Hey guys just wanted to let you know that I'm going to be deleting this account and creating another that's actually locked down and not available to the general public. Since lj makes me lock down prior entries one by one and I've been on this for 6 years I think it'll be easier if I just create a new one. I'll email those of you I chatter with on a semi regular basis with the new username I've made. Thanks and bye.

www.youtube.com/watch

Best YouTube video I've seen in ages. The sad thing is that this is the actual video footage from Total Eclipse of the Heart by Bonnie Tyler. Dang the 80s were warped but I still love them.

Call me insane, but there's nothing I hate more than having to cook and worry about what I'm going to eat during the work week. I get up early, I do chores (generally cleaning), get ready and work 10-6. By the time I'm done the last thing I want to do is cook. I want to go outside and enjoy the city and the weather.

Every Sunday like clockwork I do a massive cooking marathon. I make lunches, snacks, and dinners to last me through the week. This also means I have a better chance of doing the whole healthy well rounded meal thing. It's also on weekends when I tend to do my laundry. Dang I'm really lazy during the week!

So today I did 6 loads of laundry -- don't judge me! It was laundry day for bedding. Call me crazy, but I'm a firm believer that darks should be washed together, then lights, bright colors, then towels, then if bedding applies then sheets in one load and blankets in another. Yes I'm horribly domesticated. I also battled a wicked stain and lost. I'm not giving up though -- I found a how to clean things website. I will beat this stain into submission dammit!

It's 1am and I have my weekly menu planned and went to Meijer to pick everything up. I made a nice fruit salad for either breakfast or snacks of strawberries grapes and pears.

Lunch: http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/category/chick_food/ in wrap form.
Dinner: http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2008/08/crispy-yogurt-chicken/
http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2008/11/oven-roasted-asparagus/
Then I'm going to make some redskin potatoes, but am not sure how to cook them yet. I'm considering roasting them in the oven; boiling them then adding butter, parsley and salt/pepper to taste; boiling them then adding a lil milk and horseradish to make horseradish mashed redskins; or continue the pioneer woman route and do this: http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2008/06/crash-hot-potatoes/

I don't think I should be thinking all this crap, much less cooking it this late at night. So torn. I think I might just clean and cut up the potatoes and wash the asparagus. The ingredients for the crispy yogurt chicken are all organized, mixed and ready to go.

Aside from the sheer domestication seen here, I've been having an amazing weekend! Thursday was shared birthday night at the Bayview. Paul sang songs dedicated to me and honestly it was just a good time at karaoke. I love the people, the atmosphere and the music. The next day, Sarah (and tot -- we just found out she's pregnant) came to town and we went all over the area shopping, eating and drinking. We started in Frankfort then went to Traverse, Suttons Bay, Lake Leelanau, Leland, Glen Arbor, Empire and back to Frankfort. I'll make a post later with pictures. Saturday was spent relaxing with Brian. We ended up walking all over downtown. On our way to Mack. Brewing Co, I spotted a carriage ride. I determined I wanted a pony ride. We went to an ATM, got cash then began walking all over town trying to find the pony for me. Needless to say we never found the pony. However it was promised to me that another weekend we'll go downtown early and I will indeed get my pony ride.

I'm in two weddings this spring/summer. Mind you I've never had to be in one, nor have I really had the strong desire. I guess I'm not a typical girl that way. We picked out dresses for the first wedding and the style is strapless but we purchased them with the understanding that a halter strap would be sewn on.

Yesterday I went to get my dress and have it altered. When I was measured months ago the lady told me that she was ordering me a larger size than what I'd normally take because of my chest (big shocker I know). So I walk in expecting to have this dress be huge and you know, have straps.

I put on the dress and it fits perfectly, just snug enough. In the back of my head I freaked a little. I asked the lady about the straps and she told me that the girls had decided to go strapless without me. That's when I started to freak out out loud. The lady assures me that the top is high enough that I won't have a problem. Instantly I started plotting a way to lock and load the wonder twins so they don't make a public appearance. Mind you I'm still planning on having what I call "boob patrol" at both the ceremony and the reception (two of my best friends I can actually trust and not the flying monkeys from this circus of a wedding).

