Mmmmmm!

Hooray! I just consumed my first marshmello peep of the year!!!

Does Bi-Directional Innocent Flirting Exist?

I recognize and freely concede that I am a very big flirt in general. Jim, who is quite the flirt himself, takes it as a compliment when others flirt with me. All of the flirting I do, especially due to my marital state, is with a sole intention of innocent fun. I flirt to haze the recipient, bring about blushes, and to make the other person feel good. And I admittedly love being flirted with in return. For example, I smile EVERY time I get an IM that starts off "Good Morning, Sunshine".

While back in my single days I would flirt a bit more than I do now with my customers; admittedly with the intention of making friends and winning business. I've never been called out on it being a bad or unwanted thing. In fact, my actions normally accomplished what I was after in the first place. A new friend of mine suggested today that I should be flirting a lot more at work. He mentioned that a lot of IT guys, like himself, appreciate a friendly smile, an overly-friendly attitude, and a skirt on an appointment because 1) there aren't many women in technology 2) I can get away with it 3) who doesn't like to be flattered, and 4) it's rarely unappreciated, even if both parties know it's just a game.

Not ironically, this advice is from a person who, though married, has spent quite a bit of energy flirting with me over the past week. Perhaps I'm naive, but because all the flirting I do is innocent (Jim is quite literally one of the best things to ever happen to me & I wouldn't jeopardize that), I assume all the flirting done with me has the same, non-serious objective. How can you tell if flirting is done with serious intent versus just teasing? How far is too far before flirting becomes disrespectful (say to this married person's wife) and the compliments should be cut short by the recipient (in this case me)? Or reversely, how far is it before you start making the other person wonder if you're serious (which of course I never am)?

SAI Slumber Party

Last night I hosted some SAI sisters for a girl's night slumber party. Jen (Prengaman) Ortiz, my sorority little, brought over her pledge book and we all reminisced over our answers to the interview questions. Can you match the SAI sister to her given answer to “What quote best describes your life?”

1. I’m not a bitch, I just look like one.

2. People will not remember what you did, they will not remember what you said, but they will never forget how you made them feel.

3. It’s okay to look at the menu as long as you go home to eat.

4. A friend is one who knows you but loves you anyway.

5. There’s only now, there’s only here. Give in to love or live in fear, no other path, no other way, no day but today.

6. Shoot for the moon- if you miss at least you’ll reach the stars.

A) Kelly Sheets
B) Lisa Hoag Erdahl
C) Karen Templin Eutsler
D) Sarah Ford
E) Sarah Wahn Williams
F) Viki Rill Johnson

Fun Links!

I have exciting friends:

Karen Cruse in the News (again, but this time not for something related to death): http://www.cinweekly.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060222/COV/602220321/1076

Sarah Ford’s new blog!!: www.seford.blogspot.com

Class Update

OK, I know this subject is going to get boring… but a general update from last night. There are 6 people (including me) that overlap from my Tuesday class into my Capstone class that meets last night. As you can imagine, the test and the cases were the only topic of conversation going on. Who knows what the rest of our class must think of us as we rambled on for 20 minutes.

Mindy threw out her idea of going to the Executive Director of the MBA and sending an email with all of us copied to show Jen we’re all feeling the same way (suggestion of a “unified front” was based off of your comments in my blog! Thanks for the advice). People were pretty willing to do this with little hesitation. Jeana, a perky blonde who sits in front of me and participates quite a bit in my S & SM class, got a D on her case and as you can imagine was stunned. Her course of action (prior to this conversation in class) was to send him a personal email stating that she wrote her case in the format she has for her 3 years of MBA previous to this class and she has always gotten an A. She also made some other points as well about the format of the class. He responded by the break in Capstone so we all gathered ‘round her computer to read: he said he understood her frustration and others had made similar points. The most frequent grade given on the cases was a B-/C+ with many C-/D's thrown in too. [Any NORMAL teacher would have seen this as the first indication of a problem....] He was doing some contemplation on the class and was going to consider some changes that might lead to improvement. He also said for her to bring her case in and he’d reevaluate it. His closing was annoying: “remember that everything in class, good and bad, is a learning experience to be appreciated”. What BS.

