Sunday Quote Blogging

"I believe in looking reality straight in the eye & denying it."
~ Garrison Keillor

"Make It All Okay"

So here I sit at in front of my computer in my comfy, clean apartment listening to R.E.M.'s Around the Sun. Yes, musically I'm going back to those oh so formative years of early High School & college. R.E.M. is one of those bands that has been kinda a soundtrack of sorts for different stages in my life. There are so many great lyrics from this album.

But what I'm really doing behind all the reminiscing is putting off doing work. I must finish the August Schedule for work before I go into work tomorrow morning...and yet here I sit finding more leisurely things to be done with my time. What can I say ~ I worked a 10 hour day yesterday (not counting lunch & dinner breaks) & an 8 hour day today, and tomorrow will probably be somewhere in the ballpark of 9 hours building up to Saturday that will be somewhere between 10 & 13 hours in all likelihood.

And so putting in some hours at home (which will also be added in on my timesheet) just isn't all that appealing. The good news is that the event causing all of these extra hours is coming along nicely. My first large scale event! And things are falling into place smoothly for me so I'm pretty happy with my progress thus far. We'll see how Saturday goes...Keep your fingers crossed. :0)

A Lesson I Learned Today:
Today I learned that being the boss is much easier with a new hire who hasn't known you as a co-worker & friend before you became their boss. And I also learned that being the boss can make you an easy target for people to blame their own insecurities on...which of course translates into "You're a bitch." Isn't life grand?! If only I had time to give half a damn about petty ass shit like that this week! Whatever.

Okay...I'm off to get some work done...I promise. God I can't wait until I don't have to be the boss again! What a great day that will be!

Random Useless Knowledge Blogging

Two hundred and twenty six soldiers lost their lives in 1850 when they crossed a suspension bridge that spanned the Maine at Angers, France. It turns out that they were all marching in step and had caused an increased resonance (vibration) to the bridge. Ever since, troops are ordered to march rout step (march out of step) when crossing a bridge.

~Source: Why Some Shoes Squeak by George W. Stimpson, 1984, pg. 115

Clean Again, Clean Again

I've spent the vast majority of my day cleaning my apartment, and thank goodness! This place may be small, but it was a disaster! Being so busy at work seems to have left little energy to keep up with things at home. This place was in need of a drastic clean! And so I did a complete once over...and believe it or not - it actually took me over half of my day. In this tiny apartment! The good news is that I won't need to do this intense of a clean again for a few months. The better news is that I actually feel more relaxed is my newly cleaned apartment than I did in my mess of an apartment.

Tonight I'm going out to dinner with my parents & Grandma for a late Birthday dinner. Yummy Mexican food at Loma Linda's!!

Sunday Quote Blogging

"You hate America don't you?"

"That would be as silly as loving it...It's impossible for me to get emotional about it, because real estate doesn't interest me. It's no doubt a great flaw in my personality, but I can't think in terms of boundaries. Those imaginary lines are as unreal to me as clues & pixies. I can't believe that they mark the end or beginning of anything of real concern to a human soul. Virtues & vices, pleasures & pains cross boundaries at will."

~ Kurt Vonnegut Jr.
from his novel Mother Night

Random Picture Blogging

Sal loves getting his picture taken!

Whatever.

I'm whipped out. This week work has just been crazier than normal. Busy as hell from the moment I arrive until the moment I leave...and the time between arrival & departure seems to be significantly longer than normal. The overtime pay will be cool though. Next week hopefully will slow down a bit, but we have a large scale event next Saturday that I'm in charge of as well as an evening charter during the week that I'm in charge of. And oh yeah - we have a new hire starting as well that I'll be going through orientation with & training. So maybe realistically I'm looking at yet another crazy ass week. But at least the end is in sight. Past next week things will slow down significantly as far as events I'm responsible for go so that's a good thing. With the current & upcoming craziness, it might be safe to assume that my blogging will be little...my days off might offer time to get caught up, but sleep may take precedence. I'm sure my 2 loyal readers will understand.

What else. A guess not a whole lot. My life this right now has been nothing but work and work has been busy & stressful. Plenty of events to plan, equipment issues to deal with, staffing issues to deal with. It's a good time.

