Random Whatnot

And another thing...

2006-02-01T16:33:00.000-06:00

My Plant Rant post reminded me of something else that annoys me. We have food days at work all the time, mostly for birthdays. The food is usually contained to said birthday person's office/cube farm area. Someone always puts the aforementioned food trash can at this location for the day.

Why?

I'm not going to throw my plate away 30 seconds after I put a bunch of food on it. And like Pavlov's dogs, I have been trained to go to the nearest designated food trash can to throw my plate away. But when I get there, it's gone! Because someone put it near the food. Of course, this is only a problem if the birthday person is near my desk, but it's irritating nonetheless.

Plant Rant

2006-02-01T16:08:00.000-06:00

Okay, I know I never post to this blog, but in my defense, I've been pretty good about posting to our wedding blog. However, I just had a really random thought that I had to put somewhere. So, there has been a gnat problem at my office off and on since I started working here. Sometime last year they enforced the use of food waste trash cans. So, if I eat a banana, I can't just throw the peel away at my desk trash can. I have to find the closest food trash can. Well, after the trash cans appeared and the gnats still didn't go away, it was determined that the problem must be the plants in the building. So, now the plants are constantly being monitored by our building guy and the plant people. There is always talk of do you have gnats? How many gnats? Are the gnats back? Are they gone? How are your plants doing? I'm going to use this solution on your plants, let me know if you still have gnats. I just received another gnat email asking us to reply and tell the building guy how many plants we have in our cube area. Which made me think...

Why the hell do we even have all these plants? It costs money to pay the plant people to come in and water the plants over our heads while we are trying to work and it has obviously sparked some sort of weird gnat nation throughout the building. They aren't even that aesthetically pleasing! I mean, I can understand having some in the lobby and maybe even the breakroom, but what is the point of surrounding us with all this foliage? I can guarantee it doesn't heighten my mood and/or work productivity. Maybe they could take the money they spend on plant care and gnat elimination and I don't know, put it towards the holiday party or donate it to a charity or something.

It just seems pointless.

Work.

2005-05-10T11:37:00.000-05:00

Do you ever have one of those days at work where you find it physically challenging to stay in your seat for more than 30 minutes at a time? And you are ready to go home but it isn't even lunch time yet? And you are just so bored with thought of everything that you have to do for the day that it's really hard to care about getting anything done? Yeah, I'm having one of those days. Sometimes I think my job is going to give me ADD.

On a lighter note...

2005-03-02T15:24:00.000-06:00

I feel that I should follow up my last angry blog with something light-hearted. This cracks me up:

http://www3.ns.sympatico.ca/lyle_24/myhero.swf

Blockbuster Bullshit

2005-03-02T14:55:00.000-06:00

I'm sure you have all seen the commercials with crowds of people rejoicing in the parking lot of Blockbuster because they no longer have late fees. Well, I happened to rent a DVD from said establishment on February 19th. As I was checking out, the guy literally said to me, "Now remember, there aren't any late fees so if you need to keep that for a few extra days, go right ahead." I specifically remember this because he gave me that fake gun point/wink/weird noise you make out of the side of your mouth thing and it was a little creepy. Now, as some of you may already know, I'm a procrastinator. If you tell me I can take something back even later than I originally would have, I will!

So, yesterday I get a "statement" in the mail from Blockbuster, stating that the movie I rented was supposed to be returned on the 21st, and my item was now late. As a result, if I did not return my movie by the closing of the 7th day after my due date, they were going to charge the full price of the movie to the credit card I used when I signed up for my membership. So, basically they were telling me if I didn't return my movie by February 28th, I would be automatically charged for it. This information might have been useful BEFORE MARCH 1ST, which is when I received this statement.

Now, I understand that they have to enforce some sort of penalty or nobody would ever return their movies, but quit showing these stupid commercials that imply we are living in some sort of fee-free nirvana and freaking tell us what the new consequences are! And how about doing it before we've already been charged for it?!

