Saturday, February 26, 2005

Ten Things I've Done That You Probably Haven't

  1. Been on the stage of the Globe, technically the new Globe.
  2. Toured a governor's mansion.
  3. Taken a ferry over the Irish Sea.
  4. Studied Latin in high school.
  5. Accidentally removed the better portion of a gerbil's tail. ( I was in the 4th grade and cried a great deal.)
  6. Fit my fisted hand into my mouth.
  7. Written a letter to my senator.
  8. Sprained my ankle by rolling it stepping down froma 2 inch step.
  9. Cried what watching the Casper movie. Needless to say, I cry easily watching movies.
  10. Done research in the special collections room of the University of London library.

Weekend's Have Meaning Again

Wow, today feels like a day. Well, it actually is. No commute. I slept in to 8:30 this morning. I actually feel like I have time to get stuff done at home. I can go do some shopping. There is one small problem. The b/f went out of town yesterday to go help his sister move and I don't know when he'll be home today (or tomorrow for that matter.) I thought it would be fun to go to the casino except I know he wants me to wait and go with him. I could go grocery shopping, but most likely would need to go again when he gets back. I planned on going to the mall, but that doesn't sound fun anymore. Must fight urge to stay at home like co-dependent blob with no life.

Wednesday, February 23, 2005

Things I Hope to Never Say #1 & 2

#1 - "frivolous asbestos lawsuits" see Bush's 2005 State of the Union address.

#2 - "Hope I haven't disillusioned you too much. Have a nice day. :-)" see lindsy stephenson jr.'s comment to yesterday's post. It's not so much the idea of him disillusioning me too much but that he assumed he did to any degree. Oh, and then the "Have a nice day." with the smiley. I am starting a new campaign to bring an end to disillusionment with smileys. I don't know which emoticon resolves cynicism, but I am open to suggestions.

Tuesday, February 22, 2005

A Good "Ow!"

It's rather cute when my cat keeps licking my hand because he's so happy I'm home from work. Even with the sandpaper tongue.

Monday, February 21, 2005

What Is That They Say About First Impressions?

I arrived promptly for the new job. When I went to open the door to the employee entrance, I triggered the alarm system. Turns out all the cars behind the store didn't belong to anyone in the store. At least an employee arrived before the cops. I was having visions of spending my morning at the station getting things sorted out and the company deciding I wasn't worth it.

Today's greeting, "Welcome, Karen. Here you had a rough start with the alarm."

As for my issues with having a master's and working in retail, there is someone who works in the department who has a PhD. Oh, and he's not the manager.

Overall, a good start to a new job.

Open Wide and Yawn

God never intended me to be up at 5 AM. I am not a morning person. Due to poor cell phone reception, I don't know if I am to report at 7:30 or 8:30 for work. Add in the normally 35 minute commute that I have never made before, and I am leaving by 6:30. I'm ready for my coffee now. Oh, and the cat can stop following me wondering what's up.

Friday, February 18, 2005

Perspective

While I've been ho-humming my new job this week, one of my uncles has been undergoing tests that led to his diagnosis today of prostate cancer.

Tuesday, February 15, 2005

Interview #2 Update or Misc Karen Rides Again

Well, my second interview was yesterday. I spared you the recap then due to it being Valentine's Day. Job hunting should not be the topic du jour on such a day.

So how'd did the interview go?

Extremely well. I had a lot of experience with things they wanted and on the others, my experience gave me a great from of reference. Speaking of references, they knew one of mine, and I got high marks. I had talked to that person in advance about salary and knew what would be the ballpark for the position, so when it came to pay question, I was able to give a reasonable request. Truth be told, I should have asked for more, but as usual, I was trying to justify what I was asking for. They seemed receptive and they let me know that they have two more people to interview and I should know by the end of the week.

Before heading out of the house today, I grabbed my cell phone to find a message. One of the interviewers had called roughly 30 minutes after the interview. I called him back. One quick and oh, they'd like to offer me the job at the low end of the scale that I had mentioned. I tell the guy I would prefer the high end. He tells me to call back in 2 hours and talk to the owner. Yeah, they aren't going any higher and my negotiating skills suck.

