Rightly Epitomized

5-Bite Diet?!?

2008-11-18T13:32:00.001-05:00

It's been a while since I've blogged in here, but I posted my thoughts on this diet on Facebook and MySpace, so why not here? Here it is:

I couldn't resist tearing a new one on this deal.

I took a couple days off because of my grandfather's passing. There isn't going to be a funeral or anything, but I thought I should at least spend some time with my family over the next two days.
On any day I have off, I got up, washed some dishes, turned on the TV, and what? "We're going to have Dr. Alwin Lewis to talk about the new 5-bite diet." That grabbed my attention immediately.

In a nutshell, here's what it is: You can eat whatever you want! Yes, you can (in a non-Obama-type way because I don't want to offend B.O. by that association)! But...you have to skip breakfast, and you can only have 5 bites for lunch and 5 bites for dinner. You can have unlimited (low-calorie) teas, colas, coffee, water, etc. for the day. By doing this, you're supposed to lose weight and change what your stomach considers as "full". This can be 5 bites of a Big Mac for lunch and 5 bites of a tub of lard for dinner...just as long as it's five bites. "It's better than getting gastric bypass surgery and works the same way" (this "doctor's" golden argument of the diet).

Ok, let's briefly forget the fact that you're starving yourself here because that's completely obvious to EVERYONE.
1. You're skipping breakfast. It's not like it was some made-up garbage or part of a fad diet when doctors and nutritionists said breakfast is the most important meal of the day. It jump-starts your metabolism for the day. If you skip it, then what? Not only do you not get that metabolism kick, you're robbing yourself of the energy you need for the day. You get the most bang out of your buck with breakfast if you eat within one hour of waking up.

2. You're not taking in enough calories. If your caloric-intake for the day is in the hundreds, you're starving yourself. Plain and simple. Take it from someone who struggled with anorexia for six years of her life until she realized this is no way to be healthy. Yeah, I lost weight eating less, but was I any healthier? No. In fact, I was probably worse off then than I ever was in my life health-wise.

3. You're not getting the nutrients your body needs. This guy claims that you can do this safely as long as you take a multi-vitamin every day for your nutrients. He also says the reason why it's ok for obese people is because they "have too many nutrients" and need to cut back. WHAT?!? Their obesity has nothing to do with having too many vitamins and essential nutrients. They're not eating properly (i.e. the McDonald's diet) and exercising. Of course, health problems (thyroid, for instance) and age can affect it, as well, if you are on a good nutritional plan and exercising regularly. If you're not even trying though, there's no excuse.
I think it's common sense that a person is going to benefit more from vitamins and nutrients coming naturally than through a pill. A multi-vitamin can only do so much for you. You know, they're called supplements for a reason: They SUPPLEMENT. I think someone needs to show this "doctor" the definition of that word.

4. You may lose weight, but you're not getting healthier. Going back to point #2, you're starving yourself and not just of calories but proteins, carbs, etc. These are essential things your body needs throughout the day. Eating 5 bites of a Quarter Pounder with Cheese is not going to have the same nutritional value as eating grilled tilapia on with some brown rice. But when we're talking about this diet, I guess the better I eat, the more starved I'm going to be, so I'd pick high-calorie foods to compensate.
It's not all about how MUCH we're eating but WHAT we're eating. This guy is trying to capitalize on saying the only problem here is that we just eat too much, and it has nothing to do with what we're eating. It has been PROVEN that if you pay attention to what it is you're eating and eat properly (even sans exercise), you'll be healthier. Starving yourself doesn't do it. Been there, done that; doesn't work! And not only that, it screws you up mentally. I can't even begin to go into the layers of problems that creates.

I found it interesting that someone who was trying to back up the diet wrote this in a comment on a website: "Many anorexics/bulimics/compulsive over eaters are having success with this diet. Loosing 15-30lbs every two weeks." Do they realize that they mentioned people with anorexia and bulimia as having success with the diet? Why should they be starving themselves anyway? I thought their problem was they needed to gain weight and/or get some help from a psychiatrist.

I guess I'm so passionate about this because I've had to deal with the absolute mental and physical tortures you put yourself through when you don't eat enough. I know anorexia is a different animal than just doing one of these diets, but it perpetuates the problem and could cause it in people who wouldn't have become anorexic otherwise.

As people in the Beachbody community (or otherwise), I think it's so important for us to impress good nutrition even more so when diets like these (don't even get me started on the acai berry diet) pop up. People who are uneducated in this area will jump right on this wagon and potentially destroy their bodies and lives. It's sad but true...

Fitness?

2008-08-24T12:57:00.000-04:00

I haven't posted here in almost two months, which makes me wonder if I should even continue. I used to have so many things to talk about (ok, complain about) when I still worked in retail, but I haven't for almost a year now. I don't come in contact with people who get my goat on a regular basis, and I don't have to deal with back-to-school shoppers or the Christmas rush. Some part of my brain misses sharing all that with you, but I certainly don't miss it enough to ever work in retail again. Thankfully, I've been at a job I love where the people are terrific, and I get paid a lot more and put up with little to no bull crap for almost a year, and I don't plan on ever giving that up.

My main focus has been on fitness since the beginning of February when I started this journey with P90X. I never dreamed that I'd get so involved with it when I started. I remember writing that blog and feeling fed-up with feeling tired and not wanting to eat. I was falling in and out of anorexia and therefore, my weight was going up and down, up and down. On top of that, I wasn't happy going to the gym. Even though I was underweight, I still was embarrassed to lift in front of anyone. You would expect those feelings to come from someone who was obese and ashamed of their body. Well, I wasn't obese, but I still felt like I was. It was like talking to a brick wall to convince me otherwise. Sometimes you just have to figure things out for yourself or be lucky enough to have something speak to you. P90X was it for me.

Now I've been spending a lot of my time trying to get other people involved. I became a coach on Beachbody a couple months ago, and I've been able to meet some people through that and sell products. However, I still want more. I've been milling over what to do fitness-wise with any extra time I have. Summer is quickly coming to an end, and people are going to end up in their fitness slump. Not many people want to work out until January 1st comes around. I'm especially having a hard time finding people that like to work out in Erie, Pennsylvania (if that's you, let me know). I think there are a lot of people who are unhappy with how they look and feel, but they'd rather do the quick fix of a diet pill and not put some real effort into it. I don't have a success story where I went from fat to thin, but I know of people who have doing these programs, and it's inspiring.

I wasn't sure if I wanted to start up some P90X classes or something along those lines. Finding people around here would be difficult, but I think if they really wanted to get in shape for next summer, now would be the time to start. If you do want to get involved, please let me know. I'm having the worst time finding any fitness-minded people in this area. Anyone that may know of a way I could get these classes going, please let me know. I sort of feel like I'm stuck.

More P90X/Beachbody News...and I'm Still Alive

2008-06-15T21:52:00.000-04:00

I know it's been an incredibly long time since I've written on here, but my blogging has gone by the wayside lately, and something else has replaced it. I think it's kind of obvious what that thing may be...*cough*P90X*cough* I'm already about halfway through my second round of it, and I've become really engrossed in the whole program and the community of people I've able to meet through it.

Over the past month or so, I'd really been considering taking it a step further. Heck, I already have the license plate, and people are sending me messages almost on a daily basis to ask exercise/health-related questions. I'd been thinking about becoming a coach on the Beachbody website. I had been asked several times by random people if I was already a coach, so it made me think about it a little more. I kept questioning myself on whether or not I could do it, but I guess I didn't need to ask that because I've already been doing that for free the past month or two without even thinking about it. So yesterday I took the plunge and signed up to be a coach, and I'm now waiting for my little start-up kit to show up in the mail. I don't really care so much about making money through this, but I thought it would be a nice opportunity to share what I'm passionate about and help other people at the same time. It sounds kind of cheesy, but that's really where I am with this. All due thanks need to go to one guy for giving me that extra push to sign up: Jason "Puckhead" Diebold. Check out his site because he's an awesome coach and person.

Also, I was contacted a couple weeks ago by someone from Beachbody, and he put a cool opportunity on the table for me that I couldn't pass up. Nothing is official so far, but I'm supposed to find out the final word in a couple weeks, and I couldn't be more anxious. If it goes through successfully, it's going to be one of the biggest events to happen in my life. I am just looking forward to the wheels it's going to give to me to spread this whole program around this area because--as you can see--I'm extremely passionate about it, and most people in Erie haven't a clue what P90X is. I'm just praying all goes well. If not, I still have the coaching, and I'm more than happy to have a voice through that.

I'll keep you guys updated with the news when I receive it. I don't want to explain in detail what it is right now, but I'll just say that it's BIG (as in national). I'm keeping my fingers crossed...

You can visit my site here. It needs updated badly, but I'll be getting to that this week.

First 90 Days Gone...

2008-05-10T12:31:00.001-04:00

I suppose I should update you guys on the fact that I hit my 90 day mark for P90X, and I've already started my second round. I hit the mark while my husband and I were out in Marienville, PA for a little celebration of our anniversary. We got a cabin out there, and it was really nice to get away even though the weather was cool and very rainy. We still got a lot of indoor time though, which is not bad at all.

Anyway, I got some progress pictures while we were out there, and I'm happy that I finally got the right lighting so you can actually see my definition for once. More motivation to keep pressing on (or pressing play, I should say):

Don't be afraid to try it if you're considering it. If you have questions, feel free to ask me.

Two Years

2008-04-29T09:25:00.002-04:00

I've never been great with words, but I certainly know how to talk someone's head off. Maybe what I'm saying isn't the most intelligent thing, the most inspriring, or contain fancy words, but what it does have is sincerity. When I say I love you, I mean it and don't just say it to say it or because it's what I'm supposed to do.

I've spent the past two years being married to you, the past four and a half knowing you, and the nineteen and a half years before that living without you. These past six years have more than made up for the time I've had to live without you, but if I had to spend a day without you, I'd be even more hollow than I was before. You've been more to me than any husband could be for a wife. When you tell me you love me, I think of the time I first saw you when you came to pick me up for our date to the day you looked in my eyes at the altar and said, "I do."
To avoid being verbose, I simply want to say that I love you and happy anniversary.

Day 75

2008-04-19T14:14:00.002-04:00

Thanks for all the great comments you guys have been leaving. I'm starting to get a little more attention the past few weeks, and people are noticing and asking questions about the program. I sort of like being the walking advertisement because I really endorse P90X. In fact, I'm getting a personalized plate for my car so I can advertise on my way to work or wherever I go. Sounds kind of cheesy, but I don't care. I feel a lot better than I did before I started, and I look better too.

In fact, we just had a Wellness Day at work on Wednesday, and we took a fitness test during that. The women were supposed to do modified push-ups and the men just regular ones, but I hate doing push-ups on my knees, so I asked if I could do the other instead. After consulting with another Hamot employee, they said it was alright, but my numbers wouldn't come back very accurately. I didn't care. I was competing against my boss (who won anyway). I managed to crank out 28 military-style push-ups in 30 seconds (my boss did 38 wide push-ups). I was hoping to get to 35, but I should have had my hands wider, and I might have.

We also had our BMI and body fat percentage measured. I had around 8.7% body fat, which is awesome (target range for women is 20-32%; men is 12-24%, but lower is better). My BMI, I believe, was around 19, which is just above underweight (18.5 and under is too low). I imagine I was a little lower last year when I was still struggling with my eating disorder, but who knows. I was really satisfied with my numbers, overall.

Yesterday, I just completed day 75 (of 90), so it was a picture day. My husband took a picture the day before while I was doing Yoga X, and it seems to be getting some attention, so it makes me feel like I've made progress:

Here are some regular shots from yesterday. I'm even more flustered than last time because this was Core Synergistics. Forgot to flex my stomach for the first one:

And an ab shot from today since I didn't get any decent ones yesterday:

So there they are. I managed to find one other person in Erie that's doing this program, and it was by accident Monday night. If anyone else is or if you want to join in, I'm starting my second round (classic this time) on May 5th. Just let me know.

Sixty Days and Counting

2008-04-03T20:21:00.002-04:00

I'm so happy I've been sticking with this program. If I look a little flustered, it's because I had just finished doing an hour and a half of Yoga X about 5 minutes before these pictures were taken:

Front shot

Back shot

Obligatory ab shot

Incriminating Evidence

2008-03-29T14:02:00.002-04:00

She's white, but her cheeks are smeared in guilt.
Word to the wise: Make sure to thoroughly rinse out your spaghetti sauce pans before you put them in the sink.

Walk For Autism

2008-03-24T19:49:00.004-04:00

I was thinking about doing this walk out at Presque Isle this April with my husband, and I saw an ad for it on TV. I was almost positive they said there would be information on YourErie.com, but I can't find anything anywhere. I'm either looking in the wrong places or they never updated their site to include it. I'd like to sign up, but it's kind of hard if I can't find any info. All I've been able to find is archived from 2005, which helps about zero. Anyone have any information on this? Dennis?¹

In other news, I suppose I should update you all on our trip down to Cape Canaveral, Florida for the shuttle launch. I'm not sure what to say about it other than that it was amazing. You just had to be there to see it. What was even cooler was that it was a night launch, so the whole sky just lit up like the high-noon sun rose all in a matter of two seconds. The whole ground shook, and it sounded like we were standing in the middle of a thunderstorm--only without the rain. You can catch the video here [If you just hold your mouse over the Snapshot, you can view it without clicking out to YouTube.]. I feel privileged to have seen one of the last shuttle launches.

Afterwards (the next day, of course), we got to tour around Kennedy Space Center for the entire day, which was really neat. I got to see my first IMAX movie...and it was 3D! I have to say I felt like an idiot every time I flinched when there was debris flying at the screen. My brain can't grasp the fact that it's not really flying into my face. I'm a rookie 3D movie viewer, apparently.
We were also able to go visit the ocean on Cocoa Beach, which was just beautiful. I'd never been to the ocean, so it was a nice addition to the trip. Even though I didn't swim in it, I at least stuck my hand in to feel it, which was enough for me. I grabbed some sea shells as souvenirs before leaving.

As beautiful as Florida is, I wouldn't want to live there. I'm still a die-hard Tennessee fan. Thankfully, we got to spend a little time there even though our trip was cut short by a day because of the two feet of snow we got in Erie the day we were supposed to leave. It was supposed to be a little early anniversary trip for me and my husband since we weren't going to be getting down there this year. I was disappointed that we couldn't keep our original chalet (we had this for our honeymoon) that first weekend since we couldn't make it there for Saturday night, but I'm glad we at least spent a little time down there and visited Ripley's Aquarium as we do every year.

Being back in Erie has given me a cabin fever that no amount of cowbell can cure. I just wonder when it's going to be warm again so I can be out running and/or riding my bike. Summer, come soon! If it doesn't rain and is in the 50's on Saturday, I may bust out the cycle and get some outdoor exercise in. I hope, I hope...

¹Nevermind. I answered my own question by accident. I hope to see some of you participate. It's $15, and the link for the form can be found here, and it needs to be in by April 1st. The walk is April 26th at 11:00am, starting at Beach One.

I'm Taking the Dive

2008-03-20T20:41:00.005-04:00

Hey, there, folks, and a happy Good Thursday to all of you. Ok, there's no such thing, but it's going to have to suffice for tonight for the sake of my blog. I'm a day too early to say Good Friday. Anyway, I spent--you know--a week out in Tennessee (a sort of faux, early wedding anniversary get-away) and Florida (for the space shuttle launch) last week, and I haven't yet blogged about it. Well, you're going to have to wait another day. I don't really have the time or motivation to go ahead and do that tonight, but I will tomorrow since I have a nice, long, 4-day weekend for Easter [Work for Catholics...you get lots of holidays off.].

Instead, I'd like to talk more about my P90X progress. I've found a couple people (not many) that have shown some interest in my journey, and I feel like entertaining that right now. First, I'd like to say I get a kick out of all the people I encounter that laugh when I turn down candy/donuts/popcorn/etc. and say I'm on a diet: "You don't need to be on a diet, skinny bones! Now eat some sugar!" Yes, I'm thin and have--at times--been quite a bit underweight, but that doesn't mean I can't be on a diet. Many people automatically associate the word "diet" with "LOSE WEIGHT!!" How about a diet that's meant to keep you healthy and in shape? It exists, you know. Isn't that essentially what a diet is supposed to do anyway?

I can't say I don't cheat on occasion (nothing over-the-top though) because I do. I try to slim it down to once a month because if there's one thing I've learned from my very fitness-conscious husband, cheating isn't all bad. In fact, you should do it every so often (in moderation, of course). That doesn't mean I grab a double whopper from Burger King or a dozen Krispy Kremes; just things in the not-so-good-for-you-but-acceptable-in-moderation category.
So do those of you who laugh and/or scoff at my dieting understand now? I'm not trying to lose weight. In fact, I haven't really lost weight at all since I've been doing this program. Well, I dropped some fat weight and replaced it with muscle weight. Really, I'm hanging in the same range; perhaps a little higher.

With that said, let's move on to my progress. I just hit my halfway point of my first round of P90X on Wednesday, and I took some pictures. Now I think I just may be brave enough to show the world my 45-day progress--all in the name of exercise. Unfortunately, I didn't really get any good comparative pictures from the first day, so I grabbed a day 3 photo to throw next to yesterday's. I've been taking pictures mainly of my abs because that's the area I want to see the most progress [Join the club, right?]. My arms and shoulders are generally at the level I want them because I used to work them all the time at the gym; perhaps too much (they don't call me Trizilla for nothing). My goal is to get Dreya Weber abs by next summer (or at least something comparable). Now I know some of you think that's a fleeting motivation, but that's not the entire reason I'm doing this program. I do it because it makes me feel good and gives me more energy. It's all interconnected with my goal. Naysayers, wise up. Anyway, check it out below (unfortunately, the camera seems to wash out the definition):

Constructive criticism is welcome. Creepy and/or sexist comments are not.

Scammer Alert

2008-03-07T07:14:00.002-05:00

You would think with the Do Not Call list we wouldn't have this problem, but the government isn't up on this too well, I'm guessing. The other day I got a phone call from (239) 263-5860. I didn't pick up because I was at work, and I usually don't anyway if I don't recognize the number. They never left a message, so I figured it was just someone that got the wrong number. After doing a little research online, I found this number originates from Naples, Florida and is part of a scam. The past few weeks, they've been calling people's cell phones across the country (including ones on the Do Not Call list) and offering to lower their interest rates on their credit cards or claiming that their auto warranty is running out. When asked what cards they're referring to or what company they're from, they hang up.

If you get this call, either don't pick up or hang up on them. I should hope none of you would be foolish enough to give them personal information, but just a heads-up.

Side note: If you try to call the number, it says it's disconnected, but it's really just their automated recording; not a regulated message. I don't think I need to repeat the obvious with this one.

P90X...You There?

2008-03-06T20:53:00.001-05:00

So some of you are wondering how the heck I'm doing with the P90X program. Did I still stick with it? If you've seen me on Facebook or MySpace or have talked to me in the past week (you know who you are...Tam and ron), you know the answer to that question. Yes, I have stuck with it, and I am losing fat and some weight; not a lot of weight, of course, because I didn't weigh much to begin with, and some is being replaced by muscle weight.

