time goes backwards...

Hrm. Click on this if you can't see it, but note the date and time on this login.

The Airline gods are against me

OK. I am a type A personality. You ALL know that. I do things usually on time, the right way, and perfect things. So, when EVERYTHING went wrong on my flight last night, I was (understandably) pissed off. I was flying Air-Tran out of Chicago. I left for the El train at 5:00. I got to the airport at 5:45. I checked in and checked my bag and was at the gate by 6:15. My flight was set to leave at 7:35. The plane got in a bit late, so they started boarding late. The terminal was packed with people. There were about 10 people in line at all times, and people were sitting on the floor too. I heard them board first class. Then about five minutes later, they boarded the back of the plane. then I waited. I didn't hear them call anything for a few minutes and got bored of waiting, so I went to just get on. I hand my ticket to the lady, and at the same time notice the door is closed. I asked why the door was closed, and she says "we've closed out the flight". I nearly exploded. I told her (actually quite calmly), that I'd been sitting in the terminal for an hour and never heard a) my row, b) a last call for all rows or c) my name (since of course, I'd checked in). She replied with a shrug and said she could put me on the next flight. For a moment I figured - well, maybe I wasn't paying close enough attention. Until another passenger walked up (who I'd seen in the terminal this whole time IE - NOT LATE) and tried to get on, saying his row was not called either. She kindly offered to put him on the next flight as well.

I was smoking mad. I couldn't believe this. Meanwhile, the plane was still there, she was just not letting us board it. So she puts us on the next flight - set to leave over an hour later. That flight was very empty, and left on time. We actually arrived in Atlanta 15 minutes early. But conveniently, our gate still had a plane in it, and it was running late, so we pulled into the gate ~15 minutes late.

We were now in Terminal C. I go down to catch the train, and wait about 5 minutes before realizing that it's taken too long. It is not running. So, unfortunately, I start walking. Conveniently, gate C is the third farthest terminal (at least not the farthest). And at least there are moving walkways between the terminals. Or are there? the walkways were shut off. So basically, I should've been wearing my gym clothes to hike all the way to the baggage claim.

I finally get to baggage claim, and *luckily* they haven't lost my bag (since it came on the earlier flight), but, they did completely tear the handle off my brand new suitcase. It was already 1:00am at this point, so I didn't bother waiting to report it. At least it's still under warantee, so I'll just return it. arggh, it was a long night of annoyances at the airport.

Too Cute

my neice - Kesiah

Southwest Rocks

I went to Miami this weekend. I flew down Friday and though my plane was late, Becca snagged me from the airport just in time to get to Tia Matty's for the end of Shabbat dinner with the extended family. Most of the cousins were there, and we all got to catch up a bit. I was glad to make it because otherwise I'dve been shlepping around South Florida visiting relatives all weekend. I slept over at Rebecca's, and Saturday morning borrowed her car and drove down to Kendall for the shabbat service, and then for the rest of the day we hung out down there at the pool (since the beach was nixed because of tempramental weather). That night I slept at my Grandma's, and in the morning made the drive back to Kendall for the wedding. It was Jessica and Jordan's wedding, and I was a Ketubah witness, so I had to be there a bit early. The wedding was nice, and I caught up with a few of the GT people that came out for it.

Dark and Early this morning I caught a flight to Chicago on Southwest Airlines. I've never flown Southwest, and I must say, it was probably one of the best flights I've taken. The Flight attendants are casual with polos and shorts. When they brought drinks to my row, they delivered a water saying "vodka, straight up", and my OJ was "a screwdriver". I was blessed with having about 50 middle schoolers on my flight, but they were surprisingly well behaved. The flight attendants allowed them to hand out the snacks, so these kids were giving out the peanuts. Pretty funny. Then, the flight attendant got on the loudspeaker and says that it is some kid's 9th birthday, and so everyone sang happy birthday, and the kid got a roll of toilet paper, topped with bags of peanuts, and some colorful coffee stirrers as a "cake". Once we landed, we were slowing to a stop on the runway, and over the loudspeaker the attendant says "click clock click clock" with his toungue, and as we stop, he says "whoooaaa boy!" it was again, pretty funny. Then, they say "we know you could give your money to any airline, we're glad you give it to us. We love you, you love us, flying southwest is faster than taking the bus...something something something...if you marry one of us you'll fly for free". It was just a funny, enjoyable flight (especially for having woken up at 5am and then switching to an even earlier time zone).

Now I am in Chicago visiting Evin, Noah, and baby Kesiah, and boy is Kesiah cute! I will post more as I am here longer. Noah stopped with shaving his head to have a mohawk for a little bit, and took a twin picture with Kesiah =)

Make the best of what you're given...

When you’re sent to Mobile, you have to make the best of it. I was to be in Mobile for M-W of this week, so I took advantage of the opportunity and left Friday to Pensacola and visited Leah W. for the weekend. I met her new dog, her roommate’s cat, and her roommate’s boyfriend’s dog. It was a zoo there. We caught up, went to the beach, and even took her dog to the dog park! (Which by the way, was a beach) But, all good things must come to an end, and early Monday I had to leave for Mobile to be there by 7:00am. The people in the Mobile plant were all really nice. They’re a laid back crowd, and we have fun with them.

I finally got back late Wednesday, and celebrated Fathers’ day with my parents by going out to dinner. After dinner, I convinced my dad to stop by my house to drill some holes in my wall higher than I could reach myself. He arrived at my house before my mom and I did, and when we walked in, he was on the couch watching the Braves game. He says “Bela, I thought you didn’t have basic cable!” I told him I don’t, that we only have network stations. But apparently, he was able to get whatever station the braves were on, which was cable. So we flipped through, and lo and behold, we have cable! I think the Comcast technician felt so sorry for us, he pulled the filter and gave us extra channels. We’ll see how long this lasts…we’ll enjoy it for the time being.

Still recuperating from this week’s traveling, I had some of the old orchestra kids over for dinner last night because Smitha was in town for the week from Japan. She’s been teaching over there for a year, and is about to start a second year now that she re-signed her contract. Ethan, Kati, Erik, Matt, Smitha, and I all cooked up some dinner and we were going to go to Screen on the Green, but the weather was nasty, so we stayed and hung out together. Better for me anyway because I still had to pack.

Betsy brought me to work today because I am leaving straight from work to go to the airport for a weekend in Miami for a wedding and to visit relatives, and then 3 days in Chicago to visit Evin, Noah, and baby Kesiah =).

I am excited. Not only for what I am going to, but also for a little vacation from work.

Up close and personal

I have had a lot of pictures to post lately. Maybe just coincidence, maybe because I am shopping for a new camera. This is the one I think I am going to get:
Canon SD550


and for all of you who have always wondered what my eye looks like, Dave I. took this at the wedding last week. Hope it's not too scary!

Gentelmen, start your feet.

Jeremy and Alan might hate me for posting this, because they think it's the best secret in the world, but it is only a good secret FOR THEM. So here is the best kept secret:

Boys - learn to dance. I go out dancing all the time, and there are always at least 3 times as many girls as there are guys. The girls are swooning over these guys that in the real world may be nothing special, but on the dance floor, they're gods. Now, I know you're all thinking:

a) I don't know how to dance
b) I don't want people to think I'm gay
c) I don't want to make a fool of myself in front of a cute girl.

ok, get over it. here are reasons why you should learn to dance:
a) the women
b) the exercise
c) the women
d) it's inexpensive fun
e) the women

I dance all the time with horribly sweaty, fat, not good-looking guys (and even some that have all three of those fine qualities), and come off the floor so excited about having a good dance.

No one knows how to partner dance without classes. Take some free lessons and then maybe even pay for some lessons, but I am getting ahead of myself. NO ONE STARTS OUT GOOD.

Guys, grow some balls and get out there.

ASEDA - Atlanta Swing Era Dance Association

Down South Swing

Reuben's gone

After spending 10 days here, Reuben went back to my parents' house last night. He actually got along with Daisy for the most part during his visit this time. They just needed to become friends. Mom and Dad say that the reason they like keeping him here over at the kennel is because here, he doesn't have to make new friends every time =)

Jenny and George

Saturday night was the wedding of Jenny and George. I've known Jenny since the 8th grade, and met George while they were dating. The wedding was very nice, and Jenny's dress was actually made by her mom!! it was really cool that she did that herself! The band was also really good and I saw a few people I knew there, though not too many. I took this picture off Max's website (click to go there) of Jenny and George after their first dance. Congratulations Jenny and George!!!!

Jackets Win!

JACKETS WIN!! JACKETS WIN!!! Betsy and I endured the blazing heat to watch the Jackets beat the College of charleston in just two games to go on to Omaha!! Go Jackets!

