Do you know the way to San Jose?

Okay, after a brief Oliver break, we're back to my life in reverse.

The week before I got Oliver, I was in sunny California for a conference in San Jose. It was really rather uneventful. I was traveling by myself and didn't know of anything to do in San Jose. I went up to San Ramon on Monday night for dinner with my good friend, John who lives out there now, but most of the time, this was about the most exciting that I got.

All of my family and friends warned me that I might be killed if I didn't go to In-N-Out Burger while I was there, so I skipped the conference lunch one day and found one. It was good, but not necessarily anything to write home about in my opinion. My last night there, I had nothing to do. I went to dinner at a chinese restaurant across from my hotel. My plan was to go and gas up my rental car so I wouldn't have to in the morning and then head back to the hotel to watch some TV and such. Then I realized it was only 7pm and that was really lame. I had heard that the drive to San Francisco was awful, but I was bored and had nothing better to do, so I decided to just start driving towards SF and I would turn around if I decided it was to ridiculous. 8 miles later....

But a few miles down the road, I saw that it was an accident causing the traffic and from there it was smooth sailing. I just drove through town to see the Golden Gate Bridge and then came home because I didn't know where anything was, but it was worth it to say I actually did something.

The rest of my trip was spent discussing the merits of Software as a Service and how to sell it, so I'm sure you don't want to hear about that. I found it interesting, but then again, that's my life right now!

Next on the tour of Emily's Life in Reverse: Chicago.

3000 Words

My March in Reverse

So I went to Chicago, went to San Jose, all is well. But instead of writing posts about them in the order in which they happened, I am going to write in reverse order, basically because I'm really excited about the first....

I have a new man in my life and his name is Oliver. :)

Oliver is a puppy I saw online at a rescue organization and just fell in love with. I knew I couldn't take him until after I finished my travel (I don't have anymore planned in the foreseeable future at this time) and the rescue organization was able to continue to foster him until I got back. So yesterday after I got off the plane, I went to pick him up.

He has really come a long way in just one day. He hated riding in cars at the beginning of the day and although I'm not convinced he's totally over it, by the time we drove home, to PetSmart and back, and to our church guy's softball game and back, he was able to just lay down in the back seat wearing his doggie seatbelt and not freak out. And he slept in the crate just perfectly last night.

Right now he's asleep on my lap while I am working. He is such a sweet puppy and although I know the next couple of weeks are going to be hard with crate training and him getting used to not being around a lot of other dogs, in the end it will totally be worth it. And as a first time dog mama, I'm sure I'll be asking for advice from you guys (Thanks for taking my freakout call today Ashley!!!)

I'll post pictures soon....once I can get the dog off my lap. :)

Quick Question

I am in San Jose this week for work, so I'll have more to post about Chicago and California later, but for now I am wondering about something:

In DFW, radio stations are very genre-specific. One is basically top 20 hits, one alternative rock, a few rap/r&b, classic rock, oldies, jazz, etc. You know exactly what kind of music you're going to get.

Here in the San Francisco Bay Area, all of the radio stations out here are so insanely random I can't figure out what I'm listening to! It will play a song by Miley Cyrus...followed by some motown....followed by some disco....then some Coldplay....then Snoop Dogg....then Colbie Callait....then Aerosmith. So if you're hoping to hear a certain type of music, you are out of luck. It's driving me nuts!

So I have two questions:
1) Is the Bay Area weird with the random stations, or is Texas the odd man out with defined genres? I'd especially like to hear from anyone out there who doesn't live in DFW area.

2) Which would you rather have? Stations where you know what you're going to get, or all random ecclectic mixes of music?

Home again, Home again

What do you do when you have some time to spare in an airport? Make an attempt at taking an artsy picture. :)

I was in Chicago this weekend for Roomie Weekend 2008 with my college roommates. I'll post more about the actual trip later, but first....my past 2 days.

Tuesday
10:30am: Leave DeKalb, IL for O'Hare Airport.

11:15am: Its a little foggy, so I call AA Information to see if our flight is delayed.

11:16am: Find out our flight has been CANCELLED

11:17am: Get on the phone with the AA Platinum desk to find out whats going on. Find out that because of storms in DFW, all flights are cancelled for the day. Get Deborah, Nichole, and I booked on a flight out the next morning that connects through Indianapolis, IN.

5:00pm: After a couple of extra hours with Lindsay, get checked in to a hotel by the airport so we can have a quick shuttle the next morning.

Wednesday
10:00am: Take the shuttle to the airport

10:08am: Get to the self check-in kiosks

10:09am: Find out Nichole's ticket is booked to connect through Memphis, TN, not Indianapolis

10:30am: Find out AA tried to call Nichole the night before to tell her she couldn't get a confirmed seat on our flight and would either have to take the Memphis flight or fly standby. Let Nichole freak out for a minute before she decides to take the confirmed (which gets in later) and I'll come pick her up after we get home.

