Reality

I don't know about you, but I've been sucked into my share of reality TV shows.

The Biggest Loser. The Amazing Race. Extreme Makeover: Home Edition.

Currently: the Bachelor.

Let me start off by saying that there is no way I could ever be on the Bachelor. No chance, not happening.

First of all, I am not skinny enough. Nor do I open up easily enough.

And that's fine with me.

But it's fascinating to watch these women act like idiots over a man they have just meant and are all (or most) convinced they are in love. In lust, most likely. In like, very possible. But in love, with a man you've known a few days/weeks and are sharing with ten other women. That is beyond me.

Yet I am staying awake for the end of the show. And I even took two Tylenol PM to quell my head ache.

If that's not commitment, I don't know what is.

Things to do

Most of time, I don't have much to do.

I don't mean life is boring and I have all this free time, but usually when I make it through the week to the weekend there isn't a lot I have to get done.

Now I do have stuff to get done, and I'm not doing it.

Quotes to transcribe, a story to write, a weekly report to finish, and a final project to get started on.

None of that has happened. And now I am watching basketball and am headed to a BBQ in a couple hours.

Oh well, it'll happen eventually. Right?!

Sitting with a baby

I babysat last night.

But here's the thing. I cannot remember the last time I had to watch a child or children.

I've dog sat, house sat, and cat sat. But baby sitting is not really my area of expertise or comfort.

But out of the generosity of my heart, I agreed to watch a 16-month-old girl for one of the women I work with.

As I sat in the baby's room trying to distract her and let her mom sneak out the door, I thought 'what the heck am I going to do to entertain her for the next couple hours.'

Luckily the baby and I made it through the next few hours. Mostly because she wanted to eat a lot. There were no major meltdowns, we safely took a bath, I got her ready for bed, and she went to sleep without a fuss.

Overall, mission accomplished. I just can't help but wonder if I bored the child with my inability to think of fun games.

The Other End

I am going to opposite direction from my last blog. Well, maybe not complete opposite but definitely a different angle.

So, politics.

This an area I would normally cover in my blog. Generally speaking I like to stick to the personal, but as we all are well aware, it's an election year.

I have been wavering in my choice. That's not actually the right word. I have been undecided.

I am the voter who likes to be informed, but instead of just going out and doing my research I hide behind the "I don't know any of the candidates well enough" excuse.

This year, maybe even more than four years ago, is a pivotal election. Our country obviously has some major hurdles that will need to be overcome in the near future, beyond a war we should or shouldn't be fighting. Climate change and what that means for agriculture. The economy, social security, medicare and the effect those will have on my generation as we age.

There are so many things that need to change.

I'm not even talking about hot button issues, which thankfully have not taken a front seat in this election.

I truly believe that a leader's response to adversity is a telling thing. I was impressed recently by Barack Obama. If you didn't see or read his speech in response to inflamatory statements by his paster, you should.

I'm not telling you that he's the one we should be electing as president. That choice should be yours alone. Do your research, evaluate the candidates, and make your choice.

And read this speech as part of that.

http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/03/18/obama.transcript/index.html

Foray into the Superficial

I generally attempt to avoid being superficial in my blog. I try not to focus on the material, the physical, but there is something to be said for physical beauty.

Here at my place of residence there is a constant rotation of temporary visitors. Sometimes we get lucky and sometimes we lose out, we being interns, in more than one way. Let me give an example of each.

Losing out...our building was overtaken, and perhaps still is but know I'm distracted, by what seemed like hundreds of youth from an unknown sport. They took over the common room, often times locking us, the semi-perminant residents, out.

Needless to say, there was not peace and happiness in all the land.

Getting lucky...currently a majority of the rooms down the hall are occupied by athletes of the aquatic nature. Athletes of the highest level, who feel perfectly comfortable walking around in their underwear.

It's hard to mind that sort of view. Better go enjoy it while it lasts. :)

Here ends my superficialness...probably.

Travel

I was in Sea-Tac for two hours this afternoon without internet, yet I still worked on my blog. If that’s not dedication (or boredom), I don’t what is.

Enjoy my experience!