Ice cream is better than other foods.

Ever wonder why some foods have tamper evident seals, and for some reason others don't feel the need to have one? You're not supposed to buy a jar if the top is popped, or a container if the seal is broken, but for all who are wondering, ice cream apparently has no chance of being tampered with? just open and it's ready to eat! interesting!

it's COMSUCKSTIC!

I can't chat online, so I just keep posting...

My internet at my house has been down for over a week. It is really really annoying, and even more frustrating that Comcast has been a pain in the butt about it. the unfortunate thing is that they pretty much have a monopoly over cable internet in Atlanta, and there is not really another option since I don't have a home phone line. Today is the day they're supposed to come take a look at it. I'll see what happens when I get home... I'll keep you posted.

I am still babysitting Reuben for the week, and instead of paying me (not that she would anyway), my mom is letting me "borrow" her maid for the day today. Annie (our maid since I was born) came to my house this morning, and while I am at work, has been giving it a good scrub down. I can't wait to see my house all spick and span.

At work today, I stopped by Scott's office. To some, including myself, he has quite the quirky personality, but I think he's pretty funny anyway. He is a project Manager for Polytron, our sister company. We chatted for a little bit, and it's nice to sometimes take a breather when otherwise you are TOTALLY SWAMPED at work. He certainly boosted my self esteem, even if that wasn't his goal. good guy, scott.

Current Thoughts about Work.

Let me start off with saying that I like working for my company. I like our jobs, and I like what I do, and when I keep busy (which is most of the time), I am engrossed in my projects. Here's the thing. When we're hired out of college, regardless of how much time we've interned or co-oped, we start out at the first level, with "zero" experience. I think that is an OK practice, though I think it could be altered to reflect previous experience , but that is not where I have my beef right now.

This first level, let's call it being an "A" employee is expected for 3-5 years. No one is supposed to be promoted to a "B" employee any time earlier than day 365 of year 3. On that same note, if you're still at position A and you've been here 4.5 years, you can probably expect that you are not what they're looking for to be promoted, and should begin looking for another job.

Here's problem #1: The company hires people from the outside to be B's, instead of promoting from the inside. Now, this isn't an "all the time" practice, but it happens. That's fine, maybe they want diversity in the pool. However, what I DON'T like, is that some of the people they're interviewing and considering hiring, DO NOT have engineering degrees!! maybe they had a concentration or a minor in it, but I'm sorry, not majoring in Engineering shows that either a) you're not interested in it, b) it was too hard for you, or c) you were too lazy to put forth the effort to pursue the degree. I don't think we want any of these three types of people working as level B Engineers. Or for that matter - any level engineers. I would expect, that our clients expect for people who have the term "engineer" in their title, should have an engineering degree. Along those lines, we're encouraged to pursue our EIT and later PE licences to gain credibility with our customers. I understand that we want to gain credibility, but how are we gaining credibility with customers by hiring non-engineering major engineers?

Problem #2: We have a good benefits package, a 401K, decent number of vacation days, etc. Our pay is average. at best. Graduating college, I had an offer that was $7,000 more per year, and it came with a huge signing bonus. The raises were also much more significant. I liked working here, and I knew about the company, and I thought working for a small company might be better, so I took this job. I understand we're not a huge company, maybe we can't afford to pay more. BUT, if that's the case, then show appreciation in other ways. It seems here like there is no public appreciation of the employees. No "Engineer of the year" type awards. We have company parties each year, and they spend a lot of money on them, but it isn't anything but a chance to socialize with work people outside of work. I still think it's a good idea to have these events, just perhaps not as elaborate. Also, the giveaways? just give us the option of getting the giveaway or $20. Sometimes they're useful, sometimes they sit in people's trunk until they can get rid of it. We spend countless hours interviewing, and a lot of money bringing in candidates to decide either that a) they're a "flight risk" because they might get bored here or want to move away or b)we give them an offer that they can get better somewhere else, and turn us down. At this rate, we will get mediocre employees if we're paying mediocre salaries. by being in the 50th percentile, we'll get 50th percentile people. I'd like to think that I am not "average", but who knows, maybe they think I am, and that's why they hired me.

Problem#3: In the past 5 months since the beginning of the year, 2 A's have quit and 2 B's have quit. That is about a third of our combined A/B population. In 5 months? that is unacceptable. We're told that what we do is not for everyone, let the people leave who are not interested in it. I disagree. No one grows up saying they want to do the work we do. You start doing it, and then if you like it, you stay in it. Liking it has a few components. First, you must enjoy the actual work. You have to enjoy getting your hands dirty, and figuring out what's wrong, etc. Second, you have to like the people you're working with. In hiring, a question we ask a lot is "they're good for the job , but will they fit in? third, you have to be shown that you are appreciated. for you to show you like a job (by remaining in the position), the job has to show that they like you. and Fourth, you have to see a future for yourself in the job. This often comes from looking at people more senior than you in your position or a position above, and benchmarking. It is my belief that all four of these components are required in order to stay at a job. It's not just the employee that makes the decision to leave. It is often the company that has the bigger effect on that decision than the person themself.

problem #4: we do not consider people who are not American citizens for positions. We don't do government work, so I have no idea why we don't. There are plenty of qualified candidates that we reject because we have never sponsored someone. I think it is silly to write it off because it might be a little extra work. suck it up, look into it, and if it costs money to do a sponsorship, explain it to the candidate, and take that amount off their salary if you need to, but don't write off a good candidate because you don't want to do a little extra work.

All that being said, at this moment, I still like my job. I like the people I work with, and I like what I do. What I don't like is some of the methodology behind the hiring practices (some of which I didn't even mention), and what my future may be like in the company. At this point, there are no females above position A, and though the recruiting looks for a lot of diversity in who we hire, the upper level management is all white males. Except one - because we are technically a "minority owned company". That is discouraging not only for the women here, but also for any minorities.

I don't think anyone from work reads this blog (except people who may agree with me), but it isn't a private blog, so I have to expect someone may come upon it. I think that it is not one person making many of these decisions, but I do think that the ones making these decisions may benefit from knowing this. I have spoken my mind, though I am not sure it made it through. I also realize that every company in the world, large and small have problems, and at no one time is everyone in the company going to be happy or satisfied. But, each of these people do have their opinion, and this is mine. I am now done with my rant. Please comment, especially if you have similar stories or suggestions.

I won't win again for 23 more years.

I went to a conference a couple weeks ago in Orlando, and one of the presentation booths was Starbucks. I stopped by the booth, and I (like everyone else who stopped by) got a free $5 gift card to starbucks!
well, that was pretty cool. I put my business card in a bowl for some drawing they were having, and forgot about it. I got an email yesterday saying I had been picked out of the bowl, and won a Starbucks Barista Espresso Machine. Apparently a $399 value. I was all excited! I then thought about it, and I don't even like coffee! So I think I am going to try to sell it on e-bay. I figure if I get $250+, it'd be worth it, and I could probably make that a minimum bid! I can use the money to upgrade stuff in my house that needs upgrading =) So that is exciting. I haven't gotten it yet, but I will receive it in a couple days =)

On that same note, if you want to buy it from me, it'll be for sale.

I have Reuben for the week while my family is on Vacation. He scares the crap out of Daisy, just by existing. She is so scared of him that she starts fights with him to prove how "brave" she is, but keep in mind while Reuben is 70 lbs, Daisy is about 10 lbs. She was so scared the other day, she peed on my carpet...errr....I can't wait to get rid of the carpet in my house.

Has anyone ever installed their own hardwood/laminate? I think I am going to do that, but wondered if anyone's ever had experience doing it and have any suggestions like - don't bother, it isn't worth doing it yourself - or even better - Yeah, I know how to do it and I'll help you do it in exchange for you cooking me dinner and giving me some beer. either comment works ;-)

Ever since I officially changed my address with the post office, I have gotten endless letters from people in my neighborhood offering their services. Everything from Handymen, Dentists, beauty shops, dry cleaners, plumbers, accountants, etc. I got a free haircut last week, have coupons for free meals at a bunch of restaurants, have a teeth cleaning scheduled in a few weeks, and am going to meet for a free 2 hour consultation with a financial planner next week. If people offer it, I am going to take them up on it!

One of my favorite authors ever, Jeffrey Deaver, is coming in town today to the Decatur Library. I am going to get dinner and see him tonight, and I am really excited. =)

Jackets to the Super regionals!