So the size thing was still bothering me. I knew I hadn't gone up an entire size. I haven't bought clothes and mine still fit perfectly fine, and honestly I'm not usually the type to be concerned about this kind of stuff, but still it was disconcerting. Well the bride called me later that night and informed me that she'd swapped dresses. The dress ordered for me ended up going to her sister because the sister's dress was too small for her. Big relief! No wonder the damned thing fit like a glove!

I will say this, however. After this summer, I don't think I'll be in another wedding ever. I don't mind being in the second wedding. Honestly I'm quite happy I get to stand up, mainly because I'm friends with both the bride and the groom. The one wedding however makes me never ever want to do this again. The experience has been so awful that I don't think I even want a wedding if and when I get married myself. Too.... much.... estrogen...

I'm in a couple weddings this summer, and I had to buy some shoes to be in the first one before I get my dress taken in on Tuesday. These are my new shoes, which I fondly refer to as sex on a stick.




On another note, I forgot that tomorrow's Easter and had like no food for next week. I made the horrid mistake of going to Meijer at 11:30. It was scary.

I have a few big decisions to make. For the past few years I've been making financial decisions, career moves and more. It's been difficult, but I feel as though I've been thoroughly prepared to cope. Ever since I can remember I've been taught to take care of myself and my career before I even remotely thought about relationships. I have the degree, the apartment and the career so now what?

Now that I've gotten myself settled it looks like I'm going to have to start thinking about things I've never been taught to think about. My problem is that I don't know if I'm making the right choices. I'm trying to be logical, but I don't know if I should be using logic at this point.

Just GAH! I hate decisions.

I've been home for about 3 weeks now and decided last Thursday it has been far too long since I went to karaoke. It was such an amazing night. I was exhausted the next day at work, but so worth it. Katie and I decided to meet up after far too long. Paul told us dirty jokes, we grabbed a bite to eat and sang about 6 or 7 songs each and had a rough time talking by the end of the night.

The most entertaining part was when we saw a guy walk in the bar wearing carpenter jeans and a green MSU hat with the obligatory white S on it. He had dark hair was fairly tall and had a mustache. I swear he looked so much like Luigi from Mario Bros. that Katie and I kept singing the song and making references. The best part -- THE GUY'S REAL NAME IS LUIGI! That was my exciting Thursday night.

So I was given my first project at work last week. Apparently our Grassroots group is working on setting up home offices around the country. From what I can tell, this is a beta group. The end of last week, my boss pulled me aside and asked if I'd help create a network diagram using Visio. I've never used Visio before but said I could do it. I put in a ticket to get Visio on my machine, and didn't get it installed till today.

I hopped on and whipped up the diagram no problem. Then I sent it to my boss asking if he needed anything else. He then pointed me to one of the field support guys and said that he'd give me the rest of the info I need. According to the field tech, I need to make this documentation as though my grandma was going to use it to connect. HOLY HELL! My deadline is noonish tomorrow. I have to find images for a Cisco router, a modem, a Dell laptop, and an HP all-in-one. So far the HP is covered and I managed to find images of the Dell laptop and a generic modem, ethernet cords, coax, and a usb printer cable.

Tonight I busted out my Mac and beloved Adobe products to edit the photos. I found a picture of a generic router (to show what the ports look like on the back), and all I need to do tomorrow is write up the documentation for that. Oh yeah I also have to instruct these people how to connect via Remote Desktop and VPN. I got those screen shots today -- mind you I didn't know how to do that on our network till I got a crash course this afternoon. I also need to say under which circumstances they should connect via Remote Desktop vs. VPN. Looks like I have my work cut out for me.

I'm just glad I have all my images gathered! I'm keeping my fingers crossed, because dang I don't want to fall flat on my face for my first project!

Oh -- Happy Late St. Pat's everyone!

I've officially moved...again. This time seems different than the others. Despite the fact that I was sick as a dog, had to come up with a moving truck in less than 24hrs in west Michigan on a Sunday, and had to struggle in terms of money, I'm thrilled. I feel like I've come home for the first time in a long time. I'm not completely settled yet, but I only have 2 boxes left to unpack.

