Attire

This past weekend, Andrew and I attended a wedding, and, as they always do, it sparked wedding conversation. When asked how formal he would like his wedding, Andrew responded with, "I don't know, how formal can you make a Wookie costume?"

Something tells me that I may want to stock up on Stormtrooper outfits this Halloween.

Greatest Spectacle in.... Racing?

The race is Sunday, and everyone in Indy has race fever. Today at work, half of the engineers left at lunch to attend Carb day. From what I understand, tonight and tomorrow night are like "Girls Gone Wild" out in Speedway. Who would name a city Speedway? And who would want to live that close to the track. Honestly. A bunch of drunks making noise and peeing in your yard for practically the entire month of May. More power to them. I wonder how much cash they reel in roping off public roads in order to sell you a spot for a few hours. But I will be there come Sunday afternoon. Sitting in section H. I do have to say that I had fun on Bump day peeking in the garages and spying on the pits. It should be entertaining.

In related news, go to Audra's blog and look at the video clip. It's good for a laugh.

Mac 'n' cheese box collector

A segment on the food network showcased a man who collects mac 'n' cheese boxes. They must have run out of ramen footage. After collecting 365 boxes, he concluded with, "I guess if they keep making different boxes, I'll never stop collecting." BRILLIANT!

Daily Grind

As June approaches, so is my anniversary. This June, I will have been a "productive member of society" for 10 year. No, I wasn't released from the Joliet Penitentiary a decade ago... I entered the workforce silly! You know, to pay for all of the Baby Boomers' retirements. (Enjoy it Dad!) Since taking my first job at 14, I have had 10 different jobs. Interesting huh? At any rate, only 30+ more years to go!!!

New Kitty

Just after Easter, Andrew and I aquired another cat. She is white with dark ears and a dark tail. She's sweet, and stays in the bed with us almost all night. She's getting along well with Stanley, but Stanley hates it when the new kitty whines at dinner time. The new kitty, Lilly, likes Chica too. She likes the little gray thing so much that she climbs into the cage with her sniffs at the rodent's dense fur. Maybe I'll have pictures of their new found friendship soon.

Downy Ball

I've become a nerdy Suzy Homemaker. Click on the title to learn about what I just looked up on HowStuffWorks.com. Don't worry though, dumb Dora still comes to visit!

The Merger

As many people know, the one thing about moving in with Andrew that I was dreading was the "merging of things." Both of us have very pack-rat like tendencies, and both of us have been living on our own for almost 2 years. This means that we now have 2 of everything. Two sofas, two chairs, two irons, two vacuum cleaners, two sets of silverware (one service for 8 and one service for 16), two sets of dishes, and the list continues.

In all of these duplicates, there are a few that I would like to point out as being exceptional:
4 containers of coarse ground black pepper
5 jars of creamy peanut butter
4 big bottles of vegetable oil, and one small one

I don't ask anymore.

Strangely enough, with all of these duplicates, we are still without a (real) dining room table.

Who knew?

Slowly but surely the unpacking is getting done, but I've lost a lot of steam. One thing that I can't get over is how much kitchen crap I have. I unpacked about 5 boxes; filling every cabinet. Nothing else was labeled "Kitchen" so I thought I was in the clear. As I have been sorting through the boxes, I have found 3 more! Where the hell did all of this come from? And where the hell is it all going to go? Definitely going to need a trip to Lowes to get some more shelves or magic cabinets!

Unpacking

Wow! Unpacking sucks! Especially while trying to fit all of my stuff in and around all of Andrew' stuff. He already has everything where he wants it, so I don't want to come in and just turn his whole apartment upside down! Yesterday was a good unpacking day. I thought I got a lot done, and emptied about 12 or so boxes. Today is another story. It's already noon, and I have to go to a physical thingie for the new job, and I've only unpacked 2 boxes and done 2 loads of laundry. I wanted to surprise Andrew with a half-way normal apartment for his birthday (that's right, send him some joy!), but the only thing he's going to get is a broken network. Yeah, I broke it. Not sure how, but "He's died." HAPPY BIRTHDAY ANDREW!

What? I don't have to work weekends anymore?

Last full day in Evansville, and I know the question on everyone's mind is, "Are you packed yet?"
Don't you people know me better than that?? Of course I'm not packed, sillies!