As some of you may know, my husband, sister-in-law, and I are heading out to Tennessee for the weekend and Florida through Thursday so we can watch the shuttle launch Monday night. I've never been to Florida, so this should be exciting, and I'm definitely looking forward to getting away from all this snow and cold for a while. It's starting to wear on me. This leaves the question, "Am I sticking with P90X during my vacation?" Heck, yeah. Tony Horton is vacationing with me. There's no way I'm giving it up for a week. Can you say "waste of time"? The whole month I've been doing this would practically go down the drain if I did that. So Mr. Bowflex, check out my dedication and discipline [I know, I'm going link-crazy here, so I apologize.].

Along with this exercise, I've been getting pretty strict with my diet--much to the amusement of my coworkers since they connect diet with someone who is overweight. Just because I'm not fat doesn't mean I don't have to eat healthy. It would still catch up to me. In fact, I'm pretty sure all that Burger King and Taco Bell was starting to take its toll. I don't need Dunlop Disease: my belly done-lop over (props to my father-in-law for that diamond).

Anyway, I'm sure I've bored you all with my exercise talk, but it excites me and has made me feel good about myself for the first time in my life. I can't say that's a bad feeling. I hope to have a fairly drastic change from when I started last month to when this lean program ends in May. I know I've already seen some changes. I've been taking progress pictures, so if you've seen them on my profiles, then you know. If not...well, we'll see if you're not too creepy to show them to.

The Demise of Marriage

2008-02-26T20:19:00.002-05:00

I don't normally watch a lot of TV, but since I've been at this newer job, I've had a little more time to see what's on weeknights and weekends. Retail made it difficult to have any type of schedule. I've taken up watching a little bit of The Biggest Loser and American Gladiators [I have to be honest: The original was much better.]; however, for the first time last night I decided to tune in to The Moment of Truth. By the end of the show, I was just shaking my head in disbelief.

This show had a girl named Lauren Cleri who seemed sweet enough: She's a hairstylist who loves animals and just got married two years ago to her husband, Frank (ironically enough, her ex-boyfriend's name is also Frank). I knew something bad had to be coming when Lauren said, "The money is no object to me. I just want to get these things off my chest." Guilty conscience? I think Frank is in for a big shot to the heart.
This video shows the last three questions of the episode. Earlier, she'd already been tested with her faithfulness by being asked if she'd ever removed her wedding ring to appear as if she were single, and she truthfully answered that she had. That alone was a sign to me that she has no regard for or sensitivity towards her husband and marriage.

My question is this: Why get married if you don't really want to be married? It's a waste of time, money, and broken hearts. If you can't be monogamous, then you shouldn't walk down the aisle. Unfortunately, this is happening so often these days; especially with people my age. I thought marriage meant being with your partner (and only your partner) until death do you part, but I suppose maybe my husband and I are just old fashioned that way. We follow the rules of marriage the way it should be (unless you're a swinger, but don't even get me started on that), and we don't do it because we feel like we have to because now we're "stuck with each other," but we want to because we love each other.

If she still had feelings for an ex-boyfriend on her wedding day, then I'm pretty sure she saw it coming long before she put on that wedding dress and the ring was slipped on her finger. Not only that, she felt like she should be married to that guy instead. This girl is definitely not marriage material if she can't get herself focused on one person and let go of the past.

Am I one of the few people that gets absolutely frustrated when I see a marriage being jeopardized because someone is being stupid and can't keep it in their pants/keep their legs closed? I think Webster needs to update its definition of marriage to fit today's society: "Noun; the social institution under which a man and a woman temporarily commit to one another without any basis of loyalty, faithfulness, trust, or respect."

One Quick Voting Request

2008-02-12T19:00:00.000-05:00

A friend from high school was picked as one of the top ten finalists to sing the jingle for Bonnell's Collision. Her name is Mary Jo Titus, and she has a beautiful voice. That little jingle doesn't do any justice for the real talent she has, but I'd still like you guys to help her out and vote!

If you click here, you'll be directed to the page where you can vote. The poll is on the left, but you can also watch the video if you so desire. You can vote once per day per computer (or vote once on Firefox and once on IE on the same computer each day).

This girl really deserves to win. She was the only one that supported me for Erie Idol the first year since none of my family or friends bothered to come. Neither of us made it onto the next round (which we figured out how it was weighted by the number of people that came to see you, so we didn't stand a chance), but it helped having her there to hang out with.

So anyway, vote, vote, vote! She'd appreciate it! Plus, the girl in the lead (pardon me) isn't very good...

Exercise and Another Blogger Get-Together

2008-02-11T18:36:00.000-05:00

Ok, I know it's been quite a while since I last blogged, but ever since I've been doing this workout program, I've been on a completely different plane, and most of my time has been wrapped up in that. I'm finding foods that are better for me to eat, so I'm working on my diet, as well...but you guys don't want to hear about all this anymore, I'm sure.
I will say this though: It is coming along really well, and I'm already starting to see some definition in my abs. Can't say I'm at all unsatisfied thus far.

Anyway, it's time for yet another blogger meeting tomorrow evening. This time we'll be at Borders starting at 7:00pm. Even if you don't want to hang out with us, you can sit in a corner with your book and stare while you sip your mochachino. Whatever works for you...but we would like you to get to know us all. We're a fun bunch.

Maybe I'll pick up some "delicious" baja chicken soup from Moe's to sip on while I read Dostoevsky...

More P90X...

2008-02-05T20:20:00.000-05:00

Oy, this is a sorry sight to see: I'm sitting here singing to Barbra Streisand. Please tell me that one of you is belting out Backstreet Boys right now.

Anyway, I'm still sticking with the P90X program, and--man--it's kickin' my butt royally. Today was my third day, and it was a cardio workout, which was quite a break from the first two days. It had some yoga [I can now see why people lose weight doing that.], Kenpō, plyometrics, and core work.
I started on the classic program for the first day and decided to switch to lean since it entails a lot of cardio and shoulder/arm exercises with some legs and back thrown in. That's what I really want to focus on. Yesterday was core synergistics, and I didn't realize how truly weak my core was until I was trying to do those exercises. I held out a lot better than I thought I would and was even able to do the bonus exercises without too much trouble, but that workout was killer. I think I've finally found myself a real challenge. My entire body is writhing in muscle-soreness, but as they say: No pain; no gain.

Come May/June I want to be able to have the strength and physique to do some drawn-out bike rides and runs. I want to be able to get out to the Peninsula more often to keep this up because--let's face it--I'm not getting any younger, and that just makes it that much harder to keep weight off and stay in shape. I'm already starting to feel it, and I'm not quite 24 yet. I hate to see what I'd be like at 30 without exercising and dieting.

Keep me motivated, guys!

A Little Late for Resolutions But...

2008-02-03T17:00:00.000-05:00

I think I've finally decided to push myself into better health. My husband has been trying to get me to actively go to the gym on a weekly basis for several years now. It’s been extremely frustrating for him, I can imagine. Working out is something that he enjoys doing, and it’s a healthy hobby. I’ve tried to adopt that into my lifestyle, and I’ve gone in and out of it for the past four years. I guess I just feel a little uncomfortable and somewhat distracted when I work out in the presence of a bunch of people.
When I was a teenager, I was a lot better about exercising. My diet wasn’t necessarily in check, but I went outside and did a lot of cardio-based exercises. I rode my bike practically everywhere [This tends to explain why my calves are bigger than a lot of women’s.]. Once the weather started to get even a tiny bit warmer, I would bust it out and ride it to school over taking the bus or hitching a ride from a friend. As an added challenge, I would race the school bus home, which proved to be difficult, but I managed to do it a couple times. It’s the little things that get me excited and happy.

Now I’m finding that winter is taking a toll on me more and more every year. I see myself getting more senile and depressed each time it comes around. I do less and less, and I never feel like going out. Going to the gym is at the bottom of my list, which sucks because I want to be active. Bottom line: I just don’t want to go out. I do have the motivation to do something but no means of doing it at home (i.e. a decent weight set/resistance bands, curl bars/straight bars, benches, etc.). It makes me wish we had our own gym set.

I know a lot of people say, “I’m going to start working out but rather than getting a gym membership, I’m going to buy a Bowflex and work out at home! I’ll have washboard abs in no time!” Cut to two days after they’ve received the product, and it’s already catching dust. They never really had the true incentive to stick to a workout.
I don’t want to spend money on a Bowflex or Coreliminator (or whatever it's called). I don’t weigh 500 pounds and think I need to lose weight to get that beach body this summer. I just need weights, bars, bands, etc. to get myself going so I can be active again. Being bottled up in a house without being able to exercise for the duration of winter is no fun; especially for someone who loves being outdoors when it’s warm [Well—let’s face it—who doesn’t?].

Over the course of almost a year, I’ve seen these P90X infomercials running on occasion. The first time I saw one was when I couldn’t fall asleep one night and was up coughing, hacking, sneezing, and anything and everything else you want to throw in there (nice timing, right?). After having watched a few minutes of it, I was actually kind of impressed that they had a fairly legit workout program out there. You don’t know how sick I am of seeing ads for aerobic exercises, new machines to help you do crunches “more efficiently”, L.A. Weight Loss, and the like. They’re all a joke, and if they’re exercise DVDs, they make no mention of changing your diet; if they’re diet programs, they make no mention of exercise. Everyone is looking for the easy way to lose weight or be in shape without having to do any (or much) work.

Now, I obviously don’t need to lose weight because if you’ve ever seen me, I’m a stick compared to some people, so that’s not my motivation for wanting to get exercise. I just want to be in shape so I can feel better about myself and possibly have some more energy. That’s why I think I’m going to try P90X to see if it works for me. I’ve watched a lot of the different workouts they have in this series, and that’s enough to wear you out and make you work for everything you want. It’s better because the people they have on there aren’t just standing there smiling without a drop of sweat while they do these exercises. They’re actually struggling to get reps out. To me, that makes more sense and gives people a more realistic view of exercise instead of false hopes. Plus, they give you a diet guide, so it’s not just delving into the exercise aspect of it and completely ignoring the fact that you can’t drink Coke and eat Fritos while you’re doing this. Also, the fact that it contains pure weightlifting (with more than dinky, 1-pound dumbbells, mind you) doesn’t hurt.

I think the nicest thing about this program is that you don’t need tons of equipment to do the exercises. You just need dumbbells and a pull-up bar, basically, and if you don’t have the bar, then resistance bands with a door anchor can do the trick. It’s not exactly the same as doing a pull-up, but I guess faux pull-ups will have to be my workout for the time being.

I think this is a program I’m going to stick out and go through for 90 days (at least), and we’ll see how I look after that. I’ll get my diet in check and do these workouts relentlessly. My husband said he might even do a few with me, which would be cool. It’s nice to have a partner. Don’t expect any progress photos to be displayed on here. I’ll probably take some, but I can’t see myself showing the “interwebs” my midriff, so you’ll have to take a cold shower and forget about it…ha…ha…and ha.

When The Iron's Hot...

2008-01-28T22:05:00.000-05:00

Sometimes when inspiration strikes, you have to do something about it. Saturday night I had a dream that I drew a picture of Heath Ledger [that was random, I know], and it really couldn't become any clearer for me that I needed to do just that. What better way to honor someone in their death than to depict them in art?
I went on a mad hunt for any type of magazine that might have several pictures of Heath in them. Maybe I was a bit premature since it hasn't even been a week since he died because I only found an Entertainment Weekly that contained one, full-page picture, plus the cover shot. It just wasn't worth my time and money.

I came home extremely disappointed because I really wanted to act on this. My inspiration in the realm of art strikes once in a blue moon, and I wanted to take advantage of it. My husband suggested looking on the internet even though we need more ink for the printer. I wasn't too thrilled about the idea, but I did it anyway.
Searching on Google was practically a waste of time, so I decided to try Flickr, and luckily, they had tons of great pictures to draw. I saved three to a disc and busted out my husband's laptop and went at it. I decided to take progress shots, so you can all see how it plays out. You can view these on my Flickr account. I'll try to get a little more done each day so you have something new to look at each night (well, newer).

I Have To Know

2008-01-24T18:43:00.000-05:00

How about this snow...again? I was late for work for the first time in my life, and it wasn't even by a few minutes: It was ten. It might not seem like a lot to some of you, but for someone who absolutely hates being late for work, it was a big deal to me. Traffic was moving slow, the roads were slippery, and just when I thought I was taking a shortcut at 28th and Peach, everyone and their brother was trying to do the same. I would have been better off staying on Peach. I guess it was a bad judgment this morning.
At least I didn't have to feel too badly about being late since a lot of my coworkers were too. I was the first in my department (aside from my boss) to arrive. I guess I need to allow myself more than a half hour next time even though it normally takes me 15 minutes to get to work. I hate Erie.

Anyway, let's get to the task at hand: All around town there are intersections with lights that don't seemingly need them to begin with, but they're there. Only on occasion do you actually have to sit at said intersection for a few seconds while the other traffic has the green (i.e. prime spots of Water Street by GE, south of Main; and the new light on West Grandview and Schaper [I believe]). I've always wondered why the only time it seems to be red for the busier roads is when there's someone waiting for their light to turn green. I argue that there must be some type of sensor system set up at some lights to detect a car when it pulls up so the light can be changed. My husband says absolutely not.

Therefore, I'm looking for someone knowledgeable in this area who would know the true answer to this question. It comes up in conversation every so often, and neither one of us can determine who is correct. Not to get all Dear-Abby/Ask-Laskas on you guys, but I think both of us would like to know for peace of mind. So who is the crazier one? Ok, don't answer that last question.

Whoa!

2008-01-22T17:43:00.000-05:00

I'm usually not that blown out of the water by celebrity deaths, but I can't believe they found Heath Ledger dead two hours ago. Makes me feel so sorry for his two-year-old daughter who will never really get to know him.
I'm just floored. First, Brad Renfro died last week at the age of 25 (leaving a child behind, as well); now Heath at 28. What's with young Hollywood dropping like flies the past week? Makes me wonder if Britney Spears really is next in line...

You Need A Better Plug

2008-01-19T11:57:00.000-05:00

Last week, while flipping through channels on the television, I noticed an infomercial for J.D. Byrider. I don't put much stock in their company because I haven't heard anything but bad about them (i.e. their cars suck; their interest is high). I have to say if they're going to have actual customers--which I'm not sure if these were--rather than actors, they need to make sure they script what they say a little better than this. Here's what one woman said (I can't quote exactly because I don't recall everything word-for-word, but this is the gist of it):

I got a call from J.D. Byrider saying that they didn't have the car I wanted in, but they would be able to order it. Finally, I got a call from them saying they had the car I wanted, so I went over, and it was exactly what I was looking for. It was the exact color I wanted too, so I got it. Two weeks later, I had to take it in to be serviced, and I was able to pick it up the same day. I'm really pleased with the sales and service at J.D. Byrider.

Wait a minute: You had to take your car in to be serviced two weeks after purchasing it? After having said that, you're pleased with the sales and service of that company? I think if I had to take my car in two weeks after I got it, I'd be cursing the place I got it from; not praising it. If you think I'm going to purchase a car from you based on that, you're sorely mistaken.
Well, it just goes to show that you certainly get what you pay for...

*If you do nothing else today, make sure you at least read through the comments on this post. It will create a whole plethora of confusion around the globe.

Mr./Mrs. Rich

2008-01-17T22:51:00.000-05:00

I can't stand many BMW/Audi/Mercedes-Benz owners. Not only do they think they're invincible, they think they own the entire road, and they're above petty laws such as the school zone speed.
I had one speed around me because I was going a "ridiculous" 18 mph in said school zone. I'd say if you're able to pass my car in a millisecond when I'm already going 3-5 miles above the limit, you're going way too fast.
It would just make my day if I witnessed the police pull over one of these guys and throw their entire schedule off by taking up as much time as possible to issue them a ticket. I think that'd really boil their bottoms...and it'd give me a reason to smile and hurl insults. Own3d!!

Public Etiquette Lesson #1

2008-01-13T19:47:00.000-05:00

Don't watch porn on your laptop in a restaurant. No one wants to listen to that. I don't ever want to see Panera Bread turn into a whorehouse. Baguettes could have a whole new connotation.

I just realized that I'm probably going to get a thousand hits today because I have the word,"porn", in my blog (now twice). These people will be sorely disappointed.

Erie Bloggers Meetup...And Other News

2008-01-07T19:25:00.000-05:00

This month's meeting will be tomorrow, January 8th at 7:00pm at Patrick's Restaurant in Harborcreek. I've been informed by Mr. Mahler that Lake Erie Lifestyle will be there to take a picture of all of us. I hope the turnout is good because this is the best publicity since the Erie Times wrote a story about us last year.
We're all nice and don't bite, so stop by and socialize with us.

Moving on...I'm about fed up with all the stupidity and ignorance of other people the past couple days because it's taking a toll on my car. Yes, pick the most expensive thing I own and try to damage it. I really appreciate that.
My husband and I were at Wegman's the other night, and as I was getting my things together before I got out of the car, the guy next to me flung his door open, and it smacked into my car and bounced a few times. I looked at him, and he didn't express any remorse or apologize for what he did. There's no way you couldn't realize you'd done it. It made a loud enough noise and shook my car. So I told my husband, and he ran after him and asked him what the deal was. Apparently, he was a total nutcase because he looked past my husband and was mumbling something. It was as if he weren't even there. Why do I park next to the idiots? I may as well have parked next to Britney Spears.

Then when I came home for lunch today, I noticed (or rather my husband did first) that my car had been egged in the back. I wasn't sure if it had happened last night or while I was in the parking garage at work, but I'd surmised that it probably happened at home. Either way, I was really upset. I love that car, and it's just getting banged up left and right. Can't I get a break?

Because It's Absolutely Necessary...

2008-01-06T15:07:00.000-05:00

...to blog this (thanks, Eden).

What Monty Python Character are you?

Let's not bicker and argue about who killed who!
Take this quiz!

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Well, the thing is, sir, I thought your son was a lady...

Disclaimer

2008-01-05T15:07:00.000-05:00

Someone should have informed me when I got Guitar Hero that it comes with a free, lifetime supply of carpal tunnel. It must be in the fine print.

New Year...New Blog?

2008-01-04T19:52:00.000-05:00

It's a new year already, so with that usually comes change. People make resolutions and often-times fail because they were either too unrealistic or just didn't put forth an effort after February. I don't personally make resolutions but rather like to do things on my own time, which is partly why this blog has basically gone nowhere the past few months. I'm trying to now figure out what exactly I need to work on.

After sitting through a meeting at work today regarding the changes in our company as a whole, it dawned on me that I need to do the same. They changed our site and spent lots of time getting it to where it's at, and the work definitely shows. I've had this particular blog up for half a year [I know the math isn't going to add up to some of you, but I transfered some old archives onto this one, which will explain why it's technically a year old.], and I haven't done a thing with it in regards to appearance. I've added widgets, but that's about it. I'd like to get my own personal layout like I used to have on my old site. Some liked it; some complained, but at least it fit me.
When our company was discussing the process of changing our logo and turning it into something that represents what we do, it made me brainstorm my own ideas for this blog. If I made a banner, what would be on it? What would it look like to best represent the content I blog about? That's not an easy question to answer because I've blogged about all different subjects. My true medium was complaining about customers, but now that I'm no longer in the retail business, that doesn't apply.

