On a side note, I came across an article today that quoted Doris Kearns Goodwin speaking highly of the Red Sox, the Patriots, Kerry and Boston in general. Does this name ring a bell to anyone else??
Friday, October 29, 2004
crime and pumpkinishments
My mother revealed that she plans on foregoing the whole jack-o-lantern thing this year. WHAT?? That kind of thing just does not happen in our household. For all the Yankee, un-touchy-feely airs my mom puts on, there is a side to her that truly enjoys partaking of all the yearly traditions. She still signs "Santa" on our Christmas presents, fills our mailboxes with Cadbury Cream Eggs nestled in green plastic grass, sends me and my brother Valentine's Day cards and makes corned beef & cabbage on St. Pattie's day.
I suppose I should have taken it as a sign of things to come when she stopped hanging the advent calendar on November 30th.... But no Jack-o-lantern? Has she no soul? I just can't stop thinking about the throngs of small children who will have to skip our house this year. I mean, without a glowing pumpkin grinning toothily through the window, how will the kiddies know anyone is home?
Now that I think about it, my parents live in a development that is pretty anal about the upkeep of the neighborhood's houses/yards. Surely there is a footnote in their guidelines about the necessity of a Halloween jack-o-lantern. Or is there?
Having been unable, thus far, to convince my mom to break out her carving knife in the true spirit of All Hallow's Eve, I shall take it upon myself to carry the torch. So what if there are no kids living in my apartment complex? At least I will be able to sleep at night.
I suppose I should have taken it as a sign of things to come when she stopped hanging the advent calendar on November 30th.... But no Jack-o-lantern? Has she no soul? I just can't stop thinking about the throngs of small children who will have to skip our house this year. I mean, without a glowing pumpkin grinning toothily through the window, how will the kiddies know anyone is home?
Now that I think about it, my parents live in a development that is pretty anal about the upkeep of the neighborhood's houses/yards. Surely there is a footnote in their guidelines about the necessity of a Halloween jack-o-lantern. Or is there?
Having been unable, thus far, to convince my mom to break out her carving knife in the true spirit of All Hallow's Eve, I shall take it upon myself to carry the torch. So what if there are no kids living in my apartment complex? At least I will be able to sleep at night.
Thursday, October 28, 2004
now what?
It's weird - I suddenly find myself wondering what to do with all my free time, now that I don't have to rush around doing last-minute errands before a Sox game. I can take a nap if I want. I can do laundry, make an extravagant meal, go to happy hour with friends or join a community band. I can read a book, play with the cat, work out or hang out with my boyfriend.
Are any of those activities likely to happen in the coming non-baseball season? Sure. But the thing of which I am most certain is that a majority of my rediscovered free time will be devoted to more reality television than anything.
For a while, I actually thought baseball might be just the cure needed for my strange dependence on reality TV. But something needs to fill the void that Manny & co. have so cruelly left behind... right?
I'd elaborate on this, but that would mean missing out on some quality programming, so off I go...
Are any of those activities likely to happen in the coming non-baseball season? Sure. But the thing of which I am most certain is that a majority of my rediscovered free time will be devoted to more reality television than anything.
For a while, I actually thought baseball might be just the cure needed for my strange dependence on reality TV. But something needs to fill the void that Manny & co. have so cruelly left behind... right?
I'd elaborate on this, but that would mean missing out on some quality programming, so off I go...
Tuesday, October 26, 2004
Thursday, October 21, 2004
going all out
There really isn't that much more than can be said about the Events of Last Night that hasn't already been rehashed in today's newspapers, blogs, newscasts and water cooler conversations. Nevertheless, I shall submit my 2 cents.
I had my doubts. I think we all did after losing Games 1-3. For Games 4-7, I would say most of the doubt stemmed from the knowledge that, historically-speaking, the Yankees have almost always found a way to f*%$ us in the end, regardless of how phenomenal the Sox' lead might be. How was I to know that this time would be different? So, Sox (especially Manny!), please accept my apologies and newfound confidence in your wondrous athletic abilities. Your quest for the World Series championship WILL NOT BE IN VAIN.
