I'd better move to Scotland...

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

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

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

Pet names.

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

According to 450,000 insured pets

no backup at all

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

The swing dance ladder

I am just reposting because it is exactly true.

The Swing Dance Ladder
by Noëlle Gray
June 15, 2007

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

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

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

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

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

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

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


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

Who has custody of the friends?

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

....and more dancing.

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

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

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

A week of dacning

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

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

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

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

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

ClotheSwap and rafting

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

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

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

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

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

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

San Francisco

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

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

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

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

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

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

Wine and glass

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

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

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

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

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

Project Picnic Table

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

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

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

Pillow Fight.

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

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

10K Complete.

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

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

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

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

Prepping.

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

Just food for thought

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

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

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

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

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

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

Dating at work.

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

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

Wedding weekend!!

This weekend, my friend Leah's sister Cara got married. Because Leah lives out of state, I offered to host the bachelorette party as my gift to the bride. It turned out to be a lot of fun. Leah did a great job planning the party games and taking care of logistics, and I only had to set up and twist streamers =) The whole evening turned out to be especially fun, but surprising since I didn't know anyone else at the party except Leah. I think everyone had a good time. I will however not be posting any pictures from that night.

Today was the wedding. The ceremony was outside at 1:00, and even though it was in the shade, it was pretty hot. Luckily, there were cold waters by the entrance, so that helped a little. The reception was nice, and was not one of those horribly long, drawn out receptions. The ceremony ended by 2:00, and the wedding was over at 6. I've been to others that just felt like I'd wasted a whole day. Anyway, I had to post this picture because in the 7 years I've known Leah, I think I've seen her wear a dress once. I have to say, she pulled it off nicely!

It was nice to get to catch up with her too, since the time difference isn't really conducive to convenient phone calls. All in all it was a good weekend.

Let there be light!

Well, after two weeks of putting the ceiling/lighting job on hold, Trent and David came back to finish the job. It seemed to be a pretty quick job, and before dinner, there was light. Some spackling still to go, but everything looks good!

Don't worry, I'll be sure to sleep with the fire extinguisher handy...

In this picture it's hard to see the lights, but what's important is that they're ON!

Thanks again to David and Trent who did such a great job!

Braves Game

On Monday I went with Scott, his parents, and Seth to the Braves game. It was Army night there, so there were some special events throughout the game. Meanwhile, I was holding my own as Scott's family is a bunch of die hard Cubs fans, and Seth was too tired to cheer when the Braves did something good.


Before the game, there were some parachuters...I don't know their official name from the army airborne division. It was certainly a good recruiting tool for those people who are considering what to do with the rest of their lives!
After they landed, there was a fly over by 3 helicopters. I don't know what kind, maybe Josh can help me out with this.

Braves won in the end, possibly because the cubs were using their bullpen for the whole night after their starter got ejected in the first inning for hitting our batter when both teams came out to fight!

Dance talk.

Now, at 1:30 in the morning is when I miss having a boyfriend the most. A time when upon arriving home from a night out, I am still wired, but want to talk. Sleepy, but up for filling someone in on the happenings of the evening. I guess for lack of a substitute, the blog will have to suffice this time.

I was invited to a birthday party tonight of one of my fellow swing dancers. Someone who I admire his dance skills, but have never really gotten to know. I guess I was a little surprised by the invite, but excited at the same time. As much as I love hosting, and hanging out with people, for some reason, the people on the swing dance circuit have always been in another world to me. I'd come out dancing, get in some good dances, have fun, and then go home. Socializing outside of the dance floor was never something I was interested in. But I guess now that I'm out of school, I have been dancing more, and kind of wish I'd gotten to know a lot of the dancers better. For one, everyone is not exactly like me. I tend to hang out with a ton of people who are nerdy, engineer types. Not that they don't exist dancing, but just that there are other types too. Also, these are people that I am pretty much guaranteed to see on a regular basis out dancing, and it's fun to have people to catch up with during the times I am not dancing.

As is the case in any social environment, there are cliques, and there are certainly dance cliques that I have no interest in being a part, but for the most part, the dance people are fun, interesting, and nice people, and I am glad I had a chance to socialize off the dance floor.

::sigh::...I wish I had someone to tell this to over the phone or in person...but I definitely need single time right now. I am not ready to be over Josh just yet.

Wiring the Ceiling

For a long time, I've been bothered that I have no ceiling lights in my living room at my house. So a couple months ago, I decided I wanted to install them. I called a few electricians, and most were giving absurdly high estimates to do this task. I didn't want the lights so badly that I would pay electricians a month's salary, so I asked around. somehow I convinced DZ that it'd be fun (just like whitewashing the fence, Tom!), and he somehow convinced Trent. So the two of them came to my house Wednesday to see what they could do. After discovering all sorts of obstacles, I agreed to let them wire the line outside the ceiling in conduit.