I’m now considering following her example and writing to him directly (hell yeah I want him to review my case again) and using his response to my request as my ammo for going or not going to the MBA office. Thoughts?

Course of Action?

Advice solicitation: All day my classmates in my sales class have bounced emails around about how bad yesterday was. There’s been much buzz about what course of action we should take to remedy the situation. I’ve voted for going to the MBA office and asking for the Executive Director to sit in one of our classes to get a first-hand look at how bad the instruction is. Another guy thinks we should politely converse with the teacher 1-on-1 and tell him our frustrations. I think that the guy is too full of himself to accept creative criticism and will punish those who are negative by hurting their participation grades (30% of our final). What’s your opinion?

Comments about the Sales Exam

Class last night was insane. I talked with the regular “early birds” who beat me to the classroom and they all admitted studying but weren’t surprised that I didn’t. The exam was so dumb- all of the questions were taken right out of the teacher’s manual. Some of them proved that it would have been helpful for me to study but I still think I got them correct. Other questions were so poorly written it was frustrating. For example, the question would state “Which statement is true about mission statements” and like 3 of the 5 statements would be true. Prof's advice was to pick the best answer (isn’t that what teachers always say??) but if I picked one of the other, still true answers, you better believe my ass will be arguing for the points, especially if I find written validation for my answer in the text.

One section actually required quite a bit of math that, while not complicated, was too large to do in your head. Why would you put such questions on an exam and not tell people to bring calculators? People, including myself, were pulling out cell phones to do the calculations. Also wrong with this problem: the paragraph of information leading up to do the four related multiple choice questions had an error in it that made the math wrong. I pointed it out to him and he responded “oh…. Well I guess just base it off of 48 weeks then instead of 52”. This is in addition to the multiple typing errors in the problem. UGH!!! Take the time to prepare an accurate test!

Upon turning in my exam I got my case study back from 2 weeks ago – I got a B-/C+. What the hell is that?! My GMAT (entrance exam for Grad School) writing portion put me in the 99th percentile nationwide for writing; there is no way on God’s green Earth that anything I write deserves anything less than a B (this is the one skill of mine I’m pretty proud of, can you tell?). Mindy, my buddy in class, got the same thing. She was so pissed off she wanted to stop at the MBA office after the exam to see if there was someone she could talk (aka complain) to.

While I have the next 2 weeks off class (Spring Break & Orlando), I fully intend on calling the dean in to audit one of our class sessions to see first hand what the guy who openly admits that he was hired after ”a 10 minute conversation with the Marketing Dean” is doing to us.

Boycott of Professor Jim

Those who talk to me ("talk" being the key word as I don't bitch about it too much in my blog) know that I detest my Sales & Sales Management class because my teacher is so horrible. Tonight is my first exam (worth 15% of my final grade) and I have officially boycotted studying out of spite for the prof.

Yes, I know this sounds immature. Yes, I know this could bite me in the ass. And Yes, if I don't get an A in this class regardless of how much I study I'll go to the dean as sales is my CAREER and I do quite well at it.

Karen Cruse, no shaking your head.

Oblivious

The man across the street from us is dying. Our other neighbor friend, Winnie, told us about 3 weeks ago that they were starting to bring in hospice full time. Since then there have been a half a dozen cars in the driveway and parking in their lawn nearly all day every day. Friends and family, I assume, who are with him until the end.

I wonder if they think it rude or unfair that we come and go from the house and do our regular things while they are there with my neighbor, watching him lose his battle. I think it’s amazing how a tragedy is going on right across the street and Jim and I don’t know any better than to just live life like nothing’s happening, because on so many levels we don’t know what’s happening.

I don’t know how that man feels or how his family is suffering. I don’t know what put that lady in the car next to me in such a good mood. I don’t know what my co-workers do at home after they leave MTCI. Hell, I don’t know what Jim does most of the 9 hours I’m away from him at work.