1:15pm: Get to Indianapolis. Eat lunch with Deborah and waste time in the airport.

4:10pm: Flight should be boarding. Its delayed. Of course.

6:30pm: Get to DFW. Find out Nichole's flight is delayed too. Proceed to baggage claim.

6:45pm: All the bags have stopped coming and mine is nowhere to be found. Of course.

7:15pm: Finished going through the lost baggage process. Get into the SuperShuttle van.

7:16pm: A guy knocks on the window of the van asking for a ride to the Gaylord Texan hotel (a decent way out of the way but closer than my house.) Driver says yes. Of course.

8:00pm: Nichole calls. She's landed. I think to myself "I wonder if Nichole is parked behind me at my house? Wouldn't it suck if Nichole is parked behind me and I have no way to get back to the airport to pick her up?"

8:02pm: Get to my house. Nichole is parked behind me. Of course.

8:45pm: 2 VERY long days, 4 flights, 1 lost bag, a $40 SuperShuttle, and a $50 cab ride later, we are all finally back to my house! What a trip!

Well, I'm going to relax and go to bed. The weekend was great and I'll blog more about that later. Have a great day!!

It's time for another...

Good Idea:

Searching Flickr at work for a picture of an extension cord to represent a technical concept.

Bad Idea:

Searching Flickr at work for a picture of an extension cord using the search term "Power Strip."

That FICA Guy Strikes Again!

When I first started my full-time job, I was surprisingly shocked by how much was taken out for taxes. I've worked since I was 16, but it isn't as significant when you're making $6/hour compared to a full-time salary.

Now almost 2 years later, I still get sticker shock every now and then with regards to taxes. Today I looked at a pay stub for my annual bonus that I am getting tomorrow...1/3 was taken out for taxes!! That is just crazy to me! God only asks for 1/10!! Who does this FICA guy think he is??

Springtime!

I love springtime. It is the perfect combination of the winter air smell/feel and the summer warmth. I love going to the park and reading and just being able to sit outdoors and enjoy the sun without either getting too cold or immediately sweating like a pig.

The other thing I like about spring is the pretty flowers and trees. Not sure what the big tree in my front yard is, but last Sunday, beautiful white flowers popped up all over it! I had to get some pictures of it. This is when I wish I had a "real" camera instead of a point-and-shoot. I'm sure these pictures would have come out better.

The next day, it was snowing in Texas. I guess I'll have to wait a little longer for my real spring, but this day was a nice teaser!

Snow and Haircut

Couple of random pictures:


First off - Boston! It snowed while we were there. We went into dinner and it had just started to flurry. By the time we came out, there was like an inch of snow on the ground! Definitely not Texas snow! Outside of Quincy Market after dinner.
Second - I got a haircut tonight! Its really short - first time since probably my freshman year of college that I've had it this short.

If you're in Texas, I hope you voted in the primaries today! And now the fun is just beginning. :)

Happy (Late) Bloggiversery!

Well, I missed my bloggiversery this year (February 14th), so I want to celebrate it today.

In honor of the end of my third year of blogging, I decided to revisit the URL of my blog as well as the ones that I tried to use but couldn't.

My blog address is really rather dumb: lemminggirl. I chose this because nothing normal (like my name) was available and I really didn't think I'd use it very much except to comment on other people's blogs (guess I was wrong there). So I called my blog Lemming girl to signify that I felt like a lemming following everyone else of the cliff and starting a blog. Ironically, nearly all of the "tons of people" that I was starting a blog after have long since abandoned their blogs and I am one of the veterans among my blogging friends! So much for being a lemming, huh?

Now I'd like to take a few moments and honor the amazing, high-quality blogs that have been sitting on some of the names I wanted to use for the past three years. You really should add these to your blogroll - their posts will change your life.
- emilytate.blogspot.com
- lifeofemily.blogspot.com (my personal favorite. A great use of a good URL)
- thelifeofemily.blogspot.com (ironically, this one is in Abilene which is where I was when I started mine)
- emilysadventures.blogspot.com

Finally, I leave you with a few favorite posts:

- My very first "Good Idea/Bad Idea"
- Probably my most serious post ever, but it means a lot to me.
- You may not think this is very funny, but I think its hilarious! I was so proud of myself for this one. :)
- Another favorite "Emily is an idiot" moment.
- Finally, a shout out to my brother's amazing talent. He's taking orders now...you can leave a comment here and I'll get you in touch if you're interested. :)

Happy 3 years everybody!

Some Respect for Our Candidates

Tonight I had a very weird experience that really made me think about a different side of the 2008 campaigns and made me have more respect for all of our 2008 Presidential Candidates.