This leads me to my next question: What should I blog more about? What do you guys--as readers--like the most? What kept you coming back to my site in the first place? I guess these have all been questions in the back of my mind ever since I've been in this dry spell. I noticed that as long as I wrote a complaint well enough, I got comments--and sometimes a lot of them. Writing about learning Russian or cooking my first Thanksgiving dinner produced no interest whatsoever. That would lead me to believe you have more fun reading about my crappy day than a good day, but I don't know. You tell me.

What do you guys want to see out of this blog? A new layout will definitely be in the works, but some idea-pitching would be helpful. Oh, and I think a new vlog will be out in the near future since I haven't done one of those in several months. Those seemed to draw interest (and still do a little on YouTube).

Update: I just came up with a quick header which I don't even know if I'll keep or not, but I felt inspired at the moment. I've got more changes in the horizon, but for tonight I'm closing the book since I need to go into work for a little bit tomorrow. Let me know what you think.

Office Toy Wars

2007-12-30T12:52:00.000-05:00

I'm now the proud, new owner of...a Cheburashka doll. Well, I will be once it arrives at my house from the Ukraine. Everyone else at work has a desk buddy/cubicle toy/office friend, but I don't have one. I could have gotten something off ThinkGeek.com, but it just wouldn't have fit me to a 'T', so I went with the obvious choice: a Russian toy. I'm excited because these are hard to find under $35, plus shipping, and I only had to pay $20 (including the shipping). I'm finally being thrifty. Now I just need to get a hold of the white Cheburashka from the Olympics in Russia. Lord, are they are to find.

Ok, I'm not sure why I thought you guys would care about this, but I wanted to share my excitement. Now you can all be confused by my love for/infatuation of Russian cartoons.

Update: After analyzing E-Bay some more, I discovered a Gena (Гена) plush, which would go incredibly well with Cheburashka, since they're both in the cartoon. The guy was selling them together, so he canceled my original order and is sending me the two instead. And it just figures that a few days after I order these, this shows up. I have horrible, horrible timing.

After the Hustle and Bustle

2007-12-26T11:59:00.000-05:00

Well, I hope everyone had a great Christmas. I can't say mine turned out too badly. I got pretty much everything I wanted and more. My in-laws all pitched in to get me the first level of Rosetta Stone (Russian), so I've been plugging away at that ever since. I didn't realize how much I knew already until I started using it. I find myself saying, "Cake," a lot during the lessons, which is a pretty good sign. Thanks to the stick-on letters, my keyboard is now Russian-ized, and my fingers are now adapting to typing in Russian. All is well.

In addition to that, my husband got me a few t-shirts off Threadless that I really wanted. I wore one that managed to start a lot of conversations and laughs.
He also got me tickets to see Jim Brickman at the Warner on Friday night. I didn't think we were going to be able to go because of being tight on cash, but he got them. I'm excited for him to see him in concert with me. I saw him a few years ago when he was here, and I really enjoyed it. That had to be my biggest surprise of Christmas.

Now that this is my last day off until the weekend, I'm going to use some of my gift cards and brave the crowds at Barnes & Noble (I want to pick up some more Dostoyevsky books) and Best Buy. I had wanted to get a Wii, but one; they're all out, and two; we don't have enough in gift cards and money to cover it. I guess my next choice would be Guitar Hero III...if they have it.

So did you guys get anything exciting for Christmas? Or were you too drunk to remember?

A Very Special Message From Pepsi

2007-12-24T10:26:00.000-05:00

Click picture to enlarge.

Merry Christmas! Keep your fridge locked.

Why I Hate Erie

2007-12-16T17:15:00.000-05:00

For all the time I was stranded on Peach Street this afternoon, spinning my wheels, you would think I would have seen at least one plow go by. Absolutely not. I watched at least 100 cars sliding and about 50-75 being pushed up the hill on Peach around Miller Avenue. If it's this bad tomorrow, I don't know how I'm going to make it to work in one piece. For crying out loud, PennDOT, do your job! They've been calling for this and gave you ample warning. Besides, it's December! In Erie!
If there's 10 feet of snow on the main roads when I go into work tomorrow morning, I blame you. Oh, and I blame you for the messed up, front, right axle I now have. Driving under 5 miles an hour shouldn't have caused that. Ok, I really just needed someone/something to blame besides the snow for that one, and it seemed appropriate¹.

¹To avoid anymore incidents, it should really be said that, one; I'm sarcastic by nature and don't actually blame PennDOT for the bang-up job on my car, and two; I'm not the only person in Erie who complains about the lack of plowing! Don't single me out as if I'm the town heretic because I'm speaking out about this. I can guarantee that no matter how long people have lived in Erie, how many snow tires they've purchased, or how many times they've driven in the snow, they wish the plowing services were more consistent and/or just taken care of. Don't jump on me because I'm saying what I can safely say 85% of Erie residents--at least--are thinking. Chill and accept it for what it is. I'll chill and move on, as well, as I always do.

Christmas: That's When the Crazies Come Out

2007-12-14T19:39:00.000-05:00

It's been a quite a while, I know, but at least my last blog was called "Blogger's Block," so my absence demands your immediate forgiveness. As for my leg/hip issue I had, it has thankfully passed. It did last for a couple days, but after the first day it wasn't quite as bad, and that's a good thing. I probably would have taken some Valium and called it a week.

On a much lighter note, however, the job that I've been temping at offered me a permanent position, which upped my pay a dollar more an hour. I was really excited and honored by it. I'm not sure what to do with myself because I've never been at a job that I've actually enjoyed. I'm so used to starting a job and immediately wondering how I'll get myself out of the mess. What's it like to be happy at a job? Now I know, and it's kind of awkward, but in a very good way. The people there are just awesome, and the whole environment is great. I think I finally found my spot.

Today we had our Christmas party at Marketplace Grille, and that was a lot of fun. I really got the chance to know some people there a little better and give them a feel for me, as well. They have the same, sarcastic sense of humor that I possess, so it's nice to be in good and familiar company.
They played a game where everyone (well, aside from me, at least, because I found out too late) brought a re-gift item (something random that you find at home or just ridiculous) that was wrapped, and each person had a slip with their name and another with their date of birth. They were appropriately picked out of a Santa hat, and when your name or birth date was called, you went to the table and took a present. Once all were picked out, any names/birth dates called after that were allowed to steal a present from someone else. I had the one I picked out stolen, which warranted a comment from a coworker: "Welcome to LCBA!" The Christian way is to advocate stealing...ah, I see...so I stole someone's when it was my turn. Amen!
I actually really like the gift I "stole". It's the green M&M dressed in sultry, Mrs. Claus gear holding a bag that says, "I ♥ Christmas Shopping." That one is a keeper! I'm looking forward to next year. I'll think of something completely random...

In other, unrelated news, I was getting random spam e-mails sent to my phone one particular day. It's never happened to me before, and it hasn't happened since, but my husband got the same thing on the same day. He has Verizon, and I have Cellular One (or should I say AT&T?). I got one at 2:43am and another at 7:26am on Tuesday morning (?), I believe, and they both had something to do with Vicodin or whatever random product they assume I was looking for [Yes! We have Vicodin! Oh! Tell someone who gives a damn!]. Did any of you get these messages? I was ready to complain to someone about Hector1@safe-mail.net. What the Hec...tor?!?

Anyway, now that Christmas is almost here, I'm going to have a hell of a time trying to buy presents this week. If my husband would just tell me something he wants, I could get it done [Come on, sweetie!]. As it stands now, I'm completely clueless. Argh...I don't want to shop with the crazies. Hell, I had to wait on them the past--oh, I don't know--three Christmases. That was enough retail exposure for me.
I guess online shopping would really be the option...don't say it's too late!

Blogger's Block

2007-12-06T22:11:00.000-05:00

Happy Belated/In-the-Middle-of-the-Holiday Channukah! Yeah, so I don't really fully celebrate it anymore, but I do in spirit because my parents do. I know that's really not comparable, but that's all I have the time and money for at the moment. Plus, they'll be having us over for dinner Saturday night in celebration anyway. One night is enough rather than eight.

I'm hoping I'll be feeling better by then though. I'm no doctor, but I'm pretty sure what I have is a pinched nerve. The whole left side of my hip/leg is numb and excruciatingly painful. For the better part of my day at work, I was writhing in pain. When no one was looking, I was close to tears. I don't think I've ever experienced anything like it in my life. I feel as if I've been shot in my hip. I'm hoping it goes away soon.
On top of that, my stomach is upset. It's been hurting on and off over the course of the day. Geez, can the weekend get here any slower, so I can wait to rest and feel better?

Beyond all this, there really isn't much going on. Although, I'd like to be blogging more often, I haven't got much to talk about lately. Short of annoying drivers and the weather, there isn't a whole lot. I love my job for the first time in my life, and the people I work with are great.
This "blogger's block" is really starting to get to me. I've lost a lot of readers. Not even the people who read my blog on a daily basis before come back anymore. If you think about it, it's kind of depressing. Makes me wish I could resort back to the old days of retail to complain about all the customers I had, but...nah, I don't miss it that much; however, I really should have had a better variety of content.

I will say this though: It's nice to get some feedback from people; even if it is the same people commenting over and over again. It makes me feel like I'm interacting with you guys a little more rather than talking to a wall. If I wanted to do that, I would. I have plenty of walls to choose from, but to avoid being committed, I'll refrain.
Just let me know you're all still out there, so I don't feel completely alone, and I'll start blogging more frequently and with better, more relevant content.

One Question

2007-12-01T23:37:00.000-05:00

What in the hell does this have to do with marriage...or anything relevant or rational, for that matter?!?

Happy December To Ya

2007-12-01T14:50:00.000-05:00

I know it's now December [Where'd the month go?], and I never blogged about our little Thanksgiving dinner we had last week with Ron and Monica. It actually turned out really well. Nothing was a disaster like I had envisioned, and more importantly, no one got sick or died. I was so beat by the end of the night. I think I out-did myself because not only did we have a 15-lb turkey (stuffed, of course), but I made homemade, cinnamon applesauce, green bean casserole, mashed potatoes, gravy, corn, rolls, a banana cream pie (fully equipped with meringue), and we bought a Sara Lee pumpkin pie. The applesauce seemed to be the biggest hit, so I was thinking about making some more and giving small jars of it as gifts for some people this Christmas [It's either that or a 20-lb fruitcake, folks...you choose].
I was afraid we weren't going to finish all the leftovers, but we actually cleaned them out pretty well. I'm happy I won't have to throw out too much food. I can understand why people go elsewhere for Thanksgiving. Let someone else do all the work and get fat off the leftover food.

The next day we put up the Christmas tree only to find that half of the lights aren't working on it. Of course, I discovered this after putting the ornaments on. At least you can't tell from outside that it's all screwball. It's laughable from inside the house though. I think buying a new set of chaser lights for next year will be on the top of my list.

I'm now just waiting for the 13th to come around because my sister will be up from Kentucky for a couple weeks. She was able to get some time off work to come visit. I miss her a lot, and I don't get to spend a lot of time with her anyway, so I'm hoping that we'll be able to spend at least a couple days together just hanging out.
As for now, I'm just enjoying the USB drive of Christmas music my boss gave me yesterday. He even threw on a special folder of his self-proclaimed "Badass 80s Music" since he knows I'm a fan. It does have a good mix on there, but Jon and I have a bigger and more diverse collection. It's still good though. There are plenty of good Christmas songs on here, as well. He put over 117 songs on there, which I will fully utilize this holiday since I'm lacking in the Christmas music area. Beyond 'NSync, 98°, and Amy Grant, I haven't got much variety.

Oooh, Louis Armstrong...

Happy Thanksgiving!

2007-11-22T08:33:00.000-05:00

It's finally here, and I'm glad. It's nice to have a little break from the monotony of everyday life and spend some time with family. That's what I love about the holidays. I got an early start yesterday because we were let out of work at noon. My boss held me a little longer because he heard I was in desperate need of guidance on how to cook a Thanksgiving dinner, so he spent an extra half hour giving me tips and printing things out from Cooks Illustrated. Everything he gave me is going to be really helpful, so I was really grateful for that.

Then I needed to rush off because I promised my grandmother I would take her out for lunch (which really ended up being the other way around since she never lets me pay). We went to Perkins, and it was slower than I'd ever seen it there my whole life. It was kind of nice for a change.

Today we're heading out to my parents' house for dinner around noon. It will be the first Thanksgiving I've had at their house in a while because we're usually at my grandmother's. This means I need to get off my butt and start cooking what I'm bringing over. Boy, this is going to be a busy weekend...

So what are all of you doing today? Since we're supposed to get snow today, I loathe all of you in warmer climates.

The Ball's In Your Court

2007-11-20T13:32:00.001-05:00

Ever do something wrong and feel like a sincere apology does absolutely nothing? That's how I've been feeling the past week, and I'm one of those people that likes to have everything running smoothly, so until I'm assured of that, this is going to be bugging me for a while.

Thanksgiving 911

2007-11-17T09:58:00.000-05:00

Thanksgiving is coming up in less than a week, and I'm a little nervous. Next Saturday I'm planning a dinner, and Ron and his wife, Monica, get to be my guinea pigs, so to speak. I've never undertaken anything like this before, so it should be interesting. I'm a little stressed out about it, but I'm excited to be trying something new. I figure, one day we're going to end up being the ones fixing holiday dinners and having company over, so I may as well start perfecting it now.

We got a 15-pound turkey, so I'm thinking we either need to have a couple more people over or we're going to have way too many leftovers. I want to stuff it, but I haven't a clue how much stuffing I need. One of the sites I was on said I needed 6-8 cups of stuffing for that size turkey. That seems like an awful-lot of stuffing. Maybe I'm wrong, but I can only clean out about 4-5 ounces of stuffing at a time if that's all I'm eating.

I've decided to enlist the help of my parents, so I'm not going into this completely blind. I asked my dad if he could type up a recipe for me, and he's going to give it to me on Thursday, but I think there are some things I need to get cleared up this weekend. For one, I have no clue how exactly he boils the giblets (if it's in water or in some type of stock) and how long because I love those [Cue the "ewww"'s.]. If it's in a stock, then I'm going to need to get something before Black Friday. I grabbed up those turkey-sized roaster bags, so it should only take about 3 hours to cook that turkey. Thankfully, they have some instructions on the inside but no indication to how to cook it with stuffing inside. This is sad: Anyone have a clue?

Any outside help I can get, as well, would be appreciated because, as you can see, I'm completely clueless.

Blogger Meetup

2007-11-13T17:54:00.000-05:00

I know this is kind of late notice, but our monthly blogger meetup is tonight at BrewErie at 7:00. Come and socialize with all of us! We're nice and don't bite...too hard.

Proof Google Works!

2007-11-10T11:21:00.000-05:00

I was logging into my MySpace when I noticed my supposed sponsored links. Typically, these are supposed to be tailored to you based on your searches and websites you look at, right? These are my links [Please note the first two from the left.].

Boy, Google, you've got me down to a 'T'.

No Customers But An Abundance Of Idiots

2007-11-08T18:52:00.000-05:00

I may not have any complaints about customers anymore since I'm not in retail, but I'll never run out of content. Why? Because there are plenty of stupid people left out there that I encounter on a daily basis just while driving to work. In fact, I almost got into two accidents this week alone that weren't my fault in any way.

The first happened on Tuesday when we got our first bout of snow for the season. Usually, people drive either too fast or too slow. I would rather the latter, but it doesn't always turn out that way. I was driving down Peach Street on my way back to work after my lunch break. The roads weren't too horrible at that time although it was still snowing/hailing, so it's smart to be a little cautious. I was driving about 7-8 miles above the speed limit, but the person behind me thought I was going too slow, apparently, because they were attached to my rear end for blocks. Once we hit 26th Street, he moved into the right lane while I stayed in the left. The entire way down, he kept switching lanes and wasn't making any headway because we were still pretty much side-by-side the entire time. It was ticking me off to watch it too since he was within inches of everyone's bumpers every time.

When we were between 7th and 8th Streets, I noticed a car to the right with its four-ways on, so to accommodate the people in the right lane, I moved to my left slightly. This guy apparently thought that was his cue to push me further to the left because he kept moving closer and closer to my car until I was pushed to the side of the road while he took over the left lane. I held my horn down, thinking, What in the hell are you doing? I wasn't in his blind spot. I was right next to him. How could he miss me? I'm just glad I noticed because he strikes me as a hit and run kind of driver. After that, he took off at the speed of light--narrowly missing out on a rear-end collision with the car in front of him and the car to the right by swerving to (and shooting into) the right lane. Wanna slow down, dipwad? If not for your own sake (since the municipal building is right there), at least for everyone else's safety.

Idiot #2 came around this morning on my way to work. Again, I was driving down Peach Street [What is it with this area?], and I was nearing on 20th or 21st when a car sitting at the stop sign decided to go ahead and cross the intersection while I was right on top of it. I immediately slammed on my brakes and burned rubber as I slid across the road. When I finally stopped, I was only a few inches from her driver's side door. I did what anyone would do in that situation and honked my horn. She looked over at me with a blank expression and looked away as she drove off. It didn't scare you that I almost took you out with my car? It's not like it's that hard to cross that part of Peach Street. It's one-way at that point. You don't even have to look both directions before you cross. That's one less step! That should make it easier to avoid a collision...right? You would think...

The funny part about this is I had a dream last night that I crashed into someone while driving to work. Eek.

Nice Timing

2007-11-06T06:53:00.000-05:00

It just figures that our first snowfall of the year would happen right on election day--which in itself will cause a traffic jam on my way to work. Still, it brings a slight smile to my face.

It's November Nostalgia Time

2007-11-03T20:24:00.000-04:00

I'm so glad it's November [You didn't really think I'd write my next blog without saying that, did you?]! It gives me that relaxing feeling because I know the holidays are coming up. I get very nostalgic, and it's the most comfortable time of year for me (aside from being freezing cold half the time). I look forward to spending time with my family, putting up the Christmas tree with my husband, and all the other typical things that come with this season.

I'm also happy that this will be my first Christmas season outside of retail since I was in high school. I've never gotten to experience that normalcy, so I'm really looking forward to it. Those of you who have worked in retail during the holidays know how stressful that is. If you haven't, then you don't have any clue what true hell is.

Normally, my family goes over to my grandmother's for Thanksgiving/Christmas/Easter, but she's going to be having knee surgery in a couple weeks, so we'll be having to go somewhere else. Hopefully, my parents are still planning on doing something for Thanksgiving, so we'll most likely head over there. However, I still want to attempt something I've never done before: fix a Thanksgiving dinner. I'm trying to get better about doing general "wife stuff" by cooking/cleaning more. I've got the cleaning handled, but the cooking needs some work. I think I need to start getting this little bit down because eventually we'll be the ones having people over for Thanksgiving, and if I don't have this mastered by that time, I'll be in trouble. Wish me luck on that one.

What I'm most looking forward to is setting up the Christmas tree again. It had been so long since I'd seen it up before I'd gotten married. Last year was our first year with our own tree (courtesy of my parents donating their old one to us). Growing up we celebrated Christmas and Channukah until I was about 10, and then it was narrowed down to solely the latter. It was hard to adjust to when every other kid in school celebrated Christmas, and they had no interest in or respect for other religious holidays. To them, my sister and I were outcasts. There's no such thing as an open-minded 10-year-old in regards to religious tolerance. For quite a while I resented Judaism as a whole, but as I've grown and matured, I've gotten over that. Even though I don't personally follow it, I have a respect for it that I never had as a young child/teenager.

