Enjablog

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

I’m running a little behind on blogging… but I had an exciting week of Thanksgivings and have high school reunion stuff lined up for the rest of the weekend. Strangeness all around…

Some good old family fun from Friday’s Thanksgiving:

L&S don’t give Eliana much juice. And when they do, they water it down to cut down on her sugar intake. That, of course, didn’t stop Ian and me from offering her a sip of non-watered-down juice. Surprisingly, she came back for more, grabbing the glass off a table and making sure every last drop was drained…

(Notice the dainty pinky action going on.)

So much stuff has been going on lately. I’m behind on the news, the internets, even my advice columns. What has the world come to?

Last weekend, I went with TLD, Zina, and JL3 on a tour of the USCGC Bertholf. Last night was our big P.E. celebration with tacos, margaritas, and Ian’s peppermint poke cake (so good!). Congrats to TattooGirl! Tonight was cheap date night with Sonny & Anna.

Still to rant about — Newer Guy, Chatty Cathy (the intern with whom I am now sharing my office *grumble*), the on-going postponed business trip which is currently scheduled for the weekend before my birthday, Boss Jr discovering how to calculate a dot product… but teaching himself wrong.

Hm. A lot going on at work lately. It’s been busy. I’m really happy with the work I’m getting and the projects I’m being put on. But the caliber of employees I am working with are seriously lacking.

I’ve decided that it’s on me now. Boss is a good manager and competent. But his hiring rate and the program manager’s hiring rate is unacceptably sub-par. I miss the MadScottsman and his uncanny ability to hire only people who were useful. This department is 2 for 6 and NewGirl left. So, it’s not looking good.

But I’ve decided. If these people are going to be sitting around burning up money and taking up my time, they’re going to be useful. Even if I have to treat them all like chimpanzees and train them to do half a step at a time, it’s possible. And if they don’t learn and become useful, that’s my fault. I knew I would use my psych degree eventually.

I had so much going on in the past few days…

Thursday was Pamela’s birthday shindig at Cafe Mozart’s. Lots of fun, pretty low-key. And some really bizarre conversations going around.

Saturday, got up bright and early for the Race for the Cure. The plan was to meet Ian’s mom and her friend at the Van Dorn Metro, but they closed their park and ride area and had a sign directing people to Huntington for parking. I headed for the closest metro station that I knew of, thinking it was Huntington… and arrived shortly after realizing I had never been to Huntington and was now at Eisenhower. Thank goodness for cell phones. So we worked that out and made it in for the race as the rest of the walkers were starting.

The race went well… not much of note. Then we left to catch the metro home. First, there were too many people on the platform, so they wouldn’t let any more people through the turnstiles until after the next train arrived. Then we got stuck behind another train that broke down, so those people had to get out and the platform there was filled to capacity. They boarded our train and it was a madhouse for about 5 stops. Then, around the airport or so, someone got sick, so we had to wait for that person to get out to receive medical attention. Longest metro ride ever.

I got home long enough to shower before heading out with Ian to pick up my parents’ minivan and go to Ikea. He got two Billy the bookcases and a Hopen bed. I got a mat to put in my foyer under my bike and some collapsible boxes to help me organize. I have one for mail and one for remotes, both of which have made a huge difference already. I also got a hanging shoe rack.

We got back from there and went over to Anna’s for Sonny’s welcome home party. It was such a blast. There was loads of food, karaoke, Boggle, and so many people who stopped in throughout the evening. Fortunately, we were able to move the party inside to hide out from the heat. So, it all worked out well. And I finally got to meet Sonny’s friend-in-law, Laura, whom I’ve been talking to online for almost a year now. I think she was more enthusiastic about karaoke than Sonny was. And that’s saying a lot.

Sunday, got up bright and early to move Ian’s furniture out of the mini-van. We swiped a flatbed dolly from my building and used that to move stuff. Took less than an hour, which was much better than I had envisioned. I was definitely not strong enough to carry all the parts from the car to his apartment, so I was hesitant to volunteer, but it all worked out in the end.

