The weekend was really nice. I think that when Jim and I have plans on Friday nights the weekend feels longer. On Friday night I got home in time to make Jim some dinner and then I went off to Jenny’s sister’s bachelorette party. Jen did a great job planning – good food, good drinks, a toy party: all the makings for a nice single-life send-off. Poor Jim was still sick and apparently went to bed around 9:30, so he was really out of it by the time I got home around 12:30.
On Saturday we got woken up at 8:00am by the Time Warner guy who was delivering our new cable. What was supposed to be a 15 minute job turned into 2.5 hours as new cable had to be run all the way from the pole. The tech wasn’t so happy but was very polite. The hi-def cable does make a huge difference in the quality of the picture. We watched a few things to test it out/stall for time as not to go out and paint more of the barn. Chuck, Kristi & Dale came over for Mexican food and to watch the Bob & Tom Comedy Special with us. Good time had by all!
Sunday we slept in a little more and got up in time to meet Jamie, Jason and Dale at King’s Island for P&G dividend day. We were there for about 2.5 hours, rode some rides, collected some free samples, and left to go get pizza for lunch. We stopped by my grandparent’s house on the way home and they were quite tickled we did which made me happy we took the time. Mom cooked us lasagna for dinner and we hung out over there until around 10.
Not terribly exciting, but a nice breather before a new work-week.
Monday, September 18, 2006
Friday, September 15, 2006
Drugs in the Bathroom
I’ve clearly been watching too many Sopranos episodes lately.
Our office restroom is a common bathroom in the hallway of our floor. Lately the timing has been such that the automatic air freshener puffs while I’ve been in there. Every blasted time that thing goes off my mind jumps to the idea that someone is snorting cocaine off the vanity.
It seriously sounds so much like that that I have to remind myself that a) my life’s not that interesting to have something like that happen b) it’s a #@!& public bathroom in Sharonville for crying out loud and c) who is dumb enough to inhale coke off a nasty public bathroom vanity? I guess the answer to c is someone who’s doing cocaine in the first place...
Our office restroom is a common bathroom in the hallway of our floor. Lately the timing has been such that the automatic air freshener puffs while I’ve been in there. Every blasted time that thing goes off my mind jumps to the idea that someone is snorting cocaine off the vanity.
It seriously sounds so much like that that I have to remind myself that a) my life’s not that interesting to have something like that happen b) it’s a #@!& public bathroom in Sharonville for crying out loud and c) who is dumb enough to inhale coke off a nasty public bathroom vanity? I guess the answer to c is someone who’s doing cocaine in the first place...
Thursday, September 14, 2006
Casual Thursday
Dear Jim is sick with faryngitis which he seems to get once a year or so. He took the day off anyway to receive the new television and from what he reports he’s been quite busy cleaning the kitchen and bathroom. Obviously he needs extra TLC and good cooking tonight as a reward.
In about 20 minutes my company’s open house will start. It’s overall been a pretty low-key day – I had class this morning and had a guest speaker so I didn’t have to prep anything. When I got back we had pizza ordered in and the rest of the time we’ve been bumming around and trying to stay clean so we’re presentable when the guests come at 3:00. There’s food everywhere and caterers running around who aren’t polite in the slightest. The kegs are tapped and the wine is breathing. Soon we’ll be rockin!
I talked with my boss again about permission to teach in the Spring over my lunch hour. Ironically the chair wanted an answer the next day from when we emailed and he hasn’t bugged me about it at all since I told him I need more time. Hmmmmm…. I did spend quite some time corresponding with one of my students the other day about sales techniques and things of that nature. He makes me smile at his enthusiasm for the business world. I also got notice that one of my students might be called up to active duty in the next few weeks. Though I’ve only known him for 3 weeks myself, I'm disheartened by the thought of him being deployed.
Some especially good pictures have been blogged lately on Lisa’s and Sarah’s spaces. Check ‘em out if you get time.
In about 20 minutes my company’s open house will start. It’s overall been a pretty low-key day – I had class this morning and had a guest speaker so I didn’t have to prep anything. When I got back we had pizza ordered in and the rest of the time we’ve been bumming around and trying to stay clean so we’re presentable when the guests come at 3:00. There’s food everywhere and caterers running around who aren’t polite in the slightest. The kegs are tapped and the wine is breathing. Soon we’ll be rockin!
I talked with my boss again about permission to teach in the Spring over my lunch hour. Ironically the chair wanted an answer the next day from when we emailed and he hasn’t bugged me about it at all since I told him I need more time. Hmmmmm…. I did spend quite some time corresponding with one of my students the other day about sales techniques and things of that nature. He makes me smile at his enthusiasm for the business world. I also got notice that one of my students might be called up to active duty in the next few weeks. Though I’ve only known him for 3 weeks myself, I'm disheartened by the thought of him being deployed.