I think it would be so interesting to just wander around with a complete stranger for a while. A day, a week, a month, what’s ever a good amount of time to really begin to learn about the person. Especially those who are so unlike me – those financially separated from me high and low, those with different religious beliefs, those who lead completely different lifestyles. I mean really, what would a day in the life of a dominatrix be like?

I guess that’s why I’ve really come to enjoy blogging. As much as other folks let me I get to find out what they do and think when I’m not physically with them to see it happen. This is somewhat rhetorical, but I wonder if people think my life, written here for review, is interesting. Would a complete stranger? Do my close friends?

Weekend of 2/17

Friday night J & I headed over to the Wolf’s for Jonathan’s 18th birthday party. True to my word, Tom and I did shots of tequila when I got there. Made me warm inside and did help take the edge off… Party was good; low key as I was with my family.

Saturday night we had dinner at the Olive Garden with the Polley’s for David’s 50th birthday party. Carole brought us favors – wolly willy’s (remember those things where you use the magnet to put the “hair” on the bald guy?) and little bowling sets where you use marbles to knock tiny pins down. We played UNO for about 2 hours when we came home – a new game for me believe it or not. I could not seem to get the hang of saying "UNO" when I had one card left and Jim was nearly beside himself each time I got called and penalized for it.

Sunday Mom and I went to see Joseph & The Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat which was fantastic. Very entertaining and energetic. We followed that up with an afternoon/evening over at the ‘rents where we played Jeopardy! and Mexican Train Domino’s. We had 8 people at dinner as each of us kids had our significant others present. How times change!!

This morning was rough coming to work as I saw Jim all warm and snuggly still sleeping in bed (P&G gives their employees President’s Day off). While nothing too exciting, it was a relaxing weekend. Hopefully the week will be less stressful…

Positive Note 2

I just checked my voice mail and smiled- 2 calls- 1 from Sarah Ford and 1 from Jenny Johnson. While I love hearing from them in general, both did something that I’m especially grateful for: Most every time I converse one of my friends at end the conversation, IM or voice mail we end with an “I love you”. Being a girl is great - guys just don’t get that mushy stuff from their friends. It’s nice to have regular reaffirmation that I’m cared about. Especially on days like today.

One Good thing about the Day

Well, it’s been a horrible workday. Fire after fire, crisis after crisis. And still no word from the $20K/mo client that we’re desperately trying to renew… grrrr

One encouraging note for the day – all the soup I’ve eaten over the past week (12 straight meals!! bleh!) since my tooth surgery has had a positive affect on my waistline. This morning I easily slid into my “skinny” jeans and have been comfortable in them all day! Lisa claims that she’d rather eat than be skinny, but my self-confidence got a shot in the arm I’m rather relishing! Is this what Viki feels like every day??

No, this will not be the start of an anorexic Karen – I love ice cream and sour cream wayyyyy too much!

Top 5

I discovered on the way to class on Tuesday that a local station, 94.1, has “Top 5 at 5”. This little half hour program plays the top 5 favorite songs from one of the listeners who wrote in to the station. It’s pretty interesting to listen to what people like and the variety of their choices. Got me thinking about what I’d write in for my personal selections.

Below are Karen’s Top 5 Songs + a few extras (they’re links should you want to check out the lyrics):
Sway, Bic Runga
Come Away with Me, Norah Jones
Die Without You, PM Dawn
Under the Bridge, Red Hot Chili Peppers
Fast Cars & Freedom, Rascal Flatts

Honorable Mention:
Love of a Lifetime, Firehouse

Quirky Song I Can’t Get out of my Head:
Escape (The Pina Colada Song), Rupert Holmes

Also, for the record, perhaps my all-time favorite song is O Holy Night, which is of course a Christmas song and can’t be played in February on the radio.

Ugly Dress

Now that I have the skills at picture uploading, here's one I took at a wedding recently for the sole purpose of posting it here. I think this might be the worst oufit I have ever seen in my life.

