April 2007 Archives
It's my birthday!
I received flowers at work for the first time ever. Squee! I've been twitterpated all day.
I left my office this afternoon to go up to our other building. While I was out I got a call from my boss on my cell phone saying to call him back at the office or on his cell phone ASAP because it was really important. Uh oh.
Turns out the other engineer in my group tendered his resignation today and my boss wanted me to know before I got wind of the office gossip.
So it's down to me and my manager. That's far better than when it was just me, but still, ya know? I totally understand why he's leaving (from what he's said before, haven't talked to him since he made his announcement) and I don't blame him at all, but... damn.
Guess I better stop fartin' around and getting caught up on some work. Doesn't help that I'll be out of the office for 1.5 of the 2 weeks following his last day. Gonna be kind of hard to enjoy that vacation.
UPDATE: This is some kind of sign or just a really strange coincidence. I was walking through Uptown this evening to pick up my dinner and ran into the guy that quit back in August.
Since we did have a party sectional on Monday, we of course had to have something fun prepared for rehearsal on Wednesday. Past incidents include coordinated outfits and choreography during a certain song.
We've been working really hard on this one song that's all in Czech. The notes are easy enough but the words are driving everybody bonkers. I forget how it all evolved exactly, but at one point I said it would be easier if we just did it all with kazoos. Yadda yadda yadda, every Alto 2 was supplied with a kazoo for Wednesday rehearsal.
The fun part is the song starts with a (group) solo, and then the full choir comes in in a round, so we come in last. So everybody's bopping along to the solo and counting down their entrance and then we come in with the kazoos.
Took our director a second to catch on, but we all kept going and made it all the way through the chorus. It sounded pretty good with the kazoos, too.
It was fantastic. I'm pretty proud of myself.
(click to embiggen)
But Wednesdays are good days, so that's okay.
I just watched April's Shower. One of the worst movies I've seen in a long time. Awful dialogue. Bad acting. Horribly stereotyping and predictable. Kinda campy in the bad way. Can I have those 100 minutes back, please?
Somebody local came here by searching "my full name blog." Weird. Inevitable, I suppose. I'm just wondering who would do that. Or who knows me offline and knows I blog that doesn't already know what the blogs are. *shrug* Whoever you are, say hi, eh?
Attended a Coming Out party for the first time ever. Champagne, cake, speeches, friends, bonfire. Good times. :) It was actually a sectional rehearsal first which with us is always a party anyway. And since we already had everyone there, it all worked out nicely. I was impressed. I knew there would be words spoken, but I wasn't expecting all the accoutrements.
My upstairs neighbor is playing his guitar again. Badly. It's not really bothering me all that much except for the fact that I just know he's a little twit. Oh, and the fact that he and his friends decided to sing karaoke Take Me or Leave Me at 1 a.m. last weekend. Right above my bedroom.
Okay, now I'm rockin' out to Take Me or Leave Me. I should be practicing my Czech songs for choir, but oh well.
I've been getting all my free birthday stuff emails. DSW, The Herkimer, Noodles & Co, site59. I probably won't even use half of them, but it's kinda cool anyway.
Went to PROEX today to get a headshot taken because they want a stupid photo to go with my bio for this company global meeting thing I'm going to. I felt so silly. Both because of the fact that they want a headshot in the first place and because of the actual process of getting it taken. Just silly. The photographer had me do all these ridiculous poses. I made her crop all the props out, like the fake Greek pillar thing I was resting my arms on in the photo I eventually chose. I said headshot folks, not senior pictures.
Everyone loves the Fuck It Bucket. See? Everyone should love the Fuck It Bucket.
Lastly, heh. Cracks me up every time.
Jim and Taylor were kind enough to let me sit in for another Flak Radio episode. Unfortunately I didn't figure out what exactly I was trying to say about good and evil until way after the fact.
Also, Jim makes a damn tasty Islamo-Fascist Awareness cupcake.
UPDATE: To specifically mention that my favorite part of this episode was talking about Gawker's Alyssa Shelasky coverage and how I saw her at SXSW. Also see Samhita's and Jason's take on her panel.
I need to dedicate more time throughout the week to putting together my post for Race in the Workplace, because trying to squeeze it all in on Sunday night is not working for me. While I ought to perhaps do more work at work, if I'm goofing off anyway I ought to use that time more constructively. Although, it's entirely possible that the places I would surf to might throw up more red flags since they're all employment-related.
Always check to make sure the sunflower seeds are salted before buying them.
I cannot effectively watch tv or listen to podcasts and also read blogs and/or write posts at the same time. I'm-a keep trying, though.