Of course, I absolutely refuse to pay this fine, so I called Blockbuster and had all the charges against me revoked, but I still think the whole thing is bullshit. Turns out, I'm not the only one: http://money.cnn.com/2005/02/18/news/midcaps/blockbuster_suit/?cnn=yes

I hate going to the dentist.

2005-02-17T15:54:00.000-06:00

It’s not even worth the free toothbrush or the excuse to leave work for a couple of hours. I’m pretty sure I learned to hate the dentist when I was young and had to have some teeth pulled, twice. The shots in the gums, followed by the numbness, followed by all of that gauze and uncontrollable drooling. Horrible, all of it! Nevertheless, I showed up for my six-month checkup today to keep my whites bright. After being assaulted by numerous metal instruments and the occasional spit sucker, my cleaning was complete. But then, just when I thought it was all over, she busted out some new laser tool! So, she put this thing on my teeth and it made all sorts of crazy noises, like it was trying to find the right frequency for my mouth so I can channel radio stations. It was totally painless, but when it was over, she told me I have two cavities! Actually, they aren’t cavities yet, but this laser can supposedly detect them before they appear. Now, let me just say that despite the extractions and orthodontic work I’ve endured in the past, I never had a cavity in my life until I moved here (I had my first one filled last year). This can only mean one of three things:

1. My family dentist sucks.
2. Champaign Dental Group is making this shit up.
3. My teeth are finally starting to decay after 26 years of use.

Regardless, I don’t like it. I didn’t believe them the first time they told me I had a cavity. I made them prove it to me on my x-ray. I asked for further clarification today too. Apparently this laser somehow measures the density of your teeth and has a 90ish% accuracy rate. So, now I have to go back for more torture at a later date. Booo!

In other completely unrelated news, Dave & I saw The Producers at the Auditorium Theatre in Chicago this past weekend. It was the first musical I’ve seen that was funny instead of dramatic. If you have the chance to see it, you should. I definitely recommend it!

Reward

2005-02-10T10:59:00.000-06:00

I will pay one thousand dollars to anyone who can pop the balloon that is slowly inflating inside of my head. After missing a couple of days of work, I decided to give in and see at doctor at Carle's Convenient Care last night. He basically confirmed what I already suspected - my allergies have been bothering me for a couple of weeks now and have caused my sinuses to flare up, which means I'm on my way to a sinus infection. Yay!

So, now I'm on a lovely cocktail of Amoxicillin (to kill said infection), Allegra (for the allergies), Sudafed (to decongest), and Aleve (to aleviate the sinus pain). My purse has turned into a freaking pharmacy. I'm a couple of cough drops away from filling prescriptions! The worst part is that I have a trip to Chicago planned for this weekend and now I'll be spending half of it popping pills and blowing my nose. Why is it that you never get sick until you have someplace to go?

New Software

2005-01-31T15:30:00.000-06:00

Okay, okay, so I didn’t blog last week. Whoops! I was at a training in Des Plaines on Monday and Tuesday to learn about Adobe InDesign. My Desktop Publisher, Pam, retired at the end of December, which means now I have to design and execute the layout for all of my newsletters, member guides, forms, and whatnot. I used to just hand the content over and she would put everything into place. Most of our stuff is in Adobe PageMaker, which I have some experience with, but I figured if I was going to learn to use a program, I should just upgrade to InDesign.

So far, so good. I’ve been able to work with InDesign to create a document and have also converted some of the preexisting PageMaker documents. I’m excited about the extra responsibilities I’m taking on because it gives me a chance to learn something new and keeps me busier, which is always better than being bored.

Addicted to shoes?

2005-01-10T09:45:00.000-06:00

If you are a shoe addict like myself, you should really check out http://www.zappos.com. Not only do they have a huge selection and some reasonable sale prices, but they also have customer reviews to let you know if the shoe is true to size or really uncomfortable.

This site has excellent search capabilities including size, color, style, and heel height. The best part is that the shipping is free and if you don’t like your shoes, you ship them back for free. And you have an entire year to return them. It’s a great way for addicts to get a hit without leaving the comfort of home.

2005-01-07T19:18:00.000-06:00

The weather inspired me to take a picture of the tree outside my office building.