None of you better be related to this person. If you are, I'm sure she's a very lovely person, but needs to be told this isn't such a flattering ensemble...

New Hair Pic

So, you wondered and here I am with my new hair cut and color!
Note that this is at 9:40pm after a full day of work, class, etc. so I'm not at my best, but you get the idea.

First Kiss Memories

The other day I was driving home and heard a song I don’t usually hear on the radio: Stairway to Heaven. While I don’t normally consider myself a fan of classic rock, this is one of those songs that spans generations. Besides the fact that this song always seemed to close out our high school dances, Stairway to Heaven holds a special place in my heart because it was the song playing when I got my first kiss.

*In my best Sophia Patrillo voice* Picture it: LaSalle High School Rock Jam, 1995. My girlfriends and I had collected together in the LaSalle gym following a losing game for the football team. The Rock Jams were impromptu “dances” where all the teens who flirted throughout the game gathered to “freak” each other and gossip about what ugly clothes other people are wearing. I was dating Matt, my then-best friend Sue’s ex-boyfriend who I had a crush on the whole time. He was 16, same as me, and we had gone out a few times but had not officially declared to be boyfriend/girlfriend.

The dance progresses and we hit the wind-down of the night. The music blends out from some rock song and floats into Stairway to Heaven. Matt and I slow dance. I remember being anxious because the stage was so perfectly set for him to kiss me and I was worried I wouldn’t know how to do it “right”. I tried to bury my head into his shoulder to potentially avoid the situation but feign being romantic. God knows what he was thinking – perhaps he was as nervous as I was? About halfway through the song I braved looking up at him and smiled.

On cue, Matt leaned down and kissed me. It was very sweet, very gentle, and not too difficult to learn as I went. I remember feeling a little stubble on his chin and thinking that was so grown up. I remember hoping that my girl friends near-by were seeing it so I they would gush about it and relieve me of bringing it up. I remember looking forward to the next kiss that I knew would be even more natural.

When the kiss ended we danced out the rest of the song and held hands on our way out the dance.

Hearing that song on the way home from class reminded me of the whole scene. Amazing how a song will do that for you…

Florida Vacation!

The SEC Training trip is scheduled and the lucky city to host the Eutslers for 3 days……..ORLANDO!! We’re going to head down the weekend of March 4 and stay for 3 days. P&G is picking up the tab for our Disney Resort room and all of Jim’s meals/flights. We’ll hit up Universal and Epcot (our dime) while we’re down there. Any other fun/cool places to see? HOORAY!

Olympic Watching Day 1

I watched the Olympics for about an hour and a half last night. These people are absolutely amazing. Trey’s pondering (www.hornplayer.blogspot.com) mirrored mine – how the hell do they learn how to do this stuff!? If some guy said to me get on a flat board and stay on your feet long enough to get down the half pipe in one piece I’d say he was nuts. These crazy people do 1080’s and 1260’s over 20 feet above the pipe wall! That’s 7 spins!!! Further, these ice dancers are flying at like 20 miles an hour and have someone lifted, above their head, with one hand like it’s nothing.

Also, I think it’s funny how after about 5 minutes of watching Jim and I are suddenly expert judges of performance. We were watching the men’s half pipe finals and the Finish guy did an OK job. Jim says, "that’ll be a 34". Sure enough, it was a 34.2. HA! Also, we’re now “qualified” to commentate on trick height and difficulty. This fact is more ridiculous because we haven’t watched these events since the last Olympics 2 years ago!

Also, someone please tell me why Sharon Stone was at the Olympics and a large part of the Opening Ceremonies?!

Wisdom Teeth Day 2

Before I went to bed last night I got out a flashlight and tried to open my mouth as far as I could to take a look at the “damage”. My doctor must be a-frickin’-mazing or my immune system is because my bottom hole is almost closed up already! I can’t get a good look at my top one, but I can sense that it’s much more open than its counterpart. 1/2 ain't bad.

So far I’ve eaten: yogurt smoothie, chicken with O-noodles, and swirled up ice cream (mmm!). I’m going to try out some blueberry muffins this morning and see how it goes.