After a 2+ hour game delay last night, I got to see Tech whoop Vandy 8-4 at last night's super-regional qualifying game. Next week we play for 2/3 in the series against College of Charleston to fight for a spot in the College World Series in Omaha! We've had a good season, and I think we can go all the way!! I am behind you, Jackets! =)

Because I know everyone is on the edge of their seats, I'd just like to share that this weekend was another wedding-less weekend...something that doesn't happen nearly as much as the opposite lately. But I got to relax a bit, meet a few neighbors, get a hair cut, shop, dance, and I am sitting Reuben while the rest of the family hits the beach - certainly relaxing more than I am.

Memorial Day Weekend

Over the last week and a half, I haven’t posted because I have not had anything truly groundbreaking or specifically significant to post about. I returned from Orlando on Wednesday evening, and had some girl time with Lisa before she left for Houston for the summer. Thursday and Friday both, I went to my parent’s house for dinner, and after dinner Friday, I went over to Ken’s place to celebrate his birthday with him. He had a bunch of other people there too, mostly classmates from law school, and after hanging out for a while, we decided to go out. We decided on a gay bar. It was my first time going, and I was really excited. I got there, and it was like a really bad tech party. ALL guys. There were about 10 girls in the whole place, and hundreds of men. I guess it’s a good thing, a bit of eye candy, but unfortunately, it’s really hard for a girl to get a drink at the bar =)

During the weekend, my mom came over Saturday for the battle of the century – Us versus my yard. I had bamboo growing and spreading like wildfire all over my back yard. We spent about 4 hours in the grueling heat trying to take it down. We cut, chopped, snipped, sprayed, and eventually, it looked like we’d made some progress. Not enough to plant the new flowers though. That would have to be taken care of another day. That night, Leah W. was in town, and we hung out for a while and caught up. It’s always nice to see her, and it sucks that she lives so far. At least her family lives here, and so she has some incentive besides me to come and visit =)

Over the rest of the long weekend I went to a couple BBQs, swam in a few pools, hit Piedmont Park for the Jazz festival, and cooked a great lunch for Jess and Jordan since they too, were in town this weekend! Having the day off was nice, but that one day is always such a tease. At least the week is shorter. Meanwhile, school is out for the summer, and so I don’t have the battle against the school busses in the morning anymore for a while. That’s a nice change.

Mom’s coming back over tonight to attempt round two on my yard. We’ll see how it goes.

By the way, Thank you all you servicepeople for all you do. It goes appreciated, even if we don't say it, though we should. Thank you for allowing us to have the blessings we do every day.

A whole year??

Today marks one year since I left on my 2 month trip to Europe last summer. I can not believe that it has already been a year. it feels like I just returned. Ever since that trip, I have pretty much not kept in touch with almost anyone I traveled with. Jacob moved to Baltimore, and I have seen him just a couple times since our trip, and honestly have not even spoken with him much more than that. Miles moved to CA to go to UCSB for his Phd. Also, only seen him a couple times since then. Austin and I were never too close before the trip...I pretty much just knew him through Jacob, so it wasn't like we are more out of contact now than before. and My dad can't lose contact with me because he's my dad.

I had a whim recently to take a trip out of the country, but couldn't get it together in time. I really want to go to south america - Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay. I also want to go to Croatia. Those are two trips I'd love to take if people would like to go with me sometime either later in the summer or later in the year.

Emotional Rollercoaster

no, I am not talking about PMS. For the record, I have been told that apparently people don't like reading about my daily activities. Unfortunately, those are the only things going on in my life, and I guess the way I view the world is not so inspirational that I have a good post all the time.

I am currently sitting in a hotel room in Orlando, FL, at the ubiquitous desk they put in every hotel room on the planet. I am facing my computer screen, and behind it, a huge mirror. Glancing up into the mirror reminds me a little of the scenes of Carrie, from sex in the city. I have a bit of a perplexed expression on my face because 1) I am not sure exactly how/what to write about today, and 2) I am not sure how I am feeling.

As of last weekend, officially, Josh and I are not together. The problem here though, is that because we weren't in the same city to begin with, I am not sure how to approach the difference. We developed together on the phone, a great friendship within our relationship, that I feel like I can't just drop like the title "boyfriend". The problem lies there - if we still talk all the time, how is it different? Josh, you probably hate me for even writing this post, but this is what I do. Usually, when relationships end, or even while they exist, there are things that get on your nerves about the other person. With me, as a Type A personality, pretty much everyone in the world has characteristics that get on my nerves - some more than others, but somehow, Josh didn't. He is a great person all around, and I am glad Leah, that you thought to introduce us.

I guess from the beginning, we both knew the relationship was doomed. The problem, was that we both were too excited about the other to let the obstacles get in the way. Josh lived in a different state (still does, for that matter, just a different different state), and is not Jewish. Those are TWO of the hardest things in a relationship - keeping it long distance, and mixed religion...Even though Josh probably thinks that it's the marine reputation too. It's a strange thing, relationships. One day, you hardly know someone, and 6 months later, you feel like there's a part of your life pulled away when you can't talk to them and tell them a funny story about what happened that day. No mom, I am not talking about when I call you and get a busy signal...

At least we got to spend time together last weekend, and breaking up was no surprise to either of us. I would've thought though, that knowing it was our last weekend going into it, it would be a lot easier to get over it afterwards - but it's not.

And no, boys, this doesn't mean I am "back on the market" just yet. I need some time. And also, it is not the beginning of a "date goyim" streak. It is the end of one. I'm just glad that since I broke my "no dating non Jews" pact, at least I picked a good one to break it with. Josh, you're great.

At risk of being too sentimental, here is are a couple of choruses that came to mind during that last part of my blog. This set of lyrics is for you, Josh:

(chorus 1)
You're the top! You're the coliseum,
You're the top! You're the Louvre Museum,
You're a melody from a symphony by Strauss,
You're a Bendel bonnet, a Shakespeare sonnet,
You're Mickey Mouse.
You're the Nile, You're the Tow'r of Pisa,
You're the smile on the Mona Lisa.
I'm a worthless check, a total wreck, a flop,
But if, Baby, I'm the bottom,
You're the top!

(chorus 2)
You're the top! You're Mahatma Ghandi.
You're the top! You're Napolean brandy.
You're the purple light of a summer night in Spain,
You're the National Gall'ry, You're Garbo's sal'ry,
You're cellophane.
You're sublime, You're a turkey dinner.
You're the time of the Derby winner.
I'm a toy balloon that is fated soon to pop.
But if, Baby, I'm the bottom,
You're the top!

Wedding #2 - Chris and Kevin

Note: this weekend was in Houston because that is where the wedding was - for those of you who missed that.

I stayed home from work Thursday, and instead worked from home in the morning, and actually had a pretty productive morning at the same time. Mid-day, Scott’s mom came over and took the two of us to the airport to Houston. Scott came prepared for the ride with food, entertainment and liquor – apparently, the things necessary for a flight. Upon arrival in Houston-Hobby, we only knew that we had the address for the hotel we were going to. An $80 cab ride later, and we were there! Yes, you read that right. If we’d only known where it was, we could’ve saved some money and just rented a car, but we weren’t so lucky. The rehearsal dinner was that night, and after checking in and getting ready, we headed over there. It was a nice dinner with probably 50 people. They’d rented a restaurant, and served Mexican food for everyone. There was a huge showing of the GT friends, which was really nice. After dinner, we hung out for a little while at Chris’s family’s house, and then went back to the hotel and went to the hot-tub to kill some time. In the morning, the guys got up to play golf, but one of the guys, Jake, didn’t go, and we went for a great run. It was about 4 miles, so I was really happy and satisfied with it. When we got back, the rest of us hung out by the pool, and that afternoon, Josh came too. At night was the wedding. The wedding was beautiful. The ceremony was outside, and the weather was perfect. After the ceremony, we all had these little cards that we opened, and inside were butterflies. It was beautiful. Inside there were cocktails for about an hour and then a dinner. I think everyone had a lot of fun. The next day, after attempting to see the (non-existant) Davinci Inventions exhibit, and not finding the Art-Car festival, we watched a bit of TV and hit up the REI spring sale, had lunch at a BBQ place, and then made our way into town for the ballgame. Chris’s family and Kevin’s parents and some of the friends all went to the game. We started out in the upper deck behind home, and then joined them on the lower level right field line. I couldn’t believe that after hosting this wedding all weekend, and planning to leave for California the next day, Chris and Kevin came to the game. It was nice seeing them a little calmer, and out of the wedding mindset. After the game, we drove back to the hotel with a few of the other friends, and then went out to a diner to eat something. All I wanted to do upon returning to the hotel was sleep. I needed it. But I didn’t get too much sleep and my flight left again from Hobby today, so I had to be up and packed in the morning. All in all it was a really good weekend, and I had a great time. I think most other people did too…

Congratulations Kevin and Chris!!