So after the most winning win of all wins (for those interested, I was NOT able to complete my goal of downing 1 shot per run - t'would have been suicide!), the less allegiant of the motley crew that had gathered at our apartment slowly dispersed, while the rest of us prepared for the long night ahead. I was charged with finding a long stick on which to carry a vandalized photo of Jeter that had been posted in the apartment gym prior to game time. As it turned out, the photo had been taken down by the time we arrived, so we attached less-than-ideal, half-deflated balloons instead. It was the best we could do given the resources. A group of about 8 of us then marched/chanted our way down to Paddy Red's to meet up with various other Sox fans and drink Sam Adams. Highlights of the night:
I had my doubts. I think we all did after losing Games 1-3. For Games 4-7, I would say most of the doubt stemmed from the knowledge that, historically-speaking, the Yankees have almost always found a way to f*%$ us in the end, regardless of how phenomenal the Sox' lead might be. How was I to know that this time would be different? So, Sox (especially Manny!), please accept my apologies and newfound confidence in your wondrous athletic abilities. Your quest for the World Series championship WILL NOT BE IN VAIN.
So after the most winning win of all wins (for those interested, I was NOT able to complete my goal of downing 1 shot per run - t'would have been suicide!), the less allegiant of the motley crew that had gathered at our apartment slowly dispersed, while the rest of us prepared for the long night ahead. I was charged with finding a long stick on which to carry a vandalized photo of Jeter that had been posted in the apartment gym prior to game time. As it turned out, the photo had been taken down by the time we arrived, so we attached less-than-ideal, half-deflated balloons instead. It was the best we could do given the resources. A group of about 8 of us then marched/chanted our way down to Paddy Red's to meet up with various other Sox fans and drink Sam Adams. Highlights of the night:
- banging so hard on the bar that the bartender had to stabilize the tip jars to prevent them from crashing
- watching a fan stand on a barstool and dance/striptease while getting a $20 stuffed down his pants by another guy
- singing cliché Queen songs
- getting picked up and slung over the shoulder of a man whose face I cannot remember... and then spinning in mid-air
- meeting a fellow fan who looked eerily like Jason Varitek
Tuesday, October 19, 2004
don't stop believing
Well there was certainly no need for the rally cap tonight!
Having taken the obligatory shot de célébration, LT & I have begun to plan tomorrow's Game 7 fiesta. All are invited - just show up at Apt #728 at 7 pm!
Having taken the obligatory shot de célébration, LT & I have begun to plan tomorrow's Game 7 fiesta. All are invited - just show up at Apt #728 at 7 pm!
Monday, October 18, 2004
hell. yes.
It must have had something to do with my rally cap. Or perhaps the sheer athletic genius of David Ortiz. Nevertheless, I am drunk, the Sox rule and Apt. #728 is going to be on their feet tomorrow for Game 6!
"can i have a redo?"
It was looking like a slow day this morning... And then one of my 3 pod-mates* asked me to do several high-priority, minutely-detailed projects, and I was off and running. In fact, I stayed through lunch, and by the time 4:00 rolled around, I had barely noticed where the time had gone. It's probably safe to say that I had worked myself into that strange state where everything seems hilarious.
Towards the end of the day, another of my pod-mates began to complain aloud about how his new computer was misbehaving. Just that morning, he had been unable to run any Flash demos. Now he searching "life cycles" on Google, and none of the links were working. His clicks were all for naught, and that was pretty funny by itself. He then called me over to see for myself, so I obliged by rolling backwards toward his corner of the pod and swiveling to face him.
If only the link had worked....
* As of about a month ago, my group moved from one-person cubicles to 4-people, low-walled enclosures that we affectionately refer to as "pods." While pods do not promote as much efficiency as upper-management mightlike, us pod-heads have gotten to know each other on a much more personal level...