Resolutions

2005-01-03T11:56:00.000-06:00

It's fairly obvious that I haven't been too consistent with my blog activity. As in, there hasn't been any in months. So, I thought I would make it a New Year's resolution. I don't really like the concept of New Year's resolutions because they make you feel like you have to examine your life until you find something wrong with it that you should change in the upcoming year. However, the beginning of a new year does kind of feel like an opportunity to improve on the current quality of life you are leading. For procrastinators like myself, the start of a new calendar is a good reminder that time is indeed marching on. Having said all of that, here are my New Year's resolutions:

1. Lose the last 15 pounds of my original goal that seem to be clinging to me for dear life.
2. Blog more. Okay, maybe I should be more specific. Blog at least once a week.
3. Follow my budget that was created & then neglected in 2004. Or at least update it monthly like I'm supposed to.

2004-09-06T17:49:00.000-05:00

Another pattern picture...

2004-09-06T17:47:00.000-05:00

Example of pattern: a shot of my patio

2004-09-06T17:44:00.000-05:00

close-up of a painting in my apartment.

Freeze Frame

2004-09-06T17:32:00.000-05:00

I've always wanted to take a photography class, but never seemed to find right time or place until now. I signed up for a "Taking Better Pictures" class at Parkland College. Imagine my surprise when I walked into my first session and saw three people I work with! None of us knew that we had all registered for it. It's been nice to have each other's feedback on assignments.

So far, I'm really enjoying the class. It goes for five weeks and this week is class number three. Our first assignment was to pay attention to texture and pattern. Our second assignment, which I've been working on today, is to use black & white film. I've decided to share some of my shots, though I haven't quite figured out the best way to organize them on my blog yet.

Space Invasion

2004-08-31T10:58:00.000-05:00

I occupy a fairly capacious cube at my office. It's really meant for two people, but I've been happily hidden away solo for almost two years. I should also mention that this cube was a downgrade from an actual office complete with window and door.

My space seems to be prime office real estate right now. I narrowly avoided getting a cubemate in July. However, I found out today that my invasion of space is inevitable and I will soon be working with an audience. The employee in question seems to be friendly and quiet, so I probably won't even know she is here half the time. Hopefully. I feel like I'm back in college and have just opened my dorm room assignment to find out that I didn't get the single I requested.

Yoga

2004-08-05T11:46:00.000-05:00

I’ve started attending this yoga class at the Fitness Center on Wednesday nights. I figured it would be a good way to gain more flexibility & strength. I have to admit, it’s a lot harder than I anticipated and that kinda pisses me off! Here I thought it would be a nice “break” from my regular workout routine in the middle of the week. I'm pretty flexible and since it’s not straight-up cardio, I assumed it would be easy.

Not so much. It’s actually pretty challenging to continually switch & hold all of those poses. And it turns out I’m not as flexible as I thought I was. I’m particularly horrible at the balancing portion of the class. I look like I stopped off somewhere for happy hour before showing up. However, I do enjoy the challenge so I plan to keep going. I just know it will take some time before I feel any sort of euphoria from it.

First Blog

2004-07-26T12:47:00.000-05:00

After much encouragement from my tech-savvy boyfriend, I’ve decided to get on board with the concept of blogging. As a writer, it only makes sense that I find an outlet to document my thoughts. However, I still kinda feel like Doogie Houser at the end of an episode when he would type a couple of sentences on his old school computer to both sum up his day and offer some sort of introspective look at the universe. Remember how he would always pause right before the last few words? That lame theme music would play as he contemplated the perfect vocabulary to capture the essence of his experience. And then he would always type the last couple of words r-e-a-l-l-y s-l-o-w-l-y. I guess that was a primitive form of blogging.

I still find the concept of putting your thoughts out for the world to read intimidating and intriguing. I mean, why would anyone care what I had for breakfast or thought of a movie I had recently seen? I guess it’s just like having a diary, but how personal can a blog get if you know everyone can read it? Regardless, I feel that writing for leisure again instead of just for work will be a positive experience for me.