I am on my way to see my 3rd cousin, Laura, get married. I only have 7 first cousins, so summer in Nebraska while growing up were also taken up with one of my Mom's favorite cousins and her family. The Heartmans! I am waiting for my 6:30 flight to Omaha - direct. The terminal about an hour ago had half the Phoenix population in it due to delays. Some were saying weather - clearly not hear its sunny with a chance of more heat. Some were saying non-coherent mutterings due to apparent stress and frustration with the entire ordeal. I personally had my own opinion that the situation that brewed in San Fran this afternoon slowed air travel throughout the US. It's like a bad traffic jam in NYC - its going to take a couple of hours to clear only in the skies it can take most of a day. Apparently we don't have as many highways in the sky as Back to the Future would have us believe at this day and age. ;o)
The weekend will be filled with fun times by the extended family and getting to catch up with some cousins I haven't seen in over 10 years. I had a blast growing up with them, so I would imagine this weekend will be filled with a similar experience. Plus my mom is there, Granny Gross and a little Aunt Ruby Doll to top it off. She is like the cherry on top :)
My Patriots are playing right now - I can no tell a lie, the older I get the more I love football. I mean have you seen these hotties in spandex? Yummy! Don't get me wrong I have been a football fan my whole life, but being I love anything sports, there are times where certain ones move up in the rankings of can't wait for this season to start. :o)
Well hopefully the wait is coming to a close and I can jump on the flight to Omaha without too much of an issue. Either way I am on the start of a couple vacations and I wont be at work until Monday. So really that's the best part of the rest of this long weekend!
Peace out home fries!
Thursday, August 19, 2010
Tuesday, August 17, 2010
rain floods the valley with my memories
Growing up in Massachusetts, yes it's important to spell the whole state because at the age of 6 when you can do that you are a cool kid. At the age of 26, probably not that cool, unless you are from this wonderful state. Anyway, that was totally off subject, growing up when it rained it always smelled like I was an ant in a giant rose garden - the most overwhelming smell of new life. Everything smelled so perfect and gave nature a fresh start, not just for the furry friends living outside, but for all us people living in homes too.
The same smells followed me to WA - yep its more important in this state to shorten everything. WA, B'ham, The Islands, Spo-kompton (okay that's not a short one) - you get the idea. Anyway, the smells there lasted all year round because lets face it when it rains for 26 days straight it takes a while for the freshness to wear off given so much of it has built up. However rain took on new meanings - not just the overwhelming sense of being placed in the middle of a garden.
First year brought endless puddle wars with the boy who was my best friend and I fell in love with. Laughing for hours and sitting soaked in a class room next to each other for an hour while we giggled and made new puddles in doors, somehow was the lightheartedness I needed in an otherwise stressful and strange environment. Some people went abroad to find themselves, I just went to college 3000 miles away from my life to find my heart. I just never figure out how to fall out of love with that boy that brought so much entertainment and fun to my life.
Sophomore year it brought about long walks from the library back to south campus. At some point in those walks I would stop caring that I was soaked to the bone and would take up residency on the steps between Parks Hall and the Enviro Building. It had this view of normalcy over south campus which at this point of my life was much needed because I had a hurt heart, roommates that couldn't understand life without drama, and a boy taking interest in me that treated me like I was the only girl on campus. This was all very strange and new in my world - the rain could wash away all the fears that would sweep over me and could hide any tears shed on those steps while I found the strength to smile again.
Junior year the rain became a style almost - I had new friends, some "old" great ones still around, a new life, and it was always just there while I was on my way to more adventures. It was more like a comfort. I like rain this way. Comfort rain.
Senior year - this last 1.5 years if you want to get technical. Double majors with a minor aren't the fastest way to a diploma, just a faster way to the library. I lived on north campus and life was becoming my own. I would sit on my deck and watch it pour and rush down the cliff slopes back to the bay. It was still a comfort except on Friday mornings walking to my 8am econometrics class after a night out at the bars - I never said I was the most logical of students - I would dread the rain on those Fridays.