Hazed & Infused!

Yes, that's the name of the beer that I'm drinking at the moment. Thanks Casey for introducing me to the name...I saw it last time I was buying beer & thought I'd give it a try. After a 8 3/4 hour work day - it's tasting pretty damn good! God does it feel good to relax after a long day at work with a cold beer in hand. I will definitely drink to that!

It is going to be a busy week at work. Thus far this pay week, I've worked at total of 18.25 hours in 2 days. Tomorrow will be another long houred day as I have a meeting first thing in the morning & another meeting at 6pm...god only knows when I'll be done for the day. Hopefully Friday I can put in a normal day...maybe even a short day. And Saturday is a rather large scale event that I'm partially in charge of - which means that I'll need to be there early to set up, stay through the event, & stay late to clean up & what not. And it's the first time we've done this event, so who knows how long people will stay & how much of a mess we'll have to clean up?! I'm hoping that we get a good crowd of people, but you never know...Especially since it's the first time we've tried it. And the location is kind of out in the middle of nowhere, so we'll see.

In other news, life is good. Randy bought me the newest George Carlin book as part of my birthday gifts. I started into it last night. So far it's hilarious - as should be expected from Carlin. Look forward to Carlin having some input in any up and coming Sunday Quote Blogging posts.

Birthday Blogging

Yesterday was my 26th birthday. Thanks to all of you who sent birthday greeting (via e-mail or post office) & to those who helped make it a great day!

Luckily for me, my birthday just happen to fall on a Monday - which is my traditional day off from work, so yeah for me! I spent the morning just lounging around the apartment in PJs. I cooked up a great breakfast with a fruit & yogurt dessert. Finally got changed into real clothes sometime around lunch. I wrote a couple of short letters. And had big intentions of getting out & about to do a little shopping. But ended up sending a long winded e-mail to one of my old roommies (Hi Tory!) and crashing out half awake on the couch for the afternoon. It was birthday - I was allowed to be a lazy lump of poo if I wanted to damn it!

Randy came over after work, with yet more goodies for my birthday! We went to dinner at the docks for some great Italian food. It dawned on me as we were waiting for our food that we had gone to the same place for dinner a couple months ago for Randy's birthday. Weird. Food was great, drinks were great, company was of course great. And our waitress provided some dinner entertainment.

So now I'm officially a year older. Woo Hoo. It was a great birthday though...thanks to everyone who helped make me feel special for a day! You guys rock!

As for the rest of my day today, I plan on taking it easy & writing some more letters. And if I ever get modivated maybe I'll go out & that shopping that never got done yesterday.

Sunday Quote Blogging

"You realize that our mistrust of the future makes it hard to give up the past. We can't give up our concept of who we were. All those adults playing archaeologist at yard sales, looking for childhood artifacts, board games, Candyland, Twister, they're terrified. Trash becomes holy relics. Mystery Date. Hula Hoops. Our way of getting nostalgic for what we just threw in the trash, it's all because we're afraid to evolve. Grow, change, lost weight, reinvent ourselves. Adapt."

~ Chuck Palahniuk
from his novel "Survivor"

He is also the author or "Fight Club". I would strongly recommend reading it - it's a bit different than the movie. In fact, I would strongly recommend reading anything this man has written. He's a genius of our time. He has a couple of novels out that I have yet to read, but I've read over half of what's he's written & been completely captivated with each book. Be forewarned - his work is not for the weak of heart. But I doubt you'd be sorry you picked up any of his books. Genius I say! As the individual who introduced me to this author once told me "Jesus has nothing on this guy."

Random Picture Blogging

Since the post I just put up was kinda negative, I figured I'd post a random boat picture to lighten the blog spirit a bit. This one is of me & Katie. I seem pretty happy...but I'm back to my old tricks of making my co-workers cry again it seems. Geez, I gotta stop doing that!

I feel the need...