- - - - -

I have purchased my overpriced water, overpriced candy, and normally-price magazine. I am ready to sit down and waste an hour and a half before I have to board.

Traveling alone is an interesting experience. I always feel alone while not being alone at the same time.

I am surrounded by hundreds, maybe even thousands, of people. I don’t speak much, but there are occasional moments of bonding with my fellow passengers.

As I waited in the security line for my turn to put my bags on a conveyor belt and walk through the metal detector, a man grab three tubs and cut in front of myself and another woman.

It would have been one thing if he had all of his stuff out, ready to go, and both of us were still trying to get organized. But he wasn’t even ready, and then he set the detector off. She and I exchanged eye rolls and muttered under our breaths.

So there are moments, but there is also a good chance that I won’t have a real conversation for the next six hours. Unless I get lucky with who sits beside me.

I also hate dealing with the bathroom at the airport. Everytime I fly I try to avoid carrying too much onto the plane with me, but invariably I have a purse, a bag, a jacket, and other numerous loose items to juggle. And you can’t leave your things alone, that’s rule #1. It’s just a hassle if you ask me.

Grrr…pony-tail man across the way feels it’s perfectly acceptable to force everyone around him to listen to his music. My headphones are coming out.

At one point the pay phone rang for about five straight minutes. Why would someone give that number out? Unless they were Tom Hank’s character in Terminal.

The man sitting next to me on the plane has a name tag labeling him evanglist and is wearing a grey polyester suit. The outfit is completed by a fedora-style hat and what appears to be a small cooler. Luckily I didn't have to explain that I am already saved as he spends most of the flight asleep.

Taco Bell was closed on the drive home. The drive thru wasn't even open, and was blocked by yellow caution tape to eliminate confusion. I had to settle for Arby's for dinner. The only good news, I had exact change for the transaction. Pretty exciting.

I made it back. Mission accomplished. Now I have to get up and go to work tomorrow.

My faves

For lack of blogging ideas I have decided to share a few pictures I have taken the past couple years.

I am by no means a professional photographer, but every once in a while I get lucky. These are a couple of those moments. At least I think so.

Hopefully, someday soon I will come up with a good topic or two. Enjoy and happy Easter!!!

Mindless

I sat down on my first day of vacation (I'm home for the weekend) with some free time and thought 'perfect, I can write an awesome blog.'

And so I sat. And sat. Nothing. My mind apparently is a blank slate.

Plus, I am in the basketball zone.

So here's a short story for you from my return home...

After what seemed like a day of travel, really it was only the evening, my parents, sister and I finally arrived at our home.

One of things I was looking forward to was seeing the dogs. One wound-up, one year old Springer Spaniel, and Jackson, a 110-pound yellow lab, white German Shepard.

We pull into the driveway and my mom opens the back door. Jackson rushes out jumping, whining, basically thrilled to see me. Jamaica, the springer spaniel, starts out the door and spots us. Immediately she is barking and trying to hide behind my mother.

Two and a half months is a long time. Especially when her brain is fairly small.

Five minutes later we were best friends again. It just took some time to access the memory bank.

But it's still cracking me up that the dog didn't recognize me. Plus, I am a pretty scary person.

Public Service Announcement

I feel the need to inform everyone that today's national security level is 'Orange.'

As an American citizen I don't feel that our government does a sufficient job informing us of the day-to-day security situation in our country.

What are we paying them for anyways?!

The only people that really know about security threats are those people who have to spend hours in the airport. People in airports also know not to leave their bags unattended, a concept that also seems to be beyond the average person.

In case you can't tell, I am in some sort of mood tonight.

It was probably the basket of airport nachos and the corona. That'll do it everytime.

Happy Maunday (sp?) Thursday!

Because I have to...

This is my favorite time of year. Hands down. No question. The only thing that would make it better is if I lived somewhere warm and tropical.

Right now, if you are asking yourself why this is a great time of year...you should probably just stop reading. You probably won't get it.

March Madness.

It's the most wonderful time of the year.

Seriously though, Thursday and Friday are so sweet. The number of games that are on over the course of that time period is amazing.