Back to the east side after college I don't remember much of rain. Other than it never came Monday thru Friday while I worked, but came just in time for Friday nights in Saratoga and stayed through the weekend to ruin any plans of enjoying parks and working out outside.
Moving to Arizona - no body is really from here so everyone does their own thing with names - brought a whole new understanding of what rain accomplishes. In a desert it doesn't soak in and bring a smell of growth and life. It turns the dust to mud, the streets to rivers, and leaves behind a musty smell of a dirty attic - funnily enough no one has attics down here. For a year I couldn't stand it, then I moved to my current location and it became a neighborhood party when it rained. Everyone out on their decks to watch it downpour for the 30 minutes to an hour that it will stay. Conversations were had with interruptions of thunder and lightning, followed by laughs because the daughter of the lightning man jumped every time. Rain ='s hours of fun. Now with those friends gone and life moving forward, it bring memories of everything rain can be in a persons life. It might not make sense so some, but to me rain is about love, friends, and laughter. What else is there in life?
The same smells followed me to WA - yep its more important in this state to shorten everything. WA, B'ham, The Islands, Spo-kompton (okay that's not a short one) - you get the idea. Anyway, the smells there lasted all year round because lets face it when it rains for 26 days straight it takes a while for the freshness to wear off given so much of it has built up. However rain took on new meanings - not just the overwhelming sense of being placed in the middle of a garden.
First year brought endless puddle wars with the boy who was my best friend and I fell in love with. Laughing for hours and sitting soaked in a class room next to each other for an hour while we giggled and made new puddles in doors, somehow was the lightheartedness I needed in an otherwise stressful and strange environment. Some people went abroad to find themselves, I just went to college 3000 miles away from my life to find my heart. I just never figure out how to fall out of love with that boy that brought so much entertainment and fun to my life.
Sophomore year it brought about long walks from the library back to south campus. At some point in those walks I would stop caring that I was soaked to the bone and would take up residency on the steps between Parks Hall and the Enviro Building. It had this view of normalcy over south campus which at this point of my life was much needed because I had a hurt heart, roommates that couldn't understand life without drama, and a boy taking interest in me that treated me like I was the only girl on campus. This was all very strange and new in my world - the rain could wash away all the fears that would sweep over me and could hide any tears shed on those steps while I found the strength to smile again.
Junior year the rain became a style almost - I had new friends, some "old" great ones still around, a new life, and it was always just there while I was on my way to more adventures. It was more like a comfort. I like rain this way. Comfort rain.
Senior year - this last 1.5 years if you want to get technical. Double majors with a minor aren't the fastest way to a diploma, just a faster way to the library. I lived on north campus and life was becoming my own. I would sit on my deck and watch it pour and rush down the cliff slopes back to the bay. It was still a comfort except on Friday mornings walking to my 8am econometrics class after a night out at the bars - I never said I was the most logical of students - I would dread the rain on those Fridays.
Back to the east side after college I don't remember much of rain. Other than it never came Monday thru Friday while I worked, but came just in time for Friday nights in Saratoga and stayed through the weekend to ruin any plans of enjoying parks and working out outside.
Moving to Arizona - no body is really from here so everyone does their own thing with names - brought a whole new understanding of what rain accomplishes. In a desert it doesn't soak in and bring a smell of growth and life. It turns the dust to mud, the streets to rivers, and leaves behind a musty smell of a dirty attic - funnily enough no one has attics down here. For a year I couldn't stand it, then I moved to my current location and it became a neighborhood party when it rained. Everyone out on their decks to watch it downpour for the 30 minutes to an hour that it will stay. Conversations were had with interruptions of thunder and lightning, followed by laughs because the daughter of the lightning man jumped every time. Rain ='s hours of fun. Now with those friends gone and life moving forward, it bring memories of everything rain can be in a persons life. It might not make sense so some, but to me rain is about love, friends, and laughter. What else is there in life?
