100 Things About Me

Okay Ashley, here is my 100 Things post. Hope they're not too boring!

1. I am allergic to ketchup.
2. My hair changes color depending on what I’m wearing or how the lighting is. People always ask me if I dye my hair.
3. I am terrible at decorating but love a greatly decorated house/apartment
4. I am a complete Television junkie…love to watch all the shows, read critics reviews, follow the Nielsen’s, etc.
5. Not as big of a fan of movies. I really like a well written movie, but I am too ADD to sit through most of them.
6. I think that any movie longer than 90 minutes should be banned.
7. I made fun of Harry Potter until my old roommate Lindsay made me read books 1-4 before we went to see the first movie.
8. I only read them because I thought Lindsay was cool and I wanted her to be my friend (we weren’t roomies at the time)
9. Now I’m obsessed with Harry Potter. It and LOTR are the only movie series that can break #6.
10. My eyes are blue with a ring of brown in the center (I’ve been told its called incomplete dominance)
11. You rarely see the brown because my pupils are usually really big
12. My eyes are ALWAYS red in pictures (see #11). This makes Lindsey Holder mad because I ruin group pics.
13. I eat things around the edges so they maintain their original shape until the very end…especially things in circles (cookies, hamburgers, etc.) I don’t realize I’m doing it.
14. I watch the Young and the Restless. Yes, I am a nerd.
15. I also watch pretty much any reality show that comes on. I like things where people get voted off.
16. It is my dream to go on the Amazing Race and the one summer that I actually was free and had a partner (my brother), they decided to do the stupid “Family Edition” and teams had to be 4 people.
17. I love to travel, but I haven’t done it enough yet.
18. I will know every word to every song on the radio, but cannot tell you the name of the song or who the artist is ever.
19. I like being good at things and get really frustrated when I’m not
20. My biggest fear in life is that I won’t be able to have a baby
21. My second biggest fear in life is that other people will think I’m annoying
22. When I think people are annoyed with me, I get really insecure and try to stay away from them so I won’t bug them. Then they usually think I’m mad at them. It’s a vicious cycle.
23. I will never invite myself along or show up somewhere unless I am explicitly invited (see #21)
24. I read tons of blogs but don’t comment because I think that people will be freaked out by it (see #21 again!)
25. I have an amazing memory. I remember tiny details of everything that happens
26. I remember everyone I meet….where we met, what we talked about, what they were wearing
27. I usually pretend I don’t remember people so I don’t make them feel bad when they’re introducing themselves for the third or fourth time. :)
28. My biggest pet peeve in life is passive aggressiveness
29. My mom and I talk on the phone every day. Usually while we’re commuting (we both drive about 30 minutes to work).
30. I love to clean (scrubbing things, sweeping, mopping), but hate to “pick up” and/or organize things.
31. Therefore, my apartment, car, office, are pretty much always messy, no matter how good my intentions.
32. My kitchen is usually spotless (lots of things to “clean”!)
33. I didn’t realize that people would think it was weird to actually write a list of 100 things to do before I die. Oh well!
34. My absolute only regret in buying my car is that I have to tell people I drive a Lexus. I get embarrassed and worry that people are judging me. (I get over it pretty quickly once I’m driving though!)
35. I get lost all the time, but I am great at backtracking my steps
36. I am great at reading maps though, and never get lost when I have a map
37. I will never buy another car without a navigation system again. It has changed my life.
38. The lady’s voice on my nav system kind of freaks me out.
39. I own an old school Sega Genesis. I bought it on eBay in college.
40. I am a night owl to the max.
41. I am NOT a morning person at all. I hate waking up.
42. I am really blessed to have a boss who is not a morning person either.
43. I think I would die if I had a job where I actually had to be in the office by 8am.
44. I have never been able to sleep in cars or on airplanes
45. This makes long road trips and international flights absolutely miserable
46. I built nap time into my schedule my Freshman year of college
