What Entertains Me: 06/01/2007

Thursday, June 28, 2007

I Have My Hair

Okay, so every 4-5 weeks...I put my hair in the hands of a very skilled hairdresser/colorist. You see, I am prematurely gray, thanks to both (yes both) of my parents also being prematurely gray...and my brother too. Being blonde, though, it's a little easier to cover up. Sometimes I wish I could just get a full head of hair transplant so that I didn't have to go through the coloring every four weeks, then watch the roots grow in. I know, I know...that's not what it's for or how it works. But still, it's nice to think about.

Oh, and "I have my hair" is something I used to say when I was little...guess even as a toddler, I was a bit vain about my hair, heh. :)

The Simple Life

There are a few different types of furniture I like, one of them being Shaker furniture or even Quaker furniture. Probably the best place to shop for this is a North Carolina furniture place, as the Quakers actually had a large settlement there. While it wasn't as big a place for Quakers to settle as, say, Pennsylvania...you'd be surprised at the number of Quaker "parishes," for lack of a better word. I only know about this because my step-grandfather's daughter was a Quaker, along with her husband. If you're into clean, simple furniture...this is the way to go.

WritingIsFun Cooks? Yeah, Right...

Next week, I'm going to my cousin's 60th birthday party. Rather than bringing a present, we're supposed to bring food. That's great, except I don't really cook, nor do I have much cookware to cook with. But I think I have a solution! I'm going to go to my dad's to make something. He has every type of cooking implement you could possibly imagine, and he's already working on the perfect thing to take since he can't go. Figure it'll be his way of being at this party to take something he suggested, and will probably end up making (he can't stop once he's started in a kitchen!).

Eeny, meeny, miny, moe...

We've been getting a ton of vendor visits lately...and they're always bringing free stuff, like marketing pens with their names on it, or t-shirts even. It kinda cracks me up, because we have only 10 vendors to choose from across 5 business units. They're gonna get work, no matter what. It's not like it used to be when we had a lovely, large pool of vendors to choose from, and they actually had to compete for work. Now we have to be careful of overloading them. It's insane, especially when they tell all the business units to send their work to one particular vendor. We do that...they get overloaded...they do sucky work...we get told not to use them. Makes no sense to me, or to anyone else who has to deal with the vendors on a day-to-day basis. Now it's basically a game of eeny, meeny, miny, moe to choose who you send work to, and hope they do a good job. The joys of being a project manager with less-than-ideal vendors...

I Have Now Seen Everything

Okay, now I have seen everything...a padded panty? You have got to be kidding me. Although, I guess for women who are built more like boys, this might be a good thing. But for people like me (no pun intended) this is the last thing on earth I would ever wear. Like I want a bigger ass? I don't think so. And with padded bras, it's going to come off eventually...so why bother? I have heard of implants for your backside cheeks...so this really shouldn't surprise me. Yet it does. People amaze me sometimes, you know?

Waxing Nostalgic

Hard to believe that it was 20 years ago the last time I stayed at Fernandina Beach, Florida, where I spent a great deal of summers as a little girl. When my grandfather died in 1980, my grandmother sold the beach house...and when I say beach house, I mean a house right on the beach. My dad and uncle kick themselves still for not going in on the purchase of it together, because they could make a killing off of renting it out.

Anyway, my grandmother felt bad about selling it, so instead she'd get a place at one of those condo hotels in Fernandina. Not quite the same as a house, but it worked. But the last time we did that, I was 16...and now I'm 36. She passed away back in 2005, and didn't go to the beach much in her last years (she grew up in Jacksonville Beach...so it's part of who she was). I'll still look back on the times we spent at that house (and even the condo) with fond memories, that's for sure. I'd like to do that with my dad and brother, just for old times' sake. :) We talk about renting the house someday...but it hasn't happened yet.

Isn't It Ironic

When I started back at this company, I had to work on accounting textbooks. I've never taken an accounting class in my life, and they throw one of the biggest money-makers they have. They said, "oh, you have enough production experience to pick it up." Ummm....if it hadn't been for the awesome project manager I hired, who knows accounting inside and out, I would have been in BIG trouble. I mean, I didn't know what leaders were, much less fixed asset accounting...or anything along those lines. And then, I got handed another accounting title...cost accounting. What the heck is that??? I still don't know. I'm just thankful that for the next copyright year, all is right with the world...and I only have economics, management, and business law titles. Granted, I've never had an economics, management, or business law class in my life either (have my liberal arts background to thank for that)...but at least those subjects make some sense to me! Ah, the irony of it all...