Okay, so I think I'm starting to feel a little better. Today I actually felt almost like myself again. It's nice when simple tasks (such as walking up or down a few simple stairs) doesn't make you feel like you need a 3 hour nap. I have my theory's about what needs to be done to help solve the problem, and I think they seem pretty founded in the way the human body works... or at least my body anyways. I have a feeling that all of the little problems, such as the weakness, lack of energy, and inability to keep my body fed for any substantial amount of time are all steming from the main issue. But I also have a feeling that making some changes in my diet will help. I mean it's not as though eating healthier can hurt right? I have been eating healthier since I've been in my new place, but I've also been slacking on it over the past few weeks. Grocery shopping just seems exhausting when you feel like shit to begin with. But I went today & bought a ton of yummy healthy food for my belly & my body. Here's hoping I feel the effects!

So my birthday is coming up this Monday. I'm reaching the ripe old age of 26. And although that may still be very young, it gets rather annoying to be constantly reminded of how "old" I am at work from my seasonals. Between their smart ass comments they constantly throw around as "jokes" & the fact that I tend to randomly mention stuff from my childhood or pre-college years only to realize that they have no clue what I'm talking about - yeah, it gets pretty old pretty quickly.

For example: I was walking past one of my employees today at work & said something about a "Top Gun high-five". Only to find out later that he had no clue what the hell I was talking about because he's never seen the freakin' movie. I mean, come on. Who the hell hasn't seen that freakin' movie?!? It's insane.

Is it because he's so much "younger" than I am? Nope... he's only 3 years younger. It's more likely because he's a cinematic idiot & has never seen the vast majority of movie that are worth seeing, which makes me feel kinda sorry for him. But ya know, having him spin it as me being so "old" just kinda makes me want to slap him ya know? Get a damn life.

Whatever. I'm looking at yet another busy weekend at work. We have a rather big event coming up on Sunday. And if we ever have phones and/or e-mail & internet working again maybe I can actually get some more work done. It's really frustrating to not have simple office requirements such as a phone in working order... ya know, for an entire week... again. I'm getting to a point where I don't even enjoy going to or being at work anymore. Which is really sad considering I've always loved this job & this organization. I keep telling myself it'll all improve when I'm not in the Interim position anymore, but there is so much that effects my work life that the new Manager will have little to no control over. I guess I just need to look at it as a means of getting my Masters Degree & gain some valuable work experience in the process. Once that happens I'll be moving on.

This has been kind of a bitchy post ey? Sorry about that. Guess I just needed to get some venting out. May your weekend be stress free.

Back to Work * sigh*

Well it was back to work today after a nice long weekend off. I had a relaxing few days off. Yesterday was spent doing more chores than I would have liked, but it's all good.

Today was a very typical welcome back for work. This Interim Manager position seems to be a continuous pain in my ass. I take some much needed time off, & when it's back to the grindstone it of course cannot be a peaceful re-entry. That would just be too easy. One of my co-workers continues to be a thorn in side and make my work life much harder than it really needs to be.

And I seem to be having some health issues to top it off. I'm hoping it's minor & easily fixable. But finding out & fixing it is going to involve taking time in my already crazy busy schedule for a rather unpleasant doctors appointment. Of course I'd rather just do it & make sure everything's okay, as opposed to ignoring it only to find it it's a big issue...or even just continuing to live like this. I don't think I've felt like myself for about 2 1/2 months. These past 3 weeks especially I've felt completely wiped out. It seems that no matter how much I eat or how many times a day I eat, I just can't seem to keep enough energy to do the simplest things. One would think that feeling wiped out all the time would at least help me sleep. I mean, if I'm too exhausted to do a whole lot, than it would make sense that I could fall asleep easily at night. But I'm having trouble falling asleep & staying asleep as well. I think out of the past 2 weeks, I've maybe had 5 or 6 nights of restful sleep. It's beginning to really annoy me. Maybe it's all stress related...it would make sense. I wasn't having issues prior to being pushed into this position at work. But on the plus side, at lease I now have insurance to help out with medical bills that should arise from this. Prior to getting this job, I probably wouldn't even consider seeing a doctor. Now at lease I can do that much without worrying about it putting me in debt up to my ears.

A Busy Day Ahead

I'm enjoying a relaxing morning with the knowledge that this cannot last forever. I have a busy day ahead of me today. Next week is my 26th birthday. Other than the fact that I'm getting older, it also means that my tags of my cars plates about to expire. And so I'm pretty much forced into finally getting off my butt and changing all of my car stuff - my drivers license, my plates, my insurance - over to Ohio. I've been in new place for 3 months now, and have been putting this off until my birthday came around. Well, it's here and it's time to finally do something more about than put it on my to-do list. What a pain in the ass way to spend a day. It's just one of those things that has to be done though so I just need to suck it up and get it done.