Meanwhile, I made dinner and hung out with Anke (trent's wife). We were not welcome in the room they were working. Each time we came in and tried to help or give suggestions, we got kicked out. The men wanted their space - which was fine by us. I made a yummy dinner (this sounds so sexist! men working, and women in the kitchen...) and they took a break to eat a couple hours in.

After around 4 hours of working, everything looked great and ready to go, so DZ switched the breaker box, and...nothing. For some reason the lights were not working. Another hour, and Trent went home, and an hour after that, DZ left - both frustrated. note: they didn't cut any unnecessary holes in the wall, and probably did a better looking job than any electrician on the aesthetics.

During the next day, DZ somehow figured out what was wrong, but it meant we'd have to tear apart some of my wall. He came over a second time to look at some more wires or something, and we figured out where the hole would need to be punched. I just hope I have matching paint to patch it up later!

boring...

well, the dance at ABC went really well! keep your eyes peeled on more to come!

http://picasaweb.google.com/moosiker/20070603AtlantaBrewingCompany

Meanwhile, nothing too big has been going on lately. This weekend I got to hang out with some of the AEPi tech guys that I went to school with since they were in town for a wedding, and we did a potluck shabbat too.

Things were still slow on the roommate front, but I did post to Craig's list at risk of getting a crazy person, but I've had a few people interested. As usual, the queen bed thing, the sharing a bathroom thing, the not living near GT thing, and now apparently Moshe is allergic to cats, so no one with cats either. how frustrating.

News of note: MY DAD GOT A BLOG!!! my parents went to Turkey and Greece, along with my aunt, and my dad was sending out these three page dissertations each day about what they did. I told him he needed to post it to a blog so that he wouldn't clog the inboxes, and he actually did. He's certainly a novice at it, but kudos to him for doing it =)

Beer and Dancing!!

This sunday June 3 5:00-7:00pm, I am going to Atlanta Brewing Company. Every Sunday (and wed and Fri) they have a beer tasting. You pay $7 and get a souvenir pint glass and basically unlimited beer.

Well this week, if you come, you not only get that, but there will be a FREE beginner swing dance lesson 5-5:30, AND the ASEDA crowd will be there dancing the whole time, so you'll get to see some fun dancing!!

whether or not you're a dancer, you should come out this Sunday to ABC. Oh! and we are even on their webpage!!!

So come on down! what is better than Dancing??!! BEER AND DANCING!!!

Finger wars.

My fingers hurt.

2 weeks ago, I was building a platform thingy outside for my wireless outdoor speakers. I was building them above where I have flowers planted, so I didn't use a stepladder, I just hammered above my head. Big mistake. I managed to miss the nail but hit my finger. So after some severe cursing and icing my finger, I now have a lovely purple fingernail.

1 week ago, I was playing basketball and after 3 full games, almost done with the 4th, I jammed my finger - the same one that I hammered the week before. I've jammed plenty of fingers in my days of playing sports, but this was the worst. It was immediately swollen, and after 2 DAYS of icing it, the swelling hadn't gone down, and my whole finger was purple. My boss was even calling me Princess Fiona because it was so fat and purple that he said it looked like I was turning into an ogre one finger at a time. Well, 4 days later it was still bad, and I still couldn't bend it, so I went to the doctor. As expected, it wasn't broken, but I'd torn a ligament. 4-6 weeks before full recovery. It's been 1.5 and I still can't curl my finger.

Tuesday I was playing basketball again (fingers taped), and at the end of the game picked up my water bottle from the wood platform, and somehow - through my abundance of good luck - got a splinter jammed into my fingernail (different hand). let me tell you, THAT is painful. It's too deep to get out with tweezers, and trust me, I've cut off more of my nail than is comfortable. I am just hoping it will come out on its own before it gets infected.

Memorial Day BBQ

Party. Wow. So, Memorial Day Sunday I had a party. 57 people came (as far as I counted). 55 if you don't count the two babies that came. As I always say, I LOVE hosting parties. I love having friends meet each other, and I really enjoy seeing other people having a good time. I am always a little hesitant because most of my friends are people I know from all different things - Dancing, Tech, High School, work, just being Jewish, and completely randomly. I worry that some people won't meet other people, but I depend on the good natured friendliness of my other friends to include people. Sometimes that doesn't happen, so if you had a crappy time, I'm sorry, but hopefully for the most part, everyone had fun. From when the first person got here until the last ones left was a total of almost exactly 12 hours. Phew!

this is what I saw come and go within those 12 hours:
*50 Hamburgers, 30 pieces of cheese, 40 Hot dogs, 1 lone veggie burger (and buns to go with all of them)
*A full bowl of my famous Punch (and 5 other 2-liter bottles of soda)
*100+ Beers, 1 Litre of Liquor, A Bottle of Daqueri mix and bottle of Margarita mix
*7 bags of chips and a box of crackers - with two different spinach dips, a french onion dip and Moshe's 7 layer dip
*2 veggie trays, a fruit salad
*A batch of Brownies, a tray of cupcakes, A berry Cream cake (all homemade)
*A box of 2-bite brownies, a bag of chocolate, A tin of pirulines, a box of granola bars, a container of muffins, sugar and iced oatmeal cookies, and a large box of Donut Munchkins

Did I miss anything??