So Monday morning I report for work. I have just shy of a thirty mile commute. I am not as thrilled as I thought I would be to be employed. It's not a nightmare job, but it's not a dream job either. This means I'll continue to watch for something better and preferrably in my field. I'll be networking and working on skills and experience and will hopefully be in a better job by fall. If nothing else, I will soon have health insurance and will be bring in more money than I am currently with unemployment in what is a very tight job market.

Ah, mixed relief.

Monday, February 14, 2005

Valentine's Day, Part 1, Special De-Lurking

This is for all of us web surfers and bloggers who have sites we adore.

Today, I encourage all those who read this and have a blog or website to declare their favorites. We all have sites that are listed in our favorites (or Blogmarked) that we are just to lazy to reference on our sites. Publicly acknowledge them and send them a little traffic love. (If you check in the margins, you will see that I have a special section with my favorites.) Give a little public recognition this Valentine's Day.

Valentine's Day, Part 2, Skunk Love Smells Bad

This one goes out to all the Valentine grinches who are suffering today.

My adventures in skunk love date back to my days in Kentucky. It all started one June morning when I noted the faint but distinct smell of skunk in the entryway of the house where I was living. I asked a housemate if she noticed the smell, but no, I was the only one who had apparently acquired my mother's sense of smell for all things bad. I complained to other housemates to no avail. I was the only one who noticed, so I bit my tongue and waited. After a few weeks, the smell subsided.

The following fall, I was not the only one to notice the smell of skunk. This time it was much more pronounced and extended beyond the entryway. We knew that there had to be skunks getting into the house and investigated. Sure enough, one of my housemates discovered a hole on the northside that was serving as a point of entry to the subfloor. We took our findings to the property maintenance where nothing was done. This time it took a month for the smell to go away. I didn't mind so much because at least this time I wasn't the only one suffering. Misery does indeed love company.

All was well until one February night when our house began to fill with the smell of skunk. The next day we put in another request with maintenance. That night, between 11 and 11:30, we noticed the renewed smell of skunk. We had company. We also had clothes that began to smell of skunk. Migraines were becoming the all the rage too. It was then that we learned that February is mating season for skunks in Kentucky. Apparently, Valentine's Day isn't just for lovebirds anymore.

Apparently, the winter hibernation was over. Skunks are nocturnal. Skunks spray when they are amorous. Skunks get in the mood somewhere around 11:15 P.M.

We were rapidly become miserable, but help was on the way. Maintenance came to our aid. The first goal was to make sure all the skunks were out of the house. A trap was set up to catch them going either in or out of our house. Animal lovers should skip the last paragraph. The trap was designed to kill because maintenance recognized we had suffered long enough.

There was one small problem. The trap didn't so much kill the skunks. Oh, it would trap a skunk, a soon extremely pissed-off and scared skunk. A skunk that was alive to spray all night long. If skunk love smell bad, skunk scorned is infinitely worse. The smell that awaited us in the morning made the thought of turning our home to a skunk brothel pleasant in comparison. We felt bad for the maintenance guy who came to check to the trap and discovered a very much alive skunk. He decided it was better to carry a big stick, specifically a very long tree branch.

After three nights of angry skunks, the ordeal was over. Our house was declared skunk-free. The hole was closed. The smell of skunk slowly faded. However, every February I am reminded how I learned the hard way that skunk love smells bad.

Friday, February 11, 2005

Cat 2, Blinds 0

We woke up to discover Jack in the window and the big flap of a tear hanging down.

Thursday, February 10, 2005

Cat 1, Blinds 0

Jack has a known affinity for blinds. He bent the mini-blinds in the bedroom window of California apartment. Our current home has those horrible roll-up blinds. We thought they were safe. We thought wrong.

We came home today to discover the blinds on the kitchen window now have a flap. I thought perhaps Jack decided the room needed a little sun. The b/f grabbed the tape, and we set about establishing a temporary fix.

I then discovered the tears, the tears that fit the pattern of his furry little paws. Tears very high on the blinds. Mere inches from the hanging baskets by the window. Apparently, we have a little Tarzan in the making and we need a catsitter if we want to go out.

Wednesday, February 09, 2005

Interview #2

Woo hoo! Another job interview on Monday. Yes, it is retail, but it's retail management in area of retail that I actually like.

Saturday, February 05, 2005

Triple Dog D'oh

I was in the midst of making some smore goodness this evening when my boyfriend came into the kitchen. Damn our small kitchen. I turn quickly to get out of the way and bam my left foot connected with the old, very heavy sewing machine on the floor.