I’ve also been trying to proactively take Aleve to keep the pain away. I have some dull pain, very manageable, but I don’t want to know what it would be without medication. I’m remembering conversations with Dr. Kendall where he said taking more than the recommended dosage on the bottle is OK… I’m trying to keep middle ground between his advice and Aleve’s (I took 4 in a 24 hour period).

Worst thing about this so far – I can’t thoroughly brush my teeth! yuck!

Cool People

For the record, I have the best friends ever. Thanks, guys, for sending me your notes of encouragement yesterday regarding my teeth. It meant a lot that you took the time to write and it did make me feel better.

Except for Lisa's... :)

Wisdom Teeth Recap

Surgery for my wisdom tooth extraction was at 8am this morning and a weird experience. I got in and they took me back right away. The numbing part was not fun (never is!) but obviously manageable. The doctor and the nurse were trying to be natural and keep me calm but I was incredibly anxious. I didn’t even notice until the doctor wiped some tears off my cheek that I was crying – not out of pain but in nervousness. I’m such a wimp, I know.

It took about 12 minutes to fully numb each side of my face. The doctor asked if we had any kids and I quickly responded “if I can’t handle this how in the world would I get through childbirth!?”

They looped my top left tooth (#32) and wiggled it out of me. I did hear some cracking but I was trying to listen intently to my Rascal Flatts as not to notice (which did help a lot - thanks Mike, for letting me borrow your iPod). 45 seconds later, tooth was out.

The second tooth, my bottom right (#16), was impacted and seemed bit more involved as the dentist didn't follow the same procedure as the first tooth. They tapped on it and tried to clamp it (which actually hurt a small amount). I felt a little tug and a little pain. That happened twice and, amazingly, the tooth was out before even realized it.

I bled through three gauze rotations (just stopped spitting blood about 10 minute ago, 3.5 hours after surgery) but in general am not in any pain. I’m just starting to get feeling back in my left cheek but I suspect I won’t be able to talk normally for several more hours as my tongue, chin and right side have no feeling at all.

All in all, it was not worth getting as anxious as I did over it. Not that I want it repeated, mind you. I’m not swollen at all and I assume that means I won’t be. I’m drooling like a freakin’ St. Bernard though.

Oh, and Karen, I did keep the teeth for your biology classroom. One is pretty cool the other is one of the strangest things I’ve ever seen root-wise. If I change my background I’ll take pics and post it.

Wisdom Teeth Fear

OK, I’m starting to freak out a little. I had all but forgotten that I’m having my wisdom teeth out tomorrow morning when it dawned on me at lunch today. Everyone keeps saying it’s not going to be a big deal and I’m trying hard to believe them (and I do mostly) but I’m still scared of 1) the Novocain 2) the possibility of dry socket (which I hear is horrible pain) and 3) hearing the tooth cracked out of my jaw. UGH.

I’ll post tomorrow if I’m up for it… I’ll be home all day…

Mom's House Hunting

For a few months now Mom has been sending me updates about houses that are coming up for sale that she thinks would be good for Jim and I. Somehow the only houses for sale in Cincinnati seem to all be within a 5 mile radius of her house. Amazing how the housing market operates! Really, though, it’s very flattering that she’d want us so close.

When she came over the other night she brought more housing news – the house across the street from her is going up for sale within the next few weeks. My immediate reaction was to laugh it off and joke about how annoying it would be for them to see us all the time. Yesterday, however, she sent me an email that was cute in nature but clearly got the message across that she was serious about us considering it. She even pulled the “free pet-sitting and baby-sitting whenever you want” card. I never thought I'd consider being one of "those" people who lives in the same neighborhood as my parents.

Thing is, I don’t think I would really mind living across the street from my parents. While that truly does demonstrate how strong my link is to them, there are some really nice perks that would come along with it. I expressed this to Jim last night and he’s kind of on board – while he has no issue living that close to them in general, he doesn’t want to live in their specific neighborhood (basically he wants a bigger/newer/more expensive house than theirs). He suggested that we find a house for us and entice them to move to our new neighborhood!