47. I love anything that can be tracked in a spreadsheet. Having all the cells line up and balance makes me really happy.
48. About 40% of my dreams have a tornado in them. Most have more than one.
49. I love getting all dressed up and going to black tie affairs. It makes me feel beautiful and glamorous.
50. I hate getting dressed in normal clothes. I feel uncool and like I don’t ever have anything cute to wear.
51. I usually wear t-shirts because of this. At least everyone KNOWS I’m not trying to look cute in a t-shirt
52. Going straight from undergrad to grad school is one of the smartest decisions I have ever made
53. I will let a bug crawl across my living room floor rather than killing it. I’m not scared of them or a big Bug’s Rights activist or anything…I just can’t handle the “crunch” noise that it makes when you step on them.
54. I am a very nostalgic person
55. I bought every episode of Strawberry Shortcake about 2 years ago.
56. I am currently collecting Berenstain Bears books and want to own all of them by the time I have kids.
57. My great uncle Edgar called me “Gigglin Gertie” when I was little
58. I still can’t do or say much without starting to laugh
59. People at work comment about the fact that I am happy all the time
60. That is one of the greatest compliments I have ever gotten
61. I can make big decisions with confidence, but will freak out if someone asks me to choose a restaurant.
62. I love to cook and I’m actually pretty good at it.
63. I had the same 3 roommates all through college (well the first couple of years we weren’t actually roommates, but Nichole and I lived across the hall from Deb and Linds, so we might as well have been)
64. We have plans to get together at least once a year for a Roomie Weekend. So far we’ve kept up with it!
65. I am so proud of my dad. I think he is the smartest, most musically talented, best Christian leader, compassionate person I know.
66. I pray all the time that I will find someone as incredible as him to marry
67. Nearly every night after dinner (especially in the spring/summer) my dad would sit down with a box of Nilla Wafers and Peanut Butter and eat them while he watched the Rangers game.
68. I still love Nilla Wafers and peanut butter
69. I REALLY love baseball, especially the Rangers
70. I have only been to 3 Rangers games this year….that is really unusual for me.
71. I love college football but don’t really get into NFL football
72. I am a 100% fair weather fan with Basketball. I have no interest unless the Mavericks are in the final couple of rounds of the playoffs
73. Hockey games are entirely too cold for me to ever get into them.
74. In the day, I am extremely cold natured and usually carry a sweater with me
75. At night I get really hot no matter how cold I turn the A/C.
76. I love Winter because I love wearing thick warm sweaters
77. I love backpacking and camping
78. My brother and I used to hate each other, but we’re really close now
79. I played the Flute and Piccolo in high school
80. I still play my flute every now and then for fun. Its something I was really good at (see #19)
81. I could read before I started Kindergarten.
82. I still love to read. Books make me really happy.
83. I was a cheerleader all through middle school and high school
84. It really freaks me out that people younger than me are married and having babies
85. Please notice I didn’t say “depressed” on #84
86. I love it when I open my blog and have tons of comments
87. That usually only happens when I’ve made people mad on my blog
88. I have an uncle with Down’s Syndrome
89. I work at home half time and it is the greatest perk ever (see #41 and #50)
90. I want a cute little dog more than anything.
91. I’m way too busy to have a dog right now.
92. I’m considering getting a kitten instead.
93. I am a compulsive email checker. I feel like I’m missing out on something when I don’t check it frequently
94. I am addicted to sodas…especially Dr. Pepper
95. For some reason, I am really easy to interrupt. It happens all the time…I can never finish a story
96. As soon as #95 gets discussed in a group (usually after I’m in part 5 of a story b/c I’ve been interrupted so much), when I start talking again, at least one person always interrupts me on purpose as a joke. They think its hilarious.
97. It’s really not.
98. My nicknames: Em, Emmy Gail (reserved for my mom only), Emilizer, Tate, Tater, Tatertot, Tatums, ET Phone Home, Emilia, Emilio
99. I love meeting new people
100. I am training to run a half-marathon with some friends.