When my husband and I put up the tree last year, every time I looked at, I was reminded of all the times I would come home from school and turn the Christmas lights on and pop in a Christmas cassette to complete the mood; the numerous times I'd watch A Christmas Story the weeks leading up to the day (and I still do); and--most vividly--all the Christmas Eve nights my sister and I would be awake for in anticipation of the morning. We shared a room at the time, and we would try to find ways to sneak downstairs to see what Santa had brought us.
I recall one year getting caught by our parents twice (the creaky floors gave us away), so my dad shut the door at the top of the stairs and put an end table in front of it. It was about 3:00 in the morning, and our parents didn't get up until after 9:00, so for two, anxious kids that was an incredibly long wait.

It's memories like that that really make me happy when Christmas time does come around. Even though it's only the beginning of November, I still feel "in the spirit," if you will. Maybe I'm strange, but I'm starting to get into the mood of watching Christmas movies and listening to Christmas music. Even though I don't want the snow to come, on some strange level I do enjoy it for the last two months of the year. It adds a nice touch. We're starting to light the apple cinnamon candles and get out the fleece blankets in preparation.

It's almost time, and I'm excited. Is that strange?
That may be, but getting an extra hour of sleep this weekend is definitely not.

Er...Happy Halloween

2007-10-31T20:39:00.000-04:00

Listening to Britney Spears' new album, Blackout, was enough to give me nightmares for the remainder of the year. I have to wonder if she, her producers, and--hell--the entire record label were smoking crack while writing/recording this? I've never heard such a horrendous train wreck of an album in my life. She lost her repeat-play flow she had when she first came out. I'll gladly admit that I wore out her debut and follow-up albums.

Well, Britney, you've successfully hit rock bottom, and there's nowhere to go but...down? Not even Madonna stooped this low in her career.

Is It November Yet?

2007-10-30T19:12:00.000-04:00

Ok, so I'm wanting October to end like a plague of locusts, but I am trying to be better about it. I played along with the Halloween-themed wedding on Saturday, I spent a couple hours carving my pumpkin the following day, and I'll be passing out candy tomorrow night. All in all, I'd say I've been doing pretty well.

As I said, I went to a wedding this weekend for my husband's cousin. It was at the Masonic Temple, and I wasn't sure what to expect. It actually wasn't half bad. I'd never been to anything but a traditional wedding, so I wasn't sure if I'd like it or not. I was pleasantly surprised though, and everything was put together so well. All the decorations were really cool, and they even had a guy doing caricatures [I tried to scan ours, but I'm having "technical difficulties," so I'll get back to you on that one.]. I was really impressed by the whole thing, actually. I wish I'd remembered to bring our camera, but I think I'll just swipe some pictures off my father-in-law.

On Sunday we had a whole pumpkin carving get-together at my in-laws' house. As promised I took pictures of mine. I didn't do Arnold Schwarzenegger as planned because the pattern ended up printing way too small to even be feasible, so I picked something on the fly, just before we headed over there: Homer Simpson.
I wasn't sure how I was going to pull this one off, but I thought I'd give it a whirl. I tried "tracing" it by poking holes around key points of the pattern, but that proved to be useless, so I ended up hand-drawing it onto the pumpkin using a black, Crayola marker (all our pumpkin markers had run out of ink). The end result was better than I expected for a first try, but nothing fantastic. You can check it out here (the fugly, raw, not-in-the-dark version) and here (the best-when-viewed-in-pitch-black version).

Finally, you're all either wondering how this new job is going or hoping I don't make any mention of my job situation. For those of you who fit in the former category, you're getting an update; if you're the latter, you might want to skip this part. Everything has been going really well for me over at this new place. The guy who hired me just started his new job at another company on Monday, but before he left on Friday, he asked for my number so he could call me to offer me a job. He said he was impressed with my work, and he'd like to work with me again in the future. I'm thinking that's definitely a good thing; however, I'm going to try to ask someone this week if there would be any chance of me getting hired there permanently (I'm only two-month temporary help at the moment). I think I have a good shot at getting a position.

Only time will tell.

October, October

2007-10-21T11:54:00.000-04:00

I'm happy to report that I got hired somewhere on Thursday. I only interviewed at one location because the other place decided to hold off on the position. I'm glad I was able to nail this one though; however, I'm a little disappointed it's only a two-month temporary position. It has the possibility of turning permanent, but there's no guarantee. I get paid the same as my last job; only I work about 41 hours rather than 45-47. I start tomorrow morning, so I'm nervous but excited about it. I'm just ready to settle down in a place, and I think this might be it for me (God-willing it turns into a permanent position). I'm really impressed with the staff and the overall atmosphere. I'm hoping it goes well.

Now, to get onto another subject rather than boring all of you with my endless job hunt: I think I'd like to make it tradition to complain about Halloween and the entire month of October every year. It seems like I've done that successfully for three years, so why stop now?
Even when I was a kid, I didn't like Halloween. I stopped going trick-or-treating after I was about 8 or 9, and I rarely dressed up for it besides an occasional middle school dance. Now, I've got to get back into it again for the sake of a wedding, and I haven't a clue what to wear.

My husband's cousin is getting married this coming Saturday, and--of course--it's a Halloween wedding. Costumes are encouraged but not required; however, we'd be the oddballs out if we came dressed "normally". It's less than a week away, and my husband and I still haven't picked anything out. We've been beating around the bush with the whole thing, and it hasn't gotten us anywhere. Beyond going as Torgo and "The Master" or one of his brides¹ (but I'm not too much into wearing a sheet), we don't have any feasible costumes. At this point, ideas are welcomed; although I think we're going to have to settle on something today since it will pretty much be our last chance to go shopping.

Next Sunday we're going to carve pumpkins at his parents' house. Last year I made mine say, "Yo," but I want to put forth a little more effort into this year's and try something new. I was looking for patterns online, and I stumbled on one that I'm determined to accomplish for my husband: Arnold Schwarzenegger. I got the idea when I saw a story on TMZ about carving a pumpkin in the resemblance of Britney Spears, and I thought that was a great idea.
I haven't the faintest idea how I'm going to accomplish this. Regardless of how it does turn out (I'm not expecting anything great), I'll be sure to post a picture. I'm going to keep my fingers crossed for success.

¹All from the horrible, cult classic Manos: The Hands of Fate

Here We Go

2007-10-18T09:06:00.000-04:00

I promise to cut down the number of "job blogs" I have on here and write more up-beat posts...after this one. I have two job interviews today: One at 11:00 and another at 1:00. One of these should land me a job by Monday, I would assume. It would be nice to break the unemployment I'm in right now so I don't feel like a slacker.

My Plight

2007-10-15T15:58:00.000-04:00

Wow, a lot has been on my mind the past week. Ok, who am I kidding? A lot has been on my mind the past month. I stayed home from work today because I was feeling ridiculously sick to my stomach and didn't sleep more than a couple hours all night because of it. I think it's mostly because of this job, but I didn't want to risk being stuck in the bathroom with my head in a toilet for the majority of my day, so I opted to call in sick.

The temp agency found my replacement last week, and she started on Thursday. Meanwhile, they want me to stay and work until Wednesday...or at least, that's what they said last week. I talked to the agency today and tried to verify that they wanted me to stay until Wednesday. The girl told me that I could work through Wednesday or finish off the week. It was up to me, but either way, I had to let her know what I was doing. Well, I don't want to stay there because each day I'm there I feel a little more stir crazy and claustrophobic. I mean, I was hoping Friday would have been my absolute last day, but it wasn't.

At the same time, she may have a job lined up for me. Actually, it was a job that was offered to me a month and a half or two months ago but I just missed out on getting. I'm guessing it didn't work out for whoever they had hired there, and it swung my direction again. I don't know if that's a good or bad thing, but I do know that it's located at a place where I know three of its employees. She had offered me another job as a counter clerk somewhere, but it would require the same bull that I hated about retail, so I declined. That prompted her to ask if it was because I wanted to get away from customer service and would rather just have a "punching letters and numbers in a computer" kind of job...in an open, bright environment. That's exactly it.

However, here's my dilemma: I'm not sure whether to work until Wednesday and give myself a couple days off or finish the week out. A huge part of me is just anxious to get out of there. It's been two weeks since I gave them my notice (if you will), and I'm going crazy in that building. Another small part of me is saying I should just suck it up and work the remainder of the week because we need the money. I'm really torn. Anyone with an educated opinion on this matter would be helpful.

Husbands Are Good For...

2007-10-07T17:07:00.000-04:00

...making you feel better when you're insanely stressed out. Well, mine is, at least. It's been a really stressful week with the whole job situation. As I said in my last blog, I told my supervisor I didn't think it was going to work out for me there. I was beginning to get stir crazy and claustrophobic. I was hoping Friday would be my last day, but unfortunately, they hadn't quite found my replacement yet, and the temp agency is still actively looking for another job for me. Hopefully, I can be out of there by Friday. I don't think I can manage another week in "the cell."
Meanwhile, I've been doing a slight bit of searching on my own. I'm hoping one of these things will bite so I can get out of here. The dungeon-like environment there is driving me crazy. Maybe some people can stand it, but I'm not one of them.

Despite all this it makes me feel good to know I can come home from all that to someone like my husband. He's been more than supportive through this whole thing. Where everyone else would probably think I were beyond strange about this job, he doesn't see me that way. He's been there to give me hugs and kisses, cuddle with me, and listen to me vent and cry things out. He had it pretty rough last week too, but he still took care of me to make sure I felt better (I owe you, sweetie).

We're starting to hit one of the points stated in the marriage vows: "For richer or poorer"/"for better or worse." They've really been going hand-in-hand for us lately. We may not make an incredible amount of money, but we make sure we're each taken care of, and if everything else around us just fell apart, we'd be okay with that on some level. I think going through this situation with the future of my job and money issues has made us realize (truly) that we'd do anything for each other, and that's all that really matters to us. Yeah, having little money and being in a job that makes me less than happy sucks, but knowing I can come home to him every night makes each day a little easier to get through.
Now, I can picture him accusing me of trying to top him on his blog from the other day, but it's not about that. Maybe going through tough times makes everything that I feel about him clearer and more real. There's not a day that goes by that I don't think about how lucky I am to have him as a husband, but sometimes it feels like I don't give him enough credit for all he does for me. He watches out for me and makes sure I'm happy, and that's his priority. I try to do the same for him, as well.

That's what marriage is all about. It's becoming so true to me.

It's A Shame

2007-10-02T18:35:00.000-04:00

Sorry I haven't really updated my blog in recent weeks. Some of it can be attributed to my stress. What I thought was just "new job jitters," I was starting to figure out was something different. I couldn't really pin-point it for a couple weeks, and I finally did come up with a conclusive answer: It's something with the job itself.

I was so happy to get this job, but there was one thing that was bothering me that I couldn't figure out. The people there are so awesome and very friendly; the work is simple (everyday it gets easier); the pay is excellent. So what is it that has been getting me down more and more with each passing day? The atmosphere.

Let me explain: I work in a small office with two other people. The room is painted in a dark green color, there are no windows, and I'm surrounded by four walls, a ceiling and floor of cement. There's not much room to move around; especially if all three of us are in there simultaneously. I have a slight claustrophobia problem. It actually probably wouldn't even count as such because it's not to the point of being categorized as a phobia, but enclosed spaces cause an overall discomfort with me.
What ticks me off so much about this is because it's such a seemingly small physical issue, but it's been a huge mental block for me. Every night and weekend since I've been there has been incredibly stressful. I have this feeling of dread every morning before I go into work because I feel like I'm walking into a dungeon. Maybe I'm blowing it out of proportion, but that's how it feels to me. Every night I think about it; some I cry through.
If you think about it, I went from being in a big, open building with skylights and/or windows to an enclosed space in a dim room. I was able to move around and now I can't so much. A cubicle wouldn't feel as tight to me, actually.

Yesterday I had to make the hardest decision and talk to my supervisor about it and explain to him that I didn't think it was going to work out for me because of the way I felt. Luckily, he was very understanding and supportive of it. Now they're actively looking for someone to replace me. I've talked to my temp agency about it, as well. I'll be staying there until they find me another job/get a replacement. A small feeling of relief is coming into play, but I also feel really guilty about this decision. I truly wanted this to work out. Everything else was so perfect for me...except for this one thing.

Now I'm just waiting to get another opportunity. Hopefully, it will be in an Erie-Insurance-like environment. That's essentially what I would want. I even reapplied at the aforementioned company yesterday. I haven't applied there since I was about 19 because I gave up on trying to get in. Now I want to make a serious effort to get hired there. That's always been my true goal since I graduated high school. Sad but true.

Just pray I finally find something I'm completely happy with.

My First Meme (2)

2007-09-27T18:44:00.000-04:00

Just finishing up the meme from my last post:

Four Favorite Foods:

Tacos:

I really should have been born Mexican or Hispanic (no Asian references or jokes, ron) because I eat these so much. It's a wonder my husband hasn't gotten sick of them yet. I'm constantly fixing them in our house or buying them at the nearest Taco Bell. I've always been able to eat these nonstop. It was one of the few things I would get incredibly excited over if my mom said she was making them: "I'll be eating at home tonight."

Reuben casserole:

This is another food my mom used to make that has carried to my household. Even though Jon doesn't eat it, I'll occasionally fix a whole batch for myself. I don't know what it is that makes this so good. Maybe it's the whole mixture of my favorite ingredients: noodles, swiss cheese, corned beef, and sauerkraut. Maybe it's just because it's so frickin' easy to make. You may gag at the sight or smell, but I salivate...

Green bean casserole:

Since we're on the topic of casseroles, I thought I'd throw this one in here, as well. It's a popular item at holidays (at least in my family), so I try to make it whenever I can. This is another dish my husband won't eat, but I could daily. Mmmm...mushroom soup; mmmm...french fried onions. Deadly combination for my breath though.

Pizza:

It's an American classic. What more is there to say?

Four Websites I Visit Everyday:

MySpace:

You all know where to find me.

Facebook:

I'm one of the newer users to this site, but if you have a page, and you want to add me, I'm here.

WWdN: In Exile:

It would make sense that I visit this site a lot. I'm a big Wil Wheaton fan. I like to keep tabs on what he's up to. That reminds me: Methinks I need to get a hold of his new book when it comes out...

TMZ:

Rather than wasting my money buying magazines at a store, I just get all my celebrity news and more at this spot. It's not really the most reliable source, but when it comes to stars, who is? I don't even know why I even care about these people and if they had an Oscar Meyer's or Hebrew National hot dog for lunch. At least I'm not a train wreck like Chris Crocker. We can all thank God for that one.

Four Places I Would Love To Be:

Gatlinburg, Tennessee:

I fell in love with this place ever since we went on our honeymoon here a year and a half ago. Thankfully, we got to go back for our first anniversary. We stayed in the chalets on the mountains. I wish we could make it a yearly thing, but it's too pricey to do. There's so much to do down there. We wasted a lot of our time at the arcade last year, but we made sure we got around more this year. We explored the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, and it was absolutely beautiful. If taxes weren't so high there (10%) and we could move there, I would love to.

Lexington, Kentucky:

Yes, another southern state. My twin sister lives down there, and I miss her quite a bit. If I'm lucky, I see her a couple times a year (a day a piece).

Best Buy:

What can I say? I live in that store...as long as I can buy something.

My husband's arms:

Go ahead: Insert your ooh's and awww's right here. He's not here at the moment, and I miss him a lot.

Four Favorite Colors:

Blue

Black

Green

Aqua:

I'm saying this one in hopes it doesn't qualify as "blue".

Four Names I Love But Would/Could Not Use For My Children:
My husband is going to laugh when he reads these. You can guess what association they have just by their sex. I don't necessarily love them anyway. Any names I do love I'd probably end up using as names for my kids, so that part of the meme is moot.

Matt

Adam

Justin

Paul

My four picks for tags are as follows: Tam, ron, MJ, and Speedcat. Remember: This meme includes the questions from my last blog.

My First Meme (1)

2007-09-25T20:06:00.000-04:00

I've been tagged for a few of these in the past, but I've never actually blogged one. I guess you could call it laziness, and I would have to agree with you. So...for the sake of blogging something and getting a roll going, I'll start it off.

Now, I was never tagged for this particular meme, but I've seen this one around quite a bit, so I figured I'd try it out. It's the easiest one I've seen around lately. All you have to do is give four answers for each question. I'm going to divide this up into two blogs since this is a lengthy one, and you know how long-winded I can be. Here it goes:

Four Jobs I've Had:

Ice Cream Server:

Oh, I didn't have the pleasure of being one of those hot Baskin-Robbins chicks. I certainly didn't have the looks or attitude for that. No; instead I found myself working at a little ice cream shoppe in Harborcreek called Dickie's Elite Treats. That's not something you admit to someone. I really only worked there (collectively) two-weeks' worth (at about 4 hours a day) for two months of the summer. I had to constantly call them, begging to work.
Long after I left, the owner changed it to Tropical Treats. Why, oh, why couldn't it be called that when I was there? I was doomed to put the latter on applications and resumés for years to come.

Food Service at Brevillier Village:

This was yet another short-lived job. I was hired to work second shift, serving food to elderly folks, busing the tables, doing dishes, etc. Yes, this is a nursing home. No, I didn't leave because of the "senile citizens". In fact, I left because I was working first shift instead of second. At the time, I didn't have a car or a license, so transportation was a pain. As I said earlier, I was hired for second shift, so I asked my supervisor if I could switch to second, and she gave me resignation forms to fill out. I wasn't about to put in two-weeks' notice. I'd only been there a week anyway. Screw that. To this day, there's one woman I worked with that still recognizes me whenever she sees me around. I find that impressive since I only worked a few days.

Assistant Manager at Dollar General:

Most of you that have stuck with my numerous blogs over the past three years know of my grueling days at Dollar General. Retail in itself is hell, but this place was ridiculous. Being assistant manager basically meant that I put up with all the crap from upper management and play store manager at times. In that place, it was more profitable to be a little man. Oddly enough, you didn't get "crapped on" as much on the lower rung...

Sales Associate in Baby Depot:

Now, it wouldn't be fair if I said this job sucked because it really wasn't that bad. What was bad, however, was the--echem--management (insert a fit of coughing here). Hey, once I got the hang of the whole department, everything else came pretty easily. I'd worked with customers before at Dollar General, so I was used to this. Selling furniture was new where carrying heavy things (in this case, it was the furniture) and dealing with moody customers were not. Pretty standard stuff; just couldn't take retail and frickin' store management anymore. I do miss some of the people though...

Four Films I Could Watch Over and Over:

A Christmas Story:

No contest. This is hands-down the best movie on my list. I've watched it about 20 times every year I've been able to operate a VCR or DVD player. Of course, now my parents loathe the movie thanks to me.

Scream:

This movie never scared me because it was so cliché anyway, but I thoroughly enjoy it. In fact, I watched it so much when it first came out, my father ripped the tape out of the video and broke my CD soundtrack out of concern. Hey, whatever. I was a strange kid. I don't watch it nearly as much anymore. Maybe once or twice a year. I guess his method worked...or I just grew up.

Office Space:

Even though this is my first time ever working in an office (minus the cubicle), I still can relate to this movie. I think it really epitomizes business as a whole. Everyone can associate with it. It's hilarious. I thank my husband for introducing me to this masterpiece. "Michael Bolton? Any relation to the singer?"