Tuesday, August 10, 2010
Winning Weekend
I can not tell a lie. I am competitive to the end. However, I don't mind losing and am not a sore loser. I am just a super excited and stoked winner! Saturday I was invited to a 30th birthday party that was being held on the rooftop of the 8th floor of a high rise full of lofts. These lofts and the structure is reminiscent of the east coast life with true flats and lofts. There are 34 floors to this high rise in downtown Phoenix and this place has now become a dream for me to live in. This party was to include a pool, pool table and a table usable for drinking games such as beer pong and flip cup. I am not good at beer pong, mostly because I hate beer and refuse to drink any of the cups of it, so my partners hate me. Especially because secondly, for some reason, I do not have the talent of getting that ping pong ball into a cup across the way. Flip cup, well I haven't played it in years so who knows? Well we now know with a few random rounds of practice, I pick up on the Flip Cup technique quite nicely.
Late in the afternoon when the snacks were done, the hot dogs were eaten, the beer and liquor was flowing it was time for a game of Guys vs. Girls - Flip Cup Style. I went up against John, who is on my softball team and in a weird "its a small world after all" twist of life; happens to be an Alumni of Western Washington University. He was a senior when I was a freshman. Go figure! So it was only right that the Western Alumni go head to head, and the other 4 people for each team lined up down the table. Round 1 - girls win. I started it off and after 2 tries the cup was flipped and the rest fell like dominos. Round 2, girls win again! Old man alumni and the rest of the dude crew were getting their butts kicked by the younger ladies of the world. Round 3, guys win - and they did it in convincing fashion. Well by now I could care less that I was downing beer, which I despise, and I just wanted to keep playing and keep winning. We went ahead and played round 4, where the guys tie it up. Now its down to the last round - its was an agreed upon last round. Nothing more to say then Girls Flip Cup Champions!!!!!!!!!!!!
Sunday it was time for most of the same group from the day/night before to be all on the same team and take on a softball team this time. Now we are undefeated, but we really are just out there having a good time. We dance on the field, make fun of each other, change positions when we get bored with the ones we are playing. Our motto has been "win or lose we booze". My first hit I ran to 1st base and called out, "Can I get a pinch runner..." Gave just enough time for people to pause and look at me like they thought I was injured and I continued with "...I think I ate too many donuts". Well the mood was set and Where My Pitches @! were on our way to greatness. We won like 15 - 4, and just had a good time doing it. At the end another team needed another girl and I went over to play a double header with them. We won that game too - awesomeness!
Only issue with the double header is that you work muscles you forgot you had. Like did you know after winning a 2nd game you have this muscle on the right side near you back, like between ribs, that feels like its in a constant charlie horse? Well you do and I ended up having to be the best yoga poser in the world to get the muscle to stop cramping. I mean seriously I am going to name the pose, Double Header Twisted Back. Lay on your back and consider that facing the ceiling is the zero degree point, or home plate for a sports analogy. Now turn your head and shoulders 90 degrees to your right with your left reaching over your body until your fingers touch the floor. Keeping your torso at center now take your left leg and wing it over right your right touching the ground, while you stretch your right leg out to the left (the other 90 degrees to your left) and you now have the Double Header Twisted Back Pose. So clearly I am soon to be champion yoga instructor for sporting injuries :o)
Hope you all are having as much fun in life as I just did this weekend. Work may cause me to be frustrated at times, but that's why we all have friends! Entertainment and fun to keep you sane.