I had a wonderful time, and I am sorry I didn't get to socialize with almost anyone. Thanks to everyone who helped set up, cook, clean-up, and to all of y'all who are just the coolest people I know.

Oh, and All Moshe's pictures (and the few I got) are posted here

Directions

I have an issue with my subdivision. The main street that enters the subdivision doesn't have a street sign on it. There is a big new pretty sign with the name of the subdivision, but no street sign. So if anyone looks up directions online via a mapping service like google maps or mapquest, it says "turn onto my street". But then people pace the neighborhood back and forth since they don't see the street.

About a year ago, I went to a monthly meeting and brought this issue up to the board. They looked at me as if I was crazy, and told me "well, tell your friends that when they see the subdivision sign, they should turn. Or, send them to our subdivision website for directions, not google."

Great. So now, Every time I plan a party and send an evite, I have to say "wait, don't mapquest it, go to our handy dandy webpage instead!" No! so anyway, I finally emailed the president of the managing company, and he totally agreed with me. So, now we're getting a sign. hahaha I guess I should've brought it a level higher a year ago when I first noticed it.

Mother's Day gift

Mother's day was a week ago, and though we ordered our gift WAY in advance, they managed to not have the gift in time for us to give it to her. BUT, today the gift came in and it looks pretty good! Ordered through the discovery channel website, we got a blanket with a photo of all the siblings weaved into a blanket. This is what the entire blanket looks like, and then I took a close-up of my face so you can see how they did the work. it's a really fun gift, and my mom is so excited to get it. Other than that, nothing too exciting going on...

late week and a class

Every day this week I have something after work! monday I went to dinner with sebastian and then went dancing, Tuesday I played b-ball with our usual tues/thurs group after work and then went to Erin's for dinner with Kevin, Chris, and Scott which was fun.

Today I went to a class at emory on Entrepreneurship. It was funny. there was a statistic that 50% of small businesses fail in the first year, and 95% fail within the first 5. He commented that we were ahead of the game because we at least showed up at the class. But when I looked around the classroom and noticed
a) how many people came late or left early
b) how many people slept through it
c) how many people just looked like they'd never ever have the drive to maintain a business

I got a little cocky. It was nice to be in a class again. Maybe I'll take some more evening classes...when I have time hahaha =)

No more people in my house! (at least for a day)

Friday night I made Arroz con Pollo for the first time. A Cuban themed potluck Shabbat dinner. We had black beans, plantains, mojo fish, and “Cuban” kugel. The Arroz con Pollo turned out surprisingly well, and I was going to post a picture of it, but apparently Moshe didn’t take a picture when I thought he was going to =(. There were a total of 13 people over for dinner, and although the crowd was a little different than the usual Shabbat crowd, eventually everyone warmed up to each other and hopefully had a nice time.

Speaking of hosting, Saturday we celebrated my little sister’s 21^st birthday. She didn’t want to go out on the town, so instead I hosted about 20 of her friends over. Surprisingly, her UGA buddies didn’t drink that much! I thought that was their extracurricular hobby up there, but I guess since they all had to drive back to Athens or home, they couldn’t drink too much. It was still fun though.

…and some more hosting – Sunday morning I had my family over for Mother’s day brunch. We had omelets, homemade bread, fruit salad, and potatoes. I think my mom enjoyed it, and then I had the rest of the afternoon to resuscitate my house from the destruction that is caused by hosting too many things in one weekend =)

Life Changes.

I like the way Josh worded it. We're going to "see other people". As some of you know, Josh has recently earned his wings, and has been assigned to his aircraft of choice (the Cobra helicopter) at a base just outside of San Diego, CA. As anyone who has been in a long distance relationship knows, trying to maintain a relationship in different cities is hard enough, but a 3 hour time difference makes it even harder. Obstacles that don't help the situation are that during Josh's stint in CA, he'll be on a deployment schedule, to and from somewhere - likely Iraq. The whole Jewish thing is still an issue for me, but it doesn't seem to be the deciding matter here. I am not ready to pick up and leave everything in Atlanta and move to CA where I won't know anyone and Josh'd be gone half the time. Josh is an amazing person. He is kind, charming, intelligent, and funny - meanwhile, protecting my freedom on the side =). He has so many of the qualities I am looking for in a guy, but there is just too much in the way right now to stay together. Maybe one day, but not this day. I love you Josh.