The Breakfast Club:

I love the tongue-in-cheek humor that this movie has. I've loved this movie for a decade and a half. I couldn't count how many times I've seen it. This is one of the few movies that I can quote from beginning to end. By the way, I was the basketcase in school; that is, if you were wondering...

Four Places I Have Lived:
I can really only do three here (and they're all in Erie)

Wesleyville (Erie), PA:

Ah, this is where I grew up and lived for the first 20 years of my life. I know this area like the back of my hand. It's a small borough where everyone knows everyone else's business. I sort of miss the constant buzz sometimes.

Erie (the city), PA:

I got my first apartment the beginning of 2005 in a nice, residential area. It's one of the few areas in the city that isn't infested with drugs and violence. This is when I got my first cat (joint cat, actually), also. It was a nice addition to the new living space. Plus, I got to spend more time with the hubby (or fiancé at the time), which is never a bad thing.

Millcreek, PA:

This is my first house with my husband. It's technically not ours since it's a "loaner" from his aunt while she's in another state for a few years working. It got us out of the apartment, and we don't have to pay rent! I guess it's not all bad.

Four Favorite TV Shows:

Once and Again:

My parents got me hooked on this one, and the fact that Shane West was on it didn't hurt either. It's from the creators of thirtysomething, and it has that same kind of feel. It's a shame they canceled it after only three seasons. I'm anxiously awaiting the last season to come out on DVD.

Party of Five:

Being a huge fan of Neve Campbell as a tween, I watched a lot of this show. It was the cornerstone of my Wednesday nights for a few years. I taped every episode I could possibly get. I even set the timer to record when they would show reruns on Lifetime during school. I could quote almost every line from several episodes. I didn't have much of a life during that time. Of course, that hasn't changed much today.

The Maury Povich Show:

As much as I hate half the content that's on there, I still would watch this nearly every morning. It's tapered off a lot lately, and much of that is due to the fact that I'm now working a regular, Monday-through-Friday schedule. My husband would be wondering if I didn't include this anyway.

King of Queens:

This is yet another show my parents got me hooked on. I love Kevin James' humor. He's one of my all-time favorite comedians. He and Leah Remini complimented each other well on this show. I have four of the seasons on DVD, and I've yet to finish them out completely.

The tagging will come with the next blog.

No, I Didn't Die

2007-09-22T11:55:00.000-04:00

I know you're all thinking the same thing: "She started this new job and dropped off the face of the earth completely." I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry. That's really all I can say, so I apologize if anyone was getting frustrated with my absence. It wasn't intentional. Thanks to those of you that cared enough to keep checking on me when I didn't answer: *cough*ron*cough*. Working nearly 10 hours a day at a new type of job when you've never done it before can be a little tiring and stressful.

Despite the long schedule, the job actually isn't all that bad. You're literally sitting at the computer for 95% of the day. Yeah, I guess that's what I should expect out of an office job. It's just slightly different because it's at a shop. It's not like working at Erie Insurance in a little cubicle, and you're able to hear a pin drop. Where else can you work in an office and still manage to get grease on your favorite $50 pair of American Eagle jeans?

The job itself is pretty standard stuff, but it was just a pain in the butt to try to learn. I don't envy my coworker for having to train me because I wouldn't want to. She's been there 11 years, so she knows what she's doing, but sometimes it just makes it that much harder to try to explain it to someone else. Plus, I just learn better if I can do it myself a few times rather than watching someone. I don't remember anything that way.

I feel a little pressure with this because I have to learn this job in four weeks (well, three weeks now). The woman training me is going in for surgery next month, and I have to learn her job. I can't say I feel too comfortable with it since I had no clue that's what was going on until my second day. I guess I just need to take it in stride because otherwise I'm going to go insane.
I'm just glad the week is over with, and Saturday is here. I'm even happier that thinking about the weekend doesn't bring up images of buses containing loads of Canadians anymore. That's a relief...

Also, I had to take my car to Midas because on Thursday night, I started hearing a clunking noise underneath my car whenever I would start it up, switch gears, or hit bumps. I asked them to take a look at it and give me a call back. They just called and told me that my heat shield is loose. They would screw it back in, but there are more problems, so they don't even want to touch it. Apparently, my ~~exhaust pipe~~ muffler has pin holes in it and is splitting or something, as well. They told me they don't have the parts to fix it today, but I should be fine to drive it because it's nothing serious. Personally, I don't even want to drive it because it sounds like the bottom of my car is going to break off. I just wish I could get it fixed and out of the way.
I just want to cry...

You Live In Erie When...

2007-09-16T17:21:00.000-04:00

You know winter is right around the corner when you start playing Christmas movies in September. Come on, Erie, warm up!

Now I Can Relax

2007-09-15T22:58:00.000-04:00

Tam, ron, and whomever else may have been secretly complaining about my excessive complaining should be happy to know that this blog will be of a more thankful nature.

As I'm sure you all know, I'm done at Burlington, which has been a huge relief, and a weight has been lifted off my shoulders. I've never enjoyed retail, and I really don't know of many people that do. I just worked in it because that's what I was stuck with. It was hard for me to get in another field because every place wanted experience of some kind. I got lucky that the company that hired me was willing to take a chance and hire someone with no office experience. I promise to not disappoint. This is the field I've been laboring to get into since I graduated high school.

My last day at my now old job was yesterday (Friday). I got more from people than I ever dreamed I would. I guess I had more friends than I realized, which feels good. My coworker, Roni, baked me a cake and used sour Airheads' strips to write, "Good Luck!" She also got me a card and got just about everyone that was working on Friday to sign it, so I have quite an extensive collection of I'll-miss-yous and good-lucks that I can look back on years from now and smile over. It was a bittersweet day because as much as I wanted to get out of that place, I didn't want to leave the people behind. I think a couple people (namely Olga and Roni) were hit a little harder than everyone else. It will be strange to not work with them anymore, but I think once I get settled into this new job, I'll feel right at home.

I made sure I made the rounds to shake hands with the majority of the managers and thank them/tell them it was a pleasure working with them. I did that with everyone except one: the store manager. I wanted to do a little slap to the face on her by completely ignoring her. Believe me: It was quite blatant too. I was shaking hands and hugging people right in front of her, and I didn't look at nor speak to her. I wasn't going to give her the time of day, and I certainly wasn't going to pretend as if it was a walk in the park working for her. She made everyday a living hell for me, and I wasn't going to give her any satisfaction. Now, it probably didn't bother her one bit that I ignored her, but I thought I'd do it anyway--for my own enjoyment. If I never see her again in my life, it'll be too soon.

Now I can go on with my life, meet new people, and learn a new job. I'm excited to start here and actually have a "normal" schedule. This will be the first time in my entire work history that I'll be working Monday through Friday, first shift, with weekends off. I can't tell you how good that feels. Ever since I've been married, I've been wanting to spend more time with my husband, and I could never do that working in retail because my shifts were all over the place, and I was working weekends constantly (not to mention holidays). Now I'll get to spend every evening and weekend with him. It hasn't quite clicked yet, but I'm sure it will in a week or two.
This puts the feelings of complacency and accomplishment in me: Two things I've rarely felt in my life.

What's In A Name?

2007-09-12T12:13:00.000-04:00

Maybe I shouldn't get so frustrated over this, but it's been slowly building up the past 10 years or so. I'd just like to slap the first person that made a variation of Rachel. Oh, and I'm not talking about Rachelle or Rochelle. Those are perfectly fine. I'm merely talking about the unnecessary desire to add an 'a' where there doesn't need to be one in the first place.

I understand there are some of you out there with the names Rachael or Racheal, and you can't really do anything to help that, but why is it so God-awful hard for people to spell my name? It's just gotten considerably worse over the last few years. You would think mine would be easier. Hey, it has one less letter than its competition, and it's been around much longer. I would think those two factors alone would work in my favor, but...no.

What annoys me the most is that this happens to me all the time with people who know me and have seen my name spelled out numerous times. They still have that itch to add another letter. Don't scratch it. Even if you can't remember if it has an extra 'a' or not, just write "Rach" to be safe. I'll even accept that. Just don't mangle it up by adding that letter. Yes, I take offense to it, and yes, it annoys me a great deal.

Do any of you have this problem with your names? I'm more than willing to hear empathetic complaints.

I've Got Nothin'

2007-09-11T22:37:00.000-04:00

I'm about halfway done with my week in hell! I thought that was worth mildly celebrating until I have a decent blog for you guys. I promise it will be soon. In the meantime, commiserate with me until I reach the pearly gates (i.e. my new job; a good blog; whatever that means to you).

Stress, Excitement, Illnesses...And Dancing Monkeys

2007-09-09T00:04:00.000-04:00

Thank you all for the nice, supportive responses you gave me from my last blog. They were so quick! I guess that just proves you like my blogs short, sweet, and straight to the point. Fair enough.

Right after I blogged that I got hired at this place, I went straight over to Burlington to put in my notice. I made the rounds to let people know so they could hear it straight from the horse's mouth before I actually handed in my goodbye slip. While I was up at the desk talking to Olga, our store manager walked by, looked at me, and snapped, "Don't you have something to do?"
Um...are the purse on my shoulder and the car keys in my hand absolutely no indication to you that I'm not working today? Before I could answer, she had walked away, so I made it a point to walk after her.
She turned around, looked me up and down, and said, "Oh, you're not here today?"
"No, I'm off." Yeah, bet you feel like a real ass now, don't you?
She started to walk away, but I caught her by handing her the piece of paper stating my last day of employment. She read it and simply said, "Ok," and walked away. I'm just another person walking out on that place, in addition to the 11 others the past month.

Even though I'm really thrilled about leaving, I'm a little stressed out because I know there will be a change in routine and my environment a week from now. I always get a little antsy when I'm switching jobs. I felt the same way when I went from Dollar General to Burlington. Even though it was still retail, it was a whole new setting.
On top of this stress, I'm sick. Oh, no, I can't enjoy the fact that I'm leaving Burlington and retail without something to drag me down. I'm not sure if what I have is a cold or allergies, but I can barely talk, I'm coughing up a storm, and my nose is itchy/runny/stuffy/etc., etc. I'm trying to make this blog halfway coherent because I'm hopped up on Benadryl (one tablet, and I'm out of it for two days). I slept a grand total of four hours on Thursday night, and last night I slept from midnight until 3:00, and I didn't fall back asleep until around 7:00. Do you realize how many weight loss infomercials I viewed while trying to get back to sleep? More than I cared to see. I even watched an episode of Dawson's Creek on TBS to bore myself to slumber. Didn't work. I'm hoping this subsides in a day or two.

In the meantime...only five working days left in hell! I can't wait until the end of my shift on Friday.

Drum Roll

2007-09-06T13:11:00.000-04:00

I got hired! I start the 17th! Bye-bye, Burlyworld and retail!

Interview

2007-09-05T09:22:00.000-04:00

They're sending me to a job interview today at 11:00. It's for a different place since the one I tested for only allowed the agency to submit two applicants, and well, I don't think I need to explain any more than that. Wish me luck at this one. It's a manufacturing company, so hopefully the people there will be nicer than the place I filled in for a couple months ago because if I get hired here, I plan on putting my two weeks in.

Update (9/5, 11:56am): The interview went really well, the people there are extremely friendly and easy-going, and I think I have a good chance of getting the position. I'm supposed to find out either later this afternoon or within the next day. Keep your fingers crossed; mine are as soon as I finish typing this...

Typical Retail

2007-09-04T12:05:00.000-04:00

It's been the week from hell at work this week. Ignore the fact that it's been busier than all get-out, and let's analyze the other background things that are going on. I can even categorize them for you if it makes it easier to read:

Ignorant Manager:
The other day, I was actually really busy doing work all day. I just finished putting out a bunch of stock, and I took a minute to check our mail. We've been getting a lot of e-mails regarding furniture being discontinued and such, so I wanted to keep up on that.
As I was reading over an e-mail, my store manager came up and automatically snapped, "Don't you have something to do?"
I gave it right back to her: "Uh, yeah, I'm checking the mail."
She really needs to lay off. She just automatically assumes I'm slacking off now. You need to find out what I'm doing before you snap at me or question me.

It really was stupid of her to say anything to begin with because I couldn't do anything that wasn't work-related on that computer anyway. All sites are blocked except for our company's. You're just making yourself look like an ignorant ~~jerk~~ (I could insert another word here, but I'll refrain).

Low-Staffed:
People have been quitting left and right [Can you blame them?]. Right now we have three people who have put their two weeks in (one of which is in our department), and they're not hiring anyone to replace any of them. In fact, corporate suggested we don't hire anymore people and just use the staff we have to fill in the empty spots [As if we don't have enough to do already.]. Boy, this is starting to sound like a typical business shortcut to me: "Let's save money for our company by burning out our employees. Let's work them until they're within an inch of insanity."

Right now they've sent the entire ladies' coats department down to Shoes "until further notice." What does that do to us upstairs? Well, let's see: The upstairs includes Baby Depot, Youth, Linens, and Ladies' Coats. They've already gotten rid of the Ladies' Coats manager (last year; she now works in Sportswear and occasionally Linens), sent the youth department manager downstairs to Sportswear, and my department manager is running Youth and Baby Depot. Now that they've sent everyone from Coats downstairs, we run that department, as well. We're already low-staffed in our respective departments, so you wouldn't have wanted to see the situation this weekend.

We always get a lot of buses from Canada every weekend. Last weekend was like Christmas time (our store made $85,000 and we got about 20-25 buses), and this weekend was only slightly less busy. It was still back-to-school time since a handful of schools in this area didn't go back until today. There weren't many of us upstairs to begin with, but they made three of us put in backup drawers (including me). Luckily, I didn't have to ring that day because they pulled me at 1:00, but the others did. I did, however, have to go down and help bag. How many people were left upstairs that day? Two. One in Baby Depot; one in Youth (which was one of our Baby Depot people). On a Saturday. Are they insane?

When my manager had to go to dinner, I came back up to take her place in the department. I was running around like crazy the rest of my shift. I helped one person after the next and almost every one said they were searching for 15-20 minutes, looking for someone to help them. At least they were understanding of my plight, but I am only one person, and this is just ridiculous. I never thought I'd see the day where I'd be the only person running most to all of the upstairs on a busy day.

On Sunday I had to run a backup drawer a few times, so my manager and one other person were left to run the entire upstairs. Yesterday, I was by myself from 7:30 on, but there were only three of us between 1:00 and 5:00. Granted, it wasn't overly busy yesterday (busier than I thought it would be though), but it's still stupid.
I wish a lot of customers would write to corporate complaining about this. They shouldn't have to rely on one person to help them all out. Needless to say, it's not fair for me to be pulled every which way all day and hear the potential whining of someone who had to wait a half hour to get help.

Thankfully, last night, one of the managers noted to a coworker that she thought I was doing a good job and am a good worker. It's nice that someone is noticing and not always assuming I slack off. Makes me feel like my work isn't completely unappreciated and thankless.

Drawer Mishaps:
As I said above, I had ring on Sunday as a backup. Unfortunately, I must have made a mistake somewhere because my drawer was $120 over. I've run a register hundreds of times at Dollar General, and I've never been over that much. In fact, I couldn't think of anything I could have screwed up on, so I was hoping it would be determined to be an electronic mistake.
Nope. It was apparently something I did. Now I'm getting written up for it. One more time, and I'm out the door. Quite frankly, I would rather not risk my job for something like this. Ringing on that register is a secondary job that they've required for us now. I'd so much rather be exempt from this. I can just go back to being a permanent Baby Depot associate. I'm also afraid to say anything because I don't want this situation to be misconstrued as purposeful so I could be excused from the registers. It's touchy. I just would feel more comfortable in a safe zone. I'd rather not touch their money at all if I can help it.

...And Styes:
All this stress has apparently caused a nice physical representation on my face now. I don't have one or two styes but three. I have one in the corner of my left eye and two on my right: one in the corner and one in the middle. My eyes have been so sore and puffy. Yesterday, my left eye was starting to bruise up underneath. One of my coworkers said I looked like a druggy. I could barely keep my eyes open, and they were somewhat bloodshot and watery. Like I needed this...
They're not quite as sore today, but they're still a little puffy and watery.

So there's my week/weekend in a nutshell. Can you see why I want to pull my hair out or jump off a cliff?

Ahhh!

2007-09-01T17:20:00.000-04:00

I'm somewhere between ripping my hair out and jumping off a cliff right now. I'll explain more later...

Getting Closer to Freedom

2007-08-29T21:29:00.000-04:00

Last night I received a message from one of my temp agencies saying they had a full-time position in mind for me. The only problem was that it was from Thursday, and my phone just received it last night. I was afraid the job would be gone, so I made sure I called them first thing this morning. I talked to one of the girls there, and she said the opportunity was still available although they'd interviewed people for it already. Also, she told me they have two more full-time day jobs they wanted to pitch to me. Wow. I was so excited.

Two of the three are at a certain car dealership. One entails greeting people at the door and answering phones (up to eight lines). The girl at the temp agency informed me that they have eight lines at their office, and even though their receptionist loves her job, there are days she wants to "rip her hair out because it's so busy." Yes, that's a direct quote from her. That quickly made up my mind.
The other job is as a cashier, which wouldn't be hard. Both of these pay less than I get at my current job, so it doesn't give me too much reason to pursue them. Plus, I may end up working Saturdays, I'm assuming.

The third job is for a non-profit organization (much like the last job they sent me to), and I would just be doing data entry. Absolutely no phones and no customers. Heaven. It pays about a buck more an hour than I'm getting now, and it's Monday thru Friday, 8:30-5. Perfect.
Now I'm getting up at the butt-crack of dawn to do typing, data entry, and Excel 2003 tests at the agency before I go to work at 9:00 so they can send my scores to this client. I'm not really thrilled about getting up at 5:30 tomorrow morning, but if it can get me out of where I'm at, then I'm all for it.

I just hope this works out better than the last place they sent me. Please, God...

Update (8/30, 8:25am): I took my tests this morning, and I did really well. I was nervous I would do horrible on Excel since I haven't used spreadsheets since high school, but I got 28/32 right. Not too shabby, I guess.
Even better is the fact that the place they want me to interview at employs three people I know, and they're all really great (one is even a supervisor). I hope I get this!

Amen!

2007-08-29T00:31:00.000-04:00

All the kids are back in school (excepting for Iroquois)! Did I ever share with you my utter disgust with the month of August and all the back-to-school insanity? Yeah, it sucks...
I'm just glad it's over with...for now. I can rest happily for a brief moment before the Christmas rush comes.

Fixing What Isn't Yours

2007-08-27T09:59:00.000-04:00

I'm one of those people that wishes they could fix things; even though they're not mine to fix. Most of the time I don't try to actually take it into my own hands, but I sit and worry about it for hours/days/weeks/months. I turn it into my problem, and it just sits inside me and boils up, and I end up feeling exactly the way I do now. It may have taken me the whole evening last night to figure out why I was feeling sad, but at least I got there (thanks to my husband).

I tend to get this empty feeling inside when I feel like something has changed--even temporarily (though unbeknownst to me at the time)--for the worse in my life or between me and another person(s). It's hard to shake it until I feel like things are right again, and sometimes I can't ever fix it myself, and I have to rely on that other person to do so. I get this same feeling when I watch someone else I care about having problems or they've somehow dramatically changed. I wish I could figure it out, and it bugs me until I either do figure it out or it just fades away.