In other a little more exciting news, the other day I went to see a documentary call "Mad Hot Ballroom." It was about public schools in NYC that are including ballroom dance classes in their curriculum for 5th graders. They work all year at learning the dances, and then the top dancers from each school compete at the end of the school year. I really enjoyed it! They whole premise behind the program was that most of these kids don't have the resources to pursue things like dance or music. Not all family's can afford to pay for dance lessons or piano lessons. One of the schools had something like 80% of their students who live at or below the poverty level. What a cool chance for these kids to have an opportunity to try & learn something that they might now otherwise have the chance to. I'm all in support of any program that can get kids involved or interested in the arts. It was just a really cool program. I kind of wish that it would have been a bit more indepth about the programs effect on the kids. Had I been making it, I probably would have started it off by following the kids' story prior to beginning the program, made the dance section the body of it, and then followed the kids story's after the program to determine what kind of positive (or negative) effects the program has had on the kids. Short term & long term effects. The film was basically straight up about the course. I would have interested to know more of the effects on the kids confidence wise or something. It was cool to see how the teachers got into it & cared so much about the kids & their progress.

Anywho, I should get my day started and get my car stuff taken care of. Wish me patience for the day of standing in line that awaits me.

Sunday Quote Blogging

"To look life in the face...always to look life in the face, and to know it for what it is. At last to know it, to love it for what it is, and then...to put it away."

~ from the film The Hours

What could be better than watching Fear Factor on the Spanish channel? How 'bout watching Celebrity Fear Factor on the Spanish channel!! Followed by watching a dubbed over samurai Movie in Spanish. I'm telling ya...funny stuff!

A Lazy Day

Thus far today it has been a lovely lazy day. Somehow I managed to get a weekend off of work. Burnout threatened to destroy any ounce of sanity I was clinging to. I hate who I become when I get like that. But alas ~ a load seems to have been lifted from my shoulders at last.

Much to my relief, I've learned that I will not be moving on into the second round of interviews! I haven't had news that good in what seems like a long time. I can now focus on getting through until the new person is hired, training them on our programs & the boat, and finally going back to my normal relaxed schedule of 32 to 35 hours a week and not having to deal with crap I wasn't hired on to deal with. I am looking forward to letting my life get back to normal. And even though that won't be happening for some time still (mid-August/ September... Realistically - not until the new guy is trained right - aka the end of October). But there is now light at the end of the tunnel, and I can breathe easier with the knowledge that the end is in sight.

At some point I can start to look into grad school more seriously & begin that journey. That's still a ways off though, so I'll cross that road when it gets closer. But it's good know I can return to original plan.

Yesterday Randy & I spent our day at Maumee Bay State Park with his family. Then back to his Dad's place for dinner, a dip in the pool & a campfire. Nothing like a day to just hang out and do as little as possible in the company of great people! It was a much needed break for my body, my mind, my emotions, & my spirit.

I haven't done much today either. I've watched some great weekend PBS, eaten a great breakfast & lunch, gotten caught up on some blogs, & am going to see a matinee showing of a documentary at the cheap movie theater that has now added artsy/indie/documentary films to their normal second run movie choices. Movie theater popcorn will be an awesome addition to this day off!

Funny Hats

Me & Angie in funny hats at work.

Here's a random picture of me & Angie at work. We were both wearing funnier hats than normal on this particular day...I'm in the bonnet...Angie's in the frickin' sombraro (sp?). She'll either hate me for posting this picture or she'll think it's awesome!

Anywho, not in too much of a mood to blog a whole lot but I will anyways. I guess there's lot to say, but I'm just not really in the mood. One of those days when I've explained the same situation about a billion times to different people and am sick of telling the story so I won't go into detail here.

Long story short ~ I had my interview for the Historical Programs Manager job today...and this should be the end of that. The interview went alright...I've done better, but it wasn't a complete flop. And that's about all I feel like saying about that.