Blogging for Money

People always want to know how to make money blogging. It's really not that hard. More and more companies are realizing the potential for advertising using links in blogs. All that you need is a free blog, like this one (although some companies/advertisers won't accept Blogger blogs), and you must post to it consistently for 90 days. It should also be indexed by Google, which isn't hard to do if you post on a regular basis. Some places require a Google Pagerank, but not all. I've been paid as much as $10 for a 100 word post. Not bad, eh? Not that I'm going to retire on the money I make from it, but every little bit helps.

Tech Geek Speak Coming Up

At work, I have a 22" widescreen LCD monitor...and it rocks. What's funny is, my department has had them for a few years now, before they became popular and cheap. You see, the powers-that-be wanted us to start proofing pages on screen. That's hard to do on a 15" CRT monitor. We said, "sure, give us something that will allow us to see a 2-page spread at 100%, and we'll proof stuff on screen." Took awhile, but we finally got them. We were the envy of just about everyone, heh. Now, more and more people are getting them, so they don't have quite the same "luster" that they once did. Next on the list is laptops...apparently they've been ordered. I'll keep my fingers crossed that they get here soon, before I go insane with all this data entry that I'm going to have to do over the next few weeks. It'll be nice to be able to do that from home!

Thursday, June 21, 2007

The Busy Season Is Starting

Oh, how I dream of taking a 2 week vacation. But with all of my work ramping up, I don't see that happening. Long weekends, yes...but 2 weeks, no way. I actually have 3 weeks of vacation to use. I think if I did, I'd look into an Orlando vacation home rental...although I'd have to go in on that with friends, I'm sure. There's no way I could afford to rent a house all by my lonesome. Hotel room, I could do...but not a house. Depressing, really. Okay...not that depressing. Guess I just need to get my life in gear and look into other interests, as I'm never going to get anywhere by complaining about my stead in life, or my work. Definitely need something different. What that is, I have no idea. So I better figure that out before I start anything. Ah, a new project! Just what I need, heh.

More Jealousy

Going back to my neighbor's move...it's funny she buys herself a house, yet gets a friend with a trailer and truck rack to move her stuff. Maybe that's how she was able to afford a house, by not doing things like hiring movers? Seriously. I'm not sure why I'm so hung up about this. Guess it's just sheer jealousy, since I can barely afford my rent as it is. Although, my salary is insulting...and I probably get paid less than a medical intern, but still. I'm considering buying a condo when I move back to Cincinnati...but at my salary level, I'm looking at something less than $100,000. There's no way I can afford a place where I live now. Well, maybe a condo...but definitely not a house. Argh!

A Sobering Realization

You know, I hate my job...I am truly this company's b*tch, however, because I really need the benefits it provides, like term insurance, that only costs like $1.00 per month. Seriously. And I think I'll always need some sort of group health coverage because some insurance companies (I'm looking at you Aetna!) don't cover my RLS needs, which are minimal (one doctor's visit a year, and two medications per month). When I was freelancing and applying for my own coverage, Aetna flat out rejected me because of it. Can you believe that? You'd think I had cancer or something. But now because my company uses Aetna, they have to cover me. Ha! I still hate them, and am hoping our new owners will allow us to go back to Humana. It's an HMO, but it rocks...well, for a health insurance company anyway. So anyway...unless I marry someone and get covered by his health insurance...I'll always have to work for the man. *sigh*

Stumped, I Am

Okay, so last night, my upstairs neighbor (who can be no more than 26, and is a medical intern, IO think) is moving out. She knocks on my door and asks if I have any pliers to disconnect her washer and dryer...because she just bought a house and is moving into it. Okay first of all...she hasn't been there a year. So she had to break her lease. That's $1000 right there. And houses in the area I live in are not cheap. How on earth does a medical intern afford a house that costs at minimum $150,000??? I'm stumped. Guessing that she's not the type to buy discount furniture either, at that rate. Jealous doesn't begin to describe how I feel.

Monday, June 18, 2007

The Lolcat Craze!

Okay, I admit it. I'm addicted to the Internet phenomenon, "lolcats." People take pictures of their cats and add what's quickily becoming known as "kitty pidgin" captions to them, such as "I'm in ur komputr, stealin' ur Internets." Or this one to the left, which was recently posted on the site called icanhascheezburger.com. Bwhahahahahaha!

