Month: April 2003

a link

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This is the house on Summit St. We’re going for a second walk-through on Wednesday. I feel kind of weird about it – I really like the house, I don’t mind the neighborhood, but I’m not as head over heels for it like I was the last two. And I don’t know if I should treat that as a sign or not. It’s right in our price range, in our area, it has TONS of room, etc. I don’t know.

Ways to stay sane during the week: lunch on the porch with a good book. I made Ramen noodles, set my egg timer, and sat out on the porch eating my noodles, reading Consuming Passions, and just relaxing. Wonderful. It made it really difficult to go back to work.

But back to work I went and I’m swamped cos Dan is gone and cos we had problems over the weekend – and now I’m starting to get a migraine. Damned loud and BRIGHT workplace. When will they move us to the corner?!?!?!

more house hunting

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More house hunting today – we looked at places that are waaaay out of our price range – and one house that might be just right. We didn’t fall head over heels, like we did for the one on Chicago and the one on Welty – but this house is BIG and in our price range and has most of what we’re looking for. Only downside is that it’s in a neighborhood with status TBA. Chicago and Welty are both nice, stable, fairly quiet neighborhoods. Summit (the new house) is right across the street from a hospital and a gas station – but right up the street from a school. It’s almost too good to be true – and honestly the neighborhood isn’t any worse than where we are right now. So it’s a thought.

Jen came dinner and we ate on the porch – taco salad. This is what I pictured when we took this apartment – lazy weekends on the porch, dinners and drinks and friends and books and sunlight and breeze. I hope we have a few more…

After dinner we walked to the Lindens’ to invite them out for ice cream – the four of us walked to Baskin Robbins and had waffle cones of different varieties. I had a fudge and sprinkle dipped waffle cone with Raspberry Cheese Louise frozen yogurt. Wonderful. About the only thing that would make this better is if I didn’t have to go to work tomorrow.

And you know, I feel bad about complaining my job because I just chose to keep it – but Monday is Monday, whether you love your job or not.

furious

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I’m sticking to the online editor. I’ve lost all my entries for the last 2-3 days – piercings, friday fives, house stuff, etc. Oh my god. I should be working on Leslie’s card but instead am trying to reconstruct the last week. I’m SO pissed.

Later:
Leslie’s shower was lovely. I felt out of place because I knew practically no one – but the food was wonderful and it was nice to chat with Leslie and Laura. And I got socks! Leslie bought small thank yous for Mom, Jen (who didn’t show), and I – Mom got two new charms for her bracelet and I got petunia socks. Hooray! If I had the digital camera, I would take a photo of my feet. Well, I’d have to put the socks on first, but you know what I mean.

N and Joe are climbing all afternoon, so I’ve been on the porch since 3, reading in the sun and drinking lemonade. I finished two books – The Cheese Monkeys and The Alchemist. Will have to write more when it isn’t so gorgeous out.

oh my god

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Dan was apparently jumped and beat up pretty badly – bad enough to land him in the hospital. No one really knows what’s going on. He’s to leave for Vegas in the morning and I assumed he was just taking an extra day off – until Dianne told me what happened.

It’s going to be a few minutes before I can breathe again.

later

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update: Dan’s OK – or will be OK. Apparently he was at a friend’s house and some shit broke out – the friend asked people to leave and they wouldn’t – someone broke a bottle over Dan’s friend Kristine’s head – she needed 38 stitches!!! – and he stepped in to get her out of it.

I finished Ignorance last night. It wasn’t as good as I’d hoped and left me feeling like I wasn’t smart enough to get what he was trying to do. I hate that feeling. I also finished Home Swell Home which was fun but also not as good as I’d hoped. I guess I was looking for more practical ideas. Oh well.

Friday Five:
1. What was the last TV show you watched?
Will & Grace
2. What was the last thing you complained about and what was the problem?
I complained a bunch this morning cos I couldn’t find my keys. And then I found them in the purse that I haven’t carried all week.
3. Who was the last person you complimented and what did you say?
I don’t remember. I know that’s awful. I’ve thought a lot of good things about people today though…..
4. What was the last thing you threw away?
I just shredded some customer information from work.
5. What was the last website (besides this one) that you visited?
Actually, it was my site
But before that: barzey.com

“friday”

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What a week. I’ve been super busy at work all week – all three days of it – getting caught up because Dan’s gone and we’re running two bill pay promotions at once. And today we’re running a stress test for the new system – and because of it, all our other systems are running slow or crashing. Ugh. If this is any indication of how the conversion is going to go, it’ll be great……. All I want to do is work! Is that too much to ask? I have so much to do and don’t want to leave piles of work for after the weekend.