Late in the afternoon when the snacks were done, the hot dogs were eaten, the beer and liquor was flowing it was time for a game of Guys vs. Girls - Flip Cup Style. I went up against John, who is on my softball team and in a weird "its a small world after all" twist of life; happens to be an Alumni of Western Washington University. He was a senior when I was a freshman. Go figure! So it was only right that the Western Alumni go head to head, and the other 4 people for each team lined up down the table. Round 1 - girls win. I started it off and after 2 tries the cup was flipped and the rest fell like dominos. Round 2, girls win again! Old man alumni and the rest of the dude crew were getting their butts kicked by the younger ladies of the world. Round 3, guys win - and they did it in convincing fashion. Well by now I could care less that I was downing beer, which I despise, and I just wanted to keep playing and keep winning. We went ahead and played round 4, where the guys tie it up. Now its down to the last round - its was an agreed upon last round. Nothing more to say then Girls Flip Cup Champions!!!!!!!!!!!!
Sunday it was time for most of the same group from the day/night before to be all on the same team and take on a softball team this time. Now we are undefeated, but we really are just out there having a good time. We dance on the field, make fun of each other, change positions when we get bored with the ones we are playing. Our motto has been "win or lose we booze". My first hit I ran to 1st base and called out, "Can I get a pinch runner..." Gave just enough time for people to pause and look at me like they thought I was injured and I continued with "...I think I ate too many donuts". Well the mood was set and Where My Pitches @! were on our way to greatness. We won like 15 - 4, and just had a good time doing it. At the end another team needed another girl and I went over to play a double header with them. We won that game too - awesomeness!
Only issue with the double header is that you work muscles you forgot you had. Like did you know after winning a 2nd game you have this muscle on the right side near you back, like between ribs, that feels like its in a constant charlie horse? Well you do and I ended up having to be the best yoga poser in the world to get the muscle to stop cramping. I mean seriously I am going to name the pose, Double Header Twisted Back. Lay on your back and consider that facing the ceiling is the zero degree point, or home plate for a sports analogy. Now turn your head and shoulders 90 degrees to your right with your left reaching over your body until your fingers touch the floor. Keeping your torso at center now take your left leg and wing it over right your right touching the ground, while you stretch your right leg out to the left (the other 90 degrees to your left) and you now have the Double Header Twisted Back Pose. So clearly I am soon to be champion yoga instructor for sporting injuries :o)
Hope you all are having as much fun in life as I just did this weekend. Work may cause me to be frustrated at times, but that's why we all have friends! Entertainment and fun to keep you sane.
Thursday, August 5, 2010
its still a shock to me
Today was a typical day at work, then again typical and my job don't really go hand in hand. It's the weirdest place I have ever worked and its the most "professional" place I have ever worked. The best analogy is this place is nothing short of "The Office". Sexual harassment class day would be done the same way as Michael Scott and all would leave offended. Today was nothing short of that, except the mean side has been exposed of a colleague.
Straight up meanness has always baffled me. We all have enough moments in our lives where we are accidentally the "mean" person in a story, but I honestly believe most of us had no intention of being that person. Today I realized one colleague honestly has every intention of being a hurtful person. Comments such as "if you don't like the person, just be mean to them and they will eventually quit" or "I have every intention of getting that person fired" are highly unacceptable. However, these comments have been discussed to many and overheard by some. My stomach literally ached and fell when I heard this and the saddest part is that its true. It's not a work rumor. It's not a one person heard and told someone and we are in a sick game of telephone. It's been told in hushed tones, with descriptions of different locations by the person hearing it, and by various people who don't even know each other enough they would be sharing the "telephone" topic.
My best friends father always said, "they will always get what is coming to them, it just wont always be in the time frame in which you hoped for". I have to believe that at some point this person's unprofessional antics will be stopped, but in the mean time I am left with the saddest outlook on how people can truly be to others.