Towards the end of the day, another of my pod-mates began to complain aloud about how his new computer was misbehaving. Just that morning, he had been unable to run any Flash demos. Now he searching "life cycles" on Google, and none of the links were working. His clicks were all for naught, and that was pretty funny by itself. He then called me over to see for myself, so I obliged by rolling backwards toward his corner of the pod and swiveling to face him.
"See? If I click on any link on the page,"click," it doesn't do anything."He looked back at his monitor to see that his "example-click" had inadvertently been on the words "Taking Charge of your Fertility."
"That's pretty weird, considering it's a new.... whoa, whoa, WHAT are you DOING over here?"
If only the link had worked....
* As of about a month ago, my group moved from one-person cubicles to 4-people, low-walled enclosures that we affectionately refer to as "pods." While pods do not promote as much efficiency as upper-management mightlike, us pod-heads have gotten to know each other on a much more personal level...
Sunday, October 17, 2004
in other news
I still love the Sox. It's not looking so hot, but, let's face it - they're still a great team to watch, and if the Yankees make it to the World Series, they'll probably just lose again. Which will be pretty damned satisfying.
So... Go Astros?
So... Go Astros?
kitty update
So in addition to giving the cat foul-smelling orally-ingested antibiotics, we must now give eardrops and a pill! As if Matilda didn't hate me enough already.
The vet mentioned that feline herpes can flare up in response to high-stress situations. Could this illness have been caused by the traumatic removal of her paw bandages last week? Hmm...
The vet mentioned that feline herpes can flare up in response to high-stress situations. Could this illness have been caused by the traumatic removal of her paw bandages last week? Hmm...
Saturday, October 16, 2004
matilda woes
According to the diagnosis that my roommate and I have decided upon, my cat has a cold. This is not your normal, everyday hairball wheezing/hacking/other disgusting gutteral cat noises. This is sniffling, sneezing, and loss of appetite. And if she could talk, I'm sure she'd tell us all about her muscle aches and sore throat. She is officially the most human cat I have ever known!
Is it bad to give your cat Nyquil?
Is it bad to give your cat Nyquil?
Thursday, October 14, 2004
ew.
So there's this guy, A.K.A. "the Creep" that I met last summer. We met under unusual circumstances at work - he wanted me to help him out on a project he was working on for the county's Asian American Chamber of Commerce. And by "help out," I really mean "schmooze." He thought he was doing a favor by introducing me to the world of climbing the corporate ladder. For those of you who work for large corporations such as myself, you may have heard of Harvey Coleman. In a nutshell, Coleman believes that the way to be successful in life is to abide by the rules of P.I.E. - Performance, Image and Exposure. It did not take me long to figure out that the Creep is a religious follower of the Coleman way of life. He drives a new Mercedes that he can't afford, attends exhaustingly boring meetings and forums of all sorts throughout the DFW metroplex, strips himself of all signs that his culture stems from another country... And all this for sole purpose of adding new contacts to his Blackberry and advancing in the corporate culture of America.
To the Creep, everything is black and white. For every action, you are dealing with imaginary chips. Do a favor for someone, get a chip. Burn a bridge, lose two chips. In the end, you are looking at your pile of chips and evaluating what you have done with your life. And that's fine. It really doesn't matter to me how he sees the world. It seems to make him happy, and that is a good thing. It bothers me, however, when he tries to brainwash me into adopting the same ideology. It shames me to admit that it took me a little while to see how insane it all was. But when you start working somewhere, you inherently want to make a good impression, and I was certainly no exception. So I allowed myself to be dragged to the meaningless meetings that cut into my dinners & must-see-TV. I went to lunch with the Creep to see what new Colemanism he would unleash that day. After a while, his devout behavior even became comedic to me.