From there, I got cleaned up and headed over to my parents’ for family lunch. We were celebrating the dragon boat festival, so my dad told the story for all the newbies and we ate sticky rice dumplings. And everyone was entertained by Eliana running around and getting into stuff.

Came home, took a nap, and woke up in time to go to Ian’s family dinner. Pretty low-key over there. His brother did the Chesapeake Bay swim that morning, so they were all sunburned from going out to watch. Hung out for a bit over there and then came home and crashed again.

So… This morning, I got up and got ready as usual. And then about halfway to the Pentagon, I started feeling nauseated. I thought maybe I was getting motion sickness from reading, so I stopped reading. But then I got really warm. I got off the bus to transfer and sat down on a bench. Then I had to decide between sitting in the sun and feeling feverish or standing in the shade and feeling nauseated. Not a good morning.

I stayed at work long enough to attend our department meeting, get NewerGuy set up working on his new task, and answer some questions for VTGuy. Came home, went to lie down, and just conked out for 5 hours.

Feeling better now though. Someone suggested I might have gotten food poisoning. I don’t know what it could’ve been from though because I’ve eaten with family for my last few meals and I haven’t heard about anyone else getting sick.

Hey, family. Any of you not feeling well? Hot flashes? Nausea? Maybe it was from the B.O. cake…

Ian and I went out with a bunch of his friends last night to see Jonathan Coulton at the Birchmere. Paul and Storm opened for him. I had never heard them before, but they were similarly nerdy and hilarious, so I will definitely be listening to them in the future. This was by far the Aspergeriest show I’ve ever seen. I laughed through pretty much the whole night. It was fantastic!

I don’t even know what my favorite parts of the night were… Highlights included having snack cakes chucked at us throughout the night, a sold out room of people emulating emotions through pirate noises, hearing my favorite songs performed by Jonathan Coulton, being part of a live zombie chorus, the girl picked to be on stage as excited about Chiron Beta Prime as I was… Then the priceless scene as the entire audience started throwing stuffed animals at the stage and Coulton sprinting off-stage. Followed by Jonathan, Paul, and Storm returning to the stage and asking a guy in the front row to post a picture on the internets.

Also, at one point Paul mentioned that people would be blogging about the show and talking about how Coulton turned left and it was *awesome*. And, really, it was.

Oh, and Sonny — listen to the Mother’s Day song. It reminded me of you… and what you said on Mother’s Day last year.

And, finally… Happy birthday, Ian! :)

Went to the food bank on Saturday morning. So many people showed up. We were all getting in each other’s way and wandering about aimlessly, but a lot of food got sorted and packaged to send out. There was also the excitement of finding rats in a couple of the boxes… It was an experience.

Got back, cleaned up, and was ready to hang with NewGirl & BoyToy. We took an impromptu trip to the ice arena before picking up some groceries for dinner, 1950s style. That is to say, with The Boss. He was on his own this weekend and wanted to catch up with NewGirl, so I invited him over for dinner before The Classy Party.

After using as many dishes as we could possibly manage for dinner, NewGirl shared most of her work inappropriate stories that she couldn’t tell before she quit, and then we were off for a night out. Surprisingly, not too many stories from the Classy Party. There were a lot of work people there and I managed not to meet anyone new the entire night, I think…

Sunday, did brunch with TLD for his 30th birthday. We concocted this whole scheme whereby I would get dropped off at the restaurant with the cake to coordinate with the host while NG&BT picked up TLD. It worked out flawlessly. This year: chocolate cake with orange frosting (flavor, not color). And we had picked up a set of baseball cake decorations with birthday candles. It was fit for a 5-year-old. ;)

Hung out at TLD’s for a while after that and tested out his new birthday present from NG. Then went over to visit OtherManager before NG&BT were off to catch their flight.

I fell asleep around 7:30 that night.

I’m finally catching up on the studying that I rescheduled from last week.