I am taking it easy tonight, watching Saturday Night Live, when Hillary Clinton makes a surprise guest appearance. However, this morning, my family and friends were in the Stockyards in Fort Worth and stumbled upon a Hillary Clinton rally*.

I hear about them being all over the country, but it wasn't until I thought about being here where I live this morning and then being in New York this evening that it made me think about just how EXHAUSTING a campaign must be. I've taken a few day trips and had some times where I am on the road a lot and am always just ready to die after a lot of traveling. But for the past 6 months or more, these candidates have been on the road constantly. AND, they are scrutinized over every word that comes out of their mouth in this exhausted state of mind**. Regardless of who I personally support***, tonight I definitely want to give props to all the candidates for their perserverence in this campaign.

* Not sure where Patty and Wade stand, but my family will kill me if I let it seem like they actually went to the rally and/or support Clinton. They just took a picture with a sign to make me jealous because I really want to attend a political rally before the campaign is over just to be a part of it.

** I still fully plan on scrutinizing every word that comes out of candidates' mouths. I just have more sympathy for them now. :)

*** John McCain for President!

Pet Peeve: Bueno and Hot Sauce

There is a very good possibility that I might have blogged about this before, but I think it is worth repeating.

Every time I go through the Drive-Thru at Taco Bueno, they ask the question "Do you need hot sauce?" Every time, I answer "No thank you!". And every time, they put at least 2 or more packages of hot sauce in my bag!

If it were in packages like soy sauce or ketchup, it wouldn't be that big of a deal. But Bueno basically scoops out hot sauce into a little plastic container with a lid on it. The lids are really easy to pop off and on more than one occasion have spilled before I got home. SO ANNOYING....especially when I said I didn't want it!

So tonight I went to Bueno. "Would you like hot sauce?" "No thank you" Sure enough, when I got to the window there were THREE hot sauce containers in my bag(for my one party burrito and tortilla soup). So when the guy handed me back my credit card, I handed him back his hot sauce and said "I'm sorry, I don't need this."

My question is this: Why does Bueno even ask me if I want hot sauce if they're just going to give it to me either way?

Donors Choose

A couple of years ago, I saw a commercial for a program called "Donors Choose." It is a website where teachers can post needs that the school system won't/can't provide for them and individual donors can fund them. It is really amazing how many things are needed for schools that teachers actually have to buy for themselves or just live without. You can search by school, region, subject, % of low income, etc. for projects that seem like something you want to fund. My first donation was to buy a classroom subscriptions to Weekly Reader and Time for Kids because Weekly Reader was always my favorite in Elementary School and it makes me sad that a lot of kids can't get it anymore. Since then I've kept going back.

As good as it feels to know that I've helped some students, the best part is the thank you package. Donors Choose sends a disposable camera with each project so the teacher can take pictures of the students using the items that you sent and they usually send thank-you letters from the kids as well. Every time I get a thank you package, it makes me so happy that I just want to go back and donate more! The kids are just so cute!

Here are some excerpts from letters I got today. Read them and then go to donorschoose.org and pick your own projects to fund! I love it because you know exactly where the money you donate is going and exactly what is being purchased. There really is very little waste in this program.

"Dear Donor, Thank you so much for donating books to our classroom. I can't believe your class used most of your money to get us thirty books! Getting us five books would be nice but to get us thirty books that's amazing!"

"Joey Pigza is funny. I think in the book Joey Pigza: Loses Control he can spend a little more time with his dad because his dad is wired. But he can't spend too much time with his dad or with his grandma either because his dad and his grandma smoke and smoking is bad for you. Also in the book Joey Pigze: Loses Control he shouldn't put Pablo (Joey's dog) in the glove compartment and do harmful stuff to him. Thank you again for the books."

"Well thanks for sending Tucker Joey Pigza books. Everyone loves Joey Pigza books. You should read some Joey Pigza books. This is very nice of to send us books. That's very nice. That's what you need to know. Thanks!"

Such cute kids! Well, I'm off to search through more projects to fund!

Things That Make Me Smile: Hot Tamales

This morning as I was driving to work, I looked in the rearview mirror and noticed I hadn't put on any mascara. So I stopped at Walgreens to buy some and right by the register, I saw it: a giant box of Hot Tamales!!

I love cinnamon flavored things so Hot Tamales have always been one of my favorite candies. Wade Weaver used to have a giant jar of them in his office at Altamesa and I would always go and grab a few before I did anything else at church. I haven't seen them in a while, so it definitely made me smile today. And the fact that I walked around sharing them with my coworkers near me made them smile too! What a great way to start a Friday. :)

Prayers

I'm sure by now, most of you have heard about the shootings at Northern Illinois University in DeKalb, Illinois. My college roommate, Lindsay (second one on the left in the picture from that post) is living there while her fiance, Ryan is in grad school at NIU. They are both okay, but very much shaken up. Ryan was proctoring an exam in the same lecture hall not too long before the shooting...had the shooter chosen a different time to come in, it could have been Ryan.