That all changed when he started referring to me as the "hottie with the high metabolism," among other uncomfortable expressions. It may not have happened at work, but it was nevertheless highly inappropriate and uncalled for. So you will understand my reasons for trying to cut off contact with him. The last time he asked me to join him for lunch, I had a "conflict," and I hadn't heard back from him since. But yesterday, the Creep somehow thought of me and said to himself, "I haven't talked to H in a long time. I should invite her to lunch and make sure she remains a reliable Blackberry contact." And, for some reason, I have a hard time being mean to people, especially if they can be deemed harmless. So he invited, I accepted, and off to lunch we went. It was as tortuous as expected, but I suppose it could have been worse.
So the question is, is it wrong to maintain a relationship with someone just because it's too hard to cut them off? Or worse, because of the possibility that you may someday benefit from them?
To the Creep, everything is black and white. For every action, you are dealing with imaginary chips. Do a favor for someone, get a chip. Burn a bridge, lose two chips. In the end, you are looking at your pile of chips and evaluating what you have done with your life. And that's fine. It really doesn't matter to me how he sees the world. It seems to make him happy, and that is a good thing. It bothers me, however, when he tries to brainwash me into adopting the same ideology. It shames me to admit that it took me a little while to see how insane it all was. But when you start working somewhere, you inherently want to make a good impression, and I was certainly no exception. So I allowed myself to be dragged to the meaningless meetings that cut into my dinners & must-see-TV. I went to lunch with the Creep to see what new Colemanism he would unleash that day. After a while, his devout behavior even became comedic to me.
That all changed when he started referring to me as the "hottie with the high metabolism," among other uncomfortable expressions. It may not have happened at work, but it was nevertheless highly inappropriate and uncalled for. So you will understand my reasons for trying to cut off contact with him. The last time he asked me to join him for lunch, I had a "conflict," and I hadn't heard back from him since. But yesterday, the Creep somehow thought of me and said to himself, "I haven't talked to H in a long time. I should invite her to lunch and make sure she remains a reliable Blackberry contact." And, for some reason, I have a hard time being mean to people, especially if they can be deemed harmless. So he invited, I accepted, and off to lunch we went. It was as tortuous as expected, but I suppose it could have been worse.
So the question is, is it wrong to maintain a relationship with someone just because it's too hard to cut them off? Or worse, because of the possibility that you may someday benefit from them?
Wednesday, October 13, 2004
just shoot me
Today was one of those work days that everyone has upon returning from an extended weekend. I walked in, saw that abominable red light on my phone, sighed, and hunkered down for a long day of checking voice mails and returning emails highlighted in bold. Which is really not all that terrible, since such days pass by much more quickly than those void of "New Message" popups and incessant call-center-like ringing.
It was all well and good until I did what I was supposed to do. I gathered the appropriate data. I put up with being pushed aside despite the fact that I had a deadline (albeit self-imposed) of 5 pm this evening. In fact, I was still gathering data at 4:20 this afternoon, when my great-grand-boss decided to have an impromptu meeting - with me at the helm, and no preparations in hand. Fabulous! Nevertheless, I toiled through it all and emerged victorious when I sent the data on its way with 7 minutes to spare.
NOT TWO MINUTES LATER, I received a frantic email begging for more explanation.
Do you really mean that your group will need an additional 2 million plus dollars in your budget? Do you understand that as operating costs grow we are trying to CUT BACK on corporate costs? Don't you know that money must be saved somewhere??
Yes, I understand. I know where you're coming from. But I'm just the messenger, and, after mentally formulating a politically correct response to you, it's now 5:03 and I am officially wiping my hands clean of this.
At least for today.
It was all well and good until I did what I was supposed to do. I gathered the appropriate data. I put up with being pushed aside despite the fact that I had a deadline (albeit self-imposed) of 5 pm this evening. In fact, I was still gathering data at 4:20 this afternoon, when my great-grand-boss decided to have an impromptu meeting - with me at the helm, and no preparations in hand. Fabulous! Nevertheless, I toiled through it all and emerged victorious when I sent the data on its way with 7 minutes to spare.
NOT TWO MINUTES LATER, I received a frantic email begging for more explanation.