Hour and a half bus ride to work this morning. For some reason the driver took a detour through Landmark Mall. I have no idea why, but she made a busload of people at least half an hour late this morning.

Sleep.

Oh, Thomas/Finney. How I’ve missed you.

:)

My other book arrived yesterday too. So I’m all set to get studying!

NewGirl and BoyToy arrived bright and early this morning and are out catching up with other friends. So, tonight’s my chance to get some studying in before our non-stop weekend o’ fun.

I will leave you with this:

A constant function and e^x are walking on Broadway. Suddenly, the constant function sees a differential operator approaching, turns around, and runs away. So e^x follows him and asks why the hurry.

“Well, you see, there’s this differential operator coming this way, and when we meet, he’ll differentiate me and nothing will be left of me…!”

“Ah,” says e^x, “he won’t bother ME, I’m e-to-the-x!” and he walks on. Of course he meets the differential operator after a short distance.

e^x : “Hi, I’m e^x”

diff.op. : “Hi, I’m d/dy”

*tehee*

Happy birthday to my cousin in NJ!

I used fabric softener for the first time today. I stopped using the dryer a few months ago and my world has changed. I haven’t gotten shocked in my apartment all winter. My clothes continue to fit and have less wear and tear. And now, they come out of the washing machine soft. I’m so sleepy. My clothes are soft though.

Went to a former coworker’s place for a holiday happy hour tonight. She got a real tree for the first time and her apartment was so festive! Lights, garland, decorations… She even had boat ornaments all over the tree. They were so cool.

Looks like I’m going to be re-taking Advanced Aero/Hydro next fall. So, I’ll be studying up for the PE this spring, take the summer off, and be back with this same course. Uf. At least I understand much more of the material now.

Sleep.

Happy belated birthday to cousin Matt!

Weekend recap — I took Friday off and got a lot done. Spent the morning running errands and working on homework. Apparently my memory is bad enough these days that lying to myself on my calendar is proving to be incredibly effective. I got my car inspection done at the beginning of the month instead of 2 weeks late like I normally would.

After that, met up with TLD, Sarah, and the Warrior Princess for lunch. It was fun catching up with them. We discussed baking competitions, work, the latest on who was saying inappropriate/rude things at work, and knitting patterns. And there seems to be some interest in making gingerbread coworkers this year. I’m very excited!

Headed out to visit Steph+Juniorita after lunch. Yenny was already over there to have lunch with them. So, I got to hang out with them and ended up staying until dinner. Had just enough time to watch Reign Over Me with Lenny before he had to leave for class. (Very unusual to see Adam Sandler in a serious role, but I think he did a good job. I thought the movie was well done.) I kept Steph company while she fed Juniorita and then skipped out to go see the Joonies.

Met up with another former coworker and hitched a ride to the Rock and Roll Hotel. I was told that the building used to be a mortuary, so the corridor leading away from the bar had a bunch of private rooms that were intended for viewings. They each had sofas and chairs lining the walls so there was plenty of seating and open space for people to mingle, but the empty space in the middle of the room was basically coffin-sized.

I missed the first band and caught the last half of the second and third bands’ sets. The second band has been played numerous times on DC101’s Local Lix. It must be true because they announced this at least a half dozen times between the 3 songs I heard them perform.

I did enjoy the Joonies though. It was a little melancholy since this was their last show, but they had a blast playing and it showed. I even recognized a few of the songs from the last time I saw them at DC9. I’m definitely glad I got out to see them. (This is one of my coworkers’ band, but the drummer and singer are moving away, so they’re breaking up. *sniffle*)

Saturday, woke up bright and early and watched Numb3rs before getting ready to head over to my parents’ for lunch. Still had about 2 hours before I needed to head over, so I fell asleep reading on the couch… and ended up showing up about 45 minutes late. Oops.

Everyone else bailed this week, so it was just me and the ‘rents. Which was for the best, because I had to catch them up on the week’s gossip. (More on that later…) Brought a bunch of food over to Sonny’s gf afterward since she wasn’t feeling well.