It is hard to explain what it feels like to have your entire world turned upside down and to all of a sudden feel completely unsafe in your own town. In September (on Maisy's 5th birthday actually) it will be 9 years since the shootings at Wedgwood Baptist Church where I lost a friend. It seems crazy that it has been that long. But 9 years later, I am still experiencing effects of that event. I've always loved finding new things in common with my best friends, but this was one that I was hoping to never have to share. Please pray for Lindsay, Ryan, and the entire NIU campus as they begin to deal with the aftermath of this terrible thing.

Thanks,
Emily

I have an accent?

Sorry for leaving the picture up of no-nose man all week! I've been extremely busy/sick.

I'm in Boston for a few days. It is FRIKKIN FREEZING here! Tonight there is supposed to be a snowstorm....glad I wasn't trying to fly out! But as always, Boston is great. Quick anecdote:

At the end of the workshop I am attending, we had a panel discussion. I was pretty chatty as always. At the end as we were all exchanging business cards, one of the panelists shook my hand and said "Love the accent!" Cracked me up....We were always giving my friend Bill a hard time for his Boston accent and now the tables have turned! I don't mind though. I've always wanted an accent. :)

For Jonathan

The slow-mo shot of Charlie swimming in the window from the Lost Season Premiere.










Edited to add pictures of the eye in the cabin window...definitely not Locke (he has blue eyes) and definitely Jacob (notice the lack of nose)

It's time for another.....

Good Idea:
After changing your password to an email account at work, emailing yourself the new password so you can check it at home too.

Bad Idea:
Emailing yourself the new password to the same email account, so in order to get the new password, you need the new password.

Songs

I got an email at work today about a team summit we're having that included this:

"Music evokes fond thoughts and memories, similar to what travel does for our customers, their customers and ourselves. So please send me your favorite song and the artist that performs it, that evokes great thoughts, memories and feelings for you."

They've asked us to send several submissions to have a good list. The first thing that popped in my head was the song "Bubbly" by Colbie Callait. That song is so mellow and relaxing that no matter how frustrated, stressed, or upset I may be, when I hear it I just get calm and happy.

I thought this was a really interesting assignment and would like to hear what other people think of when it comes to a song that evokes great memories and feelings. What song would you send in?

Speed Stacking

Yet another example of how out of touch with kids fads I am since I don't have any....

Today my cheerleaders had another game. While we were waiting for our game to start, a kid pulls out a mat and a bunch of cups and starts stacking them and taking them down...I was SO confused. So I ask my girls what was going on. They were like "YOU DON'T KNOW ABOUT SPEED STACKING???" Apparently this is a new thing. Cup stacking. Seriously. They have competitions and everything. I thought you only stacked cups when you were putting them in the cabinet after washing them - and then not in a pyramid!

Here is a video of some kids who are around the same level of my girls. My fastest girl had 22 seconds:


And here is a video of a couple of the "pros":




And a super cute girl on Regis and Kelly. Not as fast as speed-boy above, but who cares? She's only 5 years old and adorable!


And yes, I tagged this "sports" although I say that in the loosest sense of the word!

Jiffy Pop

Interesting thing about my new house....I don't have a microwave. My apartments always came with microwaves and although I know a microwave costs all of $50, I just have always decided there are other things that I'd rather spend my money on. So I decided that I would wait until I just couldn't handle it anymore and I'd go get one. That hasn't really happened yet, but every now and then I wish I had one to make popcorn. So tonight when I was walking through the grocery store and saw stovetop popcorn, I just couldn't resist!

Coming from the Scream generation, I definitely looked over my shoulder more than once while I was making it. And when my phone rang in the middle, I just let it go to my answering machine. Luckily I don't have a "huge football player boyfriend" to find tied up and gutted in my backyard, so I got to make my popcorn in peace. :)

So now the real question: was it as good as microwave popcorn? Eh, not really. But it wasn't bad and it definitely satisfied my craving tonight!

Ready for a woman....just not Hillary

I promise not to get too insanely political in the coming election year, but every now and then I just have to let some random things off my chest in regards to the race.

A lot of people are making a huge deal about Hillary being the first serious female candidate. From there it basically goes to either implying or flat out saying that if you aren't for Hillary, you're saying that a woman shouldn't be President.

I'm sorry, but aren't we supposed to be picking our President based on who would be the best person to run this country - not based on their gender, race, or religion?? I have nothing wrong with a woman being President, but I'm not going to vote for someone JUST BECAUSE she is a woman! Look at issues people.....not the external packaging! But that's just wayyy too much to ask, isn't it?