I AM Kevin Bacon.

ok, So I like meeting people. Apparently that is an understatement. My friends think I know everyone in the world. I denied it for a while, and still do a bit, but I will give you a couple examples of funny stories:


1)Jeff is on his honeymoon in Ashville. He calls me today to tell me that the store owner at one of the stores he and Laura went into somehow knows me. I have no idea how my name came up to begin with, but ... Random.

2)My cousin owns a company in FL. One day, my mom emailed her a picture of me, and one of her employees walked by and saw her computer. He said "I know her! I went to Tech with her"

3)During my trip to Europe, five different instances I ran into people I knew. All over the continent.

Please comment with your stories if you have any.
This is it.

Update.

Moshe told me the other day that he was disappointed in me since I hadn’t updated my blog recently. To which I say... I can’t write about my life if I don’t take a break to have one! Last week I had lunch on Monday with Stephanie B., who I hadn’t seen since she graduated Tech (almost a year before me). She had since married her long time boyfriend, Shane, and they now own a house in the outskirts of Atlanta. We spent a little while joking about how now since we both own houses and are supporting ourselves, coupons are our friends. I used to make fun of my mom for cutting coupons for everything, but now I am always armed and ready with one, no matter where I go. It was nice to catch up with her.

On Wednesday, Matt F. sent me an email to see if I was going dancing. I hadn’t planned on it, but since Matt lives in Austin, and apparently was in town, I decided to go. It was pretty fun to be out dancing, and meanwhile, I found out that Matt has since moved back to Atlanta because he got a job here. That’s exciting. I knew he was interviewing here, but hadn’t followed up on the results. It’s always good to have friends move back in town, and it helps that it adds one more lead to the dance scene!

Thursday I went to the JCC with Amanda to see a play “Chopped Liver in Paradise”. I’d gotten free tickets from taking a survey a while back, and it was a pretty funny play. It was nice of course spending time with Amanda too, and giving her a short break from finals.

Friday, Cinco De Mayo, we had a party at work. We started with an operations meeting which we have every couple months to update everyone on new employees, progress towards our yearly goals, etc., and afterwards we all had Margaritas and chips and just hung out together. Straight from work I went to my parents in Decatur, and took a run around Decatur. I’ve gotten to the point that I can tell how far I’ve gone by seeing how long I’ve been running. I had a nice run through downtown Decatur and through the neighborhoods. It was nice to have a change of scenery. Then I went back home for Shabbat dinner and to catch up with the ‘rents. After dinner, I headed over to Jenny I.’s for a graduation/ Cinco de Mayo party she was throwing for fiancé George. Meanwhile, I was expecting a call from Greg & Rachel or Paul since they were on their way into town for the weekend. Once I heard from them, we all met up at Jeff’s old Apt, and when I walked in, ALL the out-of-towners were there! All the old AEPi’s I hadn’t seen in a while! It was so great to see everyone! We ended up going next door to a restaurant/bar for a few hours to hang out.

In the morning was Jeff’s wedding, so Greg, Rachel, Ben N., Paul M. and I all carpooled out to Chateau Elon after a French toast breakfast. The wedding started at 11:30 which was pretty early after being out late the night before, but it was nice. There was an open bar, but for the first part, most people were just ordering “orange juice, on the rocks”. It was a bit early to drink. But eventually, people put the bar tenders to work. I was sitting at a table with all AEPi guys. It was like old times. The wedding turned out nice, and afterwards, a few of us went to my house, and Rachel and I baked cupcakes for everyone, and once everyone had changed and rested up a bit, we met up to eat some BBQ for dinner. During dinner, it was planned (though I suggested it, it wasn’t me to follow through on it) that everyone would come to my house after dinner. A few cases of beer, and 30 guests later, we had a party Saturday night. It was totally unexpected, but a lot of fun. Eventually most people left, and the few remaining slept on my couches, and in the morning, Rachel made breakfast for everyone before people cleared out. I had lunch with the family because it was my sister’s b-day, and dinner at Rock Bottom for Lisa’s b-day, so all in all, I didn’t have a second alone all weekend. I came to work Monday exhausted, but thrilled to have had such a fun weekend.

Now I’m in Augusta having lunch before heading to the plant for a meeting at 1:00. Moshe, I hope you’re satisfied with this update.

Air Show

I went this weekend to the Air Show here with Scott and some of his friends. It was a lot of fun, and even though it started out a bit drizzley and overcast, and though it was very windy and chilly the whole afternoon, the show went live as planned, and the Blue angels even did the high show. There were a lot of amazing performances in all sorts of different aircraft.

Here is a picture Josh took at another air show a few months ago. But I love this picture. If you want to see some more of his pictures, click on the picture:

Cooking for engineers.

I found a really cool site for us analytical people. It's called

Cooking for engineers

http://www.cookingforengineers.com/

It's back!

Sometimes I want to post multiple blog entries, and date them seperately (just like my men) because they happened at different times. I used to have that option - to change the time/date of a blog post, but for the past few months, that option had disappeared off my blog. I kept checking the settings and I couldn't figure out what was wrong. Well kids, it's back! I can now change the date and time - also a really good feature if I am blogging at work. (note the time here - it's as if I blogged from home!)

Fun times this weekend!

Well, I must say that for it not being a weekend with a "big" event planned, I sure did do a LOT!

Friday night I went for the first time to Martinis and Imax to see a really good swing band, and I knew a lot of the dancers would be out, so I even got a little dancing in! Saturday morning, I got up early and Betsy and I went down to GT campus to run the Pi Mile race (3.14 miles for all you non-nerds) - essentially, it's a 5K. I have been running 3 miles a few times a week for a while now, and it seems no matter if I'm on the treadmill or the ground, it takes me about 30-32 minutes to run 3.1 miles. Well, I guess I was inspired, because I ran the race in a little over 27 minutes. I calculated out to 8:50 per mile average. I ended up finishing #37 of the women overall. I'd guess there were somewhere between 300-400 people running, though I am not a great judge of numbers. Back home before 9:00 am saturday, and I got ready to go take a tour at the Lockheed plant to see where/how the F-22 Raptor is built. Scott's dad works there, so he was able to give us a tour, and it was pretty neat to see.

I came home to have a relaxing afternoon, and around 5:45, Amanda called to see what I was doing for dinner. We somehow ended up deciding that it'd be a really good idea to do an impromptu BBQ. Between the two of us, we had nearly all the materials for a good BBQ - Meat and Beer. We started IMing and calling friends, and within an hour had a group to come over! I think a total of about 15 people showed up, and it was so fun!

Sunday I came down to Tech to do a recruiting event for women who have been accepted but may not have yet decided if they're coming to tech, so I was asked as a "young alumna" to come and talk and schmooze with the girls and their parents. It was a ton of fun and brought back memories of my time at tech and recruiting. I love doing that.

Overall, I just really enjoyed myself this weekend. Oh yeah, incase anyone actually cares, my workout routine is still going strong.

Working Out

Well, when I started working, I was either running or dancing 4-5 times a week. I felt really good. In the winter time, I dwindled to 1-3 times per week. But now that it is nice outside again, I decided to get back into it.

Saturday afternoon I went for the run for 3.3 miles around the loop. It was hot, humid, and polleny (if that's a word), outside, and I did the run much slower than usual. Usually it takes me about 30 minutes, but this time it took me about 35.

Sunday I went to the gym, and Daniel was there, so he distracted me by talking to me during my run, and I did my 3 miles in 30 minutes on the treadmill. I did a little on the elliptical, and he showed me some cool ab workouts, and then I left.

Monday (yesterday) I went back to the gym and did my 3 miles in 29 minutes (I just speed up the last couple laps at the end), then the elliptical, and then my usual ab workout, and then Daniel decided I needed some more (which I didn't argue with). He showed me an ab workout where your weight is on your forearms, hanging, and you bring your knees up. Bad gymnastics memories came back on that one. After that, we went and did some free weights and pushups. The pushups I was OK with since I always do pushups in my workout, but I'd never done weights (yeah, I'm a cardio gal), so that was new. Surprisingly, the only place I am sore is the bottom of my back and my abs. Yay!

Tuesday (Today) I will play basketball with work. that should give me at least part of a workout. The gym closes early today, and is closed wednesday and thursday for passover, And of course always closes early friday and is closed saturday, so I'd better find some other way to work out for the rest of the week.

I am just happy that I am back into it and feeling good.

Girls' Night

Saturday night was girls' night at my house. seven of us decided to make dinner and watch sex and the city. We made twice baked potatoes, grouper, and had some yummy white kosher wine with it. Then afterwards, we made strawberry banana smoothies (spiked), and some manischewitz passover cake. It was all yummy. We also watched a fair amount of Sex and the city. It's nice to sometimes just hang out with the girls.

