had a good night, but I danced nearly every song, and had a ton of fun dances in there! I like hot jam dances a lot in general, but this week was especially good.

Tuesday was the first of a series of classes I am teaching with Ben this month. The class wasn't too big, and I was unfortunately exhausted already, but still, it was good. Tuesday also was Melissa and Jamie's going away BBQ, and so I got to see them before they moved away. I even caught up with a few people I hadn't seen in a while there, so that was nice.

Wednesday there was no dancing. I went to trivia with the usual crowd plus scott from Knoxville and Nus. We managed to move from being around 15th place (technically tied for 8th, but lots of teams above us were tied too) all the way to winning the whooooolllleeee thing! we came out in 1st place!!! we actually tied for first and then won on a tiebreaker question. Not only that, but we won with best team name too. For those of you who have never been to team trivia, team names are always funny or jokes. Ours was "what do a smoothie and a home run record have in common? They both require juiced berries" Anyway, now we have $50 to spend there next time we go =)

Last night was my first class in a 6 week series of Argentine Tango. I saw a lot of it when I was in Argentina, and recently decided it might be fun to take a class. The first hour was basic basic stuff (all of which was new to me), but essentially, how to walk in Tango. Then they offer a second hour for free to practice and learn some variations on the first hour's class. So I stayed. It was cool, and I am looking forward to next week's class!

ClotheSwap and rafting

This weekend rocked. Well, it started with dinner at my parents' house on Friday where they had over my sister and her boyfriend and his whole family. Dinner was pretty uneventful, but always nice to see the fam and have my parents' home cooked food. yumm...

Then Saturday was the ASEDA whitewater rafting trip. I had never been before, so I'd been looking forward to it for a while. I drove up that day (rather than camping the night before) with Aimee and Meghan. We got there just in time for lunch and to hit the rapids. I was a little nervous since I'd never been, but we had a good guide, and it was a lot of fun. I lost my oar a little past halfway down the river, and then about three quarters of the way down fell (read: was pulled) out of the raft. a couple bruises, but otherwise unharmed, we finished up the rapids and met up with the other dancers at the end.

We drove back, and took a little while to shower and get ready, and then headed to Taco Cabana for Shoe's going away party. sadly, she's moving away .

Well Sunday brought it's own adventure. In the morning I went to Ethan's place and he took a bunch of photos of me for use next month (stay tuned for why). And then in the afternoon I hosted my second annual clothing swap.

Basically, everyone came over and brought all the clothes (and shoes and accessories) they hadn't worn in the past year, and once everything was laid out and organized (yes, this is ME we're talking about), it was a free for all. If two people found the same thing and both wanted it, the rule was that they both had to model it, and everyone else voted on who looked better in it. I think everyone got at least one grocery bag full of "new" clothes, if not more. Here's a picture of everyone wearing or showing some of their new finds. I actually gave up the dress I was wearing in that picture, but got plenty of other things. It was fun =)

but now the work week calls again, but not before I hit the dance floor tonight!

San Francisco

Being in California over the weekend gave me the opportunity to take off and spend a couple days in San Francisco. Still on Atlanta time, I got up at 6:30 Saturday, and got out and to San Fran by 9:15 am. I checked into the hotel and spent the morning being a tourist. I worked hard playing pickle with parking spaces (at $7 an hour!!) and meanwhile walked through Union Square, Chinatown, Lombard Street, Coit Tower, and through Fisherman's wharf.It just so happened that Ben D. was in town for the weekend celebrating his sister Shana's housewarming, and so he met up with me in the afternoon and we hung out for the rest of the day. We walked from my hotel all the way to Golden Gate park, and all around there through Haight and Ashbury. We discovered the public toilets in San Fran that apparently clean and disinfect themselves and have a 20 minute time limit. I opened the door to one, and I didn't see the disinfected inside. It pretty much looked like a dirty public bathroom. We got some Ice cream at Ben and Jerry's, and then met up with Shana and her friends. We went back and saw her new condo which is really cute, but unbelievably expensive! I guess that's how the city is. We chilled at her place until around 11:30 when I went back to my hotel and they went out to the bar.