European vs. American Sayings

My first year of the MBA program, I found a few sayings that didn't quite translate between my international friends and American English. It always made for some humorous conversations. Last night, I went to dinner with two of our regional marketing managers, Christine and Fionna. Christine is based in London and Fionna is based in Singapore. Christine tried to order sparkling water at Chuys (with no success) and that got us talking about phrases that we find funny or just different from what we say here in America.

Some of the results (Mostly different between British English and American English):
Come across - this is what everyone in Europe says when they talk about flying overseas. I first heard it when I went to Sweden - "When did you come across?"
Straight away - the European version of "right away"
Flatmates/Flat - Roommates/Apartment
Fancy - Christine thought it was funny that we didn't say "Would you fancy a drink?" We say "Would you like a drink?"
Water - we had a good laugh hearing Christine and Fionna mimicking the way that Americans say the word "water!" I never realized that it sounded so different and weird to them!

We had a lot more but I won't bore you with them all. What phrases have you all heard that either Europeans say that we don't or that we say and they don't?

Cloverfield

Last night, I went to see Cloverfield with some friends. Or should I say, I attempted to go see Cloverfield with some friends.

I went into this knowing absolutely nothing about the movie. I had seen the poster above, but had no idea that the movie was supposed to look like it was shot with a handheld video camera. Really interesting concept and they did it really well; however, have you ever sat through 2 hours of someone else's home videos...particularly ones where they are running for 80% of it? Now have you ever done that on a big screen? I normally don't really get motion sick but this just did me in. From the first minute, the camera was so shaky and would zip from one side of the room to the other...and that was on the calm part of the movie. When things started getting bad, the camera got even worse - he would drop it to his side to run so you'd be watching the ground moving by really fast, there would be fast motion and shaky filming at the same time, it was just awful. Lindsey Holder and I had to leave after about an hour of it because we were both getting so sick. It made me sad because I was enjoying the movie (basically Godzilla from the perspective of the people on the street....not going to win an Oscar but its a good mindless movie) but I just couldn't handle it.

So if you have EVER gotten motion sick, DO NOT go see Cloverfield. It'll take you down even if you aren't normally the motion sick-type of person!

Things That Make Me Smile: Upward Cheerleading

Now that I'm finished with Grad School, I finally have time to do "extracurricular activities" that I enjoy. So this year, I have started coaching a 4th grade cheerleading squad with the Upward Basketball program! I've been pulling from my high school cheerleading days and using some of my old cheers and chants - the girls are really picking up on all of it very well. We had our first game today and my cheerleaders are just precious. I am having so much fun! It really makes me smile. :)

Prodigal

Here is the trailer of the movie I was an extra in.
"PRODIGAL" Trailer

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THE List: 81-100

Capping off my list of 100 things to do....I've had this written for a long time but forgot to post it!

81. Snorkel in the Great Barrier Reef
82. Become a landlord
83. See the Northern Lights
84. Read all 7 Harry Potter books back to back
85. See the turtles at the Galapagos Islands
86. Watch the start or the finish of the Iditarod
87. Visit Easter Island
88. Ride a camel in the desert
89. Get a Reader Identification Card and read a part of a book in the Library of Congress
90. Fly 15 segments on one trip
91. See the Christ the Redeemer statue in Rio de Janiero
92. Have or adopt children
93. Watch the Yankees play at Yankee Stadium
94. Arrange a layover in Reykjavik, Iceland just to say you've been there
95. See Bette Midler sing live
96. Do at least one sightseeing item on this list with my brother
97. See Victoria Falls in South Africa
98. Drink Vodka in Moscow
99. Go back to Boston with Allyson and relive our favorite childhood vacation as adults
100. Cross 30 items off of this list by the time I'm 30

Thats it! I started this list in March of 2007. Almost a year later and I've been able to cross off 9 items. Hopefully even more will come in 2008. :)

I'm Ready for my Closeup!

Its about that time again....time to cross another item of THE List!

If you haven't been reading for very long, I have a list of 100 things I want to do before I die. I made all of them actually feasible things that are actually tangible (no "Be happy with my life" or anything that is subjective) and actually cross them off as I do them. If you're interested in the whole list and whats been done so far, you can click on the tag at the bottom of the post.

So this weekend I was able to complete another item:

50. Be an extra in a movie

My friend, Jason, used to live in LA and did the whole acting thing. He had a few small parts in some movies (he was the White House Photographer in First Daughter with Katie Holmes and things like that), got tired of "the grind" and several years later, ended up here in FW. He has recently become friends with a few people in the indie film scene and was one of the leads in a movie that is being made for several film festivals. Theey were supposed to have around 70 extras for a black-tie gala scene to be filmed Saturday....Friday night they found out that 50 of them weren't coming. So they were desperate to get some people there!