I have this notion of introducing a couple of people I know to each other. Can't decide if it's a good idea or not, but I'll probably do it anyway. What the hell.
Survived the trail race on Saturday. My legs are protesting, but not nearly as much as they did after the half marathons I've run. My team came in 76th out of 103 teams running the 50k relay. We weren't last. I wasn't last (close, though). We were behind the other team from our company, but ahead of Team "#!@? IN A BOX." It's over. That's all I care about.
Monday again already? Christ.
On vagina power and penis power. I don't even know what to say. NSFW. At all. Hilarious and appalling.
[alexyssktylorvaginapower.com]
(via)
I don't want anything from you
I just want every bit of you to want me
(via)
People who can't write sentences shouldn't be in jobs that require them to write a lot of reports. I will not be your copy editor.
I'm finding myself writing emails and blog comments Twitter-style. It's like it has its own syntax. Also, not a fan of the automated Twitters like auto-notification every time you post to your blog or change songs in iTunes or whatever. I'm also impressed with the number of people I've had a hand in sucking into Twitter. Mwahahahaaaaa!
Just taped another episode of Flak Radio. Not my best work, but it was fun nonetheless. We drank port and Jim made Islamo-Fascist Awareness Day cupcakes.
I am in serious like with Gmail (like, three years later, I know). I've been using it to download my email because my domains are blocked at work. That whole conversation threading thing is fantastic. If only it could IMAP. As much as I like the Gmail, I'm not willing to give up my emails on my domains.
Got a full-ish schedule for the weekend. That's kinda cool. I usually horde my downtime on the weekends. Going out to dinner tomorrow night, somewhere yet to be determined, for Restaurant Week. Likely drop in on 612.5. Race on Saturday morning. The not-as-yet-nicknamed girl is making me dinner and then we're going over to a friend's for a bonfire. Don't know yet about Sunday. The scheduled group bike ride will probably not be taking place if thunderstorms arrive as forecasted. Maybe a movie.
C'mon, weekend!
KathyHowe's bringing back the BIF.
Don't know the rules? No problem. This is easy. All you have to do is either on your own blog or in the comments here say something nice about someone. It could be someone in your every day life, someone from your family, someone you know online or a complete stranger. I don't care who you pick - oh hell - pick MANY someones if you want. Just say something nice about somebody.
And, you know, she said super nice things about me, so who am I to not do as she commands? Because KathyHowe? I adore her. Seriously.
I try not to repeat folks I've BIFed, because there are plenty of cool people to spread the love around to, ya know? Y'all all know I luh ya. That said, on to my picks.
- popcultist - This is my friend Tony, who is married to my friend Brandy, whom I know from college. Tony is that perfect combination of smart and witty and funny. He's one of those guys that knows at least a little bit (but probably more) about a lot of things, so he's always fun to talk to.
- funchilde - Dia makes me proud to be a blogmother. All the vague dreams of world travel that I've ever had, she's already lived them. She's currently out being the coolest staff person ever to set foot on a boat for Semester at Sea. She leaves me the nicest notes and always has something very astute, poignant, and encouraging to say just when I need to hear it.
You should, of course, feel free to BIF yourself. (Heh. That sounds dirty. Not as dirty as "diddle" but you know.)
As seen whilst filling up this morning.
Still feeling not at liberty to talk about the girl. Which is too bad, because that's all I want to talk about. Suffice it to say that things are good. (I need a nickname for her, but nothing has made itself readily apparent. These things have to evolve, you know.) If you're that thirsty for info, tidbits are periodically Twittered and polite requests for info via email will be honored.
Spring has finally sprung in the TC. First road race next weekend. It's a trail race, up a ski hill and back down. It's going to kick my ass.
Went on my first bike ride on Sunday. Glorious! Had to ride a loaner, though, because The Hub lost my bike again (details at TCMB). Never going there again. One of my choir peeps is big on the bike riding and organizes group rides a couple times a week. Looking forward to doing a lot of that this summer.
Speaking of Metblog, met some folks for happy hour last week. Jim N, Jim H and Hannah. Good kids! Great to finally meet some of them.
Speaking of Metblog folks, doing Flak Radio again this week with Jim (that's Jim N) and Taylor. Snagged Jim for Metroblogging after doing the last show. Yay, Jim! He's a total foodie and makes me want to eat all the time.
Work. Meh. My motivation is out the window. My workload is pretty light. What I should be doing is plowing through what I do have. Instead I'm just procrastinating a lot. Bad bad bad. But it sure is nice to have some flexibility in my hours. Got picked to go to corporate HQ for the parent company's annual global meeting. Getting face time with the CEO. On the one hand, wow. On the other hand, I kind of feel like a tool.