Some especially good pictures have been blogged lately on Lisa’s and Sarah’s spaces. Check ‘em out if you get time.
Tuesday, September 12, 2006
Finally!
Last night Jim and I went to Best Buy and bought our new TV- a Toshiba DLP 50”. Between that purchase, the new HD cables, the savings we got from upgrading to HD Cable through BB and the extended warranty we had just enough money left over from that contest's winnings to buy Dairy Queen to celebrate! The TV is going to come in on Thursday and Jim’s taking the day off to receive it and make more progress on painting our barn. After 10 months of no television bigger than 19” this is going to be great! I expect we’ll overdose on movie watching all next week.
Saturday, September 09, 2006
Crazy Friday
Friday was a really really long day. Work in the morning was slammed and while I did accomplish some things, I started more than I finished. Mom and Grandma W took me out to lunch which was great, but I came back to several blazing fires when I returned to the office. When my phone battery died I borrowed my boss’s phone so that I could communicate and make the most of my 45 minute drive to Dayton for an appointment.
The appointment was painful to say the least. I had to meet with one my clients I most respect about his services that have been horrid since day 1. While he is (and I appreciate that he is) a very reasonable man and he only wants the best for the company knowing this I felt even more guilty in letting him down. I left there over an hour and a half later and pouted because I was only 10 minutes from Sarah’s house (where I was going for the evening) but had to come all the way back down to Cincinnati to give my boss his phone and to meet another client to give them some promo items. That other client didn’t come until nearly 6 which meant overall Jim and I were an hour later to the Williams than initially intended. Very frustrating. Fortunately, Sarah and Danny were really cool about it and didn’t harass me at all!
We had a great time at the Williams’s, as always. Sarah let me cuddle with Alex a ton, feed him, help with his footprints for the baby book, and gush the whole night. He’s so sweet. I don’t believe her that he’s ever bad. Danny made us lamb chops, Portobello mushrooms with bleu cheese and bacon, and baby carrots for dinner. I seriously felt like I was in a restaurant.
When we left around 12:15 the night turned really bad. We watched a car turn out of Chili’s and start driving on the wrong side of the road (other side of the median from us) and ultimately turn left on a red through the major intersection of New Germany and North Fairfield Roads. Because we were shocked to see this at all we continued to watch the car as it went again on the wrong side of the median on N. Fairfield and head straight for on-coming traffic. Just a few seconds passed before we witnessed the car slam into a motorcycle and send the driver flying 25 yards up the road. Of all horrible things, the driver of the car flees the scene by getting out of her car and running away, leaving the cyclist lying in the middle of the street. It was totally unbelievable.
We called 911, talked briefly to the dispatcher and turned around to help/make a police statement. I’ll admit I was disappointed because it took police about 5 minutes from when we called to actually get there and another 5 for the ambulance to show up. Some early-20’s guys had gone to the cyclist and were asking him to wiggle his fingers, etc. The poor guy was in horrible shape – blood all over, moaning and crying and beyond words for the most part. Horrible. We stayed about a half hour so I could make a written statement and then we headed home.
I feel rather motivated to get my CPR certification up-to-date now. Maybe I’ll look into some local places we can do that…
The appointment was painful to say the least. I had to meet with one my clients I most respect about his services that have been horrid since day 1. While he is (and I appreciate that he is) a very reasonable man and he only wants the best for the company knowing this I felt even more guilty in letting him down. I left there over an hour and a half later and pouted because I was only 10 minutes from Sarah’s house (where I was going for the evening) but had to come all the way back down to Cincinnati to give my boss his phone and to meet another client to give them some promo items. That other client didn’t come until nearly 6 which meant overall Jim and I were an hour later to the Williams than initially intended. Very frustrating. Fortunately, Sarah and Danny were really cool about it and didn’t harass me at all!
We had a great time at the Williams’s, as always. Sarah let me cuddle with Alex a ton, feed him, help with his footprints for the baby book, and gush the whole night. He’s so sweet. I don’t believe her that he’s ever bad. Danny made us lamb chops, Portobello mushrooms with bleu cheese and bacon, and baby carrots for dinner. I seriously felt like I was in a restaurant.
