The Jewish Martha Stewart.

Wow. I just got back from having 2 days off for thanksgiving, and all I can think about is "when is my next vacation??!"

This past weekend was rather awesome actually. Josh calls me "The Jewish Martha Stewart". No, I haven't been in jail anytime recently, and my home-ec prowess is not a 100th of Martha's, but I must agree, I do get a rush from accomplishing some of these things. Besides being on a constant quest to perfect everything about my house, I love to host events for any reason possible - be it at my home, or elsewhere. He gave me this nickname months ago, and it kinda just stuck, perhaps because of it's appropriateness.

Thursday was thanksgiving. My parents wanted to go to FL for the week to spend time with the relatives, but I a) don't have any vacation to waste since I'm using it all for my Argentina trip in January, and b) was going to the game saturday, so even if I did go, it'd be a short trip. So I decided to stay in Atlanta (as did both Moshe and Leah), and my responsibility was to dog-sit Reuben.

On thursday, I went down to Locust Grove to have thanksgiving dinner with Leah. Before going, I had a chance to go for a run, and somehow destroyed my feet in doing so, and then went to DZ's to make a pumpkin dessert to bring to Leah's, and managed to cook my hand at the same time. But I survived it all, and went to Leah's parents' for the meal. They had a ton of relatives in, as well as Leah's sister Cara and her fiance, and Josh. After a huge plateful of food, and options between about 10 different desserts, I went home, nice and full.

Black Friday. Unlike some of my insane siblings and relatives, I will not go for the deals on black friday. Call me crazy, but I'd rather spend the extra $20 to not have to wake up early, search for a parking space, wait in line to get into a store, get beat up, wait in line at the register - all for a small saving. I did however make a run to Kroger and to Lowe's that day, but neither of those places were out of hand. Josh, DZ and I also went to the shooting range on Friday, and I shot a 45 caliber for the first time. I must say, I am a pretty good shot now with pistols, so attackers, watch out! A few weeks ago, I thought it would be a good idea to host a Shabbat dinner Friday night after thanksgiving. People may have had enough of their family by then, plus hopefully, a lot of people would be in town. Well, of the usual crowd, nearly no one was in town, but I did end up having a total of 18 people at my house for dinner. It was huge. It was also pretty fun. The problem with that many people is that you don't really get to socialize with everyone, but having it be potluck makes for good conversation between strangers. Everything came out really well, and I was just as full for the second night in a row. I had a huge mess to pick up, but like I said before, I love hosting.

Saturday was the UGA/GT game. geez. this was our year to have won. It really was. Going into the game, our record was 9-2, we were ranked #16, and of course, UGA wasn't ranked at all. We choked. There is no other good explanation. We didn't play well the whole game. and Reggie was our losing leader. I'm sorry, if you go back 15 yards to make a pass, and you're about to be tackled, THROW THE BALL AWAY!! there's no reason to hold onto it and lose yardage every time. Also, try making passes down the field when it's obvious from earlier in the season as well as earlier in the game that running the ball isn't the best idea. The funny thing is that we could go 0-10 all season, but if we beat UGA, we'd be happy. However, we have a great season, ranked all season and doing great, but it means nothing if we lose. It's a funny world. But the day itself was fun. We drove up and hosted a tailgate - me, Josh, Leah, Greer, DZ...and a ton of people found their way to us and joined us. what fun! I purchased a grill with Josh the day before at Lowe's, and got a good price on it! now I can tailgate any game!

Sunday was a much slower day. Josh and Leah left town in the morning, and I went to Rina's wedding shower in the afternoon. For the rest of the day, I pretty much spent it recovering from the weekend. Mom and Dad picked Reuben up on Monday, and things are back as usual. Though, I could still really use a vacation.

What if.

I have always had this dreaded complex that something bad will happen. It really is a horrible thing to think, but I’ve always felt like one day, something really bad is going to happen to me. Maybe it’s my type A personality trying to plan for all possible issues in a plan (this plan being – life). Maybe I have a slight case of paranoia. I don’t know. Maybe it’s a totally normal “what if” type mentality – what if someone gets deathly ill, what if I cause a horrible accident, what if I have a child with a disability, what if what if what if…

I don’t normally mull over any of these what ifs. I am just curious…anyone else have a case of the “what if”s?

let's walk around the world.

Matt just sent me to this webpage. I like it, and think it's funny and is right up my alley =)

Neil's House for Sale

My coworker Neil is selling his house, and I think he thinks I have more friends than I do.
Either way, if you happen to be in the "shopping for a house" market, buy his =)
It's simply lovely
(click the link)

Bailed out.

I am alive. I am sorry I ditched everyone this weekend.

This is what I didn't do this weekend, that I was supposed to do:
Go visit Leah and be there for her winging (Congrats!!)
Go to Amanda's for dinner
Go to a GTDA dance
Go out with Jeremy for Jeanine's b-day
Go to the GT/Duke football game
Go to the Southern Belle Swing Bash
Go to Andrea's party
Go to Kenny's Party
Go to Jeff's B-day dinner.

This is what I did do:
watched a lot of movies on TV.
Saw some friends from out of town to watch the OSU/Michigan game
Baked cookies.
Spent some quality time with DZ

So, I pretty much didn't leave the house this weekend at risk of getting the rest of the world sick, and although I thought the sleep and lack of social enjoyment would make me feel better, I think my cough has gotten worse, so I sacrificed the fun times - apparently for nothing.

I hope I get to see everyone soon, and I also hope you don't all hate me for skipping out on your particular event this weekend.

recovering...

The last week has worn me out. All the previous traveling, and on top of it, a cold, and then visiting David this week, I am pooped. I took Wednesday off from work to try to recover (my first sick day since I've been working), but I still am not 100%. Hopefully this weekend and the coming holiday will give me a little much needed recovery time.

Bad Day

I don't think this poor bird had a very good day.

On a better note, I taught a dance class tonight to the CSI 20/30 group, and had a lot of fun. I got a lot of good feedback, so it seemed like everyone had fun. I think it may have been a little long for some people, but overall, I think it turned out great, and we had ~25 people in attendance

Fresno.

well, I am alive, and back. I arrived from Fresno at 6:30 am today, and am actually for some reason not as wiped as I would've expected. I brought my new camera with me, and snapped a couple pictures between Fresno and Reedly (the city we were actually in). I took these pictures from passenger window in the car, going about 55 mph.

I really like this picture, taken from my side window. You can't even tell we were speeding by these fruit orchards, protected for the winter by the tarp.














I just really liked the color of the sky here, but couldn't get a clear shot of it. It was dusk and we were driving, and if I used the flash, it was reflecting, but without it, I didn't have enough stability to get a clear picture. You get the idea though.









