The Whole Time...

Unfortunately for me, my good friend/super kewl co-worker Danielle has moved on to "greener pastures" (read: Seattle) and is no longer my daily co-conspirator in all things kooky and hilarious at the office. While I understand that one has to pick up and move on from time to time (heck! I'm going to Italy!), doesn't mean I won't miss my friend.

So here's to you Danielle "my-name-should-really-be-Stephanie-Plum" Kale. You're sense of humor never ceases to entertain me. You're not only one of my all-time favorite story tellers (man - some weird stuff happens to you) but your off-the-cuff remarks always keep me ceaselessly giggling. You are the betrother of copious amounts of nicknames and quite the celeatious gossip reporter (how would I know what Britney was up to without you??). You will always be the one who introduced me to pho, with which I am now destined to have a life-long love affair. Together we co-founded of The Finer Things club with our 60 year old semi-hippie, semi-scruffy, living personification of Pig Pen, maintenance dude Pete and discussed Wuthering Heights and One for the Money. You were always game to skip the gym and go consignment shopping with me at lunch instead (always a good decision). And of course, you escourted me on my inaugural visit to The Beaver Inn and taught me all about the wonderful delight of pub pickles. For that I am truly indebted.

Thanks for the good times and much hilarity. We miss you around here, man.

(Besides, who else is going to tell Marc, "Yo' butt look gooooood!"??)

I Think Michael Scott Already Invented this....

If you're a fan of The Office, then this will be funny:

http://www.mathlete.com/portfolio/wakeNbacon.php

The Beav

You're right: this IS a crappy picture. And no, it's not blurry due to inebriated operator malfunction. Combine the low light of the slightly seedy Beaver Inn with no flash and this is what you get (using the flash washed our our über-cool temporary Beaver tattoos). But Holly and I felt it was necessary to commemorate my very first encounter with a prairie fire. If you haven't ever had one of these...wow. Fun stuff. It's tabasco and tequila. In a shot. And that's it. That's. It.

Needless to say, it makes you want to do a fire-breathing dragon impression at the end. It's a drink for only the brave. (Let's put it this way: it's James Aries' worst nightmare.) And I'm proud to say I downed it like a man. No couging or sputtering here.

For us, it capped off an evening of drinks out with the girls. First pizza and Hard Mike's, then Poppe's, then the grand finale at the Beav. (I'd put a countdown timer in this post marking the seconds until my second encounter with this, well, hot little shot...but that might be going a little countdown timer crazy.)

This is NOT a Test.

I quit my job yesterday.

Seriously.

Now what? you ask.

Ah, well. That's where "The Plan" comes into effect.

The Plan:

1. Quit Job (check)
2. Rent out the House
3. Go to Italy for two month (yes, really)
4. Come home and find a new job (possibly in a new state)

Yikes. The whole thing makes my butt pucker just thinking about it. But there's no turning back now. Here's to taking a risk!!

Funk

I've been in a funk about blogging lately. I apologize. What fun is it to NOT read a blog? Or, to read a NON-blog. I'd wager that 100% of readers out there would answer none. It's no fun at all.

It's not that I don't want to blog...but it's like all the words are jammed up inside my finger-tips and I can't get them out onto my virtual canvas. It's like when you have a bladder infection and every 5 seconds you feel like you have to pee. You know that you don't, but you really, really have the urge to go. So finally you let out an exasperated sigh and head for the pot. Then, sure enough, you sit there and....nuthin'. The whole thing is a huge pain and extremely unsatisfying. That reflects my current state of mind regarding blogging: my brain is telling me I've got something to contribute, but when I sit down and try to write...nuthin'.

I'm hoping I'm almost over my bladder infection of the mind. In the mean time, dear readers, bear with me.

ebay Anxiety

So, the concept behind ebay is brilliant - I'm not going to deny it. Total genius. Plus it's like a form of recycling, and you know I'm all about that. But as a consumer, it does just that: consumes. Suddenly I'm obsessed with finding the best deal. I begin searching and researching, using slightly different words. I begin to wonder if now is the opporunte window to be purchasing my item. Perahps in a few days/weeks/months the spattering of hits will be lower priced. I start obsessing over specific items. Is this the one I want - or this one? Which one is better?! Then there is the argument of strategy: big high early and scare off other potentials, or bide your time and bid suddenly at the end? If you bid too high too early - you've blown the "deal" aspect of the purchase. But if you wait too long, you risk being auto-outbid in the final seconds. It's exhausting!!

And then after all that drama - to not win: heartbreaking. You have not only failed at shopping, but you've invested all this time into, well, nothing (quite literally). And to win? Despite the ads on tv touting the clever philosophy "it's better when you win it," in my opinion, it's not. I am instantly plagued by the notion that if I had been more patient/looked harder/waited longer I could've gotten a better deal. Buyer's remorse is swift and inevitable.

Ahh, woulda/shoulda/coulda - it'll kill ya if you let it. Moral of the story: ebay is only for the strong my friend.

And on a completely unrelated note, my new pair of Keens should be arriving any day now! ;)

iTunes for Free!

So I'm sure most everyone knows about the free itunes single o' the week - but are you taking advantage of it?


If you've checked it out before and thought: Pshaw! I've never heard of this joker, it can't be very good; not worth my time - I urge you to reconsider. While the artists are primarily "under the radar" (so to speak) they often don't stay that way for long. Of the 73 free songs I've taken advantage of, 11 of them have shown up either on the radio, in commercials or on movies. For those of you who are stat geeks out there, it works out to almost 14%! Now I know that doesn't sound like a lot, but I'll tell you what: when you hear a song somewhere that you downloaded for free, it's pretty sweet. You get the notion that you're ahead in the game, baby.

And I know what you're thinking: if I've never heard of it, how will I know if it's worth my time? Well that's the beauty of it being free, my friend. My philosophy is if I listen to the 30 second preview and don't hate it (notice I did not say "like it"), if I don't hate it - then I download it. As it comes up on shuffle through my list if it turns out I like it: score! If it turns out I don't: bah-leted! Small risk, big gain.

So how do you get on this free train, you ask? Easy enough - itunes releases new free songs every Tuesday (if you're lucky there are 2 or 3, instead of just one!). Check it out once a week and you're good to go. Or, if this responsibility is too cumbersome, you can get click for a free RSS feed and be notified automatically :)

Pretty cool, eh?