ATLX pics and a flower.

I took almost no pictures at ATLX, but I managed to scour all the other photographer's pages, and found these pictures of me. And I finally uploaded them!

Meanwhile, this flower came up outside my house, and I think it's really pretty.

Want to live with me?

Hey everyone!
As some of you may know, I am looking for a roomate to live at my house!
I live in dunwoody, just outside the perimeter. It's a 3 story townhouse with 3 BR, 2.5 bath, a den, large kitchen, and hardwood dining and living rooms. There's a huge storage basement, washer and dryer, and a patio out back with a ton of grassy areas behind it. It's a 2 minute drive to get to 285 (exit 30)

Everything in the house is furnished pretty much, except the bedroom.

rent is $575/mo + 1/3 utilities (usually comes out to about $65)
OR 650/month including utilities - electricity, cable, HS internet (wireless)

If anyone is interested, or wants more info, please let me know!

Thanks!!

2 years!

yesterday was the two year mark since I graduated from Georgia Tech. I CAN'T believe it's been that long already! I feel like my parents when I say that time flies and you don't know where it goes. I honestly feel like it was just a few weeks ago when I was on campus.

Now when I return, there are just a few faces left that I know, and it doesn't quite feel like home as much anymore. I really miss walking around all day, and rolling out of bed to go to class. I don't miss studying for tests, but I miss meeting all sorts of amazing people (that are my age) every day.

I love working now. I love having a paycheck, I love that i'm able to live in the same place longer than 2 semesters. I really like that usually I don't have to do work on the weekends. I just miss the fond memories of college.

wow. where has the time gone...

Addendum.

Back to me writing...I'd like to add the following to the previous blog post:

1) this is a picture of david before he gets attacked by the massage chair.

This is a candid picture while the chair is attacking him.

2) I got ants in my kitchen. I am trying some new ant stuff that is this sweet liquid that the ants come, drink, and then poison their colonymates. In just one hour, they'd drank all of the liquid on one of the locations. here is a picture of my ants.

3) I really found $20 on the ground the other day. Now, I can tell the story of what I was doing, end it with "and then I found $20", and I'd be telling the truth!!!

4)Amanda and I hung out saturday and watched a movie and made yummy food.

Outsourcing...

Bela's blog entry 5/7/07
By David Ziskind, staff reporter.

Outsourcing has finally hit my blog. With so much to do, I've turned
to David to create frequent blog entries. He complained that he did
not have anything to read at work, so I tasked him with writing them.

Sunday I got up and went for a run in David's new shoes. They fit so
well! I run 3.1415 miles, but to avoid sounding like a dork, I say I
run 3.2 miles. I went to check out David's awesome new couches, and
then helped him look for coffee and end tables. We had fun at a place
with massaging chairs. The sales guy asked if he should turn out the
lights! After that, we went to Costco where I bought stuff for Leah's
birthday BBQ and my Memorial Day BBQ. I didn't tell David or Ross,
but I purposely planned her birthday party for a weekend when they
would both be out of town, so they couldn't hit on her. They really
don't hit on her, but they like to tease me, which drives me up a
wall. Sunday I had a meeting with the dance people.

Today is Monday, and it's back to the grind at work. Oh yeah, I have
a hot new business idea. Let me know if you want to buy in =)

***END***

Winging and a Drag race

One of the hardest things about leaving the office early, is actually getting out. Somehow, whenever I have to get out of the office early in the week for any reason, my “to-do” list gets longer and longer. This past week was no exception. I was planning to leave the office by 2:00 on Thursday in time to go home, pick up my luggage, and head to the airport for a 5pm flight. I managed, over 3 and a half days at work, to clock in 37 hours of time. I have a kickoff meeting tomorrow in Paris, TX, and am currently on a flight to Dallas. More about that later.

The reason I was leaving early Thursday was to go to Pensacola. Josh, after working exceptionally hard over the past couple years, had earned his wings, and I was heading down to be there for the ceremony. I arrived just in time for dinner, and we all went out to Bonefish grill. The food was good, but boy there was a lot of it. We all split for the night after dinner because we had a long day ahead of us.

Friday morning everyone met at Josh’s apartment at 7:15 because we were going to the base to do a bit of a mini-tour. Josh had arranged for us to go into the Night Vision Goggle (NVG) lab at 8:30 for a demonstration. I have only seen NVGs on TV and movies and such, and was truly amazed at the way NVGs function. NVGs use every possible bit of available light, and magnify it to light up the scenery. We went into a darkroom, where there was no light coming from anywhere except a tiny dot on the ceiling. Amazingly, we put on the goggles and could see everything clearly! The instructor took different types of flashlights, laser pointers, infrared lights, UV lights, etc., and showed us how they each look under the NVGs. I was blown away by how advanced they were. We stepped into another room where there was a mini-landscape of sorts. It looked like a bigger version of a train set I’d had as a kid. There were mountains, rivers, a factory, a city, power lines, tanks, and more. There were lights set up in the surrounding areas to represent moonlight seen from different angles. Cycling through the different possible lunar locations, we could see some of the downfalls of the NVGs – when shadows are created by the angle. What an interesting learning experience.