This is a lone palm tree in the middle of acres and acres of fruit farms. It was kind of strange just hanging out there with the tractor thingy (which I am told is called a "back hoe")















if you look at this picture closely, you'll see the little oranges on the trees. I guess it's not california unless there are some oranges?

Back, and then back out.

yup. I showed my patriotic side today, and went to the polls to vote. All the volunteers were about 90, and most of the voters at my precinct were at least 80, but I felt like I was doing something good going in there to vote. I actually went in for the primaries too, so I've been a good citizen this year. Maybe it is because I have been hanging around marines too much. Speaking of which...

I went this past weekend to Pensacola to spend some time with Josh and Leah. I got to go to the marine ball, which was actually not as good as last year because of a couple minor issues, but all in all, the weekend was nice, and it was nice to get away from stuff here. And really, I haven't been here really all that much lately, but still, it was nice to be gone for the weekend. Now that I've been back here in Atlanta for 2 days, I am leaving again; this time to Fresno. I'll be gone just a couple days and back this weekend. But I am excited that I should be here in town at least for a few weeks after that. yay! =) anyway, here's a picture from the weekend.

PackExpo

This past weekend was filled with good dancing and a wonderful football game vs. Miami. At the beginning of the season, when it was announced that homecoming would be vs. UM, we were all a little worried. Then Miami started losing and we were winning, and we got a bit cocky heading towards the weekend of homecoming. We were in for a big loss against Clemson, but I think that opened our eyes, and after the Miami touchdown in the first 30 seconds, Tech was in the game and came through for a great win. This means that almost definitely, we’ll be going to the ACC championship game in Jacksonville in a few weeks!

Once Monday rolled around, I was headed to Chicago to PackExpo. It is a packaging show where all the vendors of all the different packaging equipment set up sample machines and you can see them run while at the same time meet a lot of the vendors face to face, and see the newest machines on the market. My flight was scheduled to leave a little after 9 on Monday morning. The plan was to wake up at 5:30, finish packing and get out of the house by 6:30, pick betsy up at her new place, and then head to the airport. Great plan. Except I forgot to turn my alarm on. I don’t think I’ve forgotten to turn an alarm on in years. Well, I WAKE UP at 6:45. I flipped out. It turned out alright, and I didn’t miss my plane, but man, was I stressed for the rest of the day. The show was exhausting, but quite interesting to see everything. Both Monday and Tuesday evening began with drinks in the lobby with coworkers, and were followed by dinner. Monday night after dinner at Lux Bar, I opted to skip on the trip to the House of Blues with my coworkers, and instead met up with my sister and brother in law (evin and noah) to go to swing dancing at Fizz. There were a few great dancers (and of course a few creepy ones), and I had a ton of fun dancing. I got home just as the crowd returned (a bit more inebriated than me) from house of Blues. Tuesday night we went to a steakhouse called Keefer's, and I had a fabulous piece of fish, and we all shared some delicious desserts.

Wednesday was a little slower. We went to the show in the morning, and then in the afternoon, Betsy and I took a couple hours to have lunch with evin and noah and baby kesiah. It's amazing how the city works with money actually. Betsy and I went to the curb to catch a bus to the CTA station to then catch the train to meet up with the fam. well, we wait 15 minutes, and when the bus finally comes, I hand the driver a $20 and ask for 2 tickets. She says she doesn't have change!! so, instead of letting us ride to the station, she kicks us off the bus. So we take a cab to lunch instead. After lunch, we go to the station to head to the airport, and the machine takes whatever money you put into it, and puts it on a card. well, I didn't want a $20 bus pass for one ride, so I went to the desk. No Change. what the hell?? I go up out of the station for a minute, and see a Chase Manhattan bank on the corner. I go in and ask if they can break my $20. "are you a customer with Chase?" "no" "we don't make change for non-customers". Damn! I turned back around, remembering that I have a mortgage through them. They grudgingly agreed to make change for me. but seriously! the taxi drivers also don't like to take credit card. they'd rather take less money with cash, than have you pay credit. maybe they pocket it, I don't know.

Anyway, once I got back to Atlanta, I was home for 30 minutes when Moshe walked in, looked like he'd just seen a ghost, and told me this story. Poor kid. I hope everything works out for the best!!

Not as interesting as my last post, I'm sure.

Seeing all the comments on my last post, I felt I didn't need to post for a while =)

Last weekend was the Knoxville lindy exchange. I went last year, and had a great time, so of course wanted to return. I’d carpooled up with Shoe and Duane (read: Du anne) and was stuck in traffic for hours. We finally arrived at the dance, and after some confusion at the door that cost me an extra $15 over the original entry fee, I got in. The weekend was OK. I love dancing with new people, but the weekend had way more girls than guys (which we call “follow heavy”), so there were a fair number of dances that I didn’t get to dance to. I got to see and spend time with a few friends I hadn’t seen in a while, which was nice.

During the week, I went out with David G. one night for dinner to catch up, since we never seem to find time that our schedules are available. We went to a restaurant in midtown called Ecco that he wanted to try. It was pretty good, actually. Very hip and fun type of place with a long waiting list. Luckily, David had made reservations.

On Friday, we all had dinner at Randy’s, and met his new girlfriend. It was fun, but I was so tired from the week, I was falling asleep by about 11:00.

Saturday night, GT played Clemson, and though I had not only been invited to a few football game parties, but also offered tickets to the game, I instead went to Athens (on a gameday) to see my sister in a show. She was the first violin in the musical South Pacific. She did a great job, even though some of the actors left something to be desired.

Tuesday night I had to drive to Augusta after work. I had made plans weeks ago to have dinner at Sebastian’s, and so I wasn’t going to cancel it. We decided to do it early so I could get out of town on time. Unfortunately, that depended on my getting out of the office on time, which I didn’t, so it was a late night driving to Augusta. I spent a couple days there and came back late on Thursday.

My mom keeps telling me I should watch what I write in my blog. She doesn’t like that I keep a blog anyway, but I am pretty sure that for the most part, I am relatively careful not to say anything too bad about someone, or to get myself in trouble. I am not currently running for president, so I don’t think there are too many people out there trying to get my information to find skeletons in my closet. But even so, if you don’t want your name mentioned, or if there’s a previous post that I mention your name and you want it taken down, let me know. Her example for something I should watch out for is if I were to say something like “’John’ is the best looking guy I’ve ever dated!!” because that could insult a past boyfriend. I am not sure that is what I am going for.