When we left around 12:15 the night turned really bad. We watched a car turn out of Chili’s and start driving on the wrong side of the road (other side of the median from us) and ultimately turn left on a red through the major intersection of New Germany and North Fairfield Roads. Because we were shocked to see this at all we continued to watch the car as it went again on the wrong side of the median on N. Fairfield and head straight for on-coming traffic. Just a few seconds passed before we witnessed the car slam into a motorcycle and send the driver flying 25 yards up the road. Of all horrible things, the driver of the car flees the scene by getting out of her car and running away, leaving the cyclist lying in the middle of the street. It was totally unbelievable.
We called 911, talked briefly to the dispatcher and turned around to help/make a police statement. I’ll admit I was disappointed because it took police about 5 minutes from when we called to actually get there and another 5 for the ambulance to show up. Some early-20’s guys had gone to the cyclist and were asking him to wiggle his fingers, etc. The poor guy was in horrible shape – blood all over, moaning and crying and beyond words for the most part. Horrible. We stayed about a half hour so I could make a written statement and then we headed home.
I feel rather motivated to get my CPR certification up-to-date now. Maybe I’ll look into some local places we can do that…
Wednesday, September 06, 2006
Work, School, and the Gym
Today was a good work day. I had a meeting in the morning and one in the afternoon and both were enjoyable and hopefully eventually profitable.
I corresponded with the new chair of the marketing department and he asked if I’d teach an elective in the Spring semester. As I found out through these emails, the class I'm teaching now is actually a fall-only class and the sales class they want me to teach in the spring is a spring-only class. There goes all my hard prep work for this semester! I’ll forget it all or it’ll be void next year when a new book is picked! Further, taking on this class means taking on a bunch more hours in new class prep.
Anyway, I did say that I was interested in teaching the sales class and I asked about the book and times he had in mind. I’ll admit I found this kind of funny because the marketing department has no feedback on me as we’ve only been in session 3 times. I could totally suck and they would be hiring me back! I guess they could refuse to extend my contract if my evaluations at the end of the semester were horrid. Hopefully that won’t be an issue.
Karen reminded me of other good news I forgot to share – my gym membership expired yesterday! Hooray! Ok, I'm exaggerating my enthusiasm a little bit here… hopefully I can talk Jim into taking me to Winton Woods over the next few nights so we can walk the trails for exercise. That’s much more pleasant than biking no where.
Countdown to see Alex (oh yeah, and Sarah and Danny too): 2 DAYS
I corresponded with the new chair of the marketing department and he asked if I’d teach an elective in the Spring semester. As I found out through these emails, the class I'm teaching now is actually a fall-only class and the sales class they want me to teach in the spring is a spring-only class. There goes all my hard prep work for this semester! I’ll forget it all or it’ll be void next year when a new book is picked! Further, taking on this class means taking on a bunch more hours in new class prep.
Anyway, I did say that I was interested in teaching the sales class and I asked about the book and times he had in mind. I’ll admit I found this kind of funny because the marketing department has no feedback on me as we’ve only been in session 3 times. I could totally suck and they would be hiring me back! I guess they could refuse to extend my contract if my evaluations at the end of the semester were horrid. Hopefully that won’t be an issue.
Karen reminded me of other good news I forgot to share – my gym membership expired yesterday! Hooray! Ok, I'm exaggerating my enthusiasm a little bit here… hopefully I can talk Jim into taking me to Winton Woods over the next few nights so we can walk the trails for exercise. That’s much more pleasant than biking no where.
Countdown to see Alex (oh yeah, and Sarah and Danny too): 2 DAYS
Tuesday, September 05, 2006
Weekend of 9/1/06
Well, the last long weekend before Thanksgiving has come and passed. I spent it
- having a date night with Jim on Friday (watched You, Me & Dupree which gets a B and got Maggie Moo smoothies)
- bumming around on Saturday afternoon and went to the Ott’s with Dale for dinner
- 5 hours of Alaska video creating (for 20 minutes of footage!) which made me late to come home, make dinner, and meet Jen & Tom for bowling and games.
- Sunday consisted of making beanbags (I was supposed to do this on Sunday!) for Greg and painting 2 sides of the shed.
Wa-hoo, I know. Anyway, today at class I'm teaching about Segmenting the Marketplace and reviewing their semester-long project with them. Should be fun!
Friday, September 01, 2006
Living in a pop music hole
I’ll admit it- I'm drawn to these dumb award shows to see what people are wearing. I DO NOT watch them but I do go through the 50 or so online pictures showing the red carpet intros of the stars. I followed this same procedure this morning looking at the MTV Music Award photos from last night and found myself totally confused.
OK, I know I'm in my mid-20’s and all but how am I so out of the loop regarding current pop culture?
Who the hell is LaLa?