Then headed home to start watching Season 1 of Bones. I can’t believe I waited this long to start watching that show. Why didn’t anyone tell me? I guess it worked out though because now I have a new show to catch up on. Was exhausted by 10, so went to bed early and had the best night’s sleep I’ve had in weeks.

Sunday, I spent reading, watching football, and working on homework. Exciting times, I know. Oh, and in case you guys didn’t read the comments yesterday, I got comments from the author of the book I was reading! That was definitely a suprising highlight for the day.

…And that wraps up the weekend. I’m loving this Friday off thing. I got so much done, but I’m not exhausted from it all.

PSA: Don’t forget to vote tomorrow!
Current Book: I am America (And so can You!) by Stephen Colbert

Oops. I’ve had so much going on this weekend that I forgot to attend recitation today. I got caught up watching football and then left to go to my parents’ house for dinner tonight for Lenny and Grandma’s birthdays… And only remembered when I got home because our TA sent out an email changing the time for next week.

This weekend… Friday was NewGirl’s and Ian’s last days at their respective jobs. Our floor took NewGirl out for happy hour. I skipped out a little early to have some quality BFF bonding time. Saturday started off early with some homework, cake, cookies, and catching up on last week’s TV shows. NewGirl’s going away bash was Saturday night, so I ran some quick errands at Target, Rack Room Shoes, the office, the bank, and Popeyes before arriving a fashionable 30 minutes early. I really thought everything would take longer. The longest stop was at Popeyes where I bought 30 chicken fingers and the girl behind the counter asked if I could wait 4 minutes for them to cook up more. Uh… yeah, I can wait 4 minutes.

The party was really fun. The U of M game was on and there was lots of gossip, food, and drinks. Of course, the purpose of the party was bittersweet, but it was definitely memorable. We had a gallery for my office art shelf, which consists of drawings NewGirl has created over the past year. There was flip cup, which apparently Boss got talked into playing. I’m kind of sorry I missed that part of the evening. Skunknut was sick and missed out on all the chicken fingers, but otherwise, I think everyone else NewGirl was expecting made it out to say goodbye.

After the game, a bunch of people started to head out, so NewGirl, NewGirl’s reason for leaving (a.k.a. boy-toy), and I made our way over to Boss Jr’s haunted house. It was definitely an adventure driving over, especially since I was driving and have no concept of direction in DC. But an hour or so later, we made it and, after signing a lengthy waiver, were thoroughly haunted. Boss Jr was a convincingly creepy clown. NewGuy had a zombie look going on. There was also a nun, an awkward mad scientist/doctor, a dude in a cage, and other random bodies strewn about. It was definitely fun and games for us since the three of us walked through the house together. But I think if I had gone through by myself I would’ve screamed like a little girl.

We got out of the city without incident, but then wandered Arlington for a bit trying to drop NewGuy off. I’m really bad with directions in Arlington and he may have been a little drunk mixed with unable to figure out where we were fast enough to tell me where to go. In any case, after about half an hour of extra bonding time, we successfully dropped him off. We promptly got lost again trying to find our way back to Alexandria, but we found NewGirl’s yellow brick road and were on our way.

So, I got home and was fast asleep around 4am. I woke up a few hours later to go meet my advice columnist hero at the ALS walk. It was interesting… I was so excited to meet Carolyn Hax, but then she was just a regular person and I totally felt like a nerdy groupie. Which was ok because then I met a group of girls who were also readers and came out to meet her like a bunch of groupies and we all hung out and chatted for the entire walk. Robin, Emma, Laura, Brooke, and another girl whose name I don’t remember… They were all so nice and welcoming. A couple of them came together, but the rest of us showed up solo and didn’t know anyone else. So, it all worked out. I also got to meet Kenny and Nick. And the kiddies were running around climbing over both of them, but I have no idea which one was which. I am so impressed by their whole family dynamic. I can only aspire to such maturity in my life.