Anyway, such an interesting life I lead, I am sure you guys couldn't wait to hear about it ;-)

Dumb Comment

I was at work today, and a couple coworkers were talking about buying car parts, and one of them was saying how the guy he bought from sent him the wrong year parts, so he was going to call him back and "Jew with him". I didn't hear what he said for a split second, but then I realized it, and just as I realized what he'd said, he realized what he'd said. He immediately started apologizing, but really - how accepting of that term should I be? He was raised in the sticks, and I have used the word "jip" me out of something - which I hear comes from "gypsy", but for one, I think it's more commonly used, and two, I've never actually met a gypsy. How should I have reacted? The more I think about it, the more aggrivated I am that the term is even in existance. What are your thoughts?

this week

On thursday, Hillel's GAP group had a happy hour at Front page news. It was a lot smaller than all the other ones I'd been to there, but that was OK. A few of us were sitting at a table, and a new person came and sat with us. I took a big bite of my sandwich, and just as I did, he asks "so, what do you do?" well, I was a little embarassed because I had so much of my sandwich in my mouth, I couldn't even respond, so I smiled and glanced away, embarrassed. He looks at me and said "what? are you a stripper or something??". I looked at him, shocked. "He says, well, I asked you what you do, and you got all embarrassed. I just figured..." I let him know that if I were a stripper, I probably wouldn't be embarassed about it, but whatever. I was still in shock that he asked me that.

Because I wasn't going to really be around my house for too many meals during Sukkot, we didn't build a sukkah here after much debating about it. We did however host shabbat dinner outside on Friday, and invited a couple friends and my parents, and Avital's dad was in town, so he came as well. It was a nice "quiet" shabbat =)

This past weekend, GT had a heart throbbing game against Maryland, which we ended up winning. Before the game, I was planning a tailgate for my co-workers. Betsy came with me to the grocery, and we got to campus almost 5 hours before gametime to start tailgating. People finally started arriving about 2 hours later haha, but it was a lot of fun. It was my first time ever hosting a tailgate.

Monday night I helped plan an event in the Shearith Israel sukkah. It was just dinner and socializing in the sukkah, but it was a ton of fun. Last year was the first 20/30 SI event, and this was the one year anniversary. At least 89 people were there. I was so excited. It is all people in their 20's and 30's, regardless of if they're single, dating, married, or with small kids. It is just an outlet for the young people to all meet. yay, I am glad it was a good event.

My birthday reading

Your Birthdate: October 4

You have an extraordinary character - moral, responsible, and disciplined. Your sincerely and honesty shine through in almost every situation. Driven and focused, you rarely let your emotions get the better of you. You're level headed and rational. People count on your to look at things objectively. Your strength: Your unwavering loyalty and ethics Your weakness: Your rock solid stubbornness Your power color: Navy blue Your power symbol: Shield Your power month: April

What Does Your Birth Date Mean?

Happy Birthday To Me!

Oh yeah,
Happy Birthday To Me today!!!

and I posted pictures to my website again.
www.belanaomi.com/photo

let's play catch-up

It's amazing how every day, when something funny/interesting happens, I think - hey, i should put that on my blog next time I post. The problem arises when I don't blog for 10 days, I don't remember a single one of those things.

I have been quite the social butterfly over the last couple weeks. I got meals with a few different friends who I haven't seen in a while, one of whom I haven't really caught up with since we graduated. It's nice seeing what people are up to now that they've joined the real world.

This weekend, Josh came to visit since I was having a b-day party, he figured it'd be a good excuse to come up and come to the party and have a chance to go to Turner Field - pursuing his quest of attending a game at every major league ballpark. It was nice to see him, and all the obstacles in my mind from 6 months ago came rushing back to the forefront of my mind. How is it that such a great guy has so many things in the way of being OK to date?

we got to go to dinner Friday, and then out for Leah A.'s b-day. Then saturday we went to DZ's to watch GT cream Virginia Tech. That was good, except for some of the ridiculous calls made by the refs in favor of VT. We could've had a bigger spread, but oh well. Then, Saturday night, I hosted a party in honor of my b-day (yes, I threw a b-day party for myself), and it was a ton of fun. The theme to this one was - uniforms. almost everyone got into it and came dressed up!

Then Sunday Josh and I went to the Braves game to fulfill his Turner Field requirement, and Josh decided to get some really good seats!! so we sat in the lower deck, right behind home. I think they were the best seats I'd ever had at a braves game. They come down there and take your order and then bring you food. rockin'!

Unfortunately, Josh had to go back to pensacola, and I had to go to the 'rents to begin Yom Kippur. I guess it's a good time for atonement. The fast went by really easily. I spent the afternoon at my parents' house with friends between the two shul services, and played scrabble.

This week, I have continued working down at the airport, and we are near finished with the project. Hopefully they'll enjoy our presentation next week, and they'll hire us again when tehy have another project. I liked this project a lot.

I hate posting these types of "catch you up" posts, but I feel like I owe it to you. Now that I'll be in the office more, I'll get home earlier and have more chances to compose entries, hopefully.

Oh Dear!

Shana Tova Umetuka Everyone!

Friday night I went to the 'rents for dinner, and they had a few people besides the family over. I think the total was 10 or 12. My mom didn't do her usual huge dinner because with my dad incapacitated, there's not a lot of time for her to be able to cook and host and do everything else she has to do. It was nice though, the conversation got a bit dull at times, but whatever. Saturday morning I went to Hillel because I am not a member of any synagogue. LONG STORY.

Services were nice, and I ran into a bunch of people, so we had lunch out at Everybody's across the street. I had 8 people coming for Second night Rosh Hashana to my house, so when I got home I went grocery shopping and then had to get to cooking! Everyone came for dinner after services, so it was about 9:00 before dinner started, and so people were here pretty late. When my parents left, my mom called me, apparently she saw a deer at the exit to my subdivision. So of course, when she called, we all walked out looking for it. We found Two!! Just playing the wooded area by the entrance to the subdivision. A little out of their territory, hopefully they found their way home at the end of the night. That was pretty cool.

Sunday morning, I was scheduled to volunteer and do door duty at Hillel, and on the schedule it said I needed to get there at 8 am. Yark! That's early. I noticed that around 1 am after I'd cleaned up stuff from dinner. So I set my alarm and got down there at 8 (services were at 9), and the person in charge to help me didn't show up until about 8:50. I was so mad, but what can you do. Services were nice, and I got to catch up with Jacob B. who I haven't seen in a while, and with Alanna Z.

I was exhausted, so I didn't do much for the rest of the day. well, I hope everyone has a sweet new year!

Gas

It's been a little over a year since Katrina hit the gulf coast to new orleans. I drove down last year on labor day weekend to visit with Leah, and almost was stuck there because there was no gas in any of the gas stations. After waiting in a GAS LINE for about 45 minutes, I finally got gas and was able to come home. I remember that weekend when gas went up to $3 a gallon, and we all gasped in fear of how high it had jumped. it lowered a little since then, but has maintainted a pretty high average since then. I breathed a sigh of relief this weekend when I saw gas for $2.15 in Macon.

I remember when I first started driving, I once filled up for $0.65 usually it was in the 70-80 cent range, but man, those were the good days.

hit a grand slam, braves are eliminated.