Seriously, looking at these pics I think I knew like 10% of the people and they were all “old school” folks like Ludacris and JLo. Good lord I must be getting old
OK, I know I'm in my mid-20’s and all but how am I so out of the loop regarding current pop culture?
Who the hell is LaLa?
Seriously, looking at these pics I think I knew like 10% of the people and they were all “old school” folks like Ludacris and JLo. Good lord I must be getting old
Thursday, August 31, 2006
First Real Class
Today was my first “real” day of teaching as Tuesday was just introductions and syllabus review. I was nervous on the way down to class which made me have to use the restroom very badly once I got to school. This was frustrating because I followed one of my favorite MBA teachers down the hill to the building but knew that couldn't stop him to say hello because I wanted to rush in, take care of business, and get to class a few minutes early. I hope I run into him again though to catch up.
I was surprised when a guy in the class came up and asked if I would consider being the chair of the Sales Club that one of his friends is trying to start. I'm thinking to myself – “wow, this is cool and would be a good way to be a bigger part of the XU community; but what in the heck am I supposed to do for them?” as I have no experience (obviously) with this kind of thing. I feel like Karen Cruse (who got asked to moderate about 2 million things over the last 3 years). Ginger, who I'm replacing, was supposed to do this apparently, but now that I'm the new Ginger I guess that’s why he asked me. There is another sales prof. though who taught the class pre-Ginger. Perhaps they don’t know about him or I can recommend him if I don’t have time to help them out.
Anyway, class went really well. I got in the grove pretty quickly and students were thinking and participating as much as I wanted them to. I made 2 mistakes that I will work not to repeat: 1) I posted the wrong sheet online so when I went to use it in class I got screwed up and lost 10 minutes of planned activity; 2) I didn’t prepare enough material so they got out about 20 minutes early from the 75 minute class. I think part of this was the lost activity from item #1 and part was because Chapter 1 wasn’t as robust as some of the others.
So that’s that! I'm in business! More later posts if something exciting happens.
I was surprised when a guy in the class came up and asked if I would consider being the chair of the Sales Club that one of his friends is trying to start. I'm thinking to myself – “wow, this is cool and would be a good way to be a bigger part of the XU community; but what in the heck am I supposed to do for them?” as I have no experience (obviously) with this kind of thing. I feel like Karen Cruse (who got asked to moderate about 2 million things over the last 3 years). Ginger, who I'm replacing, was supposed to do this apparently, but now that I'm the new Ginger I guess that’s why he asked me. There is another sales prof. though who taught the class pre-Ginger. Perhaps they don’t know about him or I can recommend him if I don’t have time to help them out.
Anyway, class went really well. I got in the grove pretty quickly and students were thinking and participating as much as I wanted them to. I made 2 mistakes that I will work not to repeat: 1) I posted the wrong sheet online so when I went to use it in class I got screwed up and lost 10 minutes of planned activity; 2) I didn’t prepare enough material so they got out about 20 minutes early from the 75 minute class. I think part of this was the lost activity from item #1 and part was because Chapter 1 wasn’t as robust as some of the others.
So that’s that! I'm in business! More later posts if something exciting happens.
Wednesday, August 30, 2006
Like Mom, I Want To Be Like Mom
The other thing I liked about Spanglish is towards the end when the mother asks her daughter pointedly “Would it be such a bad thing to turn out like me?” This made me cry because of all the people in the world, turning out like my mother would be a blessing to the world. She’s a pretty awesome mom and person all the way around.
Time for the “awwww”’s…
Time for the “awwww”’s…
Monday, August 28, 2006
Long Nights, Longer Memories
Jim and I watched Spanglish (A, excellent acting) yesterday and there are three facets to the movie that struck me that I’ll post about separately.
At the height of the movie two characters spend the evening together talking and laughing. When the conversation climaxes and it gets late, the woman attempts to get up from the couch they’re sitting on. The guy she’s with touches her arm and says “Don’t. As soon as our feet touch the floor the night is over and I'm not ready for that yet.”
Have you ever been there before? Where you’re so deep talking with the person you’re with and so connected that you don’t want the night to end? I remember a night I had with an ex-boyfriend where we sat in his room watching a movie and talking and it felt like we were the only people in the entire world.
The night I met Jim we kept doing more activities (midnight dessert, pool, darts, cuddling) because we weren’t done being together yet. I kept calling home every other hour to let Mom know I was alive but needed more time with the incredible guy I met.
I had that kind of night with Sarah F. on our Senior year retreat. We sat on the bridge of that campsite with our feet dangling over the tumbling water below us and talked and talked and cried and cried. We left that bridge with such a deep understanding of each other – I’ve felt that close with only a few others my whole life.