I'm not sure I can talk to the people I want to about this because I feel like it will cause problems. My husband suggested I just wait and see what happens. That's the hardest thing for me to do, but I'm afraid that if I even talk to these people about it, it will just cause riffs. I just hate feeling like I can't do anything to help.

I'm the kind of person that likes to figure out other people like a puzzle. Maybe it sounds a little cliché or maybe it makes me seem shallow, but that's always how I've been. Every person has layers to them and the amount they reveal is dependent on the person they're with and/or the situation they're in. I don't want to see every layer of every person I meet or am friends with (that's just impossible), but I wish I could see everyone's true intentions behind decisions they make or their actions. Maybe the problems they have would make more sense to me. Maybe it'd just make it more difficult to understand. I'm not sure.

Either way, I hope this gets fixed soon because I know something is wrong.

Have You...?

2007-08-26T20:31:00.000-04:00

Ever felt really down, and you weren't quite sure why? I'm experiencing one of the moments right now. I'm just sort of feeling lonely and sad for some odd reason. I almost drove across town just to visit with another person. Unfortunately, the situation wasn't conducive to doing so. Now, here I sit with my best friend, Music, to attempt to cheer myself up.

Backwards Day

2007-08-24T10:19:00.000-04:00

Yesterday didn't turn out at all like I had envisioned it would. I went in on a mission to get my four hours of register training done and over with in one stretch. I was only shot down right away:
"You don't get a drawer at first," our customer service manager said. "You need to be trained first, and then when you come down the second day, you'll get a drawer, and you'll ring for at least four hours."
Well, what the hell sense does that make? I already know how to run a dang cash register. God knows I did it enough when I worked at Dollar General. I was basically standing there watching one of our cashiers ring people out, knowing exactly what to do after about 5 minutes. Ok, can I have a drawer to work on this firsthand?

The funny thing about all this is that my coworker went for training last week, and they gave him a drawer right away. He's never had any cash register experience. So why do I have to be formally trained first and then given a drawer? This system makes absolutely no sense whatsoever.

I was only down there for about a half hour before my department manager paged me to come upstairs and help her put stock away. We had a crap-load of it too. We had tons of pieces of clothing that needed to be put away and little room to do so.
I had only been working on this for about two hours before one of my coworkers came running over to the desk. She called out to my manager, and I happened to look up, and I saw blood just pouring off her face from underneath her left eye. I ran to the break room to get some ice while my department manager called for a first aid kit.

Apparently, what happened was that she was moving one of the metal arms that holds clothing on it, and it fell. It first hit her on the forehead, and then it hit her underneath her left eye and sliced her. It got really puffy by her eye and very fast. She was debating whether or not she needed to go somewhere. One of our managers suggested she take a break for an hour or so to decide. I offered to take her home if she needed. After filling out some paper work, she sat in the break room.

After about a half an hour, she came out, and my department manager was standing near her. She told me to take my coworker to the emergency room because she was starting to feel lightheaded. I ran to the break room, grabbed my keys and my sopping wet sweatshirt, and we went out to the car.
I ended up taking her to Hamot to get checked out. It was about 3:00 when we got there, and we didn't leave there until about 6:15. Luckily, she didn't break anything in her face, which is what the doctor was afraid of. They did a CAT scan, which revealed she has "a face made of rock." Unfortunately, she has a big goose egg on her forehead and a really black left eye. At least that's all she has to worry about though. The doctor told her to take a day off from work and just relax, so that's what she's doing today.
After we left, we stopped at Taco Bell, and I bought us something to eat because neither of us had eaten anything all day. I was getting my lunch break in somehow. Afterwards, I dropped her off at her house, and I stopped back at work to fill out a time edit and update everyone on her condition.

I think I may call her up to see how she's doing, but I'm glad everything was alright. I was worried she really injured herself.

Irony

2007-08-23T10:13:00.003-04:00

Also, isn't it just fitting that it's storming out in Erie today--my doom day? What's new..?

They Finally Got To Me

2007-08-23T10:04:00.000-04:00

So I got put on the hit list for the registers, finally. I suppose it was only a matter of time before that happened. If they only had a clue how much I loathe ringing...I suppose it wouldn't make a difference.
Instead of just putting up with it--minus the whining--I'm blogging to complain about it. I guess I'm just not understanding this whole logic behind us being required to run a register. The cashiers aren't required to come up to our department and help out, and we have a huge shortage upstairs. I want to see them come up and help us sell furniture on a Saturday for four hours, and I'll raise them four hours of my time on that register.

We're the only department in that whole store that can't be left empty. It's like leaving John V. Shultz's entire sales floor empty while everyone runs a register. Who the heck is going to sell the furniture or help the customers? So having said that, what's the point of us being register-trained if it's just liable to leave our department empty or even more shorthanded if we're pulled? Pointless.

One other thing is that we were originally supposed to be 90% compliant, and it's now dropped down to 80%. That would be fine with me if they had the right employees exempt from running a register. Is Baby Depot exempt? I wish. Let's find the stupidest reasons to cut people out instead of the most logical reasons. We have ones that will quit if they're even signed up to train on the register (oh, how I wish I could say that to get out of this), our receiving department which alone includes about 6 people (more than any other area of the store), stupidity and/or mental cases, and loss prevention. The only ones I can understand are the mentally incapable and security. Everything else is just an excuse.

Since there's absolutely nothing I can do about this, I guess I'll have to just do my time down there for four hours today. After that, they better not call me down as backup. I'll do their required training, but you'd better find someone else from a different department to be your backup.

Stupidity Leaks

2007-08-21T10:22:00.000-04:00

Working with the public makes you realize just how many idiots there are out there. It's amazing how many people won't use their heads for more than hat racks, but I suppose that's just what you have to deal with in this line of work. I was inspired by a certain customer last night to write this blog. This is an ode to you, Mr. Stupidity Leak #1:

SL #1: The Bathrooms

Before asking an associate how to open the bathroom door at Burlington, make sure you've actually tried it. No, I mean, if you can't figure it out while you're there, you need only to read the sign that says either "Push" or "Pull" on your respective room. If you have to ask me after you've done this, go back to elementary school and learn to read, and ask for a bonus lesson in common sense.

Example: Last night I was on the phone with one of my associates trying to give him information for a piece of clothing someone was buying that didn't have a tag, and a rather large, dopey-looking gentleman interrupted me.
"Excuse me," he said.
You guys know how much I loathe being interrupted on the phone when I'm doing my job. I told my coworker to hang on a minute while I helped this guy. "What do you need help with?"
"I can't open the bathroom door," he said.
"Did you try pushing it?"
He just stared at me with a blank look and said nothing.
Ok, I guess I need to say something here. "Just push the door open."
He still stood there, staring at me, and he didn't budge.
Hello, in there? Anybody home? "Just go over and push the door."
Nothing.
Am I making absolutely no sense here? "Just push the door open." How many times do I need to repeat myself before you get it?
Finally, he said something: "It doesn't open."
"The door doesn't lock," I replied. "Don't touch the handle. Just push the door."
And yes, he's still standing there, staring at me.
I attempted to get back on the phone with my coworker, but the guy was still standing there. I finished my piece about a hundred times already. You can go now. "Just go push the door."
He finally left, and I didn't see him come back, so I'm assuming that my idea worked. Go figure. I suppose I do know what I'm talking about sometimes.

SL #2: Amateur Theft

If you're going to steal something, it's a good idea that you don't inform an associate before doing so. Hey, if you do, that's great for us because you're just making it easier to get caught, but I'm guessing you want to be successful at the five-finger discount, so being busted isn't part of your game plan; I would assume, that is...

Example:We have a new girl in the shoe department, and yesterday was her second day. A woman walked up to her, and they had the following conversation¹:
"You got any floor walkers tonight," the customer asked. In other words, she's asking if we have any security.
"I don't know," my coworker replied.
"Well, can you find out for me? If you hook me up, I'll hook you up."
Needless to say, she told another associate or manager about this, so they were all over her like flies on crap.

SL #3: Watch Your Kids

We don't run a free daycare at Burlington. If you're opting to shop with your kids, you need to watch them. We certainly don't get paid enough to do our jobs and babysit your children. Not to mention, we have quite a few dangerous spots in and around our department. A hot spot for kids to play at is the escalator. I'm certainly not cleaning up your kids' blood if they fall and crack their heads open. Pay attention.

Example: I watched as a kid ran up and down our escalators (of course, running up the down), and I yelled at him numerous times. He was probably about twelve, so he was certainly old enough to know better. His mother was nearby while I was yelling, and she'd occasionally look over when I hollered, but she'd never say a word and continued shopping. Typical.
Finally, he did his last pass up the down escalator, and I yelled at him. As soon as he made it to the top step, he tripped and fell. He landed face first at the top of the escalator. He was ok, of course, but it just goes to show that you should listen. I shouldn't have to yell at your kids anyway. That's not my job.

Just bear these things in mind when you go shopping. I'm sick of picking up the missing pieces of your brain.

¹Mind you, this was all hearsay, so I don't know the exact conversation they had, but it's something similar to this.

Electric "Temp" Boogaloo

2007-08-20T10:30:00.000-04:00

One of my temp agencies called to let me know that the company I did work for last month for a day wants me to work tomorrow from 8-5. Not only do I have to work tomorrow anyway, I don't have the heart to tell them that I don't want to do work for that company ever again; not after the events of last week. I was afraid they may have written me off because I quit from a client company. Sounds like I'm still in the game, which is good news.

I still think I need to let them cool off a little more before I throw anymore surprise, this-job-is-crap complaints. It's only a matter of time before they're not going to want to look for any jobs for me. For now, I'll try to get in good with my other temp agency in case something happens with this one.

I'm Lucky

2007-08-19T22:48:00.000-04:00

I've really come to realize over each passing day that I have one of the last few good men left in this world. At the same time, my husband's got one of the last few faithful women left. I can just sit back and think about that while I watch the rest of the world struggle with infidelity, abuse, alcoholism, etc. It's become commonplace these days. It hurts to watch it, but I'm glad I'm not in it.

For those of you in my position, isn't it nice to not worry?

Cheating?

2007-08-16T19:17:00.000-04:00

My husband and I found we have slightly differing opinions on what is considered cheating, which was brought to the table courtesy of a certain episode of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine that we watched last night. The episode found Kira living with O'Brien and his wife while Kira carries the couple's child. They end up discovering they have feelings for each other and even consider acting on those. They never do, but it brought up a good discussion anyway. Is that considered cheating if he has feelings for another woman but never acts on them?
I still consider it cheating if they have those thoughts and feelings to the point of being within inches of acting upon it. I think it's possibly inevitable for some people to feel that way at some point during their relationship/marriage. While I think acting on it is far worse than just having the feelings, I still think the extent of the feelings dictates whether or not it's cheating. ¹My husband feels the opposite though expresses he'd never get to that point himself and doesn't feel it's right to feel for another person even though he doesn't consider it cheating.

Ironically enough, there was an article on AOL this evening asking if it's considered cheating if a spouse/boyfriend/girlfriend has an online "marriage". They used one person as an example: He's a married man whose marriage is on the rocks because he spends at least 14 hours a day with his online "wife" through the game, Second Life. She's currently attending "gaming widow" support groups as a result [Isn't the fact that we have such a group in existence a sad thought?]. So is this cheating, as well?

You guys can probably guess what my answer is to this. My husband is on-board with me on this particular issue. I personally wouldn't have allowed it to get to the point where he would do something like that. Even if they claim that it's safe because it's only online, I don't see it that way. Being online doesn't automatically put you in a fantasy world. You're still spending your real-life time and emotions on another person who is not your husband/wife/etc., and believe it or not, the person on the other end is a real, living, breathing human being, as well. Who's to say that you won't end up meeting in person? Rarely do online relationships stay just that; especially if they span over a long period of time. And you can't tell me that if you met this "husband" or "wife" in person that you would "only be friends." You'd better just shoot yourself in the foot now.

Instead of spending all this time on the computer with someone hundreds to thousands of miles away, spend it with that person who is ten feet away. I'm assuming you either started dating them or married them for a reason, and if you're at least a halfway decent person, then it was for a good reason. Why not go out with them? Go to a movie or dinner or something. Anything. The thrill of an online relationship is no different than the thrill of someone going to a bar and hooking up with another person. It's the same idea. It's all sexually and emotionally based. It's cheating, and if you don't think it is, see how much it hurts the person you do it to.

¹I realize my husband probably thinks I'm making him look bad here, but I don't mean to. He's a faithful, respectable guy, which is why I married him.

What A Stressful Day

2007-08-15T18:47:00.000-04:00

So you all know by now that I spent the day yesterday training for a new job. I was really excited about it because it seemed as if I finally had an opportunity to get out of where I'm at now. I've been waiting for this for quite a while.
The hours were perfect, the pay was better than I'm getting now, and I got weekends off, which is something I've been pining for. The office was really nice, the people were extremely friendly, and the environment was all-around pleasant.

So why didn't I take this job? The answer is simple: The job itself was crappy. What I wasn't aware of when I agreed to do it is that it would involve something I specifically said I didn't want to do. That is telemarketing. Maybe they don't consider it telemarketing because you're not selling anything--per se-- and it's for an organization, but you're calling 100 people a day and bugging them to sign up for a fund raiser. Regardless, you're calling people that don't want to be bothered. They either take it politely, yell at you, or just hang up. To me this is worse than straight customer service. At least more of these people want your attention. When you're on the phone, they don't want to hear from you unless you're telling them they just won a million dollars courtesy of Publisher's Clearing House.
On top of that, you had get at least 3 people to sign up each day. If you couldn't do that, you're booted. I hate quota jobs. That's too much stress.

I'm willing to take half of the blame for this because I didn't ask what the job entailed before accepting it. However, it's really their job to describe my duties during the pitch of the job. At the same time, they should have been looking at my notes and saw that I had a strong dislike of telemarketing. I established that at my interview at the temp agency. It shouldn't be my job to remind them. Of course, mistakes happen, so I'm willing to overlook that; however, the attitude could have been dispensed of when I called them last night.

After milling over whether to go into work the next day or just pull out of the position altogether, I decided against the former. I called the temp agency last night to say I wanted to cancel out on the job. I explained to the girl why that was, so she told me she'd have someone call me that night. Sure enough, the person I usually deal with at the agency called me from her cell phone, and by the tone of her voice, I could tell she wasn't too pleased.

"What's the problem, Rachel?"
I began explaining the issue with the job and why I wouldn't be taking it. I also explained how it made me feel uncomfortable to do that type of work. I decided not to mention the fact that I had already established to them that I would absolutely never do telemarketing but was offered this job anyway.
"Well, didn't (Anonymous) explain the job to you?"
"No, not really. It's partly my fault because I didn't ask either, but most of the time we spent hashing out how to make this work. It was either take the job now or don't take it at all, and I would have missed out on the opportunity. So I took it anyway."
"Can you at least finish out the week," she asked.
At this point, my manager had already changed my schedule back, and I had my mind made up that I wouldn't be showing up again because I feel too uncomfortable with that position.
"I'm sorry. I can't do that. My manager already switched my schedule back, and it was such an inconvenience when it was switched the first time around. I can't do it."
"Well, I ask because obviously we need to keep that position filled, so now we need to find someone to replace you."
I could tell she was upset with me at this point. I can't be the first client to pull out of a job though. At least I gave them 12-hours' notice when I was only required one hour.

I'm hoping I didn't burn any bridges with this temp agency, but a little more notice (at least a week would have been nice) and a better look at my file could have stopped all this from happening to begin with. I just can't see myself doing something I'm uncomfortable with just so I can have a job. I'll just keep the one I have until I get something that suits me.
That other temp agency I applied at is looking a little less icy than this one for the moment...

I'm Taking My Last Post Back

2007-08-15T08:10:00.000-04:00

It was an extremely disappointing and tiring day yesterday. I feel like the biggest jerk in the city, and the job wasn't anything like what I was expecting/looking for, and I know my temp agency knew that from the beginning. I'll explain more after work.

Things Are Looking Up

2007-08-13T21:50:00.000-04:00

I called one of my temp agencies this afternoon to check in, and they gave me a job offer immediately, and I begin training tomorrow from 9-4. I hope it works out because I really ticked off my department manager by having to get my schedule changed around for the entire week at the drop of a hat. I hope this will be the job to end my searching.

It starts out as a 4/5-week long project, and if they like me, they'll hire me permanently. I hope to God that will happen because I desperately want to get out of where I'm at now. For now, I'll be working part-time at Burlington while I work here. Twelve-hour days, here I come...ick.

Oh, yeah, and did you guys die on me again? Tam isn't here to pick up the commenting slack this week, so humor me please.

Wedded Bliss and Something Like It

2007-08-13T11:01:00.000-04:00

Going to weddings didn't usually do anything for me. My family and I went to numerous, and I never felt any emotional connection. I never cried, I never showed a whole lot of excitement, and they always seemed like they dragged on and on. Maybe it was just because I was a kid, and those types of events are "inferior" to hanging out with your friends (ok, that's not like me) or staying home and listening to music (more like me).

These days it's a little different. I got married, and now most all my friends have gotten married. Going to their weddings gave me a whole different feeling because I'd already been through it. Also, they're my friends as opposed to an obligatory wedding for a family member you see once every ten years or so. It makes me want to relive mine.

I think I spent most of the weekend saying, "Oh, I wish we would have done that," or "Darn it, I was going to do that for our wedding." My husband was less than pleased because I think I made him feel horrible. As much as I wish I'd done so many things with our wedding, I'm happy it went the way it did. It was the perfect day, and in all honesty, I really wouldn't have changed a thing about it. It was a small wedding with our closest friends and family members there. Most of our friends were in the wedding party (five bridesmaids, five groomsmen), which doesn't always get to happen with people.
A lot of funny things happened that we'll remember for years, such as when I went in to kiss Jon at the altar when we were pronounced husband and wife, and our pastor had a few more things to say before that. Everyone watched as I leaned in only to be denied courtesy of his verboseness.
Also, we had a celebrity sighting at our reception, which was very cool. How many people have those? Colin Mochrie happened to be in town that day doing a show at the Warner Theatre (I believe), and he was staying at the Marriott. One of our guests spotted him out in lobby, and word got around fast. I started wondering why all our guests were leaving in a hurry. My sister came over to our table and told us Colin Mochrie was out in the lobby, so Jon and I jumped up to go meet him. We got to shake hands with him, and he congratulated us. We also got a few snapshots with him.

My husband and I have now been married nearly a year and a half, and we feel like veterans for some reason. A year and a half isn't really all that long, but we feel like we set the path for our friends as we were the first in our "group" to get married. Now we've got our own little Ball and Chain Club, and it feels good to have initiated it. Welcome to the club, Tam and Matt. Pull up a chair and get comfortable 'cause you're gonna be here for a while.

Pictures Are Up

2007-08-12T00:35:00.000-04:00

Instead of doing an edit on my already present post from this morning, I decided to make a new one. I've added a set to my Flickr account for Tammy and Matt's wedding, so feel free to take a look at those and comment. It was a beautiful wedding, she and Matt both looked beautiful/handsome (respectively), and I had a great time. I wish the two of them the best of luck in their marriage!

Congrats, Tammy and Matt!