From there we went into the Simulation building. Josh was able to secure 20 minutes to use the simulator. The simulator is basically a box that on the inside looks like the inside of a helicopter. The front window is actually a bunch of screens of some sort, where the landscape is projected as you fly. Because there were only 20 minutes, Josh had to just choose a couple people to go (there were 11 of us there in total). I wasn’t going to get a chance, but then the next group didn’t show up, and every one of us managed to get a turn in the simulator. It was pretty fun. I of course have never flown anything and had a hard time with it, but managed to fly most of the time until landing, where I crashed the helo and received the red screen of death haha. Not to worry though, every single other person also crash landed. I did however fight josh on the controls a bit. He’d say “nose down” and I’d be pulling the nose up. Luckily, he had instructor controls, and could help, but I was certainly accidentally fighting him on a few occasions in the Sim.

We had lunch on base, where the food was good, and the prices were really cheap. We had all brought our nice clothes to change into, as no one wanted to walk around for a few hours in heels or a suit. So we changed and headed over to the winging ceremony after lunch. Each graduate was called on stage with their family for their individual ceremony. The winger can choose who pins their wings onto their uniform, and Josh chose his dad. The old tradition of banging the wings into place is still going on. The person pinning the winger will put it on and then give a hard pound to the chest. Some of the family members would put the backs on before punching them. Others were not so lucky. One of the guys was punched so hard by his family that the metal wing pin actually bent, and at the party that evening, he showed off his undershirt from earlier in the day that had blood stains on the chest. It was a nice ceremony, and hopefully special to each winger. Josh had his parents, his sister Cara, his other sister Taylor and her boyfriend Jeff, His friends Jim and Kris from home in Charlotte – each with their girlfriends Jess and Charity - Quite the crowd.

After the winging, there was a party called the “overtorque” where there was some light food, beer and some toasts for just about everyone. My favorite was “To the spouses and sweethearts – may they always think we’re as good looking as we think we are”. Apparently there was a cake, but it was eaten before we got there. The plan for the rest of the day was to go to change, and then head to the beachside of town where we had rooms for the night. We came back to Josh’s to change, and I gave him the gift I’d gotten him for the winging. Back when I’d first met Josh, he and Leah had me believing that they were actually issued scarves – like in the pictures you see of pilots back in the day – and I of course believed them. Well, for his winging, I got josh an official flight scarf, and a lambswool lined leather flight hat – with the buckle under the chin and everything. So at least if he doesn’t get issued one, he can look like a true pilot =)

Josh was particularly disappointed that they made no announcement of the cake, so we went to the grocery and got a cake just for all of us, and especially Josh. His sisters did a good job of decorating it on the was =) That night we went to walk on the beach for a bit, and take some pictures, then to have some dinner, and then to the winging party. The winging class – as is tradition – chipped in together for a bunch of kegs, and had it at a bar on the beach boardwalk. As long as you had the “I’m with the pilots” wristband, it was all you can drink. The party was a lot of fun, and there are a ton of silly pictures. Since we’d been up doing things since 7am, we were all wiped by 12:30, and crashed.

But early the next morning, everyone was up in time to hit the beach. We spent all morning laying out on the beach in a beautiful day in Pensacola. It was great because we’d spent the night across the street piled into hotel rooms so no one would have to drive from the party, and in the morning we could just walk across the street to the beach. People slowly trickled out, catching their flights home, until everyone had left and Josh and I drove back to Atlanta. And that just ends Saturday of the weekend!!

Sunday was the drag race. I know – Bela? At a drag race??! Well, it was quite the experience. Josh grew up loving NHRA and formula one racing, and jumps at the chance to see one in person. So, after the fun filled weekend we had in Pensacola, we drove back to Atlanta to hit Commerce on Sunday for the race. We left the house early, and arrived in commerce around 8:30. Unfortunately, there was some traffic, so we didn’t actually get to park until closer to 9:00. All of the different cars and bikes that were racing each have their own pit set up in the parking lot, and then before and after each race, they’re towed to the starting line. So we jumped from pit to pit watching the cars getting warmed up and ready to go. It was loud. Most people, including us, had earplugs in, but it was still loud above that. I found myself holding my ears closed on top of the earplugs on more that a couple occasions. As the cars are warming up, there is an area where the cars that are running on Nitromethane are located. They call this area Nitro Alley. As they’re warming up, if you are in the downwind of the exhaust, it is hard to breathe and your eyes burn from the nitro in the air. The people that get really close, most of them actually have gas masks on. It’s all part of the experience though. I have to say, the crowd was certainly different than that I would see at a Braves game, and quite different from those I’d see at a GT college football game. It was quite interesting. The races themselves were pretty cool. No crashes took place, but a few of the cars caught on fire! The day was beautiful, but the sun was rough. I was putting on sunscreen about every 30 minutes, and I think if you’d wanted to, you could’ve fried an egg on my arm. But we stayed out there for about 6-7 hours, and had fun. By a little before 4:00, we were wiped and headed out of there.