Those kinds of nights are so huge, so important that they redirect part of us forever, I think. They take a lot out of you if you do it right, but the bonds you form during those times are nearly unbreakable. I think that’s also why when/if relationships with people you’ve had experiences like that with start to fade it’s more painful than nearly anything else- part of you is still with that person from that night and you can’t get it back.
I'm just grateful that I had the opportunity to keep part of those friends with me. Often times it’s remembering that part that gets me through tough times without them and makes me revel in our good times together even more.
At the height of the movie two characters spend the evening together talking and laughing. When the conversation climaxes and it gets late, the woman attempts to get up from the couch they’re sitting on. The guy she’s with touches her arm and says “Don’t. As soon as our feet touch the floor the night is over and I'm not ready for that yet.”
Have you ever been there before? Where you’re so deep talking with the person you’re with and so connected that you don’t want the night to end? I remember a night I had with an ex-boyfriend where we sat in his room watching a movie and talking and it felt like we were the only people in the entire world.
The night I met Jim we kept doing more activities (midnight dessert, pool, darts, cuddling) because we weren’t done being together yet. I kept calling home every other hour to let Mom know I was alive but needed more time with the incredible guy I met.
I had that kind of night with Sarah F. on our Senior year retreat. We sat on the bridge of that campsite with our feet dangling over the tumbling water below us and talked and talked and cried and cried. We left that bridge with such a deep understanding of each other – I’ve felt that close with only a few others my whole life.
Those kinds of nights are so huge, so important that they redirect part of us forever, I think. They take a lot out of you if you do it right, but the bonds you form during those times are nearly unbreakable. I think that’s also why when/if relationships with people you’ve had experiences like that with start to fade it’s more painful than nearly anything else- part of you is still with that person from that night and you can’t get it back.
I'm just grateful that I had the opportunity to keep part of those friends with me. Often times it’s remembering that part that gets me through tough times without them and makes me revel in our good times together even more.
Sunday, August 27, 2006
Good Friends, Good Times
August Girls' Lunch: This shot represents 12 years of friendship for the group (20+ years in some individuals' cases)!!
Friday, August 25, 2006
New Happenings
Three shout-outs this morning:
1) To Jason and Beth who are being induced at 2:00pm this afternoon. GOOD LUCK, Ian! We wish you a very quick and painless birth!
2) To Tom for having a fun (as always) dinner with me last night. Jen, you’re quite lucky to have him
3) My brother Greg for blogging in who knows how long.
Another piece of big news that some of you might already be aware of- my brother Mike and his girlfriend are pregnant and due in April. While this was surprising to all parties involved they’re already setting plans for the future and doing all the “right” things. I'm already excited about another baby in my life (especially one that's not mine- ha!)! It’s also been a good opportunity for me to get closer to Lindsay who I hadn’t taken the time to get to know as well as I should have. I'm very happy about that too.
Watched The Devil Wears Prada on Wednesday night with Jim, Chuck & Kristi. Good movie in general, great acting overall. Gets a B.
As I think of other things I wanted to mention but keep getting too interrupted to write about so I forget them I’ll post!
1) To Jason and Beth who are being induced at 2:00pm this afternoon. GOOD LUCK, Ian! We wish you a very quick and painless birth!
2) To Tom for having a fun (as always) dinner with me last night. Jen, you’re quite lucky to have him
3) My brother Greg for blogging in who knows how long.
Another piece of big news that some of you might already be aware of- my brother Mike and his girlfriend are pregnant and due in April. While this was surprising to all parties involved they’re already setting plans for the future and doing all the “right” things. I'm already excited about another baby in my life (especially one that's not mine- ha!)! It’s also been a good opportunity for me to get closer to Lindsay who I hadn’t taken the time to get to know as well as I should have. I'm very happy about that too.
Watched The Devil Wears Prada on Wednesday night with Jim, Chuck & Kristi. Good movie in general, great acting overall. Gets a B.
As I think of other things I wanted to mention but keep getting too interrupted to write about so I forget them I’ll post!
Thursday, August 24, 2006
Proper Planning Prevents Piss-Poor Performance (or Results as the case may be)
*drumming fingers repeatedly*
My master plan is working… one by one my previously close-minded friends are realizing that all the action to be had is happening in OHIO. Sarah F. just moved in from the East, Jenny’s moving to Cincinnati from the West, and Sarah W. is looking to move even more South to be near us (okay and for other reasons too….)! If I could only con Lisa and Viki to my way of thinking, that Cincinnati is the best city on the planet, I’d be in business!