The house passed inspection, so we’re on for our closing next Friday. N and I are going refrigerator shopping this weekend. I just got off the phone with the gas company and the cable company – now I just have to call the electric co and we’re set! I’m excited – and a little overwhelmed cos we have SO much to do.

Card night last night was a lot of fun. It was just Rachel, Mom, and I – so we were able to play a bit more than when there are more people. That worked out well for me cos I knew what I wanted to do but hadn’t actually put it down on paper. I wish the scanner was working…

friday five, paparazzi style

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Friday Five:
1. Who is your favorite celebrity?
Jack Black. His eccentricity is charming – and my friend Rachel met him at a wedding and said he is everything in person that he is on stage or on TV.
2. Who is your least favorite?
Umm, I don’t know. The guy who played Bob on Twin Peaks still creeps me out – is that good enough?
3. Have you ever met or seen any celebrities in real life?
Depends on your definition of celebrity. If you’re talking movie or TV stars, then no. If you’re talking bands or authors, yes. Oh and I saw Richard Simmons hugging Barney at BookExpo 97. That was weird.
4. Would you want to be famous? Why or why not?
I don’t think so. I’d like to be well-known, but not necessarily famous.
5. If you had to trade places with a celebrity for a day, who would you choose and why?
Can I pick the celebrity AND the day? Halle Berry on Oscar night. Mmm mmm mmm Adrian Brody. 🙂
Answering these questions makes me feel like I read too much People magazine – which I used to do at the bookstore but not any more.

Jen and Amanda and I had a long talk in a half-drunken state last night about religion and relationships and sex and education. One thing that struck me out of the convo is that we all identified our times of the peak of religious (and by religious I mean Christian) fervor as coinciding with our most self-destructive times. During the times I was active in church and praying and reading the Bible and feeling very close to God, I hated myself. I wasn’t eating. I was crying all the time – and that was interpreted by the people at church as being a sign of God moving in me. I guess I just find it so hard to believe that a loving and benevolent God would want his “children” to suffer, to hate themselves, to choose misery over happiness for the sake of being holy. I don’t know. I have a lot of soul searching to do before I can return to church whole-heartedly.

But I have a job interview in 45 minutes, so I really should be getting ready….

out of it

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I really thought today was Friday. Maybe it’s because I’ve been in training all week and am off tomorrow. I don’t know.

I have a real interview for Online for Business tomorrow. I talked to Luann on Wednesday – not a real interview – just for information – but tomorrow’s the real deal. She said dress casual cos it’s Friday – but there’s no way I’m going into an interview in raggy jeans or OVERALLS. We’ll see what happens!

birthday!

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It is Krist-across-the-sea’s birthday. Happy Birthday Krist!!! We’ll have a drink for you.

What a v. nice weekend. Amanda and I went to see The Fantasticks last night – not bad! The girl who played “The Girl” was, well, OK – but other than that, it was v. amusing. N & Joe made beer brats and we just hung out.

Today we looked at houses – we found an absolutely awesome one – but of course the sellers have already accepted an offer. I seriously wanted them to be our friends. They have awesome art, a climbing wall in the basement, and a pretty decent CD collection. Yes, one of the great things about going to open houses is that you get to snoop. The master suite was in the loft – lots of storage, a 3/4 bath, great light, and a birds’ nest outside the window. It figures – all the houses we see that we like are already sold or are too expensive. We’ll find something.

I really should be cleaning – or at least be outside enjoying the sun and the cool air. Instead I’m online looking at houses – and thinking about watching the rest of the second episode of Twin Peaks. Or making cards. Or drinking tea and doing nothing. Hmm. All those sound really appealing.

Have a brilliant weekend.

Oh, PS, I did skip the shower. I feel bad about it – but I haven’t seen her in almost a year, haven’t talked to her in nearly as long, and as she makes no effort to stay in touch, I’m not going to sweat it. We’re not even really invited to the wedding, just the reception. So I’ll save my shower gift for a wedding gift!

not a good friend

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I’m supposed to go to a bridal shower in about two hours but I think I’m going to skip. I want to run around outside and look at houses and read on my porch and drink tea and make cards. Amanda’s coming out from the city this afternoon – we’re going to hang out and then go see a show at school tonight. Don’t know anything about the show – but it’s her friends’ last show at the college, so she wanted to be there and I volunteered to go along. As long as there are no dancing Incas, that is……

I put in my application yesterday. I talked to Dianne – she agreed that it would be a huge career move for me, even though she’s loathe to see me go. No one wants me to leave, which makes me feel really good about myself and my contributions to work. Dianne said that the new department is notoriously stingy – so to make sure I talked about salary because they might balk at what I ask for, but they will find out in a heartbeat that I’m worth every penny they’ve spent. And to hear that from my boss was just golden.