Ahem, anyway. Where was I? Oh yeah...why I find them funny, I don't know. Well, I guess it's because I own some "kittehs of mah own" one of which provides plenty of lolcat entertainment (the ginger cat posted in the pic at the top of my blog). I have the pictures, but I am not the greatest captioner in the world, I must admit. The one that took me about a month to come up with and submit to icanhascheezburger.com was never posted. Bummer!

Mehbe sumday, I will lurn to make good kitteh pidgin and gets mah piktures posted...but until then I will just enjoy the clever captions I see everyday, and get my laughs when I need them the most. Long live lolcats!

Friday, June 15, 2007

I Don't Like Spam!

Some of the e-mail I get in my spam folder makes me chuckle, or laugh out loud even. I get stuff touting male enhancement, phishing for accounts I don't even have, magic diet pills, and even stuff for hair transplants. That is rather comical, seeing as how I have to get my hair thinned out on a regular basis, or else I end up with a mop on my head. There's one place headed up by Dr. Larry Shapiro (yes, I clicked on it...curiosity killed the cat!) that if I did have hair transplant needs, I'd look into. But seeing as currently have a full head of hair...I think I'll pass.

Thank God for Tivo

You know, I keep seeing more and more ads that make it sound like a payday loan is the way to go, if you have an emergency and need more cash all of the sudden. First, I'd ask any friends and family before I had an "emergency" loan that would require me to pay astronomical interest rates. I guess if you can afford to pay back the loan all in one lump sum, it's not so bad. But if you can't (which most people who would go for these sorts of loans), then it can often be something in the 3 digit range...OUCH! No thanks, I'll pass...and fast forward through the ads so that I don't have to watch these loan sharks prey on the desperate (Tivo rules!).

Thursday, June 07, 2007

Bridge Anyone?

My dad hosted his bridge club's party last weekend, and he said that he had so many people come, he had to go ask the doorman where there might be folding chairs available. My dad not having enough chairs is unheard of, to be honest. This is the quintessential entertainer, so to not have enough seating is a huge faux pas. But, he does have problems counting sometimes, hee hee. Guess he must have just miscounted this time. Oh well, luckily the building does keep a stash of folding chairs for their party room...so all was saved!

How Do They Do It?

Okay, so last weekend, I went and checked out the pool at my apartment place. When I got there, there was hardly anyone at it. But around 3:00, it was a zoo. And there were all of these moms, who looked absolutely amazing, like they'd never had kids. Do they work out like crazy? Do they take energy pills? Or is it just genetics? If so, lucky them.

Seriously. I know if I ever have kids, I'll be one of those women who has trouble getting rid of that "baby fat" that comes with pregnancy, since I have problems getting rid of just plain ol' fat. Wish I could just eat less and lose weight, but unfortunately my genetic makeup doesn't allow for that...I must exercise, a lot. Even then, it's hard. Guess I just need to stick with it, as usual. *sigh*

Summertime and the Livin' Is Easy

Ah, summer is finally here (heat and all). And people are taking off for vacations in droves. Am I one of those people? Unfortunately, no. But I'm sure there are a ton of people taking an Orlando vacation, to go to Disney or one of the many other parks there (Universal Studios, for one). Or maybe if they don't like the heat, they're heading north to Michigan. So, I will just sit by my apartment place's pool and soak up enough vitamin D so that I get just a hint of tan (my winter pallor is...pale...very, very pale). That'll have to do for now, I'm afraid.

Friday, June 01, 2007

I Did It

I bought a laptop, a Dell laptop...with Dell memory...and Dell everything else (well, except for the Intel processor). My company just got sold, and I'm not sure when stuff like our rather nice discounts on things like computers and cell phones will go away. So, I figured now is the time. I'm such a geek, but hey...it's a mobile world. I want to be able to sit on my patio and write blog entries, not be tied to my desktop computer like I am now. I'll have to wait three weeks for it, but it will be worth it. :)

Paid Surveys

I admit it, I've fallen for the paid surveys thing before, thinking that getting paid for market research sounded like something I'd enjoy. I'm sure it would be, and I do still take lots of surveys...but I don't get paid for them. Some sites give you points...which take forever to add up. Or there's another site that pays you a $1.00 in their currency, and you can exchange the points for things like 6 free Blockbuster rentals (1 per month) or frequent flier miles. But I have yet to get any surveys that truly pay me. Ah well, c'est la vie. :)