I like dressing up, so I agreed to go. It was a LONG day! We shot the same scene about 25 times - 5 times from 5 different angles with 2 cameras each time. Because I was friends with one of the leads, Jason got the director to use me in close-up reaction shots and then I was sitting in the right place at the right time for another scene that was filmed later and ended up with a couple of lines. Thats right - I got to say "This is a great turnout tonight!" and "It's nice to meet you." And then my final showstopping line...."Is she okay?"

I'm thinking about moving out to Hollywood and applying for my SAG card now. I'm going to be a star! Totally kidding. But it really was a very fun day and I'm excited to see the final product. Plus, any excuse I have to get all dressed up is fun for me. And getting to cross something off THE List is just icing on the cake. :)

P.S. I just looked and realized I never posted items 81-100! I'll have to do that this week.

I was right!

Ever since Mitchell McBroom was born, I have been going back and forth about who I thought he looked more like. At first it was Katie, then I thought Stephen, then I thought Katie again, then we all said he looked like a mixture of Ryan Inlow and Stephen! Haha.

Anyways, I saw this on a friends blog and decided I had to put in the McBrooms and answer the question once and for all. Turns out, I was right both ways! He's a perfect split of the two!

MyHeritage: Celebrity Collage - Family search

FYI, I look 10% more like my mom than my dad. It used to be the other way around, but as I get older I really have started to favor my mom. :)

It's time for another....

Good Idea:
Using your I.D. badge to get through the turnstiles at work.

Bad Idea:
Trying to use your I.D. badge to get through the turnstiles at work after you've accidentally put it in the dryer, somehow deactivating it.

I love feeling like an idiot at work. I might have forgotten to mention the dryer thing to the security guards when I had to go get a new one. It just magically stopped working today! :)

Table for One

Sweden was the first trip that I have taken where I was entirely alone for a big portion of the week. People asked me when I got back what I thought about traveling alone. I said that I absolutely loved it - you could go anywhere you wanted, if you walked into a museum and thought it was stupid you could walk right back out without wasting time wondering if other people liked it, there was no debate over what to do each day. I absolutely loved it....until dinner time. When you're traveling alone, you have to eat alone in restaurants. People can't ever hide their surprise when you say "Table for one," but you're in a different country so you suck it up and deal with it instead of eating at McDonalds all week.

I have always felt really awkward eating alone. I remember having an hour lunch break over tax-free weekend when I worked at Limited Too in High School and I wore my name tag to Subway because I didn't want people to think that I was just eating at Subway alone because I was a loser. Most of the time if I'm going to eat alone, I grab something and bring it home...so I can be a loser in private I guess. One time I went to Breadwinners in Dallas alone thinking it was a takeout place and when I realized it was a sit-down place I was too embarrassed to leave, so I sat alone feeling like all eyes were on me.

Today, I found the one place that I felt completely comfortable eating alone: Luby's! I went down to Hulen area around lunchtime to buy tickets for a sneak preview of 27 Dresses for several people and decided I wanted Luby's for lunch. So I just went inside, got my food, and sat by myself. I did not feel self-conscious at all! Maybe it helped that everyone else in there was either over 70 years old or by themselves too, but for the first time, I felt completely comfortable eating in a sit-down restaurant by myself. I think I need to go there a few more times before my next solo trip to train myself on eating alone. :)

Why would you do that, MTV? Why?

I feel like I'm Cindy Lou Who walking in on the Grinch stealing her Christmas tree. I was flipping through channels to day and MTV was showing "So You Think You Can Dance." I turned to it and it was the Vegas Week episode from my favorite season....the Year of Allison!!

I got really excited and was ready to set my Tivo to record all of them so I could see my favorite dances again. I went hour by hour looking at the next two weeks, and this is the ONLY episode they're showing of it! They're not showing the rest of the season! The mean MTV Grinch gave me a little taste of a fantastic Christmas cookie and then he snatched it way. Why would you tease me like that, MTV?

Instead I'll just have to reflect on my great time at the SYTYCD tour in November. Lindsey and I surprised our friends by renting a mini-van and decorating it for the tour. We are such dorks, but I'm okay with that. :)

For Everyone Who Works in Corporate America...

Anyone else find this oddly accurate? :)

Mac vs. PC

Mac: Hi I'm a Mac
PC: And I'm a PC
Mac: Emily has been thinking about me a lot lately. Her laptop is approaching 3 years old and is starting to have a couple of issues
PC: I've been a great friend though!
Mac: So now she's been thinking about maybe going with me, a Mac, for her next laptop
PC: I keep telling her she's crazy. Think about all the things she'd have to relearn....how to work with documents, a whole new interface....its just totally not worth the hassle
Mac: But I keep reminding her that she has never met anyone that is a huge PC advocate
PC: Lots of people are perfectly content with me
Mac: Well, my users are typically fanatics about me, going on and on about how great I am. And I've got lots of cool applications for the stuff that she uses her home computer for now...photo editing, web publishing, music writing...
PC: But the relearning! You can't teach an old dog new tricks, can you?
Mac: So why don't all you readers out there give your opinion? Maybe its worth relearning a few tricks for something that she'll be a fanatic for eventually...
PC: Or maybe she should stick to what she knows and is perfectly fine with. Anyone have a word of advice?