It’s funny – some weekends nothing happens, and man, this past weekend I barely had time for some shut eye!

ATLX 4

It's over. ATLX came and went without any horrible glitches or anything.

ATLX (the Atlanta Lindy Exchange) is an event we host here in Atlanta every year, and without going into too much detail about what a Lindy Exchange is, It'll suffice to say that it's a weekend where dancers from all over collide in one city with dancing, live bands, great venues, and fun times. Usually out-of-towners are hosted in the homes of dancers in the hosting city.

With most of the planning behind us, we held our last meeting a week before the event, and while each of us had our jobs to take care of during the week, everything fell into place nicely.

The event started with a bang at the Thursday night dance. Friday, the out-of-towners had the opportunity to be tourists in Atlanta, led to different places by some of our own. In the afternoon, we met at Atlanta Brewing Company, and had beer and danced. We were ready to go!

Throughout the weekend, there were 11 venues, 3 live bands, a pancake breakfast, and for me, at least 100 great dances with fabulous leads from out of town. Not to mention the chance I had to catch up with some old friends.

All in all, I danced for about 30 hours, and had 11 people sleeping in my house and today I am incredibly sore, but it was definitely a ton of fun.

Pictures will be up soon. I need a nap, but I have to go to work =(

Kesiah turns one.

I wrote this post a week ago, and never published it because I was going to add photos. I didn't have a moment to spare, so I am just going to upload this and date it to last monday when I wrote it, and come back later with photos.

This weekend was jam packed full of stuff!

My baby niece, Kesiah, turned one last Tuesday, so we “celebrated” after Shabbat dinner on Friday at my parents’ house. While Evin and Noah were in town, they went house hunting to look for a place to live – because they are planning on moving here!! I am so excited. Evin has lived in Chicago for about 10 years now, and it will be so nice to have them all here close, especially now with the baby – all sorts of built in babysitters =)

Then on Saturday morning, I dragged myself out of bed at 6:30, and Nick came over and we drove down to GT to run in the nerdiest race ever – the Pi Mile. It is 3.14 miles – aka a 5k. I ran it in a whole minute slower than I did last year (this year I ran in 28:25ish), but still faster than I run when I run on my own.

Since we were already up, we stopped at Lowe’s on the way home because I had a gift card I’d gotten in the mail, and I needed some flowers for my yard. The plan was for mom to come over Sunday afternoon and help me plant – and that’s what we did. Planting this year (though it was much colder) was much easier than last year since the soil had softened from the planting last year and the rain the day before. Now you can see all my little flowers that will make my yard so much more welcoming during the summer =)

Saturday night, Greg and Rachel came in from Dallas, and we went out with the old AEPi guys to dinner and the bar to hang out. It’s always fun to see them and catch up. We were all out late into the evening, and the night ended with pancakes at 3am at my house. Yum!

Sunday, Randy had a birthday brunch at Garrison’s at Perimeter mall. That place has a great brunch buffet, and we took over the whole upstairs with the 37 guests that came to celebrate with him. I always forget how good whipped cream is until I eat some true whipped cream (not the canned stuff). I had a great waffle with some on it, and I could’ve eaten three more!

HPV vaccine attack!

I went this morning to the doctor to get the HPV vaccine. I had an 8am appointment so that I could do it and still hopefully get to work on time. I arrived at 7:55, and waited only about 10 minutes (miraculous for the office). The shot was the first in a set of three shots total over a 6 month period. Over the years, I have had a ton of vaccines. Every time I went out of the country, different vaccines seemed necessary- Hepatitis, Meningitis, Tetanus, steroids, etc. So I have never been afraid of shots – I just prefer to not watch as they inject me. Well today, as I looked away, the nurse jabbed me pretty hard, and once she pulled out the needle, I was immediately pretty sore. I said “Ow” when she pulled it out – not from the soreness, but from the ferocity of the jab. She replied with “yeah, I hit bone on that one!” like she just earned 5 points on her fantasy vaccination league with the other nurses. Well anyway, as I am walking out, I get really dizzy, and have a hot flash. I immediately start sweating, and lose my balance. They took me to a room and laid me down and gave me a cold towel, but when I asked if this happens often, they said “no, you’re the first person this has happened to!” That was weird because I usually do fine. After resting about 15 minutes, they let me go, but man, my arm is still really sore! And I still have 2 more shots to get for the series.