But just because I'm a procrastinator, doesn't mean that I'm not looking forward to moving. I'm looking forward to being re-connected with the world. For the past 6 months, my work schedule has not allowed for any type of social life. When I was awake and at home, everyone else was either at work or asleep. Talk about being cut off! And I'm also looking forward to not having to plan weekends to see the boy, and actually plan weekends to see friends!!! For everyone who hasn't heard from me since I moved to E-ville, I am alive, and I apologize for not keeping in touch!

Men in Hardware Stores

Yesterday, I went in search of a new tool. First I went to Lowes. I am actually quite fond of hardware stores. Since I practically grew up in one, they feel like home. I especially like the bathroom accessories. And I would say that I am somewhat handy. At least I know the difference between a table saw and a circular saw, and if you needed a box of finishing nails, I wouldn't have to ask for help. But I digress.
I go straight to the tool section, and on my way there, an employee stops me and asks if I need any help. I ask where XYZ tools are and he directs me to they small display where they are located. I spend some time there looking at the different brands and models, but I have some very specific features that I want in this tool. The guy comes back and asks me if I need any help. I told him that I was doing fine, and then he says, "We just put one of those tools on the clearance table in the back; it was $19.95, and now it's $9.95. Let's go take a look at it." So I go all the way back, and he shows me the one on clearance, and it has neither one of the features I have dubbed as "must haves". Yes, I am female, but that doesn't mean I'm going to buy something inferior just because it is on the clearance table. If he truly wanted to help me, he would have asked me what I was looking for and be able to compare products from hands on knowledge. The customer service sucked, so I walked out.

Puppies!

It is official; I am unemployed and will continue to be until March 13th. As I left my former place of employment for the last time yesterday, I was reminded of a fond memory that I thought I should share.

One Sunday night, I was leaving work at about 11:30 pm, eager to get home and catch a few hours of sleep before I had to be back in at 6:30 the next morning. As I was driving down the road, I noticed something ahead walking in the street. At first, I thought it was a small deer, but as I got closer, I realized that it was a dog. A good sized dog in fact. For those who don't know, I'm not terribly fond of larger dogs. If I can kick it, it's fine in my book. So there I was trying to decide whether or not I should pick up this dog and take it back to his or her home. This type of rescue could take all night between catching the dog, figuring out where it's supposed to go, and then actually finding it. But then again, it was late, and there was a lot of semi trucks driving on this particular road, and the chance of the dog getting injured was high.

I stopped my car in the middle of the road, and got out; leaving my door open for a quick refuge if needed. I called out to the dog, and to my surprise, it was a young (maybe 8-10 months) boxer puppy. Usually loving dogs, my fears subsided and the dog came towards me. Picking up speed, it soon hit me that this dog wasn't coming to me, it was aiming at the open car door. Before I knew it, I had a hyper boxer puppy jumping all around my car! From the front seat to the back; sniffing and licking everything! Against my better judgment, I sat down in the driver's seat, to try to get a peek at the collar. The only thing I could read was "Daisy". Reading the address was nearly impossible with the lack of light, so I put the car in to drive to in search of light. Daisy enjoyed the car ride, sitting on my lap and licking my face as I was trying my hardest to see around her big head and reach the steering wheel. I don't like dogs in my face because when I was five, a St. Bernard tried to use my head for a chew toy so I spent the entire time driving trying to coax Daisy into the passenger seat without her turning on me. Finally, I came to a well lit parking lot, and was able to read the address and return Daisy to her owner without incident.

Help Wanted

WANTED:
A couple of burly men (who like free food and beer) to help me unload a moving truck. Must reside or be willing to travel (for free food and beer) to Indianapolis Feb 18 or 19. Serious inquiries only.

Movin' on

Well, I did it. I turned in my resignation today. In less than 3 weeks I will be living in Indy. It hasn't sunk in yet... will someone please pinch me?!?

Moving Hassles Part III

Today, I received my "overflow shipment" (i.e. we couldn't get it right the first time and lost your stuff, so now we're going to take 3 times as long to re-unite you with your remaining items), and it was interesting. They brought my desk top which is awesome so now I can actually put my desk together, but they also brought in a weird basket. I told the guy that it wasn't mine. They didn't believe me. Now, I would know if I had a style lapse and bought that ugly thing, but no... it was in my lot, so it had to be mine. I had to explain that it may have been the right lot number, but the item number was too high. They also tried to give me a table. It was a nice looking table, and some may say that I should have taken it, but that would be stealing. I just feel sorry for it's rightful owner. It was in MN, now it's in IN, and I bet they live in AZ or something.