I have been so incredibly busy with work, that I just haven't had time to catch up on my blog!!! people have even commented that they were disappointed I was slacking, so here goes.

I spent a few days in Beech Island last week for work, and we had an end of project dinner. THere were 32 guys and me. No joke. It was funny because the night before, we were having dinner after our meeting, and I asked the guys what the dress code was (since of course, I was the only girl, I couldn't just align with a girl). They responded it was shirt and tie. Upon arriving at the dinner, I noticed that the place was set up quite nicely, but half the people came in their clothes that they were wearing in the plant, the other half put on clean polo shirts. I came in a dress and heels. Thanks guys, that was really a funny joke. Either way, it was a fun night, and nice to see work people (and clients) on a social basis.

this weekend was actually a lot of fun too. friday I went to have shabbat dinner with the 'rents, and then afterwards went out with Rochelle, Lisa, and shannon, and met up with Jeremy and Mett. We had fun, and managed to stay out pretty late. I had to set my alarm to make sure I was up and ready to go to the football game in the morning. We whooped Troy 35-20 yay!

I had made plans to drive after the game to Warner Robins (No matt, it is not a combination of warner brothers and baskin robbins). There was a dance happening with a great band (the Les Still "Still Swinging" Jazz band). Well, I arrived, and quickly realized that it wasn't a dance, but a concert, and they'd asked us to come to PERFORM. I was very surprised. But, we did it, and danced for the whole concert. I had a lot of fun, and I know the people in the crowd did as well.

Saturday night, instead of driving back to Atlanta, I went a little north to Macon, and hung out with Ross. We watched Lucky number Slevin, which no one seems to have seen, but was really good, and the next day went to a yummy deli and tried to do some touristy stuff, but our plan got foiled. I saved the day though by going to the outlet mall and of course getting some good deals =) Then at night, I went to dinner for Avital's b-day and a nice thai place near her house. It was pretty fun!!

I was pretty nervous because today we had a big presentation to some important people in Delta for the project we've been working on. Long story short, we "hit a home run" and they were thrilled with what we prepared. I tried to hide my emotion that I was truly excited and happy they liked it, but a little smile showed through =)

ok, I am up to date, I don't want to hear any more nagging ;-)

oh, sadly, my Atlanta Braves are out of any chance of making any appearance in postseason play. Boys, it was a good 14 year run. we'll get 'em next year.

Above rock bottom.

Alright everyone. Thanks for checking up on me, it was a long week, but it was much better than the weekend. On Tuesday I got to catch up with my friend Randy, and we went to this Thai place in Brookhaven that was actually really good. That day, he'd picked me up the new GT Jewish Student Union Teeshirt, that was really cute. The front is the same as the old one, but the back design has some sports fans with the letters JSU on them, and in Hebrew, it has the words "Fight, Win, Drink, Get Naked" which is a cheer that everyone yells in the football stadium. Once I got home, I realized that Moshe had gone with a Uhaul and Alex to his house to load his ENTIRE HOUSE in the evening. He returned here at 11:30, and though I was exhausted, I helped them unload until the Uhaul was empty.

Anyway, Wednesday was a long day at work, and I was wiped when I got home. I was pretty much still worn out from the weekend, and never really caught up on my sleep all week, But I helped Moshe move some more while making Challah. Thursday at lunch, Josh flew through Atlanta, so I met him for lunch at the Airport (since I was there anyway haha), and man, I forgot how great (and cute) of a guy he is. Sucks all the circumstances around that. But Thursday after work, I went to sub as a dance teacher with Ben at his weekly dance class. It was really fun. I like teaching, but have only had the opportunity here and there. Anyway, that was fun, and I finally got home at around 9:00 Thursday. I hope I get more opportunities to teach some dancing. It is fun.

Friday my dad went into surgery for his foot. They were supposed to put 2 pins in, but once they made the incision, it turned out they had to put in 6 because he broke it worse than they thought. Because my parents have been a wreck all week, I invited them to eat Shabbat dinner at my house. I had already made the Challah, and then Friday night I made Pasta with salmon and Spanikopita. Dad's surgery took longer than expected, and it was 8:00 before they released him. So mom called and said they wouldn't be driving out to me since dad was still in a lot of pain and on morphine. So I packed everything up and brought it to their house. It probably wasn't as good as it could have been since we had to eat it away from their kitchen and on paper plates since my house is not kosher. But from what they tell me, the meal hit the spot, and they really liked it.

Saturday was the football game, which we creamed Samford 38-6. I got to hang out with Ethan for half the game, and some of the AEPis for the other half. Afterwards I went swing dancing, but left at 11:30ish since I was drained from the day of being out in the sun. And today, I had lunch in Atlantic Station with Jessica and Jordan, and then pretty much wasted away the day, during which, I picked up and practiced my violin for a short bit, and went to the gym.

Overall though, the past 6 days have been much better than last weekend. I figure the only way to go is up!

meanwhile, A funny quote from tonight:
Bela: I know, you guys must think Betsy and I have naked pillow fights.
Josh: oh don't think I haven't imagined that one yet
Josh: but it wasn't naked. You were wearing thongs and white tank tops
Bela: haha
Bela: so who wins?
Josh: oh we all win
Josh: we all win

My weekend sucked, my weekend sucked, my weekend sucked because…

Well, I think this past week/weekend was the worst I’ve had in a long time. During the week leading to the weekend, my dad broke his foot, and while driving, a MARTA bus hit my mom. Friday was fairly uneventful, and then it went downhill. Amanda was able to get me a ticket to the football game, which was really sweet (THANKS AMANDA!!). Unfortunately, after standing up for 4 hours tailgating, 4 more at the game, and then waiting 3 more for game traffic to let up, we left, disappointed at the loss. Sunday I went with my family to the Decatur Book Festival, and then coming home, my Grandma, who is in town for the weekend, gets a call that her best friend back home died that morning. Damper on the day. I went back home in the evening, and was planning on going to a party, and managed to get in a car accident (see details in previous post). The guy I hit consistently called me Monday because I said I’d call him. He had asked me the day before if I wanted to pay out of pocket, or have insurance cover it, and I had said I would get back to him Monday (it was already past midnight when we were having this discussion anyway). Apparently, me calling him includes him dialing my number multiple times throughout the day. But since I had family over, I couldn’t get back to him until the evening. I called him to tell him to get an estimate, and if I could afford it, I may opt to pay for it myself to avoid the increase in my insurance cost. Well, he continued to ask me “how much is your limit?” I said, well, I am not sure. I will have to make that decision when I see how much it is (since obviously, if the cost to fix his car is a lot, then I will have insurance cover it regardless). Well, then he says “well, is $1000 too much? What is your limit. I again said, I didn’t know - To get a quote. After all this, he says “well, it doesn’t matter anyway since I already reported it this morning to State Farm. WTF??? Why the hell was he asking me all those questions and calling me all day if he Friggin’ ALREADY REPORTED IT??!!! I guess it doesn’t really matter that he reported it since I’d probably end up doing that anyway, but really, why be an ass about it??? There were a few smaller things this weekend that just added to the misery, but I’ll leave you hanging on those.