This truly is one of the greatest blessings in my marriage – while I, of course, think my family is fabulous, it’s nice that the person I’m married to agrees. Makes life so much easier!

New 'Do

Monday night I got my hair cut about 5” up to my shoulders. Jim’s reaction was “surprisingly, I think it looks good on you. But I like long hair in general and you have to grow it out for the next 3 years.” It’s pretty cute, a change from the last 3 years where my hair length has been down to the middle of my shoulder blades. Jim suggested last night that I style my hair “that flippy way Lisa does”- I was shocked that he a) had a hair styling suggestion for me and b) he's noticed other womens' hair?! I thought guys didn't pay attention to anything other than T & A on a woman...

Mom came over last night, liked the cut and reiterated for the 68th time that she and Grandma prefer my hair blonde. Right after she left I dyed it the darkest it’s ever been- kind of a reddish brown that I’m not totally sure is flattering to my skin tone. Jim, who likes brunette women in general, was very supportive of the new shade.

This is still somewhat peculiar to me- I’ve been blonde for all of my 24 previous years and now, just in the last year and a half, I’ve tried 4 new colors and 3 new cuts. Wasn’t I supposed to get this kind of thing out of my system in college? Ah well. Only concern now is that when I want to go blonde again it’ll turn orange from all the darker and red-based colors I have been using….

Gatlinburg

Coming back to work was hectic yesterday, but tons more manageable than the entire month of January or February has been up to this point. Some recap from the weekend in Gatlinburg with the Helmick’s, Ellerbrock’s, Jeanmougin’s, S. Murphy and A. Marquette:

• Of course the Brett situation (read below) that ultimately was resolved yesterday. I explained to him my frustration at no decision, he admitted he didn’t want me to leave b/c of a big deal we have pending but didn’t want to be a jerk and not let me go. I agreed to give him 2 weeks notice of vacation in the future, he agreed to drop the subject.
• Jim and I stopped at the only respectable place to eat when in TN: Cracker Barrel. Surprisingly good food and the start of those glorious southern accents
• Day 1: Go-Karting (2 times), putter golf (I won!), and some shopping on the strip, enjoying the 55 degree weather. J & I agreed that the best part of the day was lunch – while the food was lousy the feeling of freedom that came with being out of Ohio and away from work on a Friday was fabulous
• Day 2: the antithesis of the day before weather-wise, we bundled up and braved the elements to go outlet mall shopping. Found a good deal on pants at TH, Christmas cards at the Paper Factory and a Christmas ornament at the Christmas Castle. Game night ensued where the men and women split in winning. J went hottubbing with all the ladies, I enjoyed a good book by the fire
• The drive home was horrendous. We were making great time until we hit the jack-knifed semi that blocked I75 for an hour and 20 minutes. We didn’t arrive home for our Super Bowl party until 5:10 – cutting it very close!

All in all the trip was just the detox I needed from all the stress I’d been penning up. Oh, and that deal Brett was worried we’d lose- we did. And I’m not disappointed at all!

Blog Reading Addiction

I’m learning that I have no life: I’m becoming blog addicted. I have three other friends with blogs (Tom P., Sarah W. and Lisa E.) that I check about 2X/day. I’m finding that I get frustrated when people don’t post on a somewhat regular basis. Lisa, for example, hasn’t posted since Thursday and I feel way out of the loop with what’s going on in her life. How can this be when I was perfectly content before she had a blog to not know her every life decision!? God forbid she be out living life instead of at home writing about it.... shame on her!

UPDATE: No sooner to I post this than Lisa writes in her blog twice. Now the only person I can complain about is Tom P who hasn't posted since Monday. Perhaps b/c he's sick he's too fragile to log his life... or maybe he's leading a boring sick life with nothing of interst to post... (www.rbdf.blogspot.com).

Other funness, Sarah mentioned me in her blog!! www.clarinetsw.blogspot.com