Tuesday, August 22, 2006
Gettin' Ready for School
I cause myself too much work but many of you can understand because I think you're the same away. I made a goal of prepping 1 chapter a night for my marketing class so that I can have all my stuff together and feel really prepared. The slides that the previous instructor gave me I thought were going to be a good start because they were made by the publisher of the book. But I can’t use them.
Why can't I save myself an hour a night?
1) they cover dumb material that isn’t interesting
2) they’re so comprehensive I'm not sure the class would be comprised of anything but lecture if I used them
3) they’re ugly
So, what I thought would be easy isn’t. I'm creating all new slides that are pretty, functional, and engaging. Why am I such a perfectionist!?
Monday, August 21, 2006
Weekend of 8/18/06
It was a full and fun weekend. Some items to share:
1. I WON THE TV!!! I got the final word on Friday that the contest is over and ended in my favor!!! Jim’s already researched what he wants to get and hopefully this week the certificate for the set will be in-hand!
2. Jason in my office invited Jim and I to a Republican event on Friday night. $500/person got us berries and cheese and about a half hour of speaking. While it was interesting to experience how political people operate, I'm darn glad I didn’t pay for it. : )
3. Joe K. I in town from California. He met Jim, Jenny, Tom, Jessy, Sean, Kelly and I up at the St. John’s festival after the republican cocktail hour. I ate a hot dog and ear of corn and felt very Midwestern. Joe was reminded how vastly different Ohioans live vs. Californians and I think he is not disappointed to go back west.
4. Saturday I went with Mom’s side of the family to Dory’s baby shower. She already had Zachary 4 months early but as he’s still in the hospital and will be through September getting bigger and better we celebrated his birth regardless. I found these really cute stuffed animals- an elephant, tiger & zebra- at Kohl’s and was especially happy because a) the shower was safari themed and b) all the net profit of the purchase went to Children’s Hospital. I was really tickled about that given Zach’s special needs in the hospital right now. Apparently last year Kohl’s raised enough money to buy the hospital an ambulance!
5. Saturday night I took my parents and Jim with me to the Reds game where we enjoyed box seats compliments of Cincinnati Bell. This was probably the most fun part of the weekend as we got to eat all kinds of food, drink unlimited amounts of beer, and watch the Reds win 14-7. There were awesome rallies and obviously tons of hits and scoring. It was great! We followed up the game by beating down my parents in Euchre too. : )
6. Sunday was also exciting because Jenny announced her big news at our monthly Girls’ Lunch- She’s ENGAGED!!!!! Another round of hearty congrats to her and Tom! She commented after lunch that she had a great time and asked if they were all like that, which they are. More incentive for her to move to Cincinnati!!
7. I also spent about 2 hours working on school stuff, 2 hours working on the shed and an hour watching most of The Man before the DVD died (too many scratches). The funniest part of last night was when Samuel L. Jackson called me to encourage me to take Viki and go watch his new fantastic movie, Snakes on a Plane. That call was hilarious. I called Viki all giggly over it and promptly sent his call out to other unknowing victims! Too cool!
So that’s it! You heard it (what I did for the last 3 days) here first!
1. I WON THE TV!!! I got the final word on Friday that the contest is over and ended in my favor!!! Jim’s already researched what he wants to get and hopefully this week the certificate for the set will be in-hand!
2. Jason in my office invited Jim and I to a Republican event on Friday night. $500/person got us berries and cheese and about a half hour of speaking. While it was interesting to experience how political people operate, I'm darn glad I didn’t pay for it. : )
3. Joe K. I in town from California. He met Jim, Jenny, Tom, Jessy, Sean, Kelly and I up at the St. John’s festival after the republican cocktail hour. I ate a hot dog and ear of corn and felt very Midwestern. Joe was reminded how vastly different Ohioans live vs. Californians and I think he is not disappointed to go back west.
4. Saturday I went with Mom’s side of the family to Dory’s baby shower. She already had Zachary 4 months early but as he’s still in the hospital and will be through September getting bigger and better we celebrated his birth regardless. I found these really cute stuffed animals- an elephant, tiger & zebra- at Kohl’s and was especially happy because a) the shower was safari themed and b) all the net profit of the purchase went to Children’s Hospital. I was really tickled about that given Zach’s special needs in the hospital right now. Apparently last year Kohl’s raised enough money to buy the hospital an ambulance!