Poor Lisa, she had a great weekend and wanted to tell me about it, and I was such a sourpuss about it. I told her that hers must’ve been the one to balance mine out. I’m glad at least someone had a good weekend.

Roadkill

Scary Night. I was on my way to see everyone at a party at Scott's, because a lot of people that I'd gone to school with were in town for the long weekend. I'd gotten all dressed up, and was going to go by Rochelle's on the way there to pick her up. That's the best the story gets. On the way there, I was going from 285 to 85, and on the on-ramp, I was in the right merging lane and another guy was in the left merging lane. Eventually these two lanes become one and are the righthand lane of 85S. Well, the roads were wet from the rain an hour earlier, and I assume a wheel on my car slipped, because my car started spinning. It was REALLY REALLY SCARY. I spun left, and knocked the car on my left, and then spun right off the road. Thank G-d I didn't spin INTO the highway. It could have been a lot worse. There was a girl that saw the accident that pulled over too, and not 5 minutes after the accident, there was a police on the scene. Everyone's stories matched, so it was a no-brainer, I guess. Well, the guy I hit kept asking me if I was "under the influence". Apparently, me telling him no, and the cop not asking me about it wasn't enough, he had to ask me multiple times. I was trying to stay really calm throughout the whole process, even though I was scared shitless - alone, on the side of I-85, after hydroplaning and spinning out of control. And he must've asked me 3-4 times if I was drunk. Well anyway, I was shaking, and we all traded info, I got a ticket for "Failure to Maintain Lane", and we were all on our way.

Right as I got back home, the guy I hit called me. He wanted basically to know how I wanted to settle - if I wanted my insurance to pay, or to pay out of pocket. I need to look and see how the insurance companies work or whatever, since this is my first time having to deal with this, so I told him I would call him back tomorrow. Well, twice more, he asked me if I "was under the influence". I finally cracked my cool, and said "I'm not an idiot, I wouldn't be driving if I'd had something to drink". I guess that was that and we got off the phone. I still have to call him tomorrow and follow-up, but I am still in a shaky mood, and frustrated and mad at the whole event.

I'm sure he would love to see me if I was drunk, and maybe compare me to the demeanor I was in today, and maybe then, he'd believe me that I was not drunk. But I guess that's not an option.

I need to try to go to sleep, or else I will keep replaying this event in my head for hours.

Oh, I need to figure out some stuff about the police report, if anyone knows. I had to sign outside in the dark - he just pointed to where I had to sign and said what he was giving me the ticket for. When I got home and I could read it in the light, I noticed he had marked that the road was dry - which it wasn't. Is there a way to contest that? Also, he marked that my hair was brown - not sure if he was looking at me, or my license, since all my other info was off my license. Can I get the road condition changed? Does it matter?

Roomate changeover.

Well, Betsy told me today that she is planning on moving out after her lease is up at the end of October. That sucks because it's actually been pretty fun living with Betsy. I had a really hard time with roomates in my early years at tech, but have been pretty fortunate with roomates for the last few years. I guess I'll have to start a quest for someone else to live here.

It's funny with roomates. There are always times that you feel like you're imposing on them (usually because you are) - for example, by throwing parties too often. But then on days when you come home and they're not around, it is a lot quieter and lonely around the house - not that it's EVER quiet here haha. But anyway, sad news that betsy's leaving. Maybe I can find someone else to move in. otherwise, I'll have to cut some spending to pay more of the mortgage all by my lonesome.

I'll begin interviewing...Now.

Careers ruin marraiges.

I think all of this is bullsh*t

I think if you work hard at a marraige, you make it work. I am sure there are lots of studies showing a million reasons why marraiges do not work. I think a carreer is one of the last things I would bank my money on being the problem. What about religion? what about money? what about health? Can people not just be happy? why do things have to always get in the way? of course, I am speaking from a soapbox that is not even in the marraige circle, but still.

Careers ruin marraiges

what do you think?

Every silver lining has a cloud.

Yesterday I went with Jeremy to the Jewish Festival. My brother and Evelyn and Avital and one of her friends I’d never met went too. We pretty much all hung out together. The festival was alright, but they charge you to go in, and you don’t really get anything for the ticket price. But anyway, I had some yummy shwarma, and then we headed back to my house. We decided to go swimming, and as we’re by the pool, I get a call that my dad fell at the festival, and broke his leg, and is going to the hospital.

Well, his car was still at the festival, so Jeremy and Evelyn went home, and Moshe and I went to find the car, and then headed to Decatur. Our goal was to not tell my mom about dad because she was in the middle of some lessons that day, and he didn’t want her to cancel them, but someone from the synagogue called the house to see how dad was doing, and broke the news to her. Oh well. Plan foiled. We went to Emory Hospital and he was in an ER room. His foot was turned at a funny angle, and they were doping him up on painkillers until they could set his ankle. When the x-rays came back, it turned out he had not only dislocated his ankle, but he had two fractures. To fix this, they could pop the ankle back into place, but he’d need surgery for the fractures. Damnit.

We watched as they sedated him to set the ankle, and then as they wrapped it in plaster. Apparently it was really easy for them. But not only does this totally suck in the sense that hey, my dad broke his leg and has to get surgery, but I just bought tickets to go to Argentina with him in 6 weeks. I don’t think he’ll be walking by then. Arrrgggh.

I got a ticket I got a ticket hey hey hey hey

I went to the swing dance, just got home. There were almost 700 people at the dance. It was packed. I couldn't beleive the number of people that were there, and the number of people that I hadn't seen in years that came back into town for it. It was too full to dance for most of the time, but by the end, it had cleared out a bit, and I got a few good dances in. I also got dressed up for the dance, which was good because there were a lot of people dressed up besides me, so it was cool looking.