Fixing the house.

Luckily, the problems I have with my house are minor in comparison to what they could be. After all the issues going on with my house, here is the update about how it went:

The Closet:
I decided to put new rods in my closet in the "guest" room to make the closet a little more usable.
I think it looks good and worked fine. I probably should've put drywall anchors in the wall first, but I didn't have any, so I skipped that step. I may be sorry for that later.

The Water Heater:
We've been taking cold showers for about 2 weeks. It sucks. I have a home warrantee, so I called them, and for a $50 deductible, the plumber would come out and look at it.
He came, and as suspected, the lower heating element was broken and had to be replaced. He also replaced the Dip Tube. Now I can take long, hot, showers.

The Toilets:
Both Betsy's toilet and mine were running, pretty much non-stop. I wasn't too worried about it since water is covered in my HOA, so my bill wouldn't change, but I figured it'd be good to get it checked out if the plumber was coming anyway. He looked at the toilets, took the tops off the tanks, and decided that
a) the Water pressure was too high (While normal apparently is 50-80, mine is at 100 - not sure of the units, I'm guessing PSI)
b) the toilet componenets needed to be replaced in both toilets, but the one in Betsy's bathroom was too old, so that whole toilet needed to be replaced.
All in all, he replaced a toilet, replaced parts in the other toilet, and added a pressure reducing valve.
** All this was covered by my home warrantee. Thank you Home warrantee.

The Dishwasher:
The soap dispenser was not opening during the cycle - thus not fully cleaning the dishes. When looking at it, I couldn't figure out how it'd open anyway, because it looked like the drawer of the dishwasher was blocking it from opening. Well, the repair man came out, and looked at it, and decided he had no idea. A long overdue lightbulb went off in my head, and I decided maybe the bottom drawer was just in backwards. I was right. My solution cost me a $50 deductible.

The Washing Machine:
Since I was already paying teh deductible for the appliance guy to be there anyway, I figured since the knob was broken on my washing machine, I'd have him put a new one on. Apparently, with his company, it is $50 per unit, not per visit. I told him "forget it" on the washer, superglued it, and now it's good as new.


Phew! I am tired just writing about this!

Half Matzoh

Ever tried to get a piece of Matzoh to cut exactly in half? I always thought it was impossible...until now.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0X0hzEDCLfI

Mail in Rebates

I HATE MAIL-IN-REBATES

I hate them because no matter what, when you're buying something, you think - hey, it's really only x dollars when you take the rebate into account. And you often end up buying something a little nicer, because hey, with the rebate, it comes out closer to the lesser item's price, so hey, why not?

Here's why not. You never get the rebate. I don't care how many people tell me that they've gotten their rebates, there are ALWAYS problems with my rebates. For example. I bought a 120Ghz external harddrive back in August sometime. I never received my $30 rebate from BEST BUY. Then in February, I bought a LinkSys external wireless card for my work laptop while on a work trip, and yesterday, got a letter in the mail saying "we received your submission, but it did not include any original qualifying UPC's. Bullshit. I went to work this morning and looked at the box because I KNOW I sent it in. And of course, the area on the box where the UPC would be has been cut out, from when I sent it in. So now, I have no UPC, and they claim I never sent it. That is why I hate rebates. I never get them back. Why can't you just do it all online. you waste money mailing the stuff, you waste money buying it if you never receive the rebate, and all in all, it just aggrivates me. The worst part, is that there is no email or phone number to contact them. So I can't even call them to tell them I already sent it in. I suppose it's not accidental that there's no contact info on the card. what calls would they get besides people saying "no, I really did send it in" They do it because they're assholes who want to take your money.

that's it.

Sweet Baby Galang!

Well, a special arrival has come!! my Brother-in-Law Noah and Sister Evin had a baby today!!!

Baby Kesiah Grace was born Monday, April 10, 2006 at 6:09 PM, weighing in at 7 lbs 9 oz, and is 20 inches long.

Mom and baby are doing fine =)

I'll update more when I know more. You can start calling me "Tia Bela" now.

Straight Hair

I came to work today with straight hair. A male coworker came up behind my cube and says "Wow, your hair looks really good straight. I like it!" so I responded: thanks!, and he says "and I mean that it looks nice in a totally not sexually harassing way."

heehee

Baseball Player

New Receptionist at work (NR): Bela, what is it that you do??
Me: I am an engineer.
NR: Really? that's odd.
Me: Odd?
NR: yeah, I never met anyone that wanted to grow up and be an engineer. a firefighter maybe, but never an engineer.
Me: Professional baseball didn't work out.

House Pics are UP!!!

see my house! pictures are posted here:

http://www.belanaomi.com/photo

The sky is falling

ok, actually it's just my house. The joys of being a homeowner have finally started to sink in, and I have just made my first call to the home warrantee company to come out and fix a bunch of stuff - the washing machine knob, the dishwasher soap dispenser, the running toilet, but most importantly, the HOT WATER HEATER!!! This week, betsy and I have had cold showers, and let me tell you, it sucks. so hopefully we'll have this fixed in no time.

meanwhile, in the work field, we have been doing interviews. We have had a number of good candidates come out, each with a unique twist. On Tuesday, Betsy Jeremy and I took out two candidates to lunch. One of the guys made a comment during lunch that he is a "typical old fashioned kind of guy - I like to be the breadwinner so my wife can stay home and cook and be with the kids". wow. I was drinking some water, and literally dropped my glass on the table. it was quite funny actually.

Lastly, I just bought my ticket to Chris and Kevin's wedding in Houston for the beginning of May. I am excited about going, and I just may get to see Josh while I'm out there too, so that's nice =)

ATLX-haustion

Wow. This weekend was great. I hosted a total of 8 people at my house throughout the weekend, and that was a blast. Everyone came in town for an event called ATLX - the Atlanta Lindy Exchange, where we basically danced all weekend. No, it is not for a cause, and no, it is not for a weight loss program, it is just for fun. Fabulous dancers from all over came into town, and it was super fun to get a chance to dance with many of them! I think I got a total of 12 hours of sleep over three nights, but danced nearly 30 hours. I don't think that that is "steady state". The great thing about swing dancers is that many of them are nerds at heart, and so we can all appreciate each other together. I am still behind on my sleep, and my body is a bit sore, but what a weekend!

ATLX is coming!

This week began with a trip to Augusta area for a project. it is ending with crunch time in the office. This weekend is ATLX, which is the Atlanta Lindy Exchange. I am hosting 8 - yes, you read right - people at my house this weekend for the event, and I will probably get no sleep all weekend. It better be fun. Last night I went to Kenny's for dinner, and that was fun, but unfortunately I had to leave really early to get back to my house before matthew came over. He is in town from Austin. We hung out for a bit, and then he convinced me to go out dancing last night. I remember why I stopped going on wednesdays -besides the many other reasons that I won't get into here, it is LATE. I am tired now. Tonight I even have a few things to do, like teach a dance class 9-11, and so I won't catch up tonight either, so this weekend will be shot.

If anyone wants to do something fun saturday, go to Centennial park and you'll see a bunch of really good swing dancers (and me). It should prove to be a nice day if the impending rain doesn't appear, and it'll be warm!

New Website for E2M

My company's new and way improved NEW WEBSITE went live today!

See what we do at E2M here! and now you can stop asking me what I do, and read it for yourself =)

My Favoritest.

Joshua Greer is my favoritest marine in the whole wide world.

(ok, my favorite MALE marine, Leah)

READ THIS...

Wow. Read this whole article about your credit card applications...

you might fall out of your chair. In disbelief.

Walk to Shul...and Yente.

I decided this weekend that it'd be a good idea to walk to Shul since there is an orthodox one right near my house. I got up early and walked about 2 miles to get there, and it was relatively nice. I hadn't been to this one in a long time, probably since high school. But I ran into (of course ;-) ) a million people I know, including my favorite rabbi from High School, my Third Grade teacher, my friend Sara and her husband who actually live in NYC, and my friend Heather's Parents. The Rabbi of the Shul's wife, the rebbetzin, invited me to go to their house to lunch (another .5 miles farther than the shul from my house). It was nice, but took a very long time, so I didn't actually make it back to my house until 5:30 pm.