It's been a long day, and I have a feeling I'll be in for another long day tomorrow. I have my 90 Day Review with my boss & I have gather all of my ammo as of yet, so I'll be going in earlier than normal (which isn't that early) to gather & get organized. This is the first one of these I've had thus far in this job, & my current boss wasn't my direct supervisor for half of my current stint so I'd like to have proof of my performance from before I became the Interim Manager...although he'll probably focus on my current situation. But you all know me...I like to be prepared for those just in case occurances.

And just an observation about life in the real world: Isn't it great how all of your bills seem to arrive within the same week? And how do they manage to arrive during a non-pay week? (Not that I'm having big money issues...I'm not that bad off right now. I just thought that was an interesting fact of life on your own.)

Random Picture Blogging

Our dog for a weekend in California

This is Harold...he showed up on our porch one random Saturday morning while I was living in California. We took care of him for a few days while we hunted down his owners. He was great! The friendliest dog ever!

A Quick Note

It's a busy day for my "day off"...although I was on the clock for about an hour this morning & have some administrative stuff to drop off at the main office this afternoon...but I'll take what I can get at this point.

My parents bought me a microwave stand for my apartment for my upcoming birthday. Tonight their coming by so my Dad can put it together for me...my last assembly attempt turned ugly pretty quickly. And he likes to feel needed now that I'm back out on my own, so it's a win/win situation. Anywho, I'm cooking dinner for all of us...trying out a new recipe. I'm all about advertures in the kitchen these days. I guess I finally the nerve to get out of my comfort zone in the kitchen after the countless cooking shows I've watched throughout the years. Wish me luck!

As for now, it's off to get some groceries, make my work delieveries, and do some much overdue laundry. (I need more clothes so I don't have to do this as often darn it!)

4th of July Sunday Quote Blogging

"Freedom is nothing but a chance to be better"
~ Albert Camus

In observance of our nations birthday, a quote appropriate for the occasion. America...land of opportunity. And yet we squander that without thought. We go off and fight wars against big scary words like "terrorism" and as long as it's not on our soil and it puts gas in our SUVs, we're all okay with that. The general public allows itself to be taken advantage of for yet a second term. Damn it America...we can do better ... Get out there and claim freedom - seize the opportunity to do better and to be better. It's about time isn't it?

Morning Coffee

Here's a random picture from California. This is actually from my final week of work at Camp High Trails. I was working at our other site...the one I normally didn't work at that is. This is Jenks Lake. And the San Bernadino Mountains in the background. One of many sweet pictures I was able to bring back to go along with the memories of my time in California.

Sitting in my PJs in my apartment enjoying a great cup of coffee as I procrastinate getting ready for work. I already have almost 36 hours in at work for the week, & the last day of the payweek is today, so there's really no need for me to be there right now. I'm going in...there's no getting around that. But I'm attempting to keep my hours closer to 40/wk than 50+/wk. My seasonals don't come in until 11, so that's when I'm showing up too.

I've been missing lazy morning like this. I had a pretty lazy morning ritual / routine in California on my weekends. I could often be found as one of the first person awake & moving among the 8 people living in my house. Then I would spend 3 hours or so in my PJs out on the porch in the morning sunshine enjoying a pot of coffee and catching up on my journal writing. Only to be followed by my afternoon routine of catching up on my letter writing and reading. Eventually I would be recharged enough to do all of those inevitable adult things like doing laundry, grocery shopping, or cleaning whatever was in desperate need of it. God I miss those mornings. Maybe I'll find some sort of balance again soon... I wasn't struggling to find that balance before I was pushed into...um I mean "promoted" into this Interim Manager position.

The Mud Hens game was great last night. They lost. But I'm not an avid fan, so the score is never really as important to me as the company I'm with and the fun we're having. Baseball games aren't about the score...it's all about the fun in attending them. And we had a great time! We had a rather interesting guy sitting behind us which provided some entertainment in itself. And the fireworks after the game were great too! Was a great night!

Well, the time has come my friends...yes it's time to get my butt in gear and get ready for work. I feel much more ready to face the day right now than I did when I woke up this morning though, so it's all good. Have a great weekend everyone! Enjoy this awesome weather!