Swim the Atlantic...

Directions from Atlanta, GA to Barcelona spain on Google Maps:

5,317 mi (about 30 days 5 hours)

My particularly favorite direction is #21:
Swim across the Atlantic Ocean 3,462 mi

I guess the 30 days of travel time would be taking into account the speed limit in the ocean...

Too funny.

Sound of Music

This weekend, my cousin Miriam came in town, and stayed with me Friday night. We went to potluck Shabbat at Avital’s and my contribution was home-made chocolate covered matzoh. It actually turned out really well. I was impressed with myself. As a matter of fact, Mom came over Friday while I was working from home, and she was so excited about it, she had me make her her own batch!

Josh came in town for a day and a half this weekend with some of his friends for Saturday’s baseball game. 10 of us went to the Braves game, and suffered through the FREEZING weather to watch the Braves have their first home win of the season. That night we went to the highlands so I could show his friends what Atlanta had to offer =)

Sunday Josh and I were planning on going rock climbing again, but though the course was open, I was not certified with the correct requirements, and they didn’t offer the class on Easter, so we couldn’t go =(. So what else is there to do on Easter Sunday? Not much. We watched a ton of Mythbusters (I think there was a marathon on TV), and I made Josh watch the sound of Music (after much kicking and screaming). That is a movie that I grew up on, loved, and is a true classic, and he hadn’t seen it! At intermission I told him I’d just tell him the ending, but he was determined to finish the whole thing. Impressive! Now he knows where all the songs come from =) Well, his reaction was “it wasn’t sooo bad, but it was pretty cheesy” Rochelle came over also, and I made some Passover cake for Josh’s birthday (which is Monday), and we had some yummy smoothies too.

On to my second week back home and first full week back in the office!

the Dry cleaner and me.

I keep thinking of funny things to blog about, but then get distracted, and forget to go back and do it. I think I am going to keep a notepad around so that I don't forget.

Anyway, earlier this week I took 4-5 things to the dry cleaner. I rarely go to the dry cleaner. I buy things that are "machine wash" only. when I do accidentally buy something that is dry clean only, I wash it in the machine anyway. So when once in a while I have something nice enough to take, I put it in my stack of things to bring, and when I need one to wear one of the things again, I take whatever's in the stack. Yes, that's my mentality. Anyway, I had a stack, and it included a dress I wore for a formal event back in December, which means the last time I went to the cleaners was at the latest November. well, I walk in, and the lady who owns the cleaners, Sandra, says "Hello Ms. Jacobson!! I haven't seen you in a while, have you been out of town?" I couldn't believe she remembered my name! not only has it been 6 months since I went there, I think I've only been there 2-3 times EVER! Anyway, I was impressed.

Running in Augusta

When I go running outside at home, I do the same loop every time, and I don't even like it that much because it is so hilly. Over the past few weeks, the weather has gotten nice, and Betsy and I have ventured around the city of Augusta on about two outdoor runs every week. Afterwards, we sometimes go eat, completely sweaty, but starving. I discovered a new website recently that I really like using to map out the runs. coincidentally it is called "mapmyrun.com". Using Google technology, you can zoom in really far to see exactly the path you take, and mark it. The following are some of the runs we've made up and run while exploring the city:

Lake Olmstead

Augusta Historic Downtown and Riverwalk

Augusta Downtown

Augusta Canal

Once you map the exact route you took, you can see most importantly - how far you ran. But also, you can see the elevation view, or count calories by entering your run time and weight. You can even see a 3-D view of your run if you have Google Earth!

Doing these runs has been a lot of fun. I run a lot better and a lot longer when with someone else (Betsy - things are so much better when we're together ;-) )

Hopefully I will be adventurous in Atlanta and run at home in new places too.

Final week in Augusta

well, my stint here is completing. I am slated until the end of this week, and then I go home. I have managed to schedule quite a busy April - especially with Passover around the corner, but I'll be happy to be home again.

Tomorrow night is my goodbye dinner here. I get to pick the restaurant. Where to?!

I know I haven't had many good blog posts lately, but exciting things just don't happen when you're staying in a hotel for 2 months away from home.


Until now, I have not looked for a roomate actively. I have told friends I am looking, but that's about it. Unfortunately, that hasn't been too fruitful. Should I make a post on craig's list? I don't want some psycho roomate, but it'd be nice to have a roomate to help pay the bills...