While at the Rabbi's, Sara was there with her parents, two brothers, and husband. She has a younger brother, David, who is about a year younger than me, and ever since Sara got married last year, her mom has been pushing me to marry David. Apparently, in Judaism, dating is not an end goal for mothers. It's never "...my son is fantastic, you should date him!" it is "...my son is fantastic, you should marry him!". I am not sure why, but my mom is the same way. I guess they care less who we date, and more who we marry. Either way, I think if my mom is a 7 on the scale of "1 to Pushy", Sara's mom is a Pushy +1. She was relentless with dumping David on me. The funny thing, was that David was around for most every conversation she was having with me about marrying him. and of course, the only empty seat at the table was the one next to David. At one point, when David was out of earshot, she said "not only is he smart, good looking, and funny, but he'll make a great Dad!" Whoa buddy! hold up there! I am not looking for that this very instant. I'd like to make my own decision about who I want to date and especially who i'd like to marry. Either way, it was pretty funny, but probably equally as embarrassing.

Don't read if you have a weak stomach =)

For the past two weeks, I hadn't been to the JCC because I couldn't find my membership card, and I didn't want to have to get a new one. So I have been running a 3.3 mile loop around my neighborhood, and it's actually a really good run.

Well, yesterday I went to the J because I had found my card (in my car - for all those on the edge of their seats), and after running for just about 10 minutes, the back of my ankles started to hurt because my new sneakers were rubbing against my foot. I decided to tough it out because the treadmill that I like using has no "pause" button. Only stop. So if I want to stop for a second in the middle of a run to tie a shoe or in this case, pull up my sock to stop the rubbing, it's impossible unless I want it to forget all my workout stats thus far. So I decided to tough it out and keep running. Around 2.5 miles, it was really hurting, but I figured, it's already hurting this much, I can finish 3. At the end of three miles, I got off and looked at my feet. The backs of both ankles had not only gotten blisters, but the blisters had popped. So needless to say, the backs of my feet were (and very much still are) very raw. I couldn't do the rest of my "on my feet" workout, so I did a few machines, some ab workouts, and then went home.

Now my feet still hurt, and I am not sure when I'll be able to wear my sneakers again so they don't hurt.

Google Calendar

Back to my Google Raves. I love google.
I can't wait until this goes public and I get to use it. yay!

the only catch on something like this is that it works exponentially better with the more people who use it.

Google Calendar

Graham Crackers

I looked on the side of the box of graham crackers today, and it said "serving size: 8 crackers".
I thought , cool! I love graham crackers, and apparently, they're not that bad for you.

I was wrong. One "cracker" is actually when you divide the rectangular cracker along the perforations. so really, serving size is 2 crackers. they want you to divide it up. what a hoax!

Wasting Air

My office is SOOOO cold. everyone runs around wearing jackets and have space heaters under their desks. The coffee goes like hotcakes because people just want something warm to hold. There is going to be a rebellion soon. You heard it first from me. Unless of course, we freeze in our seats before we can rebel.

Pi Day

I am on a roll today. I just feel like posting all day!

I almost forgot, today is Pi day! (3.14)
Happy nerdiest day of the year everyone!!!!!

Laundry

I am anal about my laundry. I do some weird stuff with my clothes.

One: I keep my closet in color order. that way, when I pick a pair of pants or a skirt I want to wear, I can go immediately to the matching color top section to find something to go with it. Either I have too many clothes, or I am anal.

Two: I pin my sock when I take them off. I pin the toes together with a safety pin before I put them in the laundry. That way, I'm already handling them, and when they come out of the wash, not only am I NEVER missing a match, but I don't have to match my socks! they're already matched. My dad takes this one step further by using baby diaper pins on his socks. They have a football or a duck or whatever on them, and the decor says something about his socks. When we were younger, he would get up before my mom in the morning and get ready for work, but didn't want to turn on the light to wake her. But the problem is that black, brown, and Navy look the same in the dark. So he knew if the pin had a football on it, the socks were brown. If it had a blue duck on it, the socks were blue, and if it had a soccer ball on it, they were black.

Three: I keep multiple baskets in my closet so that when I throw clothes to be washed, I sort them immediately. That way, I know exactly when I need to do a load of darks or lights, because they're already separated.

People think it's because I have OCD, but really I think it's because I am an engineer, and I want things to always be as efficient as possible.

Housewarming

This weekend, I fumbled around for a day and a half, trying to get all my pictures situated on the walls, fixing things that were broken, mopping, vacuuming, and washing, because Saturday night I had a housewarming party! It was a lot of fun, and a bunch of my friends came over and helped celebrate with me. I am only upset that I didn't get to spend too much time socializing with anyone, and I didn't take pictures! The cleaning was useless though, because right after the party, I had to do it all over again. Oh well. Now at least, I have broken in my house, and everyone knows where I live, so I expect you all to come by more often and hang out on my side of town =)

Jews on TV...or something like that.

I was watching TV the other day, and there was a Netflix commercial where the woman comes home and the characters from the movies are in her house. You've probably seen the commercials. What you may not have noticed, but caught my attention immediately, was that on her door, there was a Mezuzah! How about that!

I got a table.

I went this weekend to the outlet malls up 400, and though I didn't get too much, it was nice to spend a day away from reality. Sebastian came up to keep me company, and probably against all hopes, even ended up buying himself some clothes. Saturday night we went to meet up with Amanda and some other Dukies to watch the Duke UNC game. I of course, rooted for UNC. At least I picked the better team. What you see here is the table I purchased for my dining room on Sunday. I have to go pick it up, but at least you can see it. What's cool about it is that the end is wide, so you could fit two people if you wanted to, and food will fit on the table while you eat too. nice and roomy =) I leave in the AM on a two day business trip, and then on Thursday, I am doing interviews on the GT campus. That should hopefully be fun! That's my latest and greatest, Have a super week!

Habitat for Humanity...sans the humanity

I just wanted to post saying that nothing extremely exciting has happened lately.

I spent almost every night last week hanging with friends and catching up, and then this past weekend, thought it would be a great idea to sign up for habitat for Humanity. Big Mistake. It was about 40 degrees and pouring rain, not a light drizzle, or off and on rain, but buckets pouring from the sky type rain. But no, they don't cancel for anything! we had to do landscaping, of all things - lay sod, plant plants, lay pine needles. it was horrible. everyone was miserable, but felt too proud to leave since after all, it was charity work. Oh well. The houses we worked on were for Clark howard's houses that he works on. We went under the cover of a nearby church porch for a moment to snag a picture with Clark.


I went salsa dancing this weekend for the first time, really. I went with Amanda and Avital, who I'd seen just the night before when amanda had a shabbat dinner at her house for about 18 people, which was also fun.

This week has not too much in store, but Greg will be in town from Dallas!! yay =)

Driving in Atlanta

Anyone ever driven in Atlanta knows that no one drives the speed limit.
This video is HILARIOUS. check it out.

it's called "A meditation on the Speed Limit"
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-5366552067462745475&q=speed

UPS gives freebies!

So, for Valentines Day, I sent josh a box with some little gifts in it. Apparently, when he received it, he got the following extras included:

Josh: stuart little 3 - the call of the wild
Josh: a foot works electronic callus smoother
Josh: two bottles of haiku awakenings perfume
Josh: a jar of avon "beyond color" line softening mousse blush (in nude satin!)
Josh: and an avon birthstone cuff watch (july, apparently a red stone, very gaudy!)

I wonder who was supposed to receive that gift for valentines day!

Happy Valentines Day everyone!

veni vidi vici

I just came upon this site. Apparently I have officially been to 25 countries, which is 11% of the world. I thought I was worldly, but I have 89% left to go!!
here is my map of where I've been. It's hard to see some of the smaller islands because they are barely visible next to the vastness of the US.
There is also one for which US States you've been to. I have been to 70% (36 states) that I can remember. Here is mine:(http://douweosinga.com/projects/visitedstates)

varies inversly...

I have discovered that being busy at work causes me to lag on my blog postings. I guess you can tell how busy I get with how often I post. (it varies inversly ;-) )

Since my arrival back in town, things have been pretty hectic. I have been on a project with work that is just coming to a close, and in trying to deal with everything else on my plate, I have been finishing that up, so all in all, work has been really really crazy for the past few weeks.

It is nice having a roomate so far. We haven't seen much of each other, but maybe that's good? we have made a bit of progress in the "decorating" of the house; not much, but we've gotten a little farther. Hopefully soon, I'll be having a housewarming party - there are still many things I still need. =)

Last weekend, my big sister Evin and her husband Noah came in town for the weekend. Evin is expecting her first child in a little over a month, and I think my parents are starting to freak out that they're going to be grandparents. It was great seeing them for the weekend, though as usual, I wish I could've hung out with them longer. With them living in Chicago, I don't see them half as much as I wish I did. My grandmother also came in town last weekend, and was here for the party, and then spent the whole week helping my mom decorate the new back room. I must say, it looks fabulous. I am totally blown away by how nice it looks, and I go back to my house and realize I need to kick it up a notch in my decorating focus.

last night I danced with Andrew at GT Dance Marathon, and it wasn't up to our usual par, but we did ok though we were sliding all over the floor. Also yesterday, I saw the movie Firewall with Sebastian, which was pretty good. I also did some "art shopping" for the walls of the house, and was surprisingly successful!
Thanks to Ross, I got to see GT whoop NC state today, but I also saw them lose last week as part of their record losing streak. Then we spent like, the whole afternoon watching the movie the Aviator.