My baby sister turned 26 yesterday. I feel old. Happy Birthday, Em.
Got a choir performance on Wednesday, and then our big spring concert is the first weekend of May. Feeling far less prepared than I was this far before the last concert, but I think we'll be okay. Some of my friends will actually be in attendance, which is cool. And for as much as we should be concentrating on the upcoming concert, it's a little bit of a relief to be doing this performance on Wednesday where we already know all the songs.
There ya go. That's a week's worth of blogging, I think. This whole not being able to access my domain at work is really cramping my style.
I don't even know what to say about the Virginia Tech shootings. Horribly sad, and obviously the gunman had some issues. Been watching this article update, the DC Metblog open thread, live updates from the Collegiate Times, and Planet Blacksburg (the school paper).
Some perspective from Midtopia:
I'll leave you with one thought: an event like this happens two or three times a day in Iraq, which has less than a tenth of our population.
Got a point there.
At OIM:
Myspace whore, yelling dramatically to friend: (points to girl across the street) That whore deleted me from her friends list! That slut.
Girl across the street: No, no! I don't hate you, I just hate your bulletins!
She's totally got a point.
I live in an apartment building. It's impossible not to hear others' presence through the walls. That's fine. Especially since we all have hardwood floors. Given the sturdy construction of the 1920s, it's probably not nearly as bad in here as could be.
So if you're watching a movie in which lots of things get blown up, or you really need to practice your guitar with the amp, or your child is having a temper tantrum, I'm not surprised. I do, however, have the right to address it with you if it's really bothering me. Sometimes I'm inspired to rock out to my new favorite song, or I'm trying to hear Wait Wait from the other room. If that bothers you, you have the right to address it with me, too.
Last Saturday evening I was hearing my upstairs neighbor's bass over the sound of my own iPod playing on my stereo. When I shut my music off, I could hear his music clearly enough to name the song had I known what the song was in the first place. So I went upstairs and rang his doorbell. I could even more clearly hear his music from outside his door.
Dude opens the door and I politely say, "Hey, I live downstairs and I'm getting a lot of your bass right now. Would you mind turning it down just a little?" He pauses a second, and then says, "Are you the one with the surround sound? I thought you liked it loud."
What?
I said to him that I was just asking him to turn it down a little and he could choose to do so or not. Additionally, I would hope and expect that if he had a problem with the volume from my apartment that he would say so, because how could I know that it was disturbing him if he never said anything?
He lamely repeated his "I thought you liked it loud" line a couple times and then pointed out that it was 8:00 on a Saturday night. Dude, this is an apartment building, not a dorm. I repeated my "comply or not, talk to me if I'm bothering you" bit and then walked away from him.
I get it if the guy was a little annoyed, but he lost all credibility with his lame ass rejoinder and inability to actually respond to what I was saying.
He did turn it down, though.
As of this week, I'll be contributing to New Demographic's newest site, Race in the Workplace. *squeeeee*
I'm excited. This is a subject I've been thinking a lot about, especially since I moved into my current engineering role at this small not-so-diverse company I work for. So this is a nice alignment for me. I'm thrilled that Carmen asked. So check me out and give Carmen some love, because she does some great work and I'm honored to be able to lend a hand.
Every time I go to write something, I want to talk about stuff that I probably shouldn't talk about here. Hence, nada aqui. But anyway.
Took a day off work today. I wish I could have every Wednesday off. Working two days at a time is kind of nice. Though I am tempted to check my work email....
Went to the WNBA Draft Day party. Was totally surprised to see some choir peeps there. That was cool. Everybody takin' a long lunch. Minnesota selected Noelle Quinn from UCLA with the #4 pick, then traded Tangela Smith (who we got in the Charlotte Sting dispersal draft) to Phoenix for Lindsay Harding, whom they had selected with the #1 pick. So we ended up with the #1 and the #4. Not too shabby, but it doesn't solve our youth problem. I'm excited, though. Other big news: New York traded Becky Hammon to San Antonio. Never thought Becky Hammon would get out of NY. She's been there her whole career. Very interesting. Also, Nicole Ohlde almost ran me over on First Ave as we were both leaving the Target Center. Okay, not really, but she did drive right by me as I was crossing the street.
I'll be having my first ever full body massage in a minute here. Found the guy on LiveJournal (!) and got on his email list. Every Monday he sends out a message with his remaining open slots for the week and you can get a one-hour massage for $35. $35!
After that is the usual Wednesday night dinner and rehearsal. Sweet.
Twitter is still the shit.