Air Conditioning Refill

I noticed at the end of last summer that my air conditioning was not working at all in my car. It was the end of the season, so I figured I would wait until this summer to fix it. I brought my car in, 200 miles shy of the 36,000 mile warantee, and even though the refill of the freon would be included - since I got in the accident last fall (after it stopped working), they would not cover it.

oh well, at least now I will have AC this summer.

cell phone number.

When I go to Cingular.com, I can update my profile. Does anyone else find it interesting that besides being able to update your name and address, you can update your phone number? if anything, shouldn't they know when your phone number updates?

Watch what you do. Always.

Well, apparently it's easy for people to lose my trust. Maybe it's easy to get it back, I don't know.

I hesitate these days to post anything about work, as I am well aware that some people from work now read my blog regularly, and others read it occasionally when the regulars pass it on to others while still trying to keep it a secret that they indeed do read it. you know what? It's fine. I dump a lot into this blog - daily activities, travels, future plans, etc. Pretty much all of this is stuff I talk about anyway. Unfortunately, these days companies can hire or fire someone based on what they post online, so while I'd like to be candid with what I post, if it has to do with work I unfortunately can't be.

I am currently fuming because of something that happened today. a person in a role of leadership did something that to him and possibly some others in the company was the right thing to do, and to me, it was unnecessary, none of their business, and breached my trust. I feel that being a leader requires both parties to earn each other's trust, and the moment they breach it, they've lost that trust for a long time. I think that when you do have another person's trust, when they make comments that are meant to not be passed on, or when someone makes an inappropriate comment about either another person in the company, or a comment that would not be seen as "acceptable" if reported to people higher in the company, you don't worry that the other person will go around passing along that information. It is a friendship as well as a work relationship. By accepting that, I can name plenty of times that MANY people above me have made comments that I see as "not acceptable" but after it doesn't sit well for a day, and I fume to friends, I don't worry about it because it isn't worth being a tattletale only to be seen as someone around whom everyone else needs to walk on eggshells. There are times when those comments don't bother me, but I could easily see them as being comments that are either close minded or raw to others.

Anyway, in case you've gotten this far and are wondering what kind of comment got me in trouble, that's not what happened. I didn't get in trouble for anything, and really the incident I am upset about is insignificant to my future or the career future of anyone else involved in the company. What bothers me more is the manner in which it was handled.

I can't really say much more. Just know that being a female in this environment is difficult, MUCH more so than the males think it is, and with as much crap as I have to put up with from the starting line, there's no reason to add more to my plate. Oh, and by the way, I am NOT one of the guys. Sorry to break it to you, but it's the cold truth. Maybe watch your mouths a little bit around the ladies. As a coworker put it - you can pretend I'm your sister, but don't dare think I am one of the guys.

This is for everyone - no matter where you work:
Don't take advantage of people's naivety or kindness or happy temperament to benefit your goals - especially if it diminishes either them or their goals. (this comment isn't necessarily specific to today's incident, just specific to what I've noticed has happened to me in general.)

I hate the country inn Augusta.

I hate the hotel we stay in Augusta.
So far, here are the issues I've had with the hotel:

One day, I came back to find that the cleaning people had removed their gloves and left them in my room. I told the front desk, but the gloves remained there the next day (when I checked out).

I came into the room, and the toilet had pee in it. Not my pee, mind you - no toilet paper was in the toilet.

Another time I checked in, and there were clothes in the closet from whoever was there last - they didn't empty the room.

One day I checked in, and the floor to the bathroom was STICKY it was so dirty

Another time, I checked in, and there was SOMEONE ELSE's hair in the shower.

Today, I came to find that there was an OPEN soap in the shower, and the sheets were used.

Here is the email I just sent to the management of this hotel:

To whom it may concern,

I have been staying at the Country Inn and suites in Augusta weekly for about 6 weeks. Every week I have been here, I have had issues with housekeeping either upon arrival, or throughout the week. I have told the front desk about the problems, and they have always been polite about writing it down in their book, but the issues have NEVER been resolved during my stay. The following are some (but not all) of the housekeeping issues I've had over the past 6 weeks :

- used rubber cleaning gloves were left in my room on the dresser, and not removed for the rest of the week

- bathroom floor was so dirty upon arrival, it was sticky when walking with shoes

- clothes in the closet upon arrival (and remaining for 5 nights)

- urine in the toilet after a cleaning

- hair in the shower upon arrival

- Today, upon checking in late, I found a used bar of soap in the shower, and unwashed sheets on the bed. I requested a room change, and the second room had mud on the bathroom floor. I am now in the third room of the evening.

Others of my colleagues have had issues also in this hotel, most notably the housekeeping staff leaving the door ajar after servicing for the remainder of the day until my colleague's return from work at 8:00 pm - making her personal belongings open to anyone.

I am truly disappointed in the quality of service, and would appreciate a phone call when you receive this message.

Thank you,
**signed me**