I am looking forward to having a lighter week this week in comparison with the last few.
Time to get a little beauty rest!

two weeks - abridged version.

My goodness. It's been almost two weeks since I've posted, and honestly, I don't even have a minute to post now, but otherwise it might be another two weeks without me posting, so here goes.

Since my last post, Chris, Kevin, and Scott came over for dinner, and we had a potluck, so everyone brought a couple things, and we had a delicious dinner! it was a lot of fun catching up too, and talking about whatever happened to old friends. That weekend Julie Gutman was celebrating her birthday, so we went to a Tapas bar called Eclipse de Luna. Every time I tell someone I went to a Tapas bar, they think I say I went to a topless bar. It's funnier when your retired project manager thinks you say that. Anyway, I spent all last week in FL, driving a total of 1300 miles. First I went to Gainesville on Monday to be in the Career fair tuesday and interview wednesday for candidates for work. Then Thursday and Friday I worked in Daytona with my project manager. Then I drove from Daytona to Pensicola (Pepsicola as some call it), to visit with Josh and Leah. It was Josh's last weekend there since he is getting transferred to Corpus Christi Texas, and Leah and her other roomate Jen were moving from the apartment to a new house (which might I add, is fabulous). Sunday night, I got back in town, and Betsy had moved in, so I now officially have a roomate (and a dog)

That's the latest and greatest, minus any ellaboration since I am short for time right now.

Comcast has not made a good impression thus far.

I have comcast cable and internet. They came and installed it two weeks ago, and it has barely worked since I got it. I had a technician come out this past weekend, and supposedly, he fixed the problem, but it was still not fixed. Anyway, yesterday I called Comcast to see if they could tell me the problem, or do something about it. I spent 10 minutes on the phone, and just as we were almost done setting up a solution, my fabulous cell phone cut out. So, I called back and got someone else. After explaining my problem again, he told me he had to transfer me to the internet help division. SO he put me on hold, and after waiting by some nice elevator music for a few minutes, I was connected. But to my surprise, it wasn't who I expected on the other end of the phone. It seems they'd connected me to some phone-sex line. It was really weird. They were telling me how much everything costs, and I could choose what I wanted, I just had to type in my credit card. I was flabbergasted! So, I hung up and emailed comcast. They emailed me back saying I needed to talk to a representative online. Eventually, after telling my story 5 times in an hour, I have been set up to have a technician come to the house again.

update: I left work for a while on friday to be home when the technician came, and after waiting until 2:00 to no avail, I went back to work. errr... they said he was running late, but hey, work doesn't wait. I rescheduled for Tuesday, but as it turns out now,I'll be out of town for a week.

recent aquisitions

Well, I got couches. Some friends of friends are moving away, and I got these couches for $200. One of them is even a sleeper sofa! They are in perfect condition, so I am very excited, and happy that I didn't have to spend an arm and a leg on furniture.

Last night, Ethan came over and we hung out and he connected my house wirelessly. He is a genius at this stuff. At least, he knows way more than me. then today, something didn't work, and he knew what it was. Thanks Ethan!! you rock my socks off! =)

I discovered the other day that I can see the statistics on my webpage since I have a counter on it. Here is the daily number of views to my page (not including my own). The peak is the day I sent out the link from the party. Amazing how many people read and click on links sent to them in email. Wow.

::yawn::

this was originally part of an email to Josh, sent by me this morning, and then I realized it was so whiney, it deserved to go on my blog.
Last night, my uncle Aaron passed away. he was my mom's little sister's husband, and my cousins Miriam and Rebecca's father. I have known him my entire life, and just saw him last month on the cruise. Aaron, you will be missed =(

I came home last night to stay with my mom since she was pretty torn up about it, and booked her some tickets to FL to spend shiva (the mourning period) with her sister.

On a lighter note today was quite the ordeal. After getting up early, leaving the house and getting my mom to the airport by 6:30 (with the dog in tow), the dog puked in my car. So, I sat in Atl traffic going back to my house with a car smelling of dog puke. I get to my house, let him into the house, bring his bed, toys, food, etc. upstairs, and let him into the patio incase he wanted to pee. I forgot that I'd left my gate open though, so he took that as a cue to run as fast as possible out of my patio and into the free world.

I finally got him, and now I am at work. Friday the 13th has certainly taken it's toll on me so far, and it isn't even 9 am!

Filling the house

Lately, I have been spending all my spare moments finding things to unpack, and buying things to fill my house. I haven't bought anything big yet, because thankfully, I took my bedroom set and a table from my parent's house, and the house I bought had all the appliances already installed. My mom came out this weekend and came with me to target, wal-mart, and Macy's, and I bought all sorts of necessities like cleaning supplies, towels, etc. At Macy's, I found bedding I really liked on the clearance rack, so I got it and am very excited about it. I filled both bathrooms with bathroom mats, shower curtains, trash cans, etc.

During the week, Jeff loaded his futon into the van, and gave it to me for my new place!!! we had a heck of a time trying to get it up the stairs in my house (don't ask), but eventually got it into the office, and now I officially have a "guest" bedroom"

During the week, I caught up with a few friends (Lisa, Amanda, Will, Ross), and that was nice, especially since it included a few yummy meals and going to the GT basketball game. And I am slowly getting to show off my house to everyone.

A friend of mine from college, John, who is dating a girl I've grown up with, Rebecca, came and saw my house, and decided he liked the neighborhood so much, he put an offer on a house practically across the street from me. He will be closing in a bit over a month, so that is neat, getting to live near someone I know!

Bagel Bash

(I am posting this late)

On Christmas eve was the Bagel Bash. Apperently, it is a party that happens every year on Christmas eve, and all the Jews go. It was $30 to get in if you bought your ticket in advance, or $40 at the door. There was no way I was spending $30 of my hard earned money to get into a party and then have to pay more for drinks! Conveniently, I was asked to work the door for an hour. So, in exchange for working at the door for one hour, I got into the party for free. Though there wasn't anything in particular that made the party spectacular, there were a LOT of people there. There were probabbly 600-800 young Jews from atlanta. I ran into people I knew from elementary school, High School, College, and from just being Jewish in Atlanta.

Before the party, I went with Greer, Jonathan, and a few others to eat - in Jewish Tradition- Korean food (sorry, it was closer than Chinese).

On Christmas, I went to spend the day with Leah W., and we saw Memoirs of a Geisha, and then ate latkes for dinner (which were really yummy). I don't know how other people's Christmases are each year, but mine was a pretty typical and fun Jewish Christmas ;-)

Speakeasy, New House...

Oh my goodness! it's been like, two weeks since I last posted! this might be long.

Last tuesday, the 27th, I finally closed on my house. Now that I have officially spent all my life savings, I am a bit nervous! but happy that I followed through with it and now own my very own townhouse. In answer to everyone's questions, yes, eventually I'll have a house warming party, but not until I am all set up.

New Year's eve, I had a party at my parent's new back room, and it was a blast! about 45 people were there. I think everyone had fun too. pictures are posted at www.belanaomi.com/photo. The theme was "speakeasy", and people really got dressed up into the theme. People came dressed up, we had poker, there was dancing, and really turned out well. The only downside was that the new hardwood floor was pretty scratched up after the party. I may have to pay to refinish it if my mom is too upset. but back to the party. Friends were in from out of town, which was cool, Leah was in town, and Miles and Jen, KT, Monique, EBeth, and a few others came from out of town, and that was really cool. Josh also came in town this weekend, which was really fun. It was nice to have a date for new years ;-)

My parents were out of town for the past couple weeks visiting my brother in Spain, and my sister took it upon herself to cook on many evenings. I must say, she cooked well! I was happy to come home to food on the table ;-)

On Monday, I moved into the new house. Thanks goes out to Greer, Ross, Nick, Josh, John, Jeff, and Rebecca for all coming out to help with my move!! you guys rock big time, I couldn't have done it without you!! (and I'm not just saying that). The new house is still in boxes, and I will get it unpacked slowly but surely. I still need to make a trip to the grocery and wal-mart for some necessities. I still don't have anything to sit on, but I may be picking up a futon this week, and couches next week.

I am sure a million other things happened over the last two weeks, but I think I've written enough for a while.

free stuff.

Well, since my last post, I have made a lot of progress!