I had my first day at work today and I already love it. I'm familiar with the phone system and a few other things, but i know I have a lot more to learn. My office is referred to as the Bat Cave, and I'm surrounded by nerds. My co-workers and bosses are kind and approachable, and I even get 16 paid hours a year to work community service.

I'm home, nearish to my mommy, I have my friends, and feel like I'm on the right track. My apartment's walking distance to work, I have a view of the river, can hear ducks outside and hell I even have my own little deck. One of these days I'll post some photos. I just need to finish hanging curtains and pictures.

Realized a few things today:

1. Mr. Bean on Telemundo is HILARIOUS. Hearing his voice making his strange noises then hearing a big strong spanish man speak the dialogue cracks me up.

2. Gregory Peck was a bit of a hottie. I just watched Roman Holiday and I found myself drooling over him a bit.

3. Kiss Me Kate wasn't as good as I hoped, although I loved the song "I Hate Men." Gold star to my boy for actually watching the thing last weekend after I fell asleep in his lap. You know you have a good one when.

4. Dominos pizza is better than Pizza Hut Pizza -- not nearly as greasy. None however is as good as Papanos.

5. I only have one more week of doing coin operated laundry. Too bad coin operated laundry isn't nearly as fun as Coin Operated Boy...

6. Lindsey and I remain strange as ever. Tonight's example: mmmn...sexy roving... Ooh that's as sexy as Gregory Peck.

The stress of moving and starting a new job is getting to me. You'd think I'd be used to it at this point. I'm becoming a pro. I have to dedicate 9hrs to work a day (I get an hour for lunch but I'm still in work clothes and can't accomplish nearly as much as I'd like in that time) and by the time I get home I'm just drained. I have my responsibilities around my apartment and have to organize a move and figure how the hell I'm going to pull this off both financially and physically.

I try to go to bed at a decent time but there's so much to do that I never get to sleep early enough. When I lay in bed, I can't seem to turn my brain off either. So here I sit trying to get my brain to shut the hell up before going to bed. Woo distraction.

( Survey...Yeah I'm that bored )

I think I've finally done it -- I found a job. I know I've said that a million times over, but I think this time I found THE job. It's an IT Help Desk Analyst position, which is essentially the same thing I've been doing for the past year or so. The kicker is that this company's nothing short of fantastic.

I don't have to pay for my benefits package at all, I get vacation/sick/personal time and am able to earn it as I work. I also get paid time off for community service, which I adore! The dress code is business casual and jeans are acceptable.

When I went in for the interview, people were cracking nerd jokes (there was one about the mac wheel) and were incredibly nice. The best part is that when I walked through the door the building seemed like the kind of office I've wanted to work in since I was in high school.

The icing on the cake is that the job's located in Traverse City. Granted it means I have to move yet AGAIN, but I'm thinking this time I've found what's going to keep me for a long time. There's plenty of opportunity for upward mobility, and my schedule would be perfect for taking classes and getting an IT degree of sorts.


http://www.hagerty.com/HR/HR_Life.aspx

I want to know exactly when having a good work ethic, a desire to perform a job to the best of one's ability, and integrity became negatives. I'm disgusted with my experience as of late. Why is it people who have the drive to succeed and the desire to do the right thing are punished while others who simply don't care are given all the glory?

This is getting to me more and more. When I get home at the end of the day, I'm so drained and angry that I have no desire to do anything. I feel as though I'm being attacked on a personal level, and I'm not quite sure how to process it. People say to fight injustice. I've been fighting so many things for so long that I'm getting worn out.

It's time to put me and my racing mind to bed. Thank goodness for the ability to lose myself in a good book to put my mind at ease at night.

For the past week I've been amazingly lucky. I've been out in the snow and over in 70 degree weather, the flight and the hotel have been free, and meals are paid. The only kicker is that I've had to work all day long, but the weekend dammit was mine. Friday night the co-workers took me out for sushi and then proceeded to get me bombed.