2007-08-11T10:47:00.000-04:00

My friend and fellow blogger, Tam, and her fianceé, Matt, are getting married this afternoon, so I thought I'd write a quick blog to congratulate the two of them.

I've had the pleasure of getting to know Tam a little better the past year thanks to the Erie blogger meetups, and we've been able to extend our relationship beyond commenting on each other's blogs every now and then. It's been really great getting to know her better and finding out what a wonderful person she is. In turn, I've been able to meet Matt and see what a great guy he is. They're both amazing people and are perfect for each other. I couldn't think of a better pair.

If you can, drop by her site to congratulate her and wish her the best. She deserves it. Later on tonight, I plan on uploading the pictures to my Flickr account, so check back late in the evening for those. I'm sure ron will have some up on his account sometime soon since he's the photographer, so keep checking his, as well. I'll write a little edit when I've uploaded these.

Congratulations again to Mr. and Mrs. Matt Chase!

Take It From Me

2007-08-09T14:18:00.000-04:00

Don't stay up until 3:00 in the morning if you already feel as if you've been beaten with a stick to a bloody pulp, forced to take Valium, and hung upside down from a tree branch for several hours. Now I'm paying for it with a massive headache, a loopy feeling, and a lack of energy. I may as well have a hangover too.
Moreover, I need a cat nap...soon.

Rifftrax to Russian

2007-08-08T12:43:00.000-04:00

I apologize in advance for jumping from kick to kick lately. First it was Rifftrax, and now I'm on an everything-Russian kind of kick. I've been wanting to head out to the store to buy some Dostoevsky novels, some Vitas or Alsou CDs, and take a bunch of Russian courses all at one time.

Obviously, I can't do all that, so I manage with what I have. Although, I have to admit it's a little frustrating because I'm stuck using the resources I have in order to learn the language because I can't afford to take classes at some places, and they don't offer them elsewhere. Not that Rosetta Stone has been at all bad to me [I didn't realize how much of a working knowledge I really had until I started this program], but I wish I could learn with other people. Honestly, I don't think there are a lot of Russian language students in the Erie area. If there are, I'd like to meet some.

Anyone have any suggestions of self-help minus the sole responsibility of learning on my own? I need someone or something to kick me in the butt and to help me learn a little better. It's getting tough, but I have the drive. Somehow I don't think it's enough.

Double Standard

2007-08-06T21:33:00.000-04:00

I think maybe an anonymous forum would be more appropriate for this blog, but I'm going to go ahead anyway and write it here because I feel it needs to be said. This is something that goes on way too much in Corporate America, and it's no wonder people get so fed up and quit their jobs.

There's an issue of double standards, and my workplace is no stranger to that. In fact, it happens on a daily basis; even several times a day. Some people are "allowed" to do certain things where others are not. In my case, there's a clique, and if you're not in that clique, you don't get the privilege of "breaking corporate rules," so to speak. Me? Well, let's just say I'm nowhere near being in that clique, nor would I desire to be. I'm quite content befriending people who don't back-stab and are accepting and courteous of others.

I had a situation tonight where I happened to sit down at our desk for a minute to relax while one of my coworkers was sitting at the computer. It was nearing the end of my shift, and there wasn't much to do. I'm not trying to justify my slacking off, but it was only for a minute, and that was all it took to get yelled at. My store manager came up and noticed this, and she was fired up:
"I am going to blow a gasket if I see you guys sitting at this desk again! I don't want to ever see another Baby Depot person on this side of the desk ever again!"

She continued to spout off comments, but I just walked away from her. Keep in mind that this was completely directed at me, but at the same time, it wouldn't have made a difference if I were sitting on the opposite side of the desk. This woman just plain-out doesn't like me at all. She gets pleasure out of making stories up about me and telling lies to my department manager to get me in trouble [She's guilty of this with other people]. Lucky for me, my manager believes my word over hers most of the time, which makes it much easier for the truth to be revealed, as she enjoys blowing every situation out of proportion to make the story sound more incriminating.

I completely take fault for sitting at the desk while on the clock. That was probably wrong, but heck, we've all done it. We're not machines, for crying out loud. Even management and the associates in the clique do it. What's funny is that they sit in that office for hours, eating their McDonald's and chatting the day away while they're on the clock, but if we sit down for one minute at the desk, we're threatened and scolded like two-year-olds. Figure this one out.

Another great example is this: We're not allowed to shop on breaks or while we're on the clock. Ok, that's fair enough. I'm hardly at risk of breaking that rule since I don't even shop where I work, so I think I can criticize on this one. On Saturday, I was changing our garbage while talking to one of my coworkers. He was sitting at the computer, and I saw our store manager walking over, so I warned him, but he didn't seem to care and still kept sitting. She came up to him and said, "Walk the floor and wait on some customers." No sooner had that come out of her mouth than she went over to the youth department and began shopping for her daughter...on the clock. It seems to me that you're not doing a whole lot of customer service while picking out clothing for your kid.

My point is to lead by example. If you want your associates to obey the rules of the company, you do the same. I know this will never ever happen in any company. As long as there are businesses in this world, there will always be double standards, but while a lot of people just put up with it, I refuse. I've seen management break rules everywhere I've been (it's almost obligatory anymore), but when you let some associates (people who are supposedly on the same level as me) break these rules with you--just because they're in your little teenage-like group--but not let others, then you're bound to have a revolt. On top of that, they gossip about us just like a bunch of adolescents who never grew out of their high school phase. Unfortunately, that's a whole other issue that would take up an entire blog by itself.

Whenever I happen to leave this place, I'm writing a letter to our store manager and sending a copy to corporate because there's no need for this to go on. Children could run the store more smoothly than this. Now, whether my letter would make any difference or not is beyond me (most likely, it will do nothing), but it's better than not taking any stand whatsoever. I'm willing to speak for all those in this company and any other company that feel like the "pee-ons" (that was deliberate, yes) because they either choose not to participate in the hierarchy of the corporation or they just don't fit into it by nature.
We're all people. Our only differences are our backgrounds and personalities. Can't we just leave it at that and abandon the childish gossip and authoritative ego trips? Yeah, you're a manager. So what? When I was assistant manager at my last job, I knew enough not to treat my employees like garbage. I thanked them for their work everyday, and I tactfully and maturely reprimanded them when they slacked off. I didn't speak to them as if they were my children. That gets you nowhere, and it's unprofessional and immature. I may be "a kid" to you, but I'm certainly not stupid and/or naïve.
If everyone followed this code of conduct, it would be so much easier to get along with our fellow coworkers.

Burnt Out

2007-08-03T11:08:00.000-04:00

Sorry for not writing anything the past few days. I've been beyond exhausted and stressed out lately. On top of that, I'm in the middle of a seven-day work stretch, which is no picnic. I'm looking forward to having two days off together (finally) on Wednesday and Thursday. It's been a while since I've had two together (not since we were on our trip last month), so I'm getting tired out. Burlington. Overload.

While my department manager was on vacation last week, I had to deal with a pain-in-the-butt customer (ok, he wasn't too, too bad, but he was a pest). I don't really want to get into the story because the whole situation and the people involved just ticked me off beyond belief. God-forbid they read this, I may have unexpected unemployment. Definitely not worth it. I will say that I tried everything in my power to help out this guy, and it went unappreciated by pretty much everyone. Just another day at my job...

My poor husband is suffering because I've been too tired to do much more than sit in a chair, nearly passing out or sleeping. I did go to the Y with him last night, which has become a rarity for me the past few months out of a combination of laziness and exhaustion. I got about five different exercises in, and they were all good (my chest is incredibly sore today), but I was ready to crash when I got home. I've been so loopy the past few days that I find it hard to even function correctly at work. Everyday has been a struggle. Even when I'm driving in my car, I feel myself drifting off into another world, which I've never done before. It's kind of scary to think about because I could get in a serious accident that way.

Between working a lot and trying to figure out this whole Russian language situation I'm in, I'm getting tired out/drilled into the ground (whatever you want to say). I really want to take these Russian classes, but I don't want to pay an arm and a leg to do so, but I fear I don't have a choice. It seems that everyone wants to charge me for credits I don't want. My last hope is Behrend. I pray that I'll have some luck with them. Otherwise, I'll have to stick to self-teaching with my course book, dictionary, verb book, Rosetta Stone, and the occasional help from Olga.

I think I really need a break. Olga had suggested us going to Niagara Falls in September for a couple days. I told her I probably wouldn't be able to swing it financially, but Jon was able to work it out, and he said I'd be able to go. I just need to let her know. I'm sort of looking forward to it, so I can just get away from Erie for a little bit. Yes, I know, I just got back from a big trip, but I'm already tired out from ~~work~~ life again.

I need to unwind some way...

Another Short Post

2007-07-31T23:27:00.000-04:00

I'm not one to grovel, but I have one question: Where are all my readers?
Did a brisk wind carry you all away and drop you off in BFE? Or perhaps a flash flood caused a short circuit leaving you with absolutely no electricity, let alone internet? Or a freak accident involving a tack hammer, a can of Pepsi, and a lighter that left your keyboards in critical condition, causing your commenting to diminish?
Just wondering...

I Had To Laugh

2007-07-31T13:30:00.000-04:00

One of my temp agencies called me yesterday to say that the company I helped out for a day wanted me back to work yesterday afternoon and all day today. Ha. That's great, but they're never seeing me again. Not only was I working yesterday and today is my last day off until God-knows when, they treated me like garbage while I helped them out.

I really should call the temp agency back and explain the reason why I won't be doing anymore assignments for that company. Isn't it amazing how the way you treat people can come back to bite you in the butt? Good luck finding someone new or naive to help you out.

Another Shameless Plug for Mike Nelson

2007-07-29T17:05:00.000-04:00

I wanted to make a quick post in relation to my last one. Not only is there such a thing as The Film Crew, but they're also the masterminds behind Rifftrax, which is essentially the same idea as MST3K and what The Film Crew does, but these are done with more recent and/or popular movies. They could actually be ones you enjoy watching by themselves.

They've done numerous movies so far such as The Matrix, Halloween, and the soon-to-be-released 300. You pay anywhere from $.99 to $2.99 to download the audio commentary, and then you just play it over your movie. This was so the creators could avoid getting sued. I know it seems kind of silly to do that, and you need to own or rent the movie in order to enjoy the commentary, but after having watched all the samples they offer, I think it would be worth it.

Here's a sample from Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country:

I think I'm on a "MSTie"/Film Crew/Rifftrax kick right at the moment, and you'll all have to suffer through it.

MST3K'rs Rejoice...Well, Kind Of

2007-07-28T08:46:00.000-04:00

It's been long-awaited, and it hasn't come without several petitions being sent from all over the world, but Mystery Science Theater 3000 is back...in a way. It's essentially the same people behind the show (minus the brainchild, Joel Hodgson), and it's pretty much the same idea as MST3K: They make fun of horrible movies by providing humorous commentary over-top of them. There's a little difference in name though. Now they're under the name, The Film Crew, and they've made a whole other set of movies that have just been released this month.

I was excited when my husband told me they had an article on Slashdot about the return of MST3K. After having their DVDs dwindled down to nothing and having the hardest time getting a hold of any episodes I wanted (being forced to download since they weren't available any other way), they're finally making a return. I mean, geez, there was enough of an uproar when they switched it from Comedy Central to the Sci-Fi Channel, and then Sci-Fi gave them the axe soon after.

What's somewhat disappointing is the MIA factor for many MST3K obligatory things. The robots are no longer present, which I thoroughly enjoyed them; and along with that is the disappearance of the silhouettes in the theater that was trademark of MST3K. Yes, I know, The Film Crew is not MST3K, but that doesn't mean I can't miss the little things that made the show great.

I'm particularly looking forward to buying the movies they've released thus far. I see Amazon has them for about $15. Sounds good to me...

Cut the Wires

2007-07-25T13:52:00.000-04:00

I find it really interesting that in today's world we're so connected with people over the Internet thanks to sites like MySpace and Facebook that we lose touch with the reality outside of the cables and phone lines. I've been able to find so many people from my past using the aforementioned tools, but I can't say it has produced any physical contact with 95% of those people. Don't get me wrong: I think they're great sites for that purpose, but I could spend all my time typing comments on their pages and never once speak to them on the phone or have lunch with them.

That's why I'm glad I started up a blog once again. While it's still a way to connect with people in a similar (or almost identical) way as MySpace and Facebook, I still get to interact with most of these people in a physical sense. Thanks to the initiation of the Erie blogger meetups, I've been able to get to know some really cool bloggers that I'd been reading for a few years but never knew on a personal level. In fact, I've become really good friends with a couple, and we've been hanging out quite frequently.

I had such a dry period where my whole life revolved around checking my e-mail and comments when I came home from work. That was my sole way of connecting with the outside world. My husband could probably still say I spend way too much time on the computer (I couldn't disagree), but I've been able to get out more with people. It's a completely different feeling when you're hanging out with those who blog than those who don't. I can't explain the difference too well, but you know if you're in that position.

Where YouTube has begun conventions with their vloggers and those who subscribe, I think Blogger, Wordpress, and any others (including dot-coms) should follow. I think it'd be a great way for people who share the same interests in writing to get together and leave the keyboards behind. I'd love to meet some new people, find new blogs, and make some friends.
I find people, in general, to be really interesting, so it would be good to meet someone from a different part of the country or world. I'm just not sure where to start.

Knock Knock; Who's There; Interrupting Customer...

2007-07-24T08:42:00.000-04:00

There are few things in this world that annoy me as much as customers who need constant "help" and attention. What's worse is when they interrupt you while you're with another customer and demand that you help them. Which one of us do you think is the rude one?

This happened to me yesterday. There was a lady who had called earlier in the afternoon looking for newborn sweaters. Olga had talked to her and said she was a real treat to handle. She ended up coming into the store a couple hours later, and she asked Olga for help in finding clearance receiving blankets. She showed her where we had very few left and walked away.

Meanwhile, I was helping a customer who wanted to put some things on layaway. They were inquiring about different things regarding the layaway process and payment options they had. The woman Olga had been helping interrupted us to ask where our clearance receiving blankets were. Knowing Olga had already shown her, I was a little frustrated but tried to point them out anyway. I then continued on with my customers.

They wanted to make sure that they could make payments over the phone (I was 95% sure but wanted to be 100%), so I called customer service. While I was on the phone, the woman from earlier came up to me and started saying something. Ummm...why do you think this phone is attached to my ear? That means, don't talk to me. Wait until I'm done. So I had to tell Lisa (from customer service) to hold on while I figured out what this lady had said.
I asked her to repeat herself, and she said, "I need some help when you're finished."
"I'll be with you in a few minutes," I replied.

When I found out they could make payments over the phone, I got off the line with Lisa, told the woman I'd be with her in a few minutes, and I went back to my customers. She followed me over to them and stood there. Ok...this is a little uncomfortable. I could tell my customers were wondering why she did this, but what could I do?

They showed me what pieces they wanted to put on layaway, and of course, the lady followed us down. I told you I'd be with you in a few minutes. Just go away. One of the items they wanted to put on a layaway needed to be checked to make sure we had it in stock, so I told them I'd check and be right back. The lady wasn't having it:

"I had to work all day. Could you at least point me where your clearance receiving blankets are?!?"
This is my problem how..? I thought we already went over this, anyway...twice. I pointed her to where they were if we had any left (I knew they were scarce), and she snapped back, "No, those are regular blankets! I want receiving blankets!"
I replied, "Well, we really don't have many (or any) on clearance at the moment. They'd all be there."
"Then where are your regular receiving blankets?"
I took her directly to where they are and pointed at them.
"Well?!? Where are they?"
Are you blind? Geez. I pointed again and said, "Right there."
"Oh," was all she could say.

That was the last of her that I had to deal with. Unfortunately, Olga had a little more to contend with. When she was finished shopping, she just stood at the desk while Olga was on the phone. She just stared at her waiting for some magical register to appear, I suppose. Olga had to stop her conversation to tell her to go downstairs to pay. Finally! Gone and out of sight!

I have to keep reminding myself that one day I'll be out of customer service.

Sulking

2007-07-22T21:30:00.000-04:00

The past couple weeks have been stressful for me, and I'm probably blowing them out of proportion, but I don't handle things well. I have the sense that I'm dragging people down with me when I feel like this. I felt incredibly horrible last night because of this.

I have a tendency to loom over things that are bothering me when I'm all by myself. Usually, I don't have this problem at work because there's so much going on, but I did last night. It was awkwardly slow for a Saturday night, which I think caused my problem to arise.

I switched my schedule last night with one of my coworkers so I could work with Olga, so when she was busy doing other things--when we're normally hanging around each other and working together--I was left to sulk over whatever was bothering me. I had a list of things that were stressing me out at that moment: finding a new job, leaving the one I'm at sometime soon, losing the friends I made at Burlington, finding a way to further my Russian education (I found it to total $399 for a 7-month class at Mercyhurst), figuring out how to pay my $399 bill for a checkup my insurance wouldn't cover. They probably all sound like trivial things to anyone else, but to me they're things that matter a lot.

When Olga was finally done with what she was doing, she came back to a sullen Rachel, and she couldn't figure out why. I wanted to be mad at her because I switched my schedule just to work with her and she was hardly around, and I wanted to be mad because she said she'd go over the Russian with me and didn't, but that's really not what it was about. I was just stressed out about all the aforementioned things. She just happened to get the brunt of it. Unfortunately, I made her feel like it was her fault that I felt the way I did, and she spent the remainder of the night apologizing to me. It should have been the other way around.

I ended up feeling even worse the rest of the night because I dragged someone else down just because I felt crappy. I couldn't deal with it, so I sat down and wrote her a long e-mail at 12:30 last night apologizing for making her feel the way I did. This warranted a phone call while I was at Tam's bridal shower today. It was bad timing, but I'm glad I got that call. The air was cleared, and now we both feel a little better.

What's so bad about all this is that I do it so often. I bring the people I care about down just because I'm feeling like crap. My husband has to deal with this so much, and every time I do it, I feel even worse than I did before. I can't understand why I continue being so destructive. I need a healthier outlet.

The fact that my social life has been more active in recent months than in years has helped a great deal, but when I'm not out with friends or enjoying myself, things are coming to mind that cause me to get stressed out. I'm just wondering if there's any way for me to divert my attention elsewhere when I'm by myself. I don't want to continue to feel the way I do or drag anymore people down. I care too much about them to allow it to happen anymore.
Any suggestions?

Ya Govaryu Pa-Russki

2007-07-21T12:41:00.000-04:00

As most of you know, I've been studying the Russian language for nearly a year now. I've been trying to discipline myself to learn it on my own when Olga can't help me. Lately, the two of us have been busy and haven't gotten together to go over it. She does occasionally say something to me in Russian while we're working together, but it's not enough for me to learn. Since I know her priorities don't lie solely in teaching me Russian 24/7 (why should they?), I think I need to enlist some other form of help that's a little more regular and pushes me right into the deep end. I need something to force me to spend a lot of my time and energy on learning it.

I'm at a point in my Russian where it's very hard to learn it on my own. I have times where I'm sitting there staring at my book, and nothing is sinking in. Other times, things come so clearly to me. Regardless of whether I'm able to learn anything at the time or not, I need someone to help me out. Rather than getting a Russian tutor [I can say I already have one of those...for free.], I'd like to take some Russian courses at a local college. However, I don't need credits, so it should be a lot cheaper.