Moving Hassles Part II

When I received notice that I was to be transferred to the big E-ville, I arranged for a moving truck to come pick me up. The closest date they could do this was July 6th, even though my last day in Minneapolis wasn't until July 11th or something, but whatever, it was the busy season. So my items were put into storage, and then brought to me. Even though I moved into my apartment here on July 20th, they couldn't bring me my items until Aug 2nd. Not terribly bad. When they brought my items, the movers had several damaged items, such as my couch, my amoire, and my dresser mentioned in "Moving Hassles" (Part I), along with some missing items such as the top to my desk. I immediately called in the missing items, and submitted my claim for the damaged goods on Aug 19. Slowly but surely, I've gotten the damaged items fixed as much as they could, and the desktop was found in Minnesota. I think they found it in the beginning of September, but they didn't call me to tell me, I had to call them. I've called several times to get it delivered, but it hasn't made it out of Minnesota. The operations planner told me that it has been scheduled for several trucks but never made it on.... Who's ass got fired for that???
Anyway, it will be 5 months this week that I have been without a desktop and it's really getting on my nerves to sit on the floor with a keyboard in my lap. I think I'm calling BBB.

Tornado

I have survived the big wind. The tornado was about 2 miles from me and I heard it go by, but I slept through most of the storm. From what I understand, that's why there were so many fatalities. No one was awake to hear the alarms. All in all I feel pretty lucky for not being harmed, but my heart goes out to everyone who has lost a love one.

Thank you everyone for your calls and concerns.

It's odd to see Evansville IN on national news.

Who in Arkansas doesn't own a gun?

An excerpt from a recent conversation with my Andrew....

"I just love the Bengal's pregame animation... You know, after the coin toss, where they show the bengal tiger prowling through the ancient ruins with the Bengal's greats of the past... and then they show the tiger tearing apart the flag of the other team. Then they play 'Welcome to the Jungle' and it just gets me so pumped! If I knew I was going to wrestle a 5-point buck, then I would watch that, and that deer wouldn't have a chance!"

I don't think I will ever make soup with dinner anymore... the conversation between it and the main course is very strange.

I don't know anyone at Duke

A random article that in no way relates to my life or anyone I know...

..."In relating the history of the troublesome house at 203 Watts St. On the Trinity Park listserv, Durham police officer Mark Gottlieb related an incident in which a resident of the home, Jason Matthews, met with three police officers on Oct. 5.

"[Matthews] stated he has been arrested four times now and cannot afford to keep going to jail," Gottlieb wrote. "He asked what could be done to decrease complaints from the neighbors and allow the residents to continue to enjoy a social life. We explained to him that people need to be respectful, clean up after themselves, keep the noise down, and not drink or urinate in public.

"It's a little surprising that someone smart enough to be a Duke student couldn't figure that out for himself. But we're sure it was a sincere request, and it sounds like the police officers gave some pretty direct and valuable advice. Did Matthews follow it?Nah.

Three days later, the police were called back to 203 Watts St. A party was taking place at which students were drinking, screaming, blasting music and urinating on neighbors' houses. When a neighbor objected to trash being thrown on her lawn, someone threw a beer bottle at her. It missed.

And what of Jason Matthews? Chalk up arrest number five. Maybe the next time he should write down those helpful hints and keep them handy. "...

Week's end
The Herald-Sun
Oct 15, 2005

I wonder if those 5 arrests also includes the arrest in Spain? Wait, this story is in no way related to my life or anyone I know...

Germans

I am amazed at the number of exceptional people who have come out of Germany. Not that I have anything against Germans, they are lovely people, but the culture has put a great burden on those wanting to excel. My pet freshman called me earlier this week from this great country, and he informed me that instead of the American culture of addressing someone with their highest title, such as Dr. Morin, instead of Mr. Morin, they use all saluations. Say I were to go on to get my PhD in Chemical Engineering, obtain my PE, and go to teach at University of Berlin. I would then be addressed as Doctor Professor Engineer Sara. Actually, it would be more like Abstreichmesserin Professorin Chemikerin Sara... or something. Why would you want to put that type of burden on people. No one would ever want to talk to you for fear they would forget one of the titles!