Do you really mean that your group will need an additional 2 million plus dollars in your budget? Do you understand that as operating costs grow we are trying to CUT BACK on corporate costs? Don't you know that money must be saved somewhere??
Yes, I understand. I know where you're coming from. But I'm just the messenger, and, after mentally formulating a politically correct response to you, it's now 5:03 and I am officially wiping my hands clean of this.
At least for today.
Tuesday, October 12, 2004
musings on a weekend well-spent
Happiness is reuniting with your childhood best friend and realizing that, while you have both grown and matured throughout the years, you will always retain a certain bond that allows you to finish each others' thoughts. To choose eerily similar outfits for the day by mere coincidence. To recall entire events of your childhood by merely uttering a few words of a phrase. To realize that you still share an affinity for the same style of small-ass (but not XSmall-ass) underwear. To share a new story or past experience and know that it will be understood and appreciated without need for any explanation. To spend 4 straight days and 3 straight nights without getting sick of one another.
And then there's that other happiness that comes when you are truly content with your life. I have been living in Texas for just over 2 unconsecutive years, and have, at times, wondered if this is really what I want. If living here is something that I do because of the steady income, or somethat that was done by choice. After spending a long weekend with someone that appears, by all standards of a typical Texas resident, to have a fabulously exciting life and everything going for her, one might think that I would be on the first one-way flight to anywhere-but-the-Bible-Belt. So might I.
Which is why it was so surprising - and refreshing - to discover that spending the weekend with said friend was actually exactly the kick in the pants I needed to realize how great it is here. Of course there are times when I miss living in a big city. But I've been there, done that. Where else can I go to a real-life rodeo, eat fried cheesecake, wear t-shirts 10 months out of the year, and hop on a cruise ship to Mexico? Life in Texas continues to be an adjustment, but I am really starting to see it for what it is - a new chapter in my life. Eventually, this chapter will probably end. But until that happens, I plan on turning over a new leaf and enjoying all the fruits that this great state has to offer!
Having come to this conclusion during the drive back from the airport, my resolve to approach TX life anew was strengthened when I was met in downtown Cowtown by a BNSF coal train slowly pulling into the station as I sped under the tracks towards home. Now if that isn't symbolic, I just don't know what is.
And besides, when I get really homesick for the East Coast, a plane ticket is just $189 away...
And then there's that other happiness that comes when you are truly content with your life. I have been living in Texas for just over 2 unconsecutive years, and have, at times, wondered if this is really what I want. If living here is something that I do because of the steady income, or somethat that was done by choice. After spending a long weekend with someone that appears, by all standards of a typical Texas resident, to have a fabulously exciting life and everything going for her, one might think that I would be on the first one-way flight to anywhere-but-the-Bible-Belt. So might I.
Which is why it was so surprising - and refreshing - to discover that spending the weekend with said friend was actually exactly the kick in the pants I needed to realize how great it is here. Of course there are times when I miss living in a big city. But I've been there, done that. Where else can I go to a real-life rodeo, eat fried cheesecake, wear t-shirts 10 months out of the year, and hop on a cruise ship to Mexico? Life in Texas continues to be an adjustment, but I am really starting to see it for what it is - a new chapter in my life. Eventually, this chapter will probably end. But until that happens, I plan on turning over a new leaf and enjoying all the fruits that this great state has to offer!
Having come to this conclusion during the drive back from the airport, my resolve to approach TX life anew was strengthened when I was met in downtown Cowtown by a BNSF coal train slowly pulling into the station as I sped under the tracks towards home. Now if that isn't symbolic, I just don't know what is.
And besides, when I get really homesick for the East Coast, a plane ticket is just $189 away...
Monday, October 11, 2004
Bienvenue!
So here I am, finally jumping on the blogging bandwagon. I am simultaneously ashamed and elated. Enjoy, and cheers to the multitudes of posts that surely await you....
I wonder how long it will be until I tire of this project?
I wonder how long it will be until I tire of this project?
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