I have begun packing my room at the house to start moving next week, and after packing about 10 boxes, I realized I should've taken a picture of my room. I don't think I have one, and I've lived there my entire life! Even though I packed 10 boxes, it looks like I haven't made a dent in the amount of stuff I'll have to pack. The nice thing is that I am moving in town, so if I can't or don't feel like moving everything at once, I can always go back and move more stuff another day.

I have found a roomate to live with - a girl I work with at E2m - Betsy. Hopefully that'll work out. We don't know each other very well which may be a good thing, or may be bad. I am excited to have found a roomate though. That will ease a bit of the stress of paying for a house. I also went to Amtrek the other day and collected about 15 boxes that I can use to move. For free. what a deal! I took a trip to IKEA and some furniture stores last sunday just to drool a bit, and once I got home, found out this week that Betsy has a couch, and that Jeff has a futon he wants to get rid of, so I am set on seating at least for a bit.

My new place is less than 2 miles from the JCC. I have decided that it would be a good idea to join, not just for the gym, but to meet other people. It is really expensive to join at the level that allows gym usage though, and so I gave them a call, and found out they're having a special that if you've just graduated college, that you get your first year membership for free!! Now that is exciting!

I have spent a lot of time dealing with the lender and his company, and with getting an insurance agent (calling around for the best prices), and with things like choosing a home inspector, a home warranty company, deciding on internet, cable, phone, and more. I have spent at least 100 hours on house stuff, if not more. Who knew it was so time consuming!!

Closing is next tuesday the 27th, and I get to move in on the 29th. I will make the big move day Jan 2 though, since that is the first day that I don't have work and can get people to help me. I can't wait.

Mobile, AL

I went to Mobile this week for work. I am enjoying working more lately because I have been pulled on more projects. It does mean longer hours, but it also means I won't ever be bored. I am right now on four projects, one a bit east of Atlanta, one in Wisconsin, one in Oklahoma, and one in Mobile. I really hope they go well. I am excited about all of them.

since I was just 45 minutes from Pensacola, Josh was going to come visit me in Mobile, and then it occured to me he was going straight from there to Charlotte (through Atlanta), so we worked it out and I drove with him and kept my return ticket for another time, and as it turns out, my flight was cancelled anyway, so I got here before I would have flying! so that was pretty cool.

Can I take you home with me?!

Since my last post, I have signed my offer on the house and will be closing on Dec 27. Yay!

But my mind hasn't been on the house this weekend. Josh came in town, and friday we went to my work's holiday party. It was such a hoot. It was a black tie optional affair, and so Josh wore his uniform, and I was having to fight off the wives of other engineers who were throwing themselves onto him. I must've been asked 5 times that night "can I take him home with me? please!!?" " I love a man in uniform..." It was hilarious. I am not sure how funny Josh found it, but I was laughing. All in all, it was a fun evening at the party. Josh, thanks for being my date, adored by women, envied by the men.
Today, we went to check out the new Georgia Aquarium, and it was super cool. Josh got some good pictures (see below) but they really made quite the attraction finally here in Atlanta. Now when people come in from out of town, we have somewhere other than the coke museum to take them to.

a special shout out goes to Julie G. on this post...thanks for this weekend!! ;-)

Nervous.

Today is a time in my life that I wish I could write poetry.

I wish that I could express in words how I am feeling this evening.

but I can't.

I made an offer yesterday on a house. For a day and a half now, I have been preoccupied with what I have gotten myself into. It isn't just the fact that I decided on one house - that maybe it isn't the best house or the most good looking house, or the best bargain. Though, that is a lot of the worry.

I signed a sheet of paper today with the monthly cost of my mortgage. It ends when I am 53 years old. I will be paying for this house (theoretically) until I am almost old enough to retire.

I am buying a house with the approach that I do with if I'll date someone. Does it have the qualities I am looking for in a match? will I get bored with it after a short amount of time? I can't return it with the receipt. will my parents like it? will my friends like it? but most importantly, will I like it?

It is a huge move for me. I added up how much my monthly payments will be. I need a roomate. I was planning on just having one, but it might be better to have two. At least, as long as I can stand it.

my mind is spinning. and I can't make it stop.

new addiction

http://www.sudoku.com/

I am addicted to this. They are fun. Meanwhile, I have been pacing and fidgety all day. I hope this doesn't last two more days until the offer is final.

also, I learned that instead of typing www.websitexyz.com, you can type websitexyz and hit control enter, and it adds the www and the .com. be careful with this feature if you're going to a .org or .gov though. it only adds .com. but it is cool.

Offer Made

I put in an offer for the house today. They have till wednesday to let me know what they think. Keep your fingers crossed!

I am sooo nervous today at work, I have been fidgeting and I haven't been able to concentrate. I keep wondering if I am doing the right thing. I mean, this whole time, it seems like a good idea, but when I have now just thought about how much money I will be spending on this house, I get nervous.

Oh well, I'm going to jump in and do it.

Found a House!

I have a lot of things to catch up on, but I have one thing in particular that I can't get off my mind just yet. I went house shopping literally all weekend, and finally found a few places I really liked, and then revisited them today and finally picked one to make an offer on. I really like it. I hope that no one sneaks in an offer before me, because then I'd be sad.

It's a townhouse, and it has a garage, so like many garaged townhomes, the entrance is on the same level as the garage, and then you immediately go up stairs to get to the main part of the house. Not only is there a garage, but there is a HUGE storage room on the main level too, about the size of a 1.5 car garage. It was only the second of the 30+ townhomes I saw that had storage.

Anyway, this home has a gorgeous open kitchen, a den, and a great room with a fireplace, and a dining room. the dining and great room are in the same area, but the great room is about three times the size of the dining area. On that same level, there is a halfbath. On the top level there are three bedrooms - a master with a bathroom, and two smaller bedrooms that share a bathroom. I am really excited. I have posted the pictures on my website, or you can click here. Click here if you want to see what my daily commute would be.

The Cruelty of Strangers

Well, I figured since we got my purse from the restaurant, and it was in the mail back to me, that I didn't need to cancel my cards. I guess that was another dumb move on my own part, because as it turns out, though they left some of my cash in the wallet, they swiped my ATM card, and went to town in every gas station in South Florida. Who knew I could buy nearly a thousand dollars of gas in a day!

I hope you're enjoying your fuel, cigarettes, beer, and whatever other junk you spent all my money on. Piece of *&%#.

The Kindness of Strangers

As you may know, I was in Daytona for the past three days. It was alright, but I was ready to come home. I had been gone already a week before that, and the weather there was rainy.

My ticket was to return at 7:00 pm today, but really this morning we were close to being done with the portion of the project we could do, so I called Delta to see if I could switch to the 1:00 or 4:00 flight instead, but they said that both flights were not only full, but overbooked. Since we didn't have much to do, I didn't go to Mike's to work until I'd taken a bit of time to pack and work out, and since we didn't have too much to do, at 3:00 we were done. I figured I might as well try to get to the airport for the 4:00 and try my luck. I checked in at the counter and the lady said that indeed the flight was overbooked, but that she'd let the gate attendant know I was coming just incase there was an empty seat. On my way to the gate, I went through security and totally forgot that I had nail scissors in my suitcase. I hadn't thought about it because we'd driven to Florida originally, but that was obviously something they weren't going to allow on the plane. After removing them from my bag, the security agent handed me an envelope and told me that it is a Daytona Airport service that they'll mail you what they remove from your bag! I thought that was pretty cool.

So I arrive at the gate, and ask the attendant about the chances of me getting on the flight, and she said "honey, I just paid 5 people to switch to the later flight, sorry, this flight is overbooked". Oh well. I sat down and started to figure out what I'd do with this time, when I heard my name over the loudspeaker. "would Passenger Bela Jacobson please step to the gate desk...thank you". So I go over there, and she tells me that two people have not yet arrived, and if they don't come, that I'd get a ticket! that was fabulous. "All you need is to pay the $25 change fee and we'll take care of it." I pulled out $25 and handed it to her, and she says "maam, you need to pay with a credit card please", which in any other day, I wouldn't have even thought to hand her cash to begin with, but keep in mind that I don't have my purse, so all I have is cash! she tells me that if I don't have a credit card, I can't switch flights. Disappointed, I sit down, and the lady that had been behind me in line walks over and says "excuse me, but I couldn't help but overhear your situation. I wonder if they'd let me pay for it with my credit card, and then you could get on the flight!" So, we went to the desk, and they allowed us to do it. I gave her the money in cash, and was very excited to come back three hours earlier.

I guess this is a lesson for us all that we should consider doing some more good in our lives. Especially if it is no skin off our back. Pass it on. Thanks Mira from LA!