Sick! :(

Well, I've gotten sick for the first time this winter and I always forget how much I hate it. I don't have anything too serious, but I've got a really bad cold, my tonsils are swollen and hurting, and my asthma is acting up a little bit....hopefully it won't turn into pneumonia again!!

As bad as I feel, the worst part is that tonight was our Singles Christmas Party and I was really excited about it! It was an "after-five" attire party and we all know I love getting all dressed up. Instead, I'm sitting on my couch in sweatpants and a t-shirt with no makeup on. Sad.

So to make myself feel better, I am making tonight Emily's Cartoon Christmas night. Every year since I was little, I would have one day where I watched How The Grinch Stole Christmas, Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer and Frosty the Snowman back to back. It started because my dad had a tape that he had recorded all three on and I would always watch it and then in college, my roommate bought me all three on DVD. I love classic christmas cartoons!!! They make me feel a little bit better tonight. :)

The Office

Every Thursday night before the strike, I would get together with a group of friends to watch The Office. We would watch and laugh hysterically at the crazy things that Michael would do....his wacky meetings, fun runs, random parties, etc. Every now and then, people who don't work in Corporate America ask me if The Office is real. Most of the time I say no...until yesterday.

Yesterday we had our Quarterly DFW Employee Meeting. As I looked around at what was going on, I realized that very little of The Office is an exaggeration. The meeting was in a ballroom at the Solana Marriott. It started out with a rock band made of Sabre employees playing a few songs. They are called "The Gross Margins" and even have a logo that is the strings/frets of a guitar acting as a graph like a stock graph. Then they started playing a video of a lit fireplace (for ambiance, ya know!) and a guy in a smoking jacket a la Hugh Hefner was sitting in a chair acting as the MC in the style of Masterpiece Theater. There proceeded to be skits to give us important lessons about our company and strategy....a VP acted as Scrooge falling asleep and "dreaming" via video of the Ghost of Sabre Past, the Ghost of Sabre Present, and the Ghost of Sabre Future. Another VP and a sales guy were the Spartan Cheerleaders cheering on the SVP as he talked about our 2008 strategy (complete with "The Perfect Cheer.") The Gross Margins entertained a little more playing songs like I'm Gonna Be (I Would Walk 500 miles) and Come Together (Beatles). Then we had a dinner and an open bar. And as I was watching these skits, I could TOTALLY see Michael Scott in every one!

But yesterday's meeting (and every quarterly meeting for that matter) isn't the only thing that reminds me of The Office. Remember the "Fun Run" episode? Well we had a "Give Together" month where all of the employees donated time to service projects and money to charities. There were a bunch of events during the week to raise money. One day we had a "County Fair" with wacky relay races, a 1 Mile Fun Run, a Chili/Curry Cookoff, and pig races. Not kidding...pig races. Oh yeah, they also had a mechanical bull that all of the VPs and SVPs rode. At the end of the week there was a company talent show complete with prizes for the top 3 acts. (Yes I was in the talent show....no I didn't win. But people still tell me I should have which makes me feel good. :) )

It just really hit me yesterday how funny this all was because it never seemed that crazy to me but yet we think that The Office is so far out there! Really the only difference between my company and the things that happen at Dunder Mifflin is that our leadership is all VERY competent and not complete idiots like Michael Scott....but other than that, its all pretty much dead on. I dont' have any pictures of The Gross Margins or this week's skits, but here are a couple of pictures from a quarterly meeting last year...this one was themed The Incredibles and all of the skits were about "The Incredibles" (Relia Girl, Value Boy, Collabor Mom, Mr. S.T. (Straight talk....kept saying "I Pity The Fool"), and Captain Undisputed defeating the Dot Commissar's evil plots to take down Sabre Airline Solutions. And remember...these aren't interns being hazed and forced to do these skits. These are the President of Airline Solutions, a VP, a couple of product managers....it's really amusing. As silly as it may seem though, I think I get more out of these meetings than I do from all of the other traditional PowerPoint presentations that I sit through and/or give each week. :)

When I Grow Up....

This Thursday, I had a half-day meeting with my new team at work. We talked about plans for 2008 and at the end started talking about our personal goals and what to think about before we have meetings with our managers in a couple weeks. My new boss started talking about personal development and growth and said something to the effect of "We definitely want to help you get to your goals and where you want to be in your career...just let us know where you want to be."