By the way, Yesterday I bought a ticket to go to argentina. I will be gone for about 12 days in October. I am soo excited. =)

Yummy food

Last night was a lot of fun. I had people over for Shabbat dinner, potluck. It was a blast. There's a usual crowd that gets together once every 2-3 weeks, and I was hosting this time. Somehow though, everyone had a friend in town, so the size doubled. There were 13 people that came, and that was "keeping it small"!! I think everyone had a good time though, and the food was great! there was:
hummus and pita
3 kinds of wine
homemade challah
two salads
burekas
salmon
Green beans
asparagus
3 kinds of potatoes
macaroni casserole
cookie cake
berry cobbler
5 kinds of ice cream

yummmmmm. we had dinner and then played a mean game of Cranium where my team came in second. I think everyone or at least almost everyone had a good time, so of course, that meant I had a good time =)

Today my company had a summer party at Dave and Busters. I hung out with DZ the whole time. Good thing he was there, because I would've been the third wheel with others if he wasn't. I probably should've brought a date or at least my brother, but it was alright. We got some cool prizes, including a stuffed animal Buzz! =)

Tonight is the 10th anniversary of swing dancing in Atlanta dance. I am going to get dressed up for it, and I am excited. I am worried though, that it will be packed. I know it will be. Hopefully though, there will be enough room to dance, and it will still be fun!

forgive me.

ok, I have not had a moment to sit in front of my computer. I have been working on a project at the airport lately, and I leave here by 7:00 am to beat traffic, and then am there all day, and then come home at night only to head out to other stuff all week. I guess I won't be able to remember my funny stories after all these days, but I will hopefully have a few free minutes this weekend to post.

Dream Blog

I created a New Blog today. It is www.belanaomidreams.blogspot.com. There will be a permanent link on the right side of this blog. That way my dreams don't interrupt the usual drone of my blog =)

New Project at Work

Last week I found out about a new project I was going to be working on. It is totally Logistics, warehousing, transportation, etc. 100% up my alley. The project is at the Atlanta Airport, and we're submitting the proposal today. I am also excited because this was the first proposal I've done by myself, and it was not cookie cutter at all! I had to actually gut a sample proposal and rewrite the whole thing. The proposed team is a great team as well. It would be me, Trent and Mike. I haven't really ever worked with Trent, but I've heard good things, and so far, it's been good, and I worked 1 on 1 with Mike for a whole project this past winter, and really liked working with him. I am not sure why I am so excited to work on something that has to do with my major. Maybe it is because it's the first time that it's really been so related to what I studied. Maybe it's because IE's take a lot of crap from other engineers, and I just want to prove that we're just as good if not better =) or maybe it's just that it is not toilet paper, so I am excited. Either way, I am pumped for this project, and am really looking forward to it.

To make matters worse

I heard a few days ago about some photos of the crisis in Lebanon/Israel being altered in Photoshop. Here is an article about it. Isn't what's going on in the world bad enough? why make things worse???

Click here for the article

Funny happenings today

Well, I had to drive to Augusta today for a meeting, so I drove 2.5 hours, was in a meeting for 4 hours, and then drove 2.5 hours back.

Funny Story #1: I was driving on my way there, and for about an hour, I was passing and being passed by a black Audi with the license plate "Envied". I probably wouldn't have thought much of it, but I remember thinking "on an Audi"?? Maybe on a nice car, but I wouldn't have that plate on an Acura or an Infiniti, why an Audi? Well, As I was driving back to Atlanta, the SAME CAR was passing me/trailing me for about an hour! so random.

Funny Story #2: By habit, if I see a government vehicle, I slow down, even if it is a nothing position. Well, today, I saw a government license plate, so I slowed down to pass it. I noticed it was the Department of Driver Services. I also noticed that the driver was talking on a cell phone.

Funny Story #3: I stopped at Arby's for dinner, and picked it because I hadn't been to one in years, and had a curly fries craving. I went to the "drive thru" and as I was trying to figure out what to get with my fries, I noticed they had a 4 for $5 deal and you could pick any four things off a specific menu. It had fries, arby's and Cheddar sandwiches, apple pie, coke, milkshake, mozzarella sticks, and other things. I figured, that sounds like a good deal, and I was feeling in a really "healthy" mood, so I order a sandwich, fries, and mozzarella sticks. I couldn't pick something for my fourth item, so I said, actually, that is all I want - and a water. "Ok, that will be 6.83, drive around". What?? So I get to the window, and I said - I changed my mind, add a coke to that order. "ok, that will be 5.35" Ridiculous.

Disappointing Story: I stopped at Brusters, and they didn't have birthday cake ice cream.

Sore from relaxing.

I have never been so sore from relaxing in my life. On Saturday afternoon, I went with Jen and her gang to go tubing on the Chattahoochee River [sic]. In theory, it was a good time, but because the water level was so low, we had a hard time getting over the rocks when the bottom of the tubes were constantly hitting them. It was just $3 to go all the way down the river, but apparently, we chose the longest route, and it never seemed to end. We were consistently having to get up and unwedge our tube from between rocks, or paddle to start moving the right way. It wasn't actually as bad as I'm making it sound, it was quite the "adventure", but I was sore yesterday.

Oh, by the way...work goes by much faster when you have stuff to do. Imagine that!

Drink for Israel

I forgot to post that on Thursday night I went to Hush VIP lounge where two people planned a huge party to benefit Israel. you had to pay a cover, which included a free drink, and overall, they raised thousands of dollars! It was pretty fun, and there were probably about 150-200 people there. Here is a picture of me with greer and Amanda =)

Bah, Humbug!

ew! I found this bug in my entryway today as I was going to my basement. I am still a bit yukked out. What is it? I killed it and one of the disembodied legs kept moving!

Glad that's over with

Over the past year, I have worked on a project here to create a "product" for our customers. There used to be 2 other people who knew how to use it, but they have since left the company. So, realizing I was the only one left, and knowing that a lot of our sales team didn't know how to pitch it to customers, I decided to give a presentation explaining what it is, why we use it, and basically introducing the company back to this product. I sent the meeting invite out to all the engineers and Project Leads and Managers, and 31 people responded that they wanted to come.

So today was the big day. I did my presentation over lunch, and had great feedback. I think everyone learned what I was talking about, and appreciated the fact that they could now understand what they're selling in order to promote its value more.

My biggest negative feedback was that I spoke too quickly. I should've remembered, I always speak quickly, but when I present or am nervous, I speak faster. oh well. I think all in all, it went well, and I am happy with it.

Here is an article from last year on what I gave my presentation

Blowing off my lunch hour

I went today with DZ to the shooting range at lunch. Thursday is ladies day, so I get to shoot in the lanes for free, they only charge for gun rental and ammo. But DZ has his own gun, so he let me shoot it for part of the time. I shot 5 rounds of 15 (that makes 75 for all you non-nerds), and I hit the target paper almost every time from both distances, but I wasn't consistently hitting a target. It was a bit frustrating, but I am much more comfortable shooting now than I was back the first time I went out. But it's been 8 months since I've even been to the range. Maybe I'll take a lesson. I got a card of a guy that will give a shooting lesson for $20 for 30 minutes. A lesson might be fun. It's something different, and I enjoy doing it. Unfortunately, my mom would probably flip out (again).

oh well.

Not to sound pretentious, but...

I still never posted about my last few weeks in the lovely town of Beech Island, SC. I was sent there to run some tests on three of the new machines we installed, and it was my first true "on-site" experience. I have been to a lot of our facilities already, but mostly it's for a tour/meeting. There hasn't been a chance for me to go and be on my own. Well, I got my chance.