5. Saturday night I took my parents and Jim with me to the Reds game where we enjoyed box seats compliments of Cincinnati Bell. This was probably the most fun part of the weekend as we got to eat all kinds of food, drink unlimited amounts of beer, and watch the Reds win 14-7. There were awesome rallies and obviously tons of hits and scoring. It was great! We followed up the game by beating down my parents in Euchre too. : )
6. Sunday was also exciting because Jenny announced her big news at our monthly Girls’ Lunch- She’s ENGAGED!!!!! Another round of hearty congrats to her and Tom! She commented after lunch that she had a great time and asked if they were all like that, which they are. More incentive for her to move to Cincinnati!!
7. I also spent about 2 hours working on school stuff, 2 hours working on the shed and an hour watching most of The Man before the DVD died (too many scratches). The funniest part of last night was when Samuel L. Jackson called me to encourage me to take Viki and go watch his new fantastic movie, Snakes on a Plane. That call was hilarious. I called Viki all giggly over it and promptly sent his call out to other unknowing victims! Too cool!
So that’s it! You heard it (what I did for the last 3 days) here first!
Tuesday, August 15, 2006
What's been up
If the rule of six degrees of separation works for gossip as it does for just knowing someone I think that about 82% of Japan now knows that Alex was born.
Other than thinking about and doting on my Godson I have been doing other things. Nothing quite as cute, but other things.
1) I watched Mona Lisa Smile and got all happy again about being a feminist and a aspiring teacher
2) I watched Message in a Bottle (aka CryFest 2006). Holy crap is that a sappy movie. I bet that PMSing women could successfully sue the producers for emotional distress. I think I actually lost weight from how many tears I shed those two hours. Good lord.
3) I ate at Marian’s Pizza in Dayton and discovered it’s really not that good.
4) I have now spent hours preparing for this Marketing class (which starts 8/29/06). I went through and did about 90% of my syllabus, met Ginger for dinner last night for additional advice, and went to 3 hours of “training” at XU tonight with various people (how to use the library, what’s reasonable class averages for grades, what to do if a student is unruly in class…).
5) I missed my free pass to The Illusionist (sneak preview) because of the XU fair (booo!)
6) I mentally chided all of you for not blogging more often.
7) I got to have lunch with Jen & Tom (I'm trying to be fun so she moves home faster)
8) I gave up on my daisies coming back to life – a week away in Alaska with 100 degree temperatures and no water burned ‘em to a crisp.
9) I got irritated that this blog means I won’t see Alex’s face first thing when I open my webpage
Other than thinking about and doting on my Godson I have been doing other things. Nothing quite as cute, but other things.
1) I watched Mona Lisa Smile and got all happy again about being a feminist and a aspiring teacher
2) I watched Message in a Bottle (aka CryFest 2006). Holy crap is that a sappy movie. I bet that PMSing women could successfully sue the producers for emotional distress. I think I actually lost weight from how many tears I shed those two hours. Good lord.
3) I ate at Marian’s Pizza in Dayton and discovered it’s really not that good.
4) I have now spent hours preparing for this Marketing class (which starts 8/29/06). I went through and did about 90% of my syllabus, met Ginger for dinner last night for additional advice, and went to 3 hours of “training” at XU tonight with various people (how to use the library, what’s reasonable class averages for grades, what to do if a student is unruly in class…).
5) I missed my free pass to The Illusionist (sneak preview) because of the XU fair (booo!)
6) I mentally chided all of you for not blogging more often.
7) I got to have lunch with Jen & Tom (I'm trying to be fun so she moves home faster)
8) I gave up on my daisies coming back to life – a week away in Alaska with 100 degree temperatures and no water burned ‘em to a crisp.
9) I got irritated that this blog means I won’t see Alex’s face first thing when I open my webpage
Sunday, August 13, 2006
Isn't my Godson the CUTEST!?
Alexander Christian WilliamsAugust 11, 2006 at 10:30 AM
5 lbs. 9 oz. , 18 inches
Danny called me on Friday (8/11) at 9:30 to let me know Sarah was in full labor and that I was going to miss the birth because it was going so fast. Grrrr. Miss it I did. However, I did make it there by about 11:15am so I got to see my Godson when he was just 45 minutes old. Granted my sappy face is probably not what Sarah and Danny wanted to see so soon after the biggest moment in their lives, but they welcomed me and let me gush all over him.
This child is the cutest, most sweet, adorable child I've ever seen in my whole life. He's so tiny and he smells like heaven. I got to spend about 5 hours with Sarah and Danny that first day and then Jim and I went back up for another visit on Saturday night for a few hours. I just can't get enough of him!!! I’m addicted!!
This child is the cutest, most sweet, adorable child I've ever seen in my whole life. He's so tiny and he smells like heaven. I got to spend about 5 hours with Sarah and Danny that first day and then Jim and I went back up for another visit on Saturday night for a few hours. I just can't get enough of him!!! I’m addicted!!