I'm supposed to tag some people now and I'm about to tag three people who I doubt will ever do this, but I really wish would because it would be incredibly interesting: Ryan Inlow, Trey Laminack, and Lindsey Holder.

Yesterday's Grocery List

In case you couldn't tell, I've got the....well I'm not sure exactly what I've got. I don't think its bad enough to be the flu, but I can't breathe, my throat is swollen, and I've had fever since Tuesday. The things I've learned since I've been sick:

1. There is nothing worth watching on television between Noon and 7 pm. After the first day, I depleted my full stock of Tivo reserves, including 2 episodes a night since the beginning of the month of Scrubs that I hadn't seen yet and have spent the rest of the time drowning in the wasteland of daytime programming crap.

2. Watching Grey's Anatomy, Survivor, Lost, etc. in real time is tough! Due to Lesson 1, I've had to actually watch primetime shows live. It is nervewracking to have to sit through commercials after the cliffhangers they give! What did we do before DVR?

3. Internet games can only go so far before being boring. I am now the #2 arcade champion at drakeshangout.com with the highest score on 11 games.

4. CNN does not update their content enough. Sure, they do a really good job. But when internet games have been exhausted and no one is updating their blogs 3 or 4 times a day (which is what it would take to entertain me), I go through all of the current CNN content pretty quickly. And MSN. And AOL. And Fox News.

5. I need to start collecting more books for a rainy day. I thought I had several on my shelf that I haven't read yet, but I guess I cleared all of them off in all of my traveling last semester.

I guess thats the end of my whining. Hopefully I'll finally start to feel good tomorrow...or at least will get rid of my fever so I can get back to life.

By The Numbers: Emily's Golf Edition

2 Friends that bailed on our game (including the one who knew what she was doing)

9 Holes played at the Benbrook Par 3 golf course

98 degrees farenheit yesterday

0 Areas of shade on the course

4 Golf balls used in my game

3 Golf balls lost in the "lake"

7 Average strokes it took me to get the ball in the hole

27 Par for this course

66 My score on this course

1 Guy on the course (and a lawyer at that!) that asked me on a "golf date" for next week! :)

My name is Emily, and I click stuff too!

I am definitely not as good as Ryan at this whole game, but I've been collecting some links over the past few months that I keep meaning to send to Ryan, so I thought I'd just make a one-time attempt at this clicking stuff.

- Apparently my date is Friday, July 14, 2062. I'll be sure to mark it on my Outlook.

- For some reason, I really enjoy this game.

- I've always thought it was common sense not to take advice from The Simpsons. Apparently not.

- This is fun to play around with! "Emily" and "Maggie" are almost exact opposites of each other.

- And speaking of Maggie....this should make her very happy! Mighty Casey is back again!

- Ever wondered what celebrity you look like? This site can tell you! Apparently I look like Jennifer Connelly....I wish!

Hope you enjoyed my clickings as much as Ryans. I'll let him stick to finding fun stuff from now on. :)

Things I've Learned

I've learned a few very important things this semester in my MBA program. I thought I'd share them with you today.

1. To fit the greatest amount of information on a page (i.e. a 2 page cheat sheet) , expand all margins to .5 pts, make it 2 columns, and change the font to 8 pt. Arial Narrow. This allows for the most information in a readable font.
2. There is no value added in coming to a class that is mathematically/analytically focused (eg. Accounting or Finance). The professors should just hand you a list of subjects you need to know, give you the book, and be available to answer questions in their office hours. All you do in class is zone out and then teach it to yourself before the test anyways, why not put that 3 hours each week into something more useful?
3. You should never even contemplate missing a case class. In direct contrast with analytical classes, there is very little that can be done outside of class in studying for case class tests (short of forming the perfect cheat sheet. See #1). I missed one class this semester in our major case class and when it came time to evaluate the transformational leadership of Iacocca on our test, I was so far behind because I didn't get to discuss the merits of his case in class.
4. There is no point in being in an MBA program in your home city. Don't even entertain the fact that you will get to hang out with your friends that live here. I think Lindsey has spent more time with Katie and Stephen than I have this semester. She lives 2 hours away and I live about 10 minutes away, if that! Ridiculous!
5. Regardless of all of this, I am really enjoying myself and I know, despite the stress now, I am going to be sad when these 2 years are over.