Yay for college basketball!!!

So now I am frantically filling out brackets and counting down the hours.

I will be worthless at work Thursday. There is no question about it. If only I had some sort of small portable television to take with me. That would be wonderful.

Oh well, I'll just have to make do with the internet.

I am sorry if you don't love college basketball. But don't take my joy away from me. And don't expect me to work.

Perfection

Perfection.

I've been thinking about this blog for approximately the past eight hours.

While you may assume this means the blog will be astonishing in its depth, you may very well find yourself disappointed today. Unless you are a certain type of person.

This afternoon I encountered perfection.

In the form of a milkshake. Oreo cookie, chocolate/vanilla ice cream, milk, and peanut butter.

It was a life changing experience.

But it also got me thinking, as I thought about my perfect milkshake, that perfection is really about the moment you're in and the person you are.

My perfect day might not seem so perfect to you. A warm, sunny day might be nice, but a snow day is pretty freaking awesome too.

So really perfection is about you attitude, to a certain degree. It's about how you're feeling in that moment.

Not to say that anything can be perfect all the time.

Except milkshakes, those are pretty hard to beat.

Unless you're lactose intolerant. Then you may want to stay away from this blog entry. Perhaps I should have put a disclaimer. I apologize if I caused problems for you.

So...if ice cream is your thing, this blog probably did it for you. If not, sorry, but not really.

Oh, and happy St. Patrick's Day to you. Especially if you like the color green or beer. It was probably a good day for you.

Worry-free

I don't know if you've noticed the underlying current of stress in a few of my postings.

I am mid-internship, will have my degree in May, and don't have a clue what I am doing after that. It's a little stressful not to have a plan for the rest of my life.

But I realized today, or maybe was reminded, that I shouldn't worry so much.

So..."I'm laying down my dreams, I'm giving up my pride."

This doesn't mean I am stopping my job search or forgetting about the fact that this internship will come to an end, I just am going to spend less time worrying about what will happen.

At least that's my current plan. Who knows how it will actually go.

It Didn't Work Out

I didn't make it to the mountain. No snowboarding this weekend, but that means that I hurt myself either.

Today, I used a little shopping therapy to get over the disappointment of not going to Breck. And I feel much, much better, if you know what I mean.

Now it's time to watch some more basketball, because it's that time of year, and sleep a little.

Tonight I am celebrating a birthday, which should be a good time.

Good Luck

Today I am breaking a streak of blogs with titles that start with 't.' I don't know if you had noticed that, but I had.

Tomorrow evening, after work, I am leaving to drive up to Breckridge. There I will enjoy a relaxing, and hopefully entertaining, Friday evening.

Come Saturday morning I will strap boots to a snowboard and go where no EW (my initials in case you were confused) has gone before. Snowboarding.

My goal...to make it off the bunny slopes alive and not get in the way of the five-year-olds. Lofty, I know.

Hopefully you will hear from me again. Feel free to pray for safety; I'll need it.

Telephone

No, I am not referring to the game we played as children, passing secret messages through frantically whispered comments.

I am talking about actual telephones. The ones you must pick and dial in order to speak to someone who isn't close enough by to talk to.

I am not a big fan.

I've gotten better, but I am still not a big fan.

I used to avoid them and to a certain degree a still do, but I am a lot better.

Now, mostly, I hate placing calls to people. Especially people I don't know. I don't want to be that person they really don't want to talk to, having them sound as if they so many better things to do with their time than talk to me.

Today I had to make phone calls at work. It happens, more often than I like. The good news, I survive.

The really funny thing about my phone at work...it doesn't ring. I can't actually receive incoming calls, and they can't figure out how to fix it.

So either my calls go straight to voicemail or I run to the conference room to take my incoming calls. The receptionist yells at me, I grab a pen and paper, and run for it.

I feel quite professional when I have to run through the halls at work.

But it takes my mind off the fact that I am headed to answer the phone, however briefly.

Tough

I need to start out with the admission that I am probably not going to be posting as often as I have in the past. It's just a reality we all must come to live with.

Now, on to the main event...