Seth came in late Saturday too, and so we spent Sunday morning (again, starting really early) being tourists. Before we checked out, we had a coupon for free breakfast at the hotel for one. well, one breakfast at the hotel was $18, so we figured if we only got one free, it'd be cheaper to go find breakfast elsewhere and pay for both of us. We gave the voucher to a couple in the lobby who were thrilled to get it, and then ate yummy breakfast sandwiches at a place on the corner and got a delicious cinnamon roll to go. We still paid only $10 total. We meanwhile discovered that in California they only charge tax at restaurants if you eat inside, but if you get something to go, it isn't taxed! We later found out that if you go to Subway and get your sandwich grilled, you pay tax, but if it's cold there's no tax? We went straight to catch the famous San Francisco street car to Fisherman's wharf. By the time we got through the line and to the wharf, it was almost 10:00. We walked around the old ships, and took some pictures, and then headed over to Ghiradelli Square. It's just a bit down from the wharf, and the setting of the old chocolate factory. Seth and I immediately made room for their famous warm brownie hot fudge sundae...mmm....

One of the things we noticed all around the city was the exorbitant number of homeless people EVERYWHERE. We went past a playground that had a sign that said "No Adults allowed without child supervision". We thought it was a cute sign, but then found out that those signs were there to keep out the homeless and drug traffickers.

We quickly realized that it was starting to get late. We walked uphill to get to Lombard (the crooked) Street. Out of breath and sweaty, we made it to the top and got some pictures before catching the streetcar back to the hotel. We called Ben and as it turned out, we were meeting him and his family later in the afternoon, so Seth and I got back in the car and headed across town to see Golden Gate Bridge up close. Seth navigated really well - even though we drove on Scott Street, we didn't get too lost ;-) - and made it to the Bridge in under 1/2 an hour. We got out of the car and walked around and took some pictures and witnessed the brutal destruction of a pigeon's leg and a lot of feathers when a cyclist ran over the pigeon. we heard a crunch and saw a bunch of feathers flying and then a pigeon get up and hobble up to fly away. My first thought was of the Seinfeld episode when George hits the pigeon and is mad that the pigeon didn't follow "the code" to get out of the way when we're coming.

I called Ben and sure enough he and Shana were on their way to Oakland - which was our cue to leave. We all met up at their parents' house and then left on their sailboat for the rest of the afternoon. It was my first time on a sailboat, and it was really cool. I even got to take the wheel for a while and drive. It was much more difficult than I anticipated, and took a lot more muscle. At one point, I got tossed across the boat when we hit a big wave and some strong winds. It was a lot of fun though, and nice that Ben's parents let us come along! It was really nice getting to catch up with Ben too, since we realized we hadn't seen each other in almost a year!

We got back pretty late in the evening, and after dropping Seth off, I headed back to Modesto so I'd be back in time for work in the AM. It was a good time in San Fran, and great getting to hang out with Ben and Seth for the weekend.

Wine and glass

Oh my! I had no idea that it'd been so long since I posted! As projects at work were winding down, I thought I'd get a quick breather, but as it turns out, I am back on a new project, and out of the paper factory. I am now on two new projects, one in wine bottling, and the other in glass bottle blowing. I was excited to be put on these new projects, but meanwhile, I had a vacation coming up. How wonderful. Right now, both upcoming projects are in stages that I’ll be working for the most part out of Atlanta, with a few trips back and forth to the plant in northern California for meetings. As a matter of fact, I am in CA now.

Before I left for CA though, I took a long weekend with the family in Perdido Key – a suburb of Pensacola, FL (I guess you can call it that, though I am not sure that cities like Pensacola have suburbs). We drove down on Friday, and I flew back late Tuesday night. Saturday and Sunday were overcast the whole day, though we still managed to get some sun on our skin through the clouds. Monday and Tuesday though were nice and bright, and about 90 degrees. It was nice to have the weekend off to relax, and although we could find about 10 available wireless connections, none were strong enough to get a good signal long enough to check mail, so I couldn’t even worry about work even if I wanted to. While in FL, Josh had mentioned the Flora-Bama bar was near where we were staying and that we should check it out. OK, first off, my mom claims to have never been in a bar, and neither of my parents drink, but somehow I convinced them and my sister to go out, and check out this bar. We agreed that we'd go at dinner time sunday and just check the place out. There was a cover at dinner time, and 2 bands playing! It was hilarious seeing my mom completely uncomfortable at the bar, but I think we all had a fun time. When I had to head back home to Atlanta though, getting back was a long night of time in airports and Marta stations, and when I finally arrived home, I had 6 hours to pack, sleep, shower, and get back out to catch a plane to CA. I did it, but arrived quite tired in time for a meeting. 15 hours of "work" straight. yowzers.

I am taking off to San Fran for the weekend, and I am really looking forward to it. Hopefully Seth will meet me out there since he gets to fly for free. Otherwise, I am just going to be a tourist for the weekend. Unfortunately, Ben, who lives out here in SF is in Atlanta for the weekend! what a shame!