Have a great weekend!

Emily

Christmas Already?

It doesn't feel like Christmas season yet. It obviously is, because I had to wait through 3 left hand turn lights before being able to get into the parking lot of CompUSA when I was trying to buy a new phone today. But it still doesn't feel like it. I love Christmas season. Everything is happy and pretty. So why am I not into it yet? Probably a few reasons:

1. It is currently 70 degrees outside with a high tomorrow of 77. Any weather in which you can wear T-Shirts cannot be Christmas weather. My friends that are home right now in cities like Boston, Gettysburg, and Detroit are cursing snow today, but I am wishing it would at least get cold enough to wear some of the sweaters that I could be buying right now.

2. This semester has gone by so incredibly fast. I cannot believe that I am starting finals in 3 days. To me it still feels like the semester should be in about October, so I can't comprehend the fact that it is almost December.

3. I haven't watched any sappy Christmas romantic comedies yet. Hallmark - you're letting me down!

4. I haven't decorated anything yet. I really don't have a reason to decorate my apartment since no one comes here because there is no parking. This is the first time in 3 years that I haven't been responsible for decorating the COBA building at ACU. I'm not living at home, so I wasn't there to decorate yesterday. Maybe I should get that sad Charlie Brown tree that Ryan had on his blog a few weeks ago...

So hopefully I will quickly get that feeling that comes with Christmas...not the one of frustration surrounding any major shopping area...the one of joy that you can feel when walking around a beautifully decorated Downtown. So if anyone wants to go downtown for dinner tonight, give me a call!

Google Talk

TCU requires us to have laptops and put wireless internet in all the classrooms. As a result, we spend a lot of our class time on the internet. So most of my class downloaded Google Talk to use instead of AIM or MSN. On Google talk, you can put up a quote that displays under your name. Some people put up generic feel-good quotes, some put up funny ones, while others make comments about the class we're in right now. Here is a sampling of some of the quotes we've had recently. Which ones do you think are mine? And more importantly, does anyone have any suggestions of new quotes I can use?

- I believe in luck – how else can you explain the success of people you don’t like?
- I think the world would be a much better place if everybody agreed with me.
- I have as much authority as the Pope, just less people that believe it
- Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize half of them are stupider than that.
- Well, he's kind of had it in for me ever since I accidentally ran over his dog. Actually, replace "accidentally" with "repeatedly," and replace "dog" with "son."
- Wake me up at 12:20
- Netting my present value
- The NPV of studying for Managing People was higher than the NPV of coming to Finance today, so I accepted the project with the greatest capital gains.
- What’s a balance sheet?
- I tuned Ira out hours ago
- Is it just me or is this case just going in circles?
- Do my good looks count as an asset?
- Segmentation is a pain in my rear
- Matching my principles with my Treasured Stock.
- Yes, I came to marketing today. Consider yourself lucky.

Let the suggestions begin!

I'm Stealing Ryan's By The Numbers Today

8 - Hours it took me to read Harry Potter

3 - Hours I slept on Harry Potter weekend

16 - Days til I move into my apartment

18 - Days til I start my MBA program

1 - Posts I've written in the past week

0 - Posts in the past week that have contained more than a picture

6 - Posts I've started today before realizing I didn't have anything to say

4 - Days since my last post

4 - Days I've felt guilty about "reruns"

All of this to say, I have nothing to say and sorry about that! Oh yeah, and sorry to Ryan for stealing your format.

A Week of Lasts

- Yesterday was our last night with our roommate Deborah
- Today is my last day of work
- Tomorrow I will take my last final at ACU
- I will finish my last episode of Gilmore Girls Season 3 this evening
- This is the last week that I will be in Abilene wishing I was in Fort Worth
- Tuesday is the last episode of Amazing Race!!
- Today was the last time I'll vote on Ryan's poll saying I pretty much voted every day (okay, maybe I'm lying there!)
- I sold back my last book this morning
- This is the last time I write a post thinking I have lots of items to put in a list when it turns out I really don't. I'm out.