Straight up meanness has always baffled me. We all have enough moments in our lives where we are accidentally the "mean" person in a story, but I honestly believe most of us had no intention of being that person. Today I realized one colleague honestly has every intention of being a hurtful person. Comments such as "if you don't like the person, just be mean to them and they will eventually quit" or "I have every intention of getting that person fired" are highly unacceptable. However, these comments have been discussed to many and overheard by some. My stomach literally ached and fell when I heard this and the saddest part is that its true. It's not a work rumor. It's not a one person heard and told someone and we are in a sick game of telephone. It's been told in hushed tones, with descriptions of different locations by the person hearing it, and by various people who don't even know each other enough they would be sharing the "telephone" topic.
My best friends father always said, "they will always get what is coming to them, it just wont always be in the time frame in which you hoped for". I have to believe that at some point this person's unprofessional antics will be stopped, but in the mean time I am left with the saddest outlook on how people can truly be to others.
Wednesday, August 4, 2010
weird week, getting brighter
Monday started the usual dance of balancing CORE, CRE and R&D into a smushed up mess of numbers that to the untrained eye just look like a bank account we will never have. As I was sure I had perfected my side of the balancing and shipped it off to be reviewed I got the typical reply of "could you please do the split ratings and note the changes to the deleted descriptions where I mostly changed legal to ledger". This was the point where my bad weird mood started. I get it - I still didnt do it right, but seriously I got all the non-accruals tagged, all the downgrades, add ons, and them sorted out correctly. I think it was the phrase that I got to listen to my boss try to say in such a way that she didnt say what she was really thinking. She said, "we want to give you more month end responsibility and really make all the reporting yours, but you'll have to be more...trying to pick my words...more attentive". Honestly, I think sometimes honesty really needs to be more honest - just say "we want to give you more responsibility with month end, but you have to stop doing everything wrong and expecting someone else to fix it". At which point I could mention I would care more about month end, but being that I havent been allowed to do the core side of the bank since there was a structure change and I havent been allowed to do the specific reserves even though thats what I did for a year - its hard to take responsibility or care to the extreme about a project when half of the aspect of what I did have been taken away. Instead I just went ahead and smiled, agreed, took the weird attempt at using a better verbage for saying I sucked (clearly which you, my manger, and the other manager have discussed) and tried to do my best to do everything perfect this month. So of no one's fault then my own, I couldnt complete that job to par. Awesomeness all around.
Moving to Tuesday, I spent two hours and a lot of stress trying to get my alarm to go wireless again. After an hour, a phone call to my parents and a message that was on the verge of tears, and then another hour of trying everything and having moments of I think I have this, to moments of WTF?!?! So after giving up on that I plugged it back into the phone line and went with that. Really annoying because it used to be wireless, but the whole month long debacle with Cox and trying to get the internet and wireless in general to just work - i ended up with new connections, 2 visits form techs, and a new wireless system. So after all of that I cant get the alarm system to be wireless and this is highly irrating. O plus it was Double Stamp Tuesday at Golden Spoon, but because one of the branches decided to have a leak in the roof, and everyone else had last minute meetings - none of us went. Greatness all around.
Today I decided life had had enough of a laugh at my expense and it was going to be a better day. Of course listening to disseratations from girls on what they eat each day, how many calories each chip has, how many calories they have left of the 1,100 calorie diet, and that they are hungry - makes me want to take a rusty spork and jab out my own eyes. Or better yet as another co-worker said, "its things like that, that make me want to eat a giant burrito in front of all of them" - o and it was a male so no its not cute to anyone to talk about every calorie you ate that day. After 3 days of this I have just tried and think of something happy when these people feel the need to have their discussions 7 times a day. Worked pretty well and of course getting a free Golden Spoon Fro Yo from all my stamps collected made this day much much better! Strawberry with rainbow sprinkles - I mean really how can you go wrong? Well you can't I have decided - and that is my additude for the rest of the week :O)
Looking forward to the next funny in life that life and I can laugh at together.
