Things I Could Blog About But Won't

- Work is busy, work is good

- I have found gray strands in my hair for the past three days in a row and its kind of freaking me out

- The fact that I paid $60 to fill up a 15 gallon tank at the gas station today

- How the season finale of The Office was the most depressing and uncomfortable hour of this year so far

- How these lists were so much better when Ryan had a blog. :(

- How excited I am that So You Think You Can Dance starts in less than a week!!!

No A/C = SUCK!!

My air conditioning is broken. It has been broken for 3 weeks. I have a home warranty that supposedly covers the cost of the new coil that I need....but they don't cover the $150 Freon removal charge. Or the $150 old coil disposal charge. Or the $50 permit charge.

The worst part...I know that half those charges are completely bogus. Freon removal should be about $75, there shouldn't BE a coil disposal charge, AND they're going to sell the old coil and get some money for it. But there is nothing I can do about it because the last thing I want to do is make the guy responsible for my A/C repair mad so he'll do a bad job. It just makes me really mad when I think that there are companies out there who make their money purely by cheating other people. Its like the people in the Bible who filled their bags with sawdust instead of flour - just purely dishonest.

Has anyone else had to deal with this? Is it worth calling them out on these ridiculous charges?

The United States of Texas

Today I was doing my daily scan of CNN.com articles, and started reading an article about Jenna Bush getting married. Nice sweet article...President's daughter is getting married this weekend...met her fiance through the 2004 campaign...Ole' W is really excited to be the father of the bride....and then I saw this line:

"As is customary in Texas, Jenna Bush will have a "house party" of 14 women instead of bridesmaids. The first lady's office described them as guests of honor, with no role in the ceremony."

Two things strike me as odd in this statement:
1. They talk about Texas like it is a foreign country. Like we have these bizarre customs and you need your passport to enter.

2. I have been to hundreds of weddings in my lifetime here in Texas....I have never heard of the custom of having a "house party" instead of bridesmaids! I have heard of having a house party in addition to the bridesmaids (as Maggie puts it, it is the time to show your friends what you REALLY think of them by who makes the bridesmaids cut!) They make it sound like this widespread thing that everyone in Texas would immediately know about.

This made me laugh today. :)

Shamelessly Self-Promoting Birthdays since 1983

Happy Birthday to Me
Happy Birthday to Me
Happy Birthday dear Emily
Happy Birthday to Me!

You know you think this is hot...

And what do I get to do on my birthday? Sit in a quarterly planning session from 8am-3:30pm. :( But then my boss is throwing me a bowling party, so thats cool.*

*The bowling is actually a team activity after the planning session and would have happened whether it was my birthday or not...but I think its funny to say that my boss is throwing me a bowling party for my birthday. :)

Bad Bad Day

Today I hit a dog while I was driving to church for a rehearsal. It was devastating. I didn't run over him and I went back to get him. He was just moaning when I picked him up and for the first 15 minutes in the car (rush hour...couldn't get anywhere quickly). But he really rebounded and was SOOO much better by the time we got to the only emergency vet open in the area (about 45 minutes later). He was looking around and sitting up and stuff.

Its amazing how quickly a bond forms in a "crisis". I think he is going to be okay. If I still had Oliver, I would have kept this dog too. Unfortunately, I can't do that. He was definitely a stray and the vet said they would keep him overnight, get him all fixed up, and then turn him over to the humane society. Its so hard having to put ANOTHER dog out there and never get to know how he is again. Even though we were only together for an hour, it was almost as hard to see him go as it was with Oliver. I would have named him Hercules because he survived being hit by a freaking car...he must be strong! Needless to say, I am sad tonight. I feel like I just gave up my puppy all over again. :(

The Tornado Siren that cried Wolf

So I'm sitting here in my living room with my TV off (because its not on a surge protector yet and I don't want a blast of lightning ruining it...plus my satellite is out cause of storms), my blinds open, and a candle lit (waiting for the inevitable power outage that will come any minute now) watching and listening to the storms coming through right now. Oh yeah, did I mention the Tornado Sirens are going off too? And still, I just lounge here on my couch like nothing big is going on.

I'm not an incredibly fearless person by anymeans. Its just they were already going off when I was driving home 30 minutes ago, they went off last week, and they will likely still be going off 30 minutes from now. It kind of sucks, because now even if there were an ACTUAL tornado, I wouldn't be paying attention because this siren goes off so much. I think we need to reevaluate the use of the tornado siren and stop crying "wolf" quite so much with it.

P.S. Is it weird that I have dreams about tornadoes all the time? Because I do and have since I was about 10 years old. I had one just a couple nights ago.

P.P.S. When will people learn that speed limits and stop signs don't count (within reason) when tornado sirens are going off?

Quick Update....

Sorry I've been a little MIA....the past couple of weeks have really been a rollercoaster of emotions and events.

Work got crazy...some good, some bad (I'd say its ended up more good than bad, but just stressful)

I found out that I am allergic to Oliver. I kept him until the Rescue Organization could find him a new home. He went to his new family on Saturday. It was absolutely miserable....felt like I was ripping my heart out. But he really like them and they seem like awesome people. And they're going to keep his name as Oliver, so that makes me happy. I'll be doing an Oliver tribute post later with some of the pictures that I took while he was with me.

Summer Spectacular (Richland Hills' VBS) rehearsals started Sunday. That is 6 hours a week. A lot of work, but my favorite time of year!!

Between all of that, I haven't had much time to do anything interesting, thus the lack of blogging. Hopefully I'll be more interesting soon though!!

Thought of the Day

Why does Wal-Mart make you choose your amount of cash back on a debit card in multiples of $20 if it is going to dispense the cash in $10 bills?

To my BFF Ashley...

P.S. Right after I took that picture....I made it REALLY good! :)

And All That Jazz!

For our 3rd Annual Roomie Weekend, my college roommates and I decided to go to Chicago. Lindsay is living right outside in DeKalb while her fiance is in grad school at NIU. And as an added bonus, we were there over St. Patricks Day!

After we landed and Lindsay picked us up from the airport, we headed to M. Henry's for brunch. This place was featured on the Food Network for having the best brunch in America, and I have to say I agree! It was fantastic!

Then we headed over to the St. Patty's Day festivities....saw the green river, watched a portion of the parade (it was not interesting), and went through Millenium Park to see that big cloud sculpture thing.


Lindsay, Deborah, me, and Nichole
In the center of the sculpture at Millenium ParkMe, Nichole, Deb, Lindsay in front of the Millenium Park sculpture We did some shopping in the city and attempted to go to an Irish Pub for some green drinks, but quickly discovered that was going to be impossible. Every place that was halfway Irish (including Bennigan's) had a line around the block or was so packed you couldn't move. So we went back to DeKalb and went to an Irish Pub there. Ryan (Lindsay's Fiance) and I had Irish Car Bombs









And the rest had a green shot of some sort. We also drank a little green beer and sang some songs with everyone there.
The rest of the long weekend was pretty low-key. Sunday we went to church, made dinner, and had a game night for Ryan's birthday, Monday we went shopping for bridesmaids dresses, and more than anything we just hung out like old times. Then we had our fun adventure getting home. My old roomies are the type of friends where no matter how long its been since we talked, every time we get back together it is like we've never been apart. I love these girls!

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!