I have very little to complain about. So seriously if I get whiney, just tell me to shut up.

There is this woman I know that has had to deal with more crap than anyone I know.

She had diabetes; has had two kidney transplants, the second also involving a pancreas transplant (hence, the diabetes being past tense); she got cancer because of meds she was on for transplants; she had her leg amputated because her circulation is poor due to the diabetes and while in the hospital for the transplant she hit her head and lost the sight in one of her eyes.

She is one of the most fragile people I know but at the same time, the toughest.

Through it all she has had an amazing attitude. When she was told they were amputating her leg she asked that they not schedule during a basketball game so she wouldn't miss it.

Basically, I suck because I am worried about what I am going to do with my life, and this amazing woman is getting the most out of the not-so-nice life she has.

So seriously, next time I start griping just slap my face. My life is pretty good.

Things

I have to start this out with an apology. It's March 6 and I last posted on the first. That is terrible.

Sorry.

Life has kind of gotten away from me. My pile of clothes on the floor has grown. I am having to root around for clean socks. And I feel like I haven't had enough sleep in a week.

That's not a good way to live life.

The real bummer is that I most likely have to work on Saturday morning, thereby extending my work week to 13 straight days. The only good news being that I am making over time.

I am pretty sure that I killed my car today. I pulled into the driveway at work after eating sushi for lunch. The bottom of my car connected with the pavement and made an unnatural sound. If it doesn't start one of these days I won't be surprised. And I am never parking in the parking lot again. I am sticking to the road.

I finally got some Organization of People in Spandex gear. I now have a couple of shirts and, the most exciting part, a new part of Asics. I am pretty stoked.

I realized today that my car stereo, which I got for Christmas, has a CD player in it. That's right, for three months I was absolutely clueless that I could play CDs. Genius, right here.

By the way, I have re-retired from the sport of basketball. At least for the time being.

I am kind of like Michael Jordan, except for the fact that I was never very good. But I am hoping to play more volleyball now that I have some free time on my hands.

In case you can't tell, I am trying to make this post longer, actually catch you up on my life, because I have been slacking off so badly.

I am also out of practice, so this will not be the most enjoyable or entertaining entry you've ever seen me write.

But I'm not uncapable.

There's a story behind my use of that word, uncapable. I supposed for lack of something better to write about and so you won't think I'm an idiot I will explain.

My mother is a writer. A trying to get a book published, writes in her journals everyday, can paint a picture with words writer. (I was going to use dashes for that description, but decided to throw in the towel)

Anyways, the fact that she is an awesome writer has always made me think of myself as only so-so. I can write an okay paper, but nothing amazing.

One day I was in the car with her. I had realized that I really was an above average writer, especially when it came to papers in school, etc.

As I am explaining to her about my epiphany, I said,"it's not that I'm uncapable."

I hope you all caught the irony in that statement.

Since that day I like to use that word in descriptions of my abilities, because it makes me smile.

So, just so you know, just because I haven't been posting in the blog much recently doesn't mean I'm uncapable.

70 today, snowing tomorrow

I know I've been slacking off in my blogging efforts recently. In my defense I haven't had a day off since last Sunday, won't until a week from today, and my dad has been visiting.

That said, how long does it really take to write a couple hundred words? (rhetorical question in case you're confused)

I resumed my stalker lifestyle this weekend. Today I interviewed eight different people. In less than six hours. I am getting good, so you should probably watch out.

Like I mentioned, my dad has been in town the past couple days, which has been wonderful. Not only have been enjoying hanging out with him (he is one of the funnier people I know) but I also got a tank of gas, an oil change, a new jacket, and a meal out of the deal. Yay for dads!!!

As the title of this blog implies, it was 70 degrees in Colorado today. I wore a t-shirt all day. Never had to put on a jacket. And it's March. Crazy!!!!

Of course, tomorrow it is supposed to snow. Go figure. The land of Rockies has some of the crazier weather that I have seen. Not that I am complaining about today, at all.

Other than that, life isn't all that exciting. Maybe someday soon I'll have a good story for you, but for now I am going to get back to Snatch...the movie.