D'oh!

Instant pain. I finish making my smore because smores rock, and then recline to bed with an ice pack and the middle toe on my left foot swelling and turning black and blue. The range of motion seems to indicate that it's not broken, but, yowsa, it hurts. So I rested it and ice it off and on for the bulk of the even.

Later, I hobbled to the kitchen to pour myself a drink (I caved and bought some raspberry Diet Rite today.) As I opened the freezer door, an open bag of sugar (normally I would just keep it in the freezer to make sure it doesn't attract bugs) falls from the top of the fridge forcing me to jump out of the way to keep it from landing on my injured toe.

D'oh!

I confirmed my suspicion that when the b/f made Kool-Aid earlier, he left the sugar on the fridge. "We'll need to vacuum that up tonight." he calls from his computer. Yet he makes no move to do anything about it.

I hobbled to the cluttered back porch to get the vacuum. Vacuum in hand, I turned and headed back to the kitchen when my injured toe just barely manages to catch on the newly acquired bag of cat food.

D'oooooooh!

Despite it being a rather mild encounter, my toe begins to throb with pain that makes me want to curse excessively. I hobbled to the kitchen where I deposit the vacuum, announcing to the b/f my latest injury and informing him that it will be his job to vacuum up the sugar. I then made for the bed where my ice pack waited for me.

Once my toe was feeling better, albeit still very discolored and sore, I made for the computer to blog. The b/f then informed me that the sugar would have to wait until morning. Grrrrr. His behavior led to 2 of my 3 d'oh's tonight and he at least could have cleaned up the mess. I refuse because I know a fourth d'oh awaits me if I attempt it.

The Loss of Kool Krap

I grew up a Kool Aid kid by choice, kind of. My family did not waste money on pop (that's what we call it on the Midwest, though I now call it "soooduh" in a North Dakota/Boston accent.) We drank Kool Aid instead. I would have preferred the soda, but Kool-Aid was far preferable to Wyler's or, egad, the generic Kool-Aid knock-offs. So yes, it was a choice, a choice of the lesser of two evils.

I would periodically ponder the possibilities of saving my Kool-Aid points and getting something really kool with them. I was never big on saving them as the effort rarely seemed worth it for the krap that they offered as prizes. Then I got into high school and turned into a Pepsi fiend. (In college, I made the switch to Diet Coke. Later, it was Diet Pepsi. Then I came to cherish the joy of Diet Vanilla Pepsi.)

Then, I became unemployed and realized that pop is expensive and I drink too much caffeine. The b/f just realized it was too expensive. We have become Kool Aid drinkers, making the occasional foray into the generics. For the most part it's been good, and I feel much better with the drastic decrease in caffeine in my diet. I did start toying with the idea of collecting Kool Aid points.

Last night I decided to swing on over to the Kool Aid website and see what prizes that I could get with my points. If you followed the link, you would have realized that not only is it krap, it's a limited supply of krap. Needless to say, I'm disappointed, again.

Thursday, February 03, 2005

Watch Out for Jeff Gannon

I love Fark. It keeps me up on the news. But I personally enjoyed this bit on Jeff Gannon. I hear about bloggers with journalistic bents and I feel bad for not being more like them. (I'm much better at commentary.) Then I read about Jeff Gannon who apparently claims to be a journalist when he's apparently another Bush "yes" man. I may not be journalistic, but at least I don't pretend to be.

Tuesday, February 01, 2005

Marking Time

There is something very satisfying to me with the beginning of each month, another month added to the list on my archives. Archives seem to be a moot point early on in a blog. Now I feel like there is a sense of history to my blog. I can now go back and review entries that were written long enough ago for me to recall their existence. I enjoy that.

My countdown for Valentine's Day has begun now too. I am desperately thinking of something fun and cheap for gift/date to mark the occasion. With both of us unemployed, we can't afford to do much these days, but occasionally as we are falling asleep, we talk about places we would like to travel to when we have the means. I am toying with making something of a future scrapbook of the places we will go someday. Something about it seems inheritantly too girly and romantic for my guy.

I know that there are those of you out there who have experience with the poverty Valentine's Day. Share with me your wisdom. I need ideas. Pleeeease?