Yesterday I walked all over Venice Beach, saw the Hollywood sign, went to Graumen's Chinese Theater and the Kodak Theater, had lunch on the Pacific Ocean, and even got to take a sneak peak inside the Pantegas Theater. It was so amazing!

Sadly I left my nice digital camera at home, but I did manage to pick up a disposable camera while at Venice Beach. Didn't know they still made those, but damn I'm glad they do!

I'll be out here all this week and have to leave Friday. Thankfully I was smart enough to put a snow shovel in the back of my car so I can dig it out when I get back to the snow and ice.

Just wanted to drop a quick note wishing everyone a Merry Kwazahakavus. It's nice to be back up north again -- the snow's draped all over the trees and it's just a fluffy white wonderland up here. I've missed the deep snow and just how pretty it can be.

So Happy Holidays everyone -- will catch y'all in the new year!

I need to develop and nurture the budding career I have in IT. I likes it.
I need to clean my apartment.
I should do a load of darks before I leave Wednesday.
I hope I'm not driving through a blizzard on Wednesday when I go home.
I should do my dishes.
I need to finish wrapping and gathering my Christmas presents.
I really cherish some of my family members and barely tolerate the others.
I miss my dad.
I hope Brian's not dead in a ditch somewhere.
I have an exceptionally pretty Christmas tree this year.
I need to start plotting my trip to Disney in January.
I should research how to have enough work clothes to last for 2 weeks in CA.
I can't wait to have my (if he's not in a ditch) boyfriend down here for a few days for the new year.
I hope my friends and family have a safe and wonderful holiday.

I finally got my hair done for the first time since before I first interviewed with CED. My ends were shaggy, my color was growing out and fading. The color's not quite as red as the picture. It's more brown than anything else. The best part is that I made a new friend. The shampoo girl is amazingly fun. She and I ended up exchanging digits. I may be able to check out the bar scene after all!










Side note. I hate people who monopolize the laundry room. My neighbors are so rude and inconsiderate. Set a damned timer already!

I think I may be breaking my unlucky spell. The key word here is think. I have my tree working again, I may have indeed saved my favorite pair of khakis, and as far as I can tell the microwave still works.

I've had another new revelation, and I'm not sure it's the best. From what I can tell my company outright sucks. They're cheap and the upward mobility that was talked up in my interview doesn't happen if an employee's any good with his or her job. Quite frankly that doesn't make for good news for me.

As far as I can remember I've been an exceptional employee after the initial training period. Once I get used to a job and start to familiarize myself with the industry and the generic quirks I become much more comfortable and with that comes the confidence I need to make the position my own. Damndamndamn.

I want my old job back in the worst way. I adore Traverse City to no end. I thought moving here would be okay and that I'd have the conveniences I'm used to. I was wrong. The nearest Macy's is a 45 minute drive and a time change away. Most of the good shopping is in Indiana or Grand Rapids. I'm sorry but I like a 10 minute drive to the mall. Don't get me wrong, there are benefits to living here and I have a fantastic apartment. I just really miss Traverse as a whole. It really is an exceptionally great town.

I'm making the best of my time down here. I'm spending a lot of time taking care of myself and getting settled although I'm still keeping my eye on another possible job. On the bright side, work's sending me to Westlake Village CA for a couple of weeks in January. I'm so pumped! I think that the weekend I'm there I'll be making a trek to Disney! A friend suggested in depth places that I go and see while I'm there and quite frankly, I'm pretty pumped about it. The only trick is what to wear?!?

Brian's had a streak of bad luck to put it mildly the past couple days so last night he told me not to do anything stupid. This was of course after I accidentally put a twisty tie in the microwave for 10 seconds. Then shortly after that, my entire Christmas tree went out.

This morning I got up and got ready for work and on my way out to my death trap of a loaner car, I slipped and fell square on my ass, possibly ruining my favorite pair of khakis. While at work, I spilled some tea on myself.

Can I be like a groundhog and sleep curled up in my little bed till winter's over? That's the only thing I can feel I'm able to do without causing too much trouble...