Meanwhile, out here in CA, I have been enjoying myself. The plant is really cool, and I am awed at the proecesses. I feel like a little kid every time I see a new manufacturing plant. I managed to find my way on my own, through exits with no numbers, and streets with no signs, and plants with no name. Now I'm a pro. I ate my first In N Out Burger on my way in, so that was pretty cool and now I can say I've done that.

I am sufficiently tired right now at 10:00 though since I haven't fully changed time zones (and even if I did, I have to get up by 6), so I am going to head to bed. I'll keep posted on stuff going on here, and when I get a chance, I'll post pictures.

Project Picnic Table

The co-ops were given a task a few weeks ago to build a picnic table. They were given a budget and a goal (to seat a minimum of 10 people). I was the "project manager" through whom they had to clear all project plans.

They had to go through the process that all our projects go through of creating a scope, schedule, and budget for their project. They created all the documentation, procured materials, and executed the project. When the "customer" changed tehir mind in the middle of the project, they asessed a Project Change Notice where they showed what the change would cost. At the end, they had a lessons learned session with the customer, and an end of project celebration.

THey saw a picture online of the table they wanted to build, and with one measurement given (the length of the tabletop), they designed the whole thing in AutoCad, and built it. Here are the pictures of the table during the celebration. Great Job Co-ops!

Pillow Fight.

I went to the dentist yesterday morning, and was reminded of one of my lifelong pet peeves. I hate it when the dentist or hygenist talks to you and asks you questions that can't be answered with a yes or no (or uh huh or uh uh). THey're fiddling around in your mouth, and they want you to answer back?? arggh...

Anyway, David's been hounding me already for 2 days for these pictures, so I had to post the pictures of David with 4 girls in his hammock, and the other of the girls having a pillow fight. Really.

10K Complete.

The race went well. I looked back and it was actually a little under 64 minutes that we did the race last year. This year Nick and I did the race together again, and I finished in 62:31. Along the way on the sidelines cheering and afterwards I saw Cathy J., Nat & Jeanette, DZ, Andrea, Ethan, Matt, Caroline and Jana, and Brent said he saw me but apparently I ignored him. Of the runners, I saw Adam, Becca, Jason, Cara, Bill, Adam, Beth, Leah’s parents and aunt and uncle, Mike & Margaret. I think I am forgetting a few people, but man, there were a ton of people there!

We didn’t drink any beer during the race this year (which might be the cause of our 90 second decrease in run time), but we did still get some cool stuff – teeshirts and such along the way.

I spent the rest of the day BBQ hopping – First to Marilyn and John’s over at piedmont park which was great, especially since I hadn’t seen them in forever; and afterwards to DZ’s place for the rest of the evening. I was initially planning on going to Decatur to see Moose and the dance crowd as well as my parents for the fireworks, but I was exhausted, so I didn’t end up driving down there, and instead went home.

All in all, it was a lovely 4th of July, and a nice break from work during the week!

Prepping.

"Good stories only happen to those who can tell them well" I heard that quote the other day, and really liked it.

Just food for thought

Meanwhile, the weekend was fun. Atlanta Brewing dance rocked. It was fun to see so many people attend the event I planned. It's an easy venue, and people enjoyed themselves. I can't wait for next month's dance.

The reason I like it so much is that as opposed to all the other dances I attend, this one is more public (meaning people can accidentally happen upon it). I like that it's public because
a) friends of mine who have no idea that I dance or have never seen me dance have a chance to come out and see why I am always ditching them to dance.
b) it shows people how much fun we have dancing, and hopefully get them interested in trying it out too!

Anyway, it is the first Sunday of every month, 5-7:45 at Atlanta Brewing Company.

I am about to head out and go dancing again tonight after going for a refreshing run. Today was my last running day before the peachtree road race. I am excited to see if maybe I beat last year's time.

Last year I did just under 62 minutes - start to finish. I would like to do it in under 60 this year. Last year however, included in those 62 minutes was stopping to get a Moe's teeshirt (which I have since lost), catching a Mellow Mushroom water bottle (which I have since lost), and saying hi to a family friend on the side for a few seconds and getting my picture with them. I still plan on running the same way this year, being a fun part of the crowd, but I'll do it faster ;-)

I'll keep you posted on how that ends up going.

Dating at work.

It is NOT COOL to hit on your co-workers. Unless you're sure they are just as interested, it makes it very awkward to just be at work. There are a couple people at my office that drive me nuts. Some people that are in the younger crowd that hit on me way too much, and some that are older that say things totally inappropriate.

If you work with me, stop hitting on me. I am not interested.