Sitting by the line collecting data and running tests gave me a chance to put myself in perspective. I realized that my entire life, I have been surrounded by people like myself. Almost everyone I know is middle to upper-middle class, college educated, now with salaried jobs. Since they were young, their parents instilled in them the proper way to save/spend money, and they think about things like - planning for the future. Daily activities sometimes include going out, but often include getting together for a meal or hanging out by the pool.

While working by the line, I was interacting with a lot of the hourly and temp. labor that are hired to work the machines, forklifts, etc. You realize quickly after meeting someone that what they talk about is what's important to them. Not that these were bad people (for the most part), but hearing them talk of their lifestyle of going to the bar EVERY NIGHT, and "future plans" (two noteworthy plans were becoming porn stars in Vegas or reopening a bar in Augusta) made me realize how privileged I am. After spending a few weeks with these guys, I almost felt guilty for having the opportunities and education that I have. I suppose partially, everyone makes choices for what they're going to do with their lives. But on the other hand, ever since I was a child, I knew that the progression of my first 22 years would be straight schooling, through college. It was never an option to do anything otherwise. I think that the strength of "fitting in" in the community you were raised plays a big part in that as well. I went to a small private school for High School, and there was not a single person in my graduating class that didn't go to college.

The way we interacted was also very different. I am used to people making proper, PC comments (less some of the men in my office). These guys would talk about whatever they wanted to me, neglecting to remember that not only was I not their good friend (where it might be excusable to be raunchy), but I was female. Of every ~25 people in the plant, I'd see one female. These guys did not know how to act.

I know that in this blog, it sounds like I am some pompous rich kid criticizing and making generalizations about poor people. That is not how I intended to make it sound. I just wanted to make the point that I rarely am put into perspective how lucky I have been throughout my life, and (though I think I am) that I need to realize how to be understanding and accepting of everyone.

::gets off soapbox::

Third time's a charm

I know this is my third post today, but I have posted the pictures from Moshe's surprise party, and also some pictures from my latest trip to Augusta. I love the old houses on the main street - Greene Street, and decided to snap some pictures of them.

Pictures

Mideast situation.

An interesting article. Rather funny too.

A brief overview of the situation is always valuable, so as a service to all Americans who still don't get it, I now offer you the story of the Middle East in just a few paragraphs, which is all you really need. Don't thank me. I'm a giver.

Here we go:

The Palestinians want their own country. There's just one thing about that:

There are no Palestinians. It's a made up word. Israel was called Palestine for two thousand years. Like "Wiccan," "Palestinian" sounds ancient but is really a modern invention.

Before the Israelis won the land in war, Gaza was owned by Egypt, and the West Bank was owned by Jordan, and there were no "Palestinians" then. As soon as the Jews took over and started growing oranges as big as basketballs, what do you know, say hello to the "Palestinians," weeping for their deep bond with their lost "land" and "nation."

So for the sake of honesty, let's not use the word "Palestinian" any more to describe these delightful folks, who dance for joy at our deaths until someone points out they're being taped. Instead, let's call them what they are: "Other Arabs From The Same General Area Who Are In Deep Denial About Never Being Able To Accomplish Anything In Life And Would Rather Wrap Themselves In The Seductive Melodrama Of Eternal Struggle And Death." I know that's a bit unwieldy to expect to see on CNN. How about this, then: "Adjacent Jew-Haters."

Okay, so the Adjacent Jew-Haters want their own country. Oops, just one more thing. No, they don't. They could've had their own country any time in the last thirty years, especially two years ago at Camp David. But if you have your own country, you have to have traffic lights and garbage trucks and Chambers of Commerce, and, worse, you actually have to figure out some way to make a living. That's no fun.

No, they want what all the other Jew-Haters in the region want: Israel. They also want a big pile of dead Jews, of course-that's where the real fun is-but mostly they want Israel. Why? For one thing, trying to destroy Israel-or "The Zionist Entity" as their textbooks call it-for the last fifty years has allowed the rulers of Arab countries to divert the attention of their own people away from the fact that they're the blue-ribbon most illiterate, poorest, and tribally backward on God's Earth, and if you've ever been around God's Earth, you know that's really saying something. It makes me roll my eyes every time one of our pundits waxes poetic about the great history and culture of the Muslim Mideast.

Unless I'm missing something, the Arabs haven't given anything to the world since Algebra, and, by the way, thanks a hell of a lot for that one.

Chew this around and spit it out: Five hundred million Arabs; five million Jews. Think of all the Arab countries as a football field, and Israel as a pack of matches sitting in the middle of it. And now these same folks swear that if Israel gives them half of that pack of matches, everyone will be pals. Really? Wow, what neat news. Hey, but what about the string of wars to obliterate the tiny country and the constant din of rabid blood oaths to drive every Jew into the sea? Oh, that? We were just kidding.

My friend Kevin Rooney made a gorgeous point the other day: Just reverse the numbers. Imagine five hundred million Jews and five million Arabs. I was stunned at the simple brilliance of it. Can anyone picture the Jews strapping belts of razor blades and dynamite to themselves? Of course not. Or marshaling every fiber and force at their disposal for generations to drive a tiny Arab state into the sea? Nonsense. Or dancing for joy at the murder of innocents? Impossible. Or spreading and believing horrible lies about the Arabs baking their bread with the blood of children? Disgusting. No, as you know, left to themselves in a world of peace, the worst Jews would ever do to people is debate them to death.

Mr. Bush is walking a tightrope. I understand that with vital operations coming up against Iraq and others, it's in our interest, as Americans, to try to stabilize our Arab allies as much as possible, and, after all, that can't be much harder than stabilizing a roomful of supermodels who've just had their drugs taken away. However, in any big-picture strategy, there's always a danger of losing moral weight. We've already lost some.

After September 11 our president told us and the world he was going to root out all terrorists and the countries that supported them. Beautiful. Then the Israelis, after months and months of having the equivalent of an Oklahoma City every week (and then every day) start to do the same thing we did, and we tell them to show restraint. If America were being attacked with an Oklahoma City every day, we would all very shortly be screaming for the administration to just be done with it and kill everything south of the Mediterranean and east of the Jordan. (Hey, wait a minute, that's actually not such a bad id...uh, that is, what a horrible thought, yeah, horrible.)

oh, to be an engineer.

Thanks to DZ for sending me this incredibly true cartoon =) Click on it to make it readable.

I found a Dollar

I found a dollar outside my cube today, and instead of keeping it, Neil guilted me into sending an email out to see if anyone lost any money. Here is the email. Here are the responses.