I did some searching on the 'net, and the only college in Erie that I could find with any Russian classes was at Mercyhurst, which tends to be on the pricey side. However, my sister-in-law's husband is a math professor there, so I was going to see if he could look into the cost of that. I don't know if any other colleges around here have Russian classes, but I'd be interested in knowing if there were (having more than one option would be preferable). Anyone know of any?

Sellout

2007-07-17T20:56:00.000-04:00

I was really excited when one of the temp agencies I'm with called this morning. I missed the call initially because I had my phone on silent from work last night, and I forgot to switch over to normal mode. I thought maybe they were calling to inform me that I got the job I interviewed for. Boy, was I wrong...

She explained that they had a little bit of an emergency and needed me to work somewhere until about 5:00 to fill in for a woman who called off. She explained that everyone else she had called that was a temp said they were busy and couldn't make it. I wasn't too thrilled as today was my last day I had off from work this week, and I wanted to relax, but for the sake of getting some extra cash and making myself sound like a good worker, I took the opportunity. I was responsible for answering the phone (two lines) and filing. How bad could it be?

I finally arrived at the company after missing it on the drive down and having to turn around. The woman (I'll call her "Jan") who greeted me was very friendly and cordial. "Jan" briefly explained what I needed to do, which was just as I was explained on the phone. I needed to answer phone calls, and she gave me a stack of papers she needed alphabetized. She apologized for the "busy work," but I was more than happy to have something to do to keep from biting my nails and pulling my hair out. She needed to run out for what she said would be an hour (it was actually four), so I was left alone in that building for my entire shift without a trace of another human being other than a coworker every one to two hours.

Everything was going as well as could be expected. I was bored out of my mind because it only took me a half hour to alphabetize that paperwork. The customers that called were cordial, and I had no problems with them. Taking messages was an absolute breeze. Why wouldn't it be? You don't have to deal with all the specifics. You just pass along the message to someone more knowledgeable. Well, that part was just fine.

What wasn't good were some of the coworkers that called every so often to check on things. They were asking me questions I didn't have answers to and were frustrated that "Jan" wasn't there to help them out. Ok, I can understand being frustrated, but I'm just filling in and have no clue what goes on around here. Every time they called, they made it a point to be rude, disrespectful, and degrading in regards to my mental capacity (insinuating I was an idiot at points by certain comments). On top of that, the two that gave me the problems were the owner and his son. Hey, I dropped everything to help you guys out on my day off. The least you could do is be respectful to me.

One instance was when the son of the owner asked if a fax he was waiting for had come in. I told him I didn't know anything about it but was just filling in for the day. He wanted me to check in the other office to see if it had come up. I said I didn't know if his was in there because he didn't give me any indication as to what it looks like. He told me to look and describe what was there because "I can't see it over the phone." No crap.

We determined that his fax hadn't come through, so he rudely asked me to call the company whose fax he was waiting for and ask what the holdup was and call him back. Ok, that'd be great if I had the number. I didn't bother to ask. I just wanted to get off the phone. I looked through their paperwork and was able to find the number for the company. I called there, and asked the guy the information I needed. He informed me that my "coworker" was bothering him all day and calling "every three minutes," and he basically wanted him to hold his horses. I'm thinking the same thing right now. I'll gladly pass along the message.

I called the coworker back and delivered the message. He told me to call back when the fax came in. I did.
"Yeah?"
"It's Rachel. Your fax came in."
>insert deafening silence here<
"Ok..."
"Yeah, it came in."
"Ok...I can't read it through the phone. You need to tell me what it says," he rudely replied.
Well, you didn't tell me you needed the info off it. Don't sit on the phone expecting me to read your mind.
I began trying to read the fax until he interrupted me because I was apparently telling him useless information off it.
"No! I don't need to know all that! Just read me the parts, ok? I don't need the model numbers, alright?"
Apparently, I read too much of the part names too because he interrupted me once again.
"No, not that! I don't care about that! Just read me the part."
Well, as far as I could tell, what I was reading was part of the name of the part. How am I supposed to differentiate?

If I'm ever asked to go back there to help them out, they can forget it. Even though "Jan" was very pleasant, some of her coworkers were just rude and disrespectful. No wonder everyone was "busy" today. They've probably had to fill in there before and don't even bother anymore. I couldn't blame them either.
Ah, the sacrifices you make to prove you're reliable. I feel like I'm selling out.

A Little Contemplation

2007-07-16T10:30:00.000-04:00

I have to say it's been a little rough the past week with all the job hunting I've been doing. I just called both temp agencies this morning for an update, and it seems I've possibly striked out on both deals.

As I'd said, the temp I'd gone to on Friday had offered me a job possibility in McKean. She was going to call me to let me know if I was able to go in for an interview, which was contingent on the employer letting me put at least a week's notice into Burlington. When I called this morning, she told me that this company was a new client, and they were unable to provide the necessary paperwork to the temp. In other words, they dropped the client, so this job is no longer a possibility for me. Unfortunately, this was the only job this temp agency had in mind for me at the moment.

I called the other temp to see if there was any update on the other job, which I had interviewed for last Wednesday. She said they were still interviewing a few more candidates, so they hadn't come to a decision yet. I suppose I'll have to wait this one out a little longer, but I'm trying to hold back the doubt flying around in my head.

I know I've just started out with these temp agencies, but I already feel like I'm going to be one of those applicants that never gets anywhere. I have doubts in my skills and abilities where I should have confidence. I just can't push myself enough into the positive realm to assure myself that I'll get a new job...eventually. Waiting is the hardest thing for me to do; especially when I want out right away.

At the same time--and I've expressed this before--I'll miss some of the people I've worked with at Burlington. We had a little picnic at Presque Isle last night with people from our department and the youth department. I invited ron and Tam, but only ron was able to make it. [Sorry for making you the oddball out.] It really made me realize that I work with such wonderful people. As much as we may complain about each other doing stupid or idiotic things that annoy us on occasion [I'm sure I get my fair share of complaints.], when it comes down to it, we all really care about each other a great deal and would be there at the drop of a hat to help one another out.

I'm probably closer to one person in particular more than anyone else there because she's really done a lot for me: Olga has pulled me out of scheduling crises when something unexpected comes up by switching schedules with me; she's been someone to confide in when I'm really down or something has been bothering me; I could trust her with everything--including my life (and vice versa); and she's taken me under her wing--despite a sometimes busy schedule--to help me learn Russian, which has gone by the wayside every so often just from being busy with other things in my life (no fault of her own; she still keeps me on my toes). I've worked with a few different people in my short career that have helped me to get where I'm at today, but I've unfortunately lost touch with most all of them. I'm hoping that will stop here, and Olga is someone I don't want to lose that connection with. I don't want to lose anymore good friends. They're few and far between for me these days anyway.

As much as I want to leave retail and Burlington altogether in the dust, I wish I could take some of the people with me. Since I may be leaving soon, I felt like I should write some sort of tribute to the people who have made everyday more bearable. I don't know what I'd do without them. I may have started off on the wrong foot with one or two, but they're what keep me from pulling every strand of hair out of my head, and I wouldn't trade that crew for any other.

Ah, Crap...

2007-07-15T16:46:00.000-04:00

Well, I really have no new news along the lines of a job. I did go to another temp agency on Friday morning where they insisted on administering 10,000 tests to me. [By the way, I scored higher on the advanced questions of Microsoft Word 2000 than the basic knowledge. The woman that interviewed me said I was the first she ever encountered with scores like that. Hmmm...] They also offered me a job opportunity in McKean, which I hope I'll get called in to interview for. We'll see.

Since that's about all I have to update you on, let me just talk about something that annoys me even more than my job and the absolutely ludicrous customers that come in, and that is none other than porta potties. Didn't think I was gonna go there, did you? Well, I suppose the picture should have been a good indication.

I had to use a number of these while we were on our trip out west. It's never an enjoyable experience for anyone (unless you're into feces, disease, and things of the sort). Nothing annoys me more with these than when there's a brisk breeze blowing up through the hole. Am I the only one that has a hard time using the toilet when your behind is being fanned off? Is there any way they can get some air control installed in these? I suppose I shouldn't expect luxury in such a facility.

Not only that, but it's a hole in the ground. What if I drop something by accident in there? How in the heck am I supposed to get it out? At least if it's a regular toilet, you can suck it up and remove your item from the bowl (hopefully, you've dropped it before utilizing the can). Otherwise, you'd better have a fishing pole and bait in tow.
Oh, and complimentary toilet covers, soap, water, and air fresheners would be greatly appreciated. No one wants to smell the stank when they enter the box after Diarrhea Man...and he's always there and using the pot before me. It's especially bad when it's Explosive Saturday.

Convenience? Ha. Enter at your own risk.

God's Good

2007-07-12T00:14:00.000-04:00

For those who like quick updates, you'll be very pleased:

My interview at the temp agency went really well today. So well, in fact, that I got an interview right away for a job later in the afternoon. For fear I'll "jinx" my chances of getting in, I won't tell you where I was interviewed at. I would like to say I have a good chance of getting it, but it's really hard to know that. I do think my interview went really well though, and the fact that I was called at the drop of a hat and came there right away should say a lot. At least, I hope so...

At any rate, this is enough to keep me happy for a little while. If it means I have the slightest chance of getting out of retail soon, I'm all for it.

Stress, Stress, Stress

2007-07-10T23:56:00.000-04:00

I'm so incredibly tired and stressed out. I'm not even sure why I'm on here writing this blog other than to apologize if I don't blog as frequently as usual. I have to say I've been a little overwhelmed with my current job. Don't get me wrong: It hasn't been busy at all. In fact, it's been quite slow at work, which is part of the reason why I feel the way I do.

Every day I go in, I feel like I'm wasting 8 hours of my life. It's a thankless job (like many people possess), and I get no joy out of it anymore. The only things that keep me going are the couple people that help me get through the day and the fact that I desire to keep a roof over my head. Beyond that...well, there is no beyond that. That's where it ends.
Now they're doing register training at work, which shouldn't seem like a big deal, but I have one problem with it: It epitomizes everything I truly loathe about retail, and I'm being forced train on it. That's why I had set myself a goal to get a job by Thursday. Things are not looking up because I was being far too unrealistic.

I've now resorted to some serious job hunting, but it has produced nothing thus far because I didn't give myself enough time to make something happen (it's been slightly less than a week). Although I have two interviews at two different temp agencies (one tomorrow at 10:30 and another Friday at 8:30) and have sent my resume in for a job of interest, I'm still a little frustrated with myself.

It wasn't too long ago that I was sitting in this same position at a different job wondering how I could get myself out of this hole I was in. I let myself get wrapped up in the routine so easily that it's hard for me to pull myself out and move on. When I was at Dollar General I couldn't wait to leave; yet, it was so difficult to go. That meant starting over at a new place with new people and new routines that I wasn't familiar with. That's scary if you've ever had to jump from one job to the next when you've sort of made yourself a part of that old job.

This is my predicament today/tonight/this week/this month/this year. I want so badly to leave where I'm at, but I'm so scared. Can anyone sympathize?

My Best Summary Job

2007-07-09T11:07:00.000-04:00

I'm sure you're all quite upset with me because I haven't written one blog to tell you anything about my trip other than some kid saying he had wood in his pants. That really doesn't explain the size of the Grand Canyon, the number of bison we encountered in Yellowstone, or the price of tea in China (what is it, by the way?). Although, I can tell you the two formers, I can't help you with the latter, and besides, I'm sure that's all you want to know right now anyway.

I'll try to summarize this 2-week trip as best I can. In order to do that, I'll share with you a few pictures from some highlight events:

Although seeing Old Faithful go off was quite an incredible thing, I'd have to say this event was just as exciting. I'm not even sure if we were riding through Haynard Valley (the bison capital of Yellowstone National Park, basically) or not, but we came across at least 35-40 bison crossing the road. This picture is the result of that. We had more on the sides of our car and in back. We took numerous pictures and video until a jerk from the opposing traffic didn't feel like waiting and drove up, beeped his horn, and made them scatter. No thanks for you despite your you're-welcome signal as you passed us. You shouldn't be in the park if you don't appreciate the wildlife.

Ah, Avalanche Peak in Yellowstone. It was one of the many hikes we went on while we were in the park. Interesting story behind this one: We decided to go on this hike, and it happened to be the day we were moving from our cabins in Canyon Village to ones in Grant Village. The drive from where the hike started was about 45 minutes or so to Grant. We agreed to meet my mother-in-law and father-in-law at 6:00 that evening, and Jon, my sister-in-law (Erica), her husband (Chad), and I went on the hike. It was in bear country so we were a little nervous, and so were Jon's parents, but we each had a can of bear repellent in case we did run into one (Erica and Chad did earlier that morning on one of their hikes).

It was around 1:30 when we arrived at the start of the hike. We signed in and went on our way. We didn't know what we were getting ourselves into. We didn't make it up to the peak until about 5:00, and we still had to walk down and drive to Grant Village. The hike was 2.2 miles going straight up (10.5 thousand feet), and extremely tiring. We basked in the glory of accomplishing that. The way down was just as trying as the hike up. It took us an hour and a half to walk to the end where we signed out and tried to make it out to Grant Village as quickly as possible. Jon's cell phone was dead, and mine didn't have service, so when we got in service areas, Erica tried to use it to call 411, but only made it as far as asking what number she needed (Grant Village), and she lost her signal.

When we finally got there, his mom was in tears. She had sent out a search party of rangers to look for us. We felt horrible, but at least we were all ok.

We were able to ride mules/horses while we were at Zion National Park in southwestern Utah. I'd never ridden one before, so this was an experience altogether new to me. The mule I had was utterly belligerent and refused to move faster than a half a mile an hour. We were supposed to stay only 5-6 feet away from the horse in front of us. Well, I was more like 100 feet or more behind. Kicking, whipping (which I really didn't like doing), and anything else I tried wouldn't work. The only thing that did was when one of the guides yelled at her, and she'd move faster for a second or two and return to her slow pace. For being named Brighty, she sure didn't act like it (nor look it).

If you so desire to look at the rest of the pictures, I made an album on Flickr, so feel free to take a look at my album.

I Have Returned

2007-07-02T23:57:00.000-04:00

Yes, it's true. I've made it back alive from my trip. I returned on Sunday morning, and I haven't blogged until now. My husband puts me to shame since he's already blogged, and he does once in a blue moon.
I'd love to tell you all about my trip right at the moment, but I need to go to bed, as I've jumped right back into work the day after coming back. I will, however, share with you one of the most humorous moments on my trip.

Jon, my father-in-law, and I were at the south rim of the Grand Canyon waiting for the shuttle for the Hermit Route. While we were waiting, a mother and her five or six year-old son were walking by. The little boy was looking down while reaching into his shorts. The following conversation ensued:

"What are you doing," the mother asked.
"There's something in my pants," he replied.
"What's in your pants?"
After a short pause, he answers, "Wood."
And so matter-of-fact-like, the mother asks, "Wood?"

I don't know if Jon and I were the only ones that thought it was funny or if we were the only ones to hear the conversation. Either way, it had me in stitches.

More stories (and pictures) to come...

Au Revoir

2007-06-14T10:05:00.000-04:00

So this will officially be my last post until I get back from my trip July 1st. I can't say I can do anything to tide you guys over for the time being, but I would like to thank those who are helping us out in our absence:

Ron, thanks for offering to give us a ride to Jon's parents' house so late at night. Now, mow our lawn and make us sandwiches...STAT!

Tam, thanks for actually wanting to take care of "the foul". My bird will appreciate the fact that she's getting fed much more often than normal. You'll be her new best friend. I'll take the necessary precautions to ensure she doesn't fly home with you (bye, bye, flight feathers). Oh, and thanks for grabbing our mail, so the mailman doesn't think we've died.

ron, thanks for keeping an eye on Tam. I know this was unexpected, but you're inadvertently going to have to do it. Someone has to. Matt can only do so much. Oh, and take your dang Super Troopers back, and re-watch Anchorman. Watch it until you can quote it word for word from beginning to end. I own it if you and Tam want to have a marathon together.

To the people I work with: Thank you for taking care of all my work--or rather, pseudo-work--while I'm gone. I don't miss it, but I appreciate the fact that you're there to do it. I know you don't want to, and that makes me happy. While you're dealing with difficult customers, the most I'll be dealing with is a heat wave at the Grand Canyon and, Should I get chicken or should I get steak today? Oh, dear...'tis a hard life.

Mom and Dad, I appreciate your wise decision to not take care of my bird while I'm gone. She's grown accustomed to Millcreek, and a life back in the 'Ville for a couple weeks would be far too traumatizing. In all seriousness, thanks for the prayers and well wishes for our trip. We'll bring you back a souvenier or two of the nature kind.

Pepsi and Snowball, you're no help whatsoever, but you're worth mentioning. Plus, you're going to be stuck at a pet hospital for two weeks, so you'd better appreciate us when we come back. We feed you and keep you alive. I expect a thank-you letter or blog when we return.

Thank you to anyone else I may have forgotten. See you all when we return!

Yet Another Reason I Can't Stand Drunks

2007-06-12T10:31:00.000-04:00

Sometimes I just really loathe my job. It's mostly when I get ignorant, drunk people harassing me. This is the clientele that my place of work attracts, unfortunately, and I have to put up with it on occasion. I'm just lucky I'm not drop-dead gorgeous or I'd have some real problems on my hands.

Last week, I decided to go outside for my lunch as I tend to do when it's nice out. I sat in my car eating and basking in the sunlight shining through my open sunroof in hopes of getting a tan by the end of August. About five minutes into my lunch, a white car pulls in diagonal to mine in the parking lot. Not that race really matters, but for the sake of being descriptive, I'll mention it. They were either Hispanic or Indian (couldn't really tell) men in their 50s or 60s, and they were being extremely obnoxious. They let one of their passengers out of the car to go inside the store while the rest waited behind.

I heard them saying things fairly loudly in their car, but I couldn't understand what they were saying because I had my music on. I was trying to focus on the peacefulness of that and ignore the background noise. I didn't fare too well on that one, but it was worth the effort.

A couple minutes before my lunch was ending, the guy who had gone into the store stumbled back into the car, and they just sat there. I was wishing they would just drive off and go away, so I could at least enjoy the last 30 seconds of my lunch. That didn't happen. My time was up, so I needed to head back to clock in.
I got out of my car, and as I started heading towards the store, one of the guys stuck his head out the window and yelled, "Hey, honey!! Hey, honey!!" I just ignored him. I fought off the urge to flip him off for fear I'd get the crap beaten out of me right in the parking lot. There's no telling what they'd do.

Since I didn't respond, I elicited a strange noise in return. It reminded me of those who are mentally disabled who have trouble speaking and can only make various grunts and groans as their mouths try to make out words. I continued onward anyway.

I clocked back in, and I began thinking, What if they do something to my car since I didn't acknowledge them? I went to our LP right away to tell him what had happened, and he started telling me how they were watching a guy for a while in there because he was so drunk he was falling over. He even got a box of shoes, and he could barely carry it to the registers without dropping it about 5 times. He even asked our LP if he could help him carry it to the registers since it was "so heavy."

After talking to him for a while, we both figured out that this guy was part of the group that was harassing me outside. By this time, the men had driven away. They were going to call the police if the guy that was stumbling all over the store had been the driver. I still think the actual driver was drunk, as well. They were all acting like it.

I can't wait to get away from this for a while. Two more days...