Later foo's
Moving to Tuesday, I spent two hours and a lot of stress trying to get my alarm to go wireless again. After an hour, a phone call to my parents and a message that was on the verge of tears, and then another hour of trying everything and having moments of I think I have this, to moments of WTF?!?! So after giving up on that I plugged it back into the phone line and went with that. Really annoying because it used to be wireless, but the whole month long debacle with Cox and trying to get the internet and wireless in general to just work - i ended up with new connections, 2 visits form techs, and a new wireless system. So after all of that I cant get the alarm system to be wireless and this is highly irrating. O plus it was Double Stamp Tuesday at Golden Spoon, but because one of the branches decided to have a leak in the roof, and everyone else had last minute meetings - none of us went. Greatness all around.
Today I decided life had had enough of a laugh at my expense and it was going to be a better day. Of course listening to disseratations from girls on what they eat each day, how many calories each chip has, how many calories they have left of the 1,100 calorie diet, and that they are hungry - makes me want to take a rusty spork and jab out my own eyes. Or better yet as another co-worker said, "its things like that, that make me want to eat a giant burrito in front of all of them" - o and it was a male so no its not cute to anyone to talk about every calorie you ate that day. After 3 days of this I have just tried and think of something happy when these people feel the need to have their discussions 7 times a day. Worked pretty well and of course getting a free Golden Spoon Fro Yo from all my stamps collected made this day much much better! Strawberry with rainbow sprinkles - I mean really how can you go wrong? Well you can't I have decided - and that is my additude for the rest of the week :O)
Looking forward to the next funny in life that life and I can laugh at together.
Later foo's
Sunday, August 1, 2010
double header softball
I play at 8 pm tonight with the team I joined 5 months ago, Where My Pitches @!. Then I am going to join another team for their 9 oclock game. Of course I have been icing my knee for the last 30 minutes, so we will see how well all of this goes. I would personally like to blame the shake machine I jumped on at the spa yesterday.
I have determined that there is no easy way to lose weight and any short cut in that endeavor is better left alone. This machine is one you get on and hold on. It shakes you like a 7.0 earthquake, but after 20 mins and supposedly 250 calories shaken off of me I end up with shin splints, inner thighs that have hurt ever since, and now knee issues. I mean seriously there should have been a warning sign that says it will shake calories right off of you, along with 20 years of sports life left in your body! Thank goodness I hit the massage chair after that, otherwise lord only knows how bad this would all be.
Of course I didnt mention that I went for a run this morning because for the first time in 2 months the desert was only 86 degrees. Shoot at that temperature I would have thought I needed a hoodie, given that its been over 100 degrees since the end of June. Well it never dawned on me, in all of my excitment, that the humidity levels would be just short of an epic monsoon and death might actually occur in the 1 mile run. All in all this has been a great weekend of horrible sporting choices and we are still 5.5 hours from the day being over. I should go down another 16 oz of water before I head out for the games. I tend to drink 48 to 80 ounces of water a day - but i think i sweat out 100 ounces daily!
I have determined that there is no easy way to lose weight and any short cut in that endeavor is better left alone. This machine is one you get on and hold on. It shakes you like a 7.0 earthquake, but after 20 mins and supposedly 250 calories shaken off of me I end up with shin splints, inner thighs that have hurt ever since, and now knee issues. I mean seriously there should have been a warning sign that says it will shake calories right off of you, along with 20 years of sports life left in your body! Thank goodness I hit the massage chair after that, otherwise lord only knows how bad this would all be.
Of course I didnt mention that I went for a run this morning because for the first time in 2 months the desert was only 86 degrees. Shoot at that temperature I would have thought I needed a hoodie, given that its been over 100 degrees since the end of June. Well it never dawned on me, in all of my excitment, that the humidity levels would be just short of an epic monsoon and death might actually occur in the 1 mile run. All in all this has been a great weekend of horrible sporting choices and we are still 5.5 hours from the day being over. I should go down another 16 oz of water before I head out for the games. I tend to drink 48 to 80 ounces of water a day - but i think i sweat out 100 ounces daily!
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