"if you dropped some money near my cube, and you know how much it was, come tell me and I'll return it. If you just heard me yell it out, you are disqualified ;-)

oh yeah, you only get one guess... "

$100.
-Todd

$20
-David

Uh-- $10.25
Do I get it?
-Charlie

ahhh, $2,145.67???
-Dennis

A $10 and a $5. . .but not a new 10.
-Trent

$52,391.33
520 Hundreds
19 Twenties
2 Fives
5 Quarters
1 Nickel
3 Pennies
By the way, after I have it back, lunch is on me!
-Antony

$1??
-Neil

One million dollars plus or minus one million dollars.
-Barry

Surprise!! Welcome Home!

I went home last night after a long week in Augusta, and was there to greet Moshe when he returned from the airport from Spain. Acting all nonchalant, I invited him over with the rest of my family to "see my house" on Saturday night at 7:45ish. I invited all his friends over at 7/7:30 to come, and we threw a surprise party. It was great. Everyone came, no one got lost, and Moshe was totally surprised. I will post pictures on my website hopefully tomorrow, but here is one to whet your appetite.

ClotheSwap

Today I had a party at my house, invited a bunch of girls, and told everyone to bring anything they had not worn in a year. I had about two trash bags, a few people had the same, a few people had none, and Jen cleared out her house and brought like 7! it was great!! there was all sorts of stuff from everyone, and once everyone had arrived, it was a free for all. the rooms were divided like this: Shirts (seperated into tees, tanks, and everything else) , Skirts & Dresses, Pants & Shorts, Accessories, Shoes, Sweaters. Attached are pictures of people wearing and/or holding things they picked up during the party. Even after everyone took home a bag of "new" clothes, I still have 13 bags in my garage that I have to go and donate. Wow. good job girls! way to make room for new stuff! =)

Unwelcome visitors

I rarely see live bugs in my house. Unfortunately, somehow I have an infestation of dead ones, especially now, during the summer. I am not sure where they come in from, but the lower level entryway and the storage room always has a random beetle or bug or roach, with their legs facing heaven.

Well, every couple days, I sweep away a few, throw them away, and move on. Well, I was gone this past week, and rarely sweep the storage basement. So tonight I decided that while I was getting some laundry done, I'd sweep up the recently disceased.

It was disgusting. The following picture is not for the weak stomached, so do not scroll down if you don't want to see what I swept up. You can see there was almost no dust on the floor of my whole basement. But there were over 40 bugs. I get a little jittery thinking about the instance when I heard a crunch under my shoe, and realized I'd hit number 41.































Click the picture to see the details of the bugs...up close and personal.

Here goes...

I need to carry around a notebook in my pocket when I'm not around a computer, because 5-6 times this week, I thought of something funny I wanted to blog about, and of course, can't remember it now.

Monday I went back to Beech Island (which, if you missed it, is not a beach, or an island) to go to some meetings at the plant. I came home tuesday evening and went into work wednesday in Atlanta. Wednesday afternoon I find out they need me back at the plant at 7 am thursday, so I'd have to go that night. However, I already had plans, so I didn't leave to drive to Beech until 11:30 or so, arriving around 2. man, was I tired the next day, working in the heat there. Friday I'm informed that they'll need me back next week, so any plans I had for next week are shot, and I have to head back to the plant Sunday night to be there for a 7 am meeting Monday. I told them if nothing else, I had to be out of there by 3 on friday so I could make it back to Atlanta by dinner time since my brother was coming back in town that day.

sigh. At least it isn't too bad for travel time. I am there in under 2.5 hours, and I don't have to fly. Flying requires packing neatly, parking at the airport, taking a shuttle, stripping at security, waiting, flying, waiting, renting a car, etc. etc.

I am going to enjoy my day and a half of weekend.

Called out as a Nerd.

Another week passed, and just a few stories to laugh about.

I was at work the other day, and keep in mind that I work at an Engineering firm, where over 50% of the employees graduated from Georgia Tech, and the rest are no less "technically inclined". I was in the office of one of the project managers, who I've worked with a bit, and we started talking and I said something that I guess he thought was more nerdy than expected, and he says "well no wonder you were an engineering major! You are a nerd!" when you get called out as a nerd in a company like mine, you know that maybe you truly are a bigger nerd than you thought!

Yesterday, we were sitting in on a meeting trying to solve a transportation problem for one of our customers, and during the meeting I kept throwing out different alternative solutions, since we couldn't seem to find one that worked. This morning, the senior designer/CAD supervisor AKA the person who does this all the time stopped by my office and said he was really impressed with my ideas yesterday. That made my day.

Story #3
When I went to the plant this tuesday, I was wearing a pair of lace-up sketchers that I've actually had since the 11th grade (9 years ago), and are the most comfortable shoes I own. They look like crap, but at a plant, everyone's shoes do, so I didn't mind wearing them. As I am walking into the plant for the day's meeting, I hear a "flip flop" sound. I look down, and the entire sole of one shoe has come off, other than right by the ball of the foot where it's still glued. well, the only other shoes I had brought on this trip were my sneakers, and you can't wear those in the plant, so I had to Mcgeiver it. I took the shoelaces out and relaced the shoes to have enough string remaining to tie it around the sole of the shoe. Though I had to retie it about 10 times that day, I don't think anyone (at least, anyone significant) noticed my little shoe problem. I will post a picture of my shoe later =)

my eyes hurt...

neat optical illusion:

http://www.johnsadowski.com/big_spanish_castle.html

Why learn how to type?

People who watch me type make fun of me because I use 4 fingers to type. I went to this webpage today:
http://labs.jphantom.com/wpm/
and tested my typing sills. I did the test 5 times, each with a different paragraph, and consistently typed 78-84 words per minute. I had between 2-7 mistakes each time, but you are not "done" until you've corrected those mistakes, so the more mistakes you make, the longer it takes. Try it out! oh, and just as a hint, they only use one space after a period, not two.

So, I think I am OK to type how I type. lay off =)

Why do I run?

people ask me sometimes why I run, or why I work out a lot.

Besides the given "it feels good" or "it's healthy", the real reason I work out is so I can eat lots and lots of candy.

I love sweets, so my options are
a) eat fewer sweets because they're not healthy
or
b) eat just as many sweets, but work them off

I totally choose b.

Now, where did I put my milkshake and chocolate bar?...

Peachtree Road Race

Betsy, Nick and I ran the race today, and it was a lot of fun! During the race, I picked up a Moe's Teeshirt, a mellow mushroom waterbottle, and Nick picked up a beer!

We ran the 6.2 miles in 64 minutes. I was happy with it, 10 min/mile since the first 2 minutes you just walk at the start line anyway. Betsy beat me by two minutes ...We ran separately, but Nick and I spent a little time getting our free stuff (which Betsy couldn't believe =) )

I saw Nat and Jeanette, and paused a moment for jeanette to snag a photo =)

Happy independence Day!

Updates to the webpage!

I finally have posted pictures from the past month. I am usually more timely with posting pictures, but with all that traveling, I hadn't had a chance! enjoy the newly updated photos section

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.