On the charity front, our team won a second place award for the rookie team to raise the most money. This team was formed 30 days ago and raised over $10k. Our total doubled in the past 3 days and we were ranked 9th overall. It was all very exciting.

Afterward, a bunch of us were deciding which metro to head toward or what we were going to do with the rest of our day. I ended up heading over to the Freer Gallery of Art with two people and hung out for a while. Then I got a call from NewGirl letting me know that she had rented a cargo van to deliver her recliner to me. We ended up having to get past the mean front desk lady, but we got away with moving in furniture on a weekend anyway. We had a heartfelt goodbye and then they were off to get more stuff done before heading out for good tomorrow morning.

I went back upstairs to finish watching the ‘Skins game and then got a call from Lenny asking if I had baked a cake. I decided to head over to the parents’ a little early so I could head out right after dinner and work on my homework some more. Instead, I just hung out there longer and decided that it was very important for me to blog a bunch before doing anything actually useful or productive.

And now here we are. This is why I forgot to show up for recitation this afternoon. I kind of suspected I would forget since every time I looked at my calendar to see what I had scheduled this weekend, I was surprised to see recitation on my calendar and was concerned that I was going to be too busy. And well, I was. I least it’s recorded, so I can play it back and see if there was anything useful.

Ooh, I just noticed that this is the 20th day in a row that I have blogged. That’s pretty good for me.

Ok, I’m out.

Ooh! I got *2* phone calls in one night! At the same time. Haha… I guess I will use the hu-mans for entertainment now. :)

Sigh… I have this growing list of things I wanted to blog about, but with each day that passes and I don’t write something, the more outdated some of these topics get.

Examples:
- New toaster oven, its awesomeness and how it betrayed me.
- My addiction to Super Paper Mario (which I beat and stopped playing about a month ago).
- ALS Walk in about 2.5 weeks.

And then there’s the rule Sonny’s friends made up for the fantasy football league a week ago:
“So am I to assume that, since this is a family league, I’m not allowed to make a comment about your mom? Because if not, damn you.”
“You know, you’re right. How ’bout this? Any moms that aren’t actually in the league are fair game.”

QOTD also from the fantasy football message board: “He’s got a tougher schedule than most, but he’s on-ig-it like Kurt Vonnegut.”

Happy wedding to Crit & Teach! :)

I’ve had this tab open for me to blog for about a week now and I keep getting side-tracked and distracted by other things.

Monday - SuperDave was in the area for a job fair, so a bunch of the people from my floor at work met up with him for lunch. He’s just getting his resume out there and looking for something new. He doesn’t seem too concerned about lining up his next job though. Just taking it easy.

Then, there was the SNAME turnover dinner. There was a 2 hour meeting before the dinner, but at least there was a definite end point when we needed to get to the restaurant for dinner. It was fun… we created a kiddie table for the under 30 crowd. The outgoing chairman gave a nice, short speech. He thanked all the significant others for their support throughout the year and didn’t even have to look at Ian awkwardly. It was good. I received a section of our website burned to CD. A former coworker stopped by to apologize for not catching up with me earlier, but he’ll definitely email me, so we can, uh, catch up. (READ: Come back to our company before you get laid off.) He’s a nice person, for the most part, and means well… but this is also the guy who came and yelled at me after he heard that I had submitted my resignation a year and a half ago.

Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday were busy with class and homework. I can’t seem to get everything done as quickly as I want these days.

Friday night… combined happy hour with Ian and my coworkers. Not a big turnout, but still fun. From there, we headed over to watch The Simpsons Movie! Oh, it was non-stop laughs. So funny. It was pretty much a 2 hour long episode, including lots of gags.

Ok, gotta get to the parents’ for lunch!

Happy Birthday, Marc!

Went to Malibu Grill with what’s left of the HOY crowd in the area and gossiped about all the people who aren’t in the area anymore. ;) Totally worth the 2-month wait to get everyone together. Can’t wait until Friendmas!