Thursday, August 10, 2006
Entertainment Review
I’ve been consumed with posting about vacation but I have done some actual living in the past two weeks too. Some comments on the things I’ve seen lately:
Mystery, Alaska- OK, I watched this with Greg on the cruise. We thought it was another documentary about Alaska that the Sturgises recommended and really it was a full feature-length movie with a plot and everything! Done some time ago but still well-acted. The plot was okay and it kept our interest enough to be late to the last formal dinner of the trip. Rating: B
The Last Sunday in June – this is a play my Grandma Templin invited me to preview at The Know theatre in Over-the-Rhine. The acting was quite good but the subject matter isn’t everyone’s cup of tea – it’s about the last Sunday in June (Gay Pride Day) and follows 6 homosexual men through a character study over 2 hours. I think tickets are $25 and it runs for the next three weeks. Rating: A-
The DaVinci Code- I’m not sure what all those haters were talking about. I really enjoyed this movie from start to finish. Lots of folks said that if you didn’t read the book it was hard to follow. I can’t comment on that because I did read the book and thought the movie was quite clear and true to Dan Brown’s original work. For $2.50 at the Danbarry cinema it’s a must-see. Rating: A-
Batman Begins- Jim and I saw this first at the “real” (aka full-price) theatre in Ft. Worth and rewatched it on DVD last week. Good the first time, just as enjoyable the second. And it’s so flowing into the rest of the series. Rating: A.
I’m re-watching The Prince and Me again. Cute the first time so it merited another round. It’s a little frustrating because it’s now taken us 3 nights of watching and we’re still not done. That’s certainly not the way a movie was meant to be taken in (in parts). I’m not sure Jim is as entertained as I am. Rating: B+
Mystery, Alaska- OK, I watched this with Greg on the cruise. We thought it was another documentary about Alaska that the Sturgises recommended and really it was a full feature-length movie with a plot and everything! Done some time ago but still well-acted. The plot was okay and it kept our interest enough to be late to the last formal dinner of the trip. Rating: B
The Last Sunday in June – this is a play my Grandma Templin invited me to preview at The Know theatre in Over-the-Rhine. The acting was quite good but the subject matter isn’t everyone’s cup of tea – it’s about the last Sunday in June (Gay Pride Day) and follows 6 homosexual men through a character study over 2 hours. I think tickets are $25 and it runs for the next three weeks. Rating: A-
The DaVinci Code- I’m not sure what all those haters were talking about. I really enjoyed this movie from start to finish. Lots of folks said that if you didn’t read the book it was hard to follow. I can’t comment on that because I did read the book and thought the movie was quite clear and true to Dan Brown’s original work. For $2.50 at the Danbarry cinema it’s a must-see. Rating: A-
Batman Begins- Jim and I saw this first at the “real” (aka full-price) theatre in Ft. Worth and rewatched it on DVD last week. Good the first time, just as enjoyable the second. And it’s so flowing into the rest of the series. Rating: A.
I’m re-watching The Prince and Me again. Cute the first time so it merited another round. It’s a little frustrating because it’s now taken us 3 nights of watching and we’re still not done. That’s certainly not the way a movie was meant to be taken in (in parts). I’m not sure Jim is as entertained as I am. Rating: B+
Wednesday, August 09, 2006
Alaska - Day 7
On the last day of our cruise we stayed on the ship the whole day as we sailed from
- The Hubbard Glacier - this is (I think) the largest glacier in
- Family Miniature Golf Tournament - The golf course was 9 holes on the top deck, open air. Quite windy as the boat was cookin' that afternoon. Linda won with a 27.
- Art Auction- Karen and Tom attended but didn't buy anything
- Love & Marriage Game Show - Dad wanted to go, Mom said she was only staying if they got on the show as contestants. Guess what- they got on!! This was hysterically funny as Dad is such a ham when the center of attention. One question was "What color bra is your wife wearing today?" Dad's answer : "Definitely white. I know because I helped put it on!" A ship employee came back to where mom was in a silenced room and asked "who's husband belongs to #2?" she just groaned because she knew it wasn't good! Below is the answer part to the question: "If you took your wife to a plastic surgeon, what part would you have touched up?" See below for the response:
- The official cruise video sold by Royal Caribbean - our group is everywhere in it! I have a copy burned if anyone wants to watch!
- The night show was really entertaining too - some juggler who was funny and extremely talented. Certainly ended the cruise on a high note
We also hit
All in all I'd definitely cruise again, but not for like 5 years. I'd also go to
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