This has been one of my biggest insecurities since I started grad school....where do I want to be? I got so tired of trying to figure it out at that point that I just picked something different than most people and said "I want to be in strategy." I had no idea what that looked like, but it seemed to please most employers and got me quite a few job offers. Well now I'm a product manager - half strategy, half marketing - and I love my job. But I also know that I don't want to be doing this exact same thing 10 years from now. Pretty much nobody in the business world wants to stay where they are. But I don't have a clear direction of where I want to go either. Every year on our performance review, there is a section talking about short and long term goals and I never know what to put besides "I want to have a team of my own to manage."

My question is, who DOES know exactly what they want to do? I know that I like my job functions and that business was the way to go for me, but I can't say that in 10 years I want to be a product manager or that in 10 years I want to be working in Corporate Strategy or anything else. I don't even know exactly where I want to be in 2-3 years! But the more that I think about this, the more I wonder....am I going to be left behind or kept down in my career because I don't have a completely clear picture of the path I want to take? Are there people out there who really have their career path fully planned out and actually follow that plan?

2 am and wide awake

I took a Tylenol Cold Nighttime Formula pill about 2 1/2 hours ago....mostly for the "cold" part of it but thought the "Nighttime" part wouldn't be too bad either.


Its 2 am, my cold is no better and I am wider awake than I was this afternoon. Are you happy, Tylenol??


I am going to be miserable tomorrow at work. :(

Happy Slapsgiving Everyone!!

Maybe in a couple of days I'll finish one of the three posts I've started this week...

Things That Make Me Smile Part 5: Extra Cherries

A couple of years ago, I did a short series that I called "Things That Make Me Smile." Lately I've realized that its the little things in life that just make my day happy, so I've decided to start it up again.
Today I was running some errands and decided to stop at Sonic to get a Diet Cherry Coke. This is something I used to do a lot when I lived close to a Sonic and I think its been probably 2 or 3 years since I was able to go there regularly. They are supposed to put a maraschino cherry in it, but they only do about half the time. Days that they don't kind of suck. But days that you get 2 cherries are the best! So today after I had finished most of the drink, I looked inside to see if there was a cherry....and I had hit the motherload! There were FIVE! I didn't know anyone who works there, I didn't ask for extra cherries, someone inside just decided to give a ton of cherries for no reason. And it truly made me smile. :)

Fiesta!!

A couple of weeks ago, I posted about going to see the Saginaw High School band play to support my friend Derrick. Well, they did so well in their contests this year that they got to go to State Marching Contest! This is a big deal, so we decided to throw Derrick a party after church last Saturday. And since I was all moved in, I decided to make it a debut for my house too!

My friend Angie was in charge of the cake and decorations, so she decided that it would be a Fiesta party. Nothing like a giant mariachi on your wall to make up for not having anything decorated in my house yet. :)

Suit Up!

If you don't watch How I Met Your Mother...first of all, shame on you. Second of all, you really won't understand or truly appreciate the awesomeness of this post. So start watching it and come back again once you have seen it. I have Seasons 1 and 2 if you need to borrow them.

Now that I live closer to most of my friends, I decided to invite a few people over for dinner and HIMYM on Monday night. I sent out an email talking about how I was about to "open a can of awesome" and it was going to be "legen....wait for it......dary"......all the good stuff. Lindsey asked me to remind her via text message that day, so I did and get the response "I'm suiting up" (to which I responded "Hypothetical high five....Nice.")

So 7:00 rolls around and my doorbell rings. I was really confused because neither Lindsey nor our friend Jason who was on his way ever ring doorbells at friends houses, but I went and opened the door and found this:

They had actually suited up! I was laughing so hard. And of course, the first words out of their mouths were "I told you to SUIT UP!." It was great. We had good food and a lot of fun watching some episodes from season 2 because my DVR screwed up and didn't record the actual show. It was sad. But every time I should be sad, I just turn it around and be awesome instead. :)

Now to people who don't watch the show....don't you want to go and watch the best show on television now so you can get all the jokes? Definitely the best comedy since Friends and if you know how much I love Friends, you know thats saying a lot!

WATCH HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER!!!

Halloween Surprise....

My apartment surprised me yesterday and decided to dress up like a new house for Halloween!

The bedrooms aren't worth posting anything on yet - the Master Bedroom is completely undecorated (I don't even have my actual bedding on it yet) and the other two bedrooms are basically just filled with packed boxes. I love my new house! Come visit any time!

Two best stories from giving out candy last night - one precious little princess no older than 6 years old looks at me and says "You BETTER not have given me Hot Tamales!" And soon after was a fun comment - a little skeleton looks inside and says "Hey, great house." That made me happy. :)

P.S. - Remember the TV poll I had up for so long? I went with the majority and bought the fun flat-screen a while ago (as you can see in the living room picture) and now I'm glad I did because I can get HD in my new house. :)

P.P.S. - This also completed an item on THE List:
77. Buy a house or a condo