Sunday, July 10, 2011

V is for Victory

I love the GAP. More than I should probably. But lately our relationship has been strained. I thought they were stiffing me on a couple of things I ordered online. Today they called to make amends. Apparently they don't use standard usps so the fact that I had my mail forwarded did not in fact mean they would ship me my orders. One had been returned. Well at least I know where my dang work pants have been all this time! My pants and a dress will be rerouted as soon as possible. Thank heavens! My work wardrobe needs those pants very much. Thanks GAP!

In other news I have joined Google+ and I like it. It's a less kitschy version of Facebook really. And of course it has Google's sensibility built right in. Man I love all things Google. If you read this and need someone to let you in I have a few invites left so just shoot me your address. :)

That's about all I have to report at this point. I did nothing exciting with my weekend. One day I won't be as broke and I'll have better stories. Promise.

Saturday, July 9, 2011

Edelweis, Stieg Larsson, and GAP wars

Thursday: After work I went with Phil and the gang to Edelweis, a charming little German pub with the most amazing Thursday special I've ever experienced. You can get a liter of beer for $5 and a brat with sour kraut for $3. I downsized to a 1/2 liter and then ended up having two of them. But all in all the cheapest dinner you can get. Also you get to rub elbows with Mike the accordion player and Richard Prichard and old (possibly senile) old man who as allegedly been married 6 times and showed us not only his moon rocks but some antique Chinese coins he's "not supposed to have." This week we also met Lupe and Carlos and their white, uber-friendly "bro" who joined our table unsolicited. They were fun. No harm done.

Friday: I got up and did... nothing. I read the rest of "The Girl with the Dragon Tatoo" by Stieg Larsson. Not going to lie, it was a little difficult at points because it's set in Switzerland and there are mentions of things I know nothing about and casual references to places I've never heard of and can't pronounce. Overall I really enjoyed it though. I suppose I also went to Chicken Express with Rachel Seo (not my roommate) so that was good. At least I left the apartment once.

Today: I went to check my mail and STILL don't have the work pants I ordered from the GAP at the beginning of LAST MONTH. Geesh! Can't even call them because they're not open on Saturday. Dumb. I went and got a couple of grocery items at Target and now I'm chronicling my less than thrilling weekend. Being broke is no picnic. You pretty much have to invent things to do for free or read books. I'm ok with it but it doesn't make for very exciting blog posts. I'll let you know how the sequel to my book ("The Girl Who Played with Fire") is when I finish it. Possibly this weekend unless I finish watching class lectures. Which reminds me I have several hours of that left to do. Gross.

Wednesday, July 6, 2011

One long and painful day

So I had the longest day on record. Seriously someone called in from Guinness Records to confirm. Ok not really. My day started out rough. I forgot my badge so I had to get a temporary one. I tried to figure out the best place to park to minimize my walking in and out of the building since I can't use my normal gate with a temporary ("turkey") badge (that's what the guys on the floor called it). This ended up making me drive against the arrows in the parking lot like a doofus and then park in what felt like downtown Fort Worth. I probably walked between 1.5 and 2 miles to my desk this morning.

Once I was finally there I had just enough time to check my e-mail before I went to take my test for my online class. I feel like I was well prepared except that I left a key equation off my sheet which made me take the full 2 hours to finish the exam. I then had one hour to use until a training session. Thing is once you include walking and buying my lunch I was working for about 20 minutes. Keep in mind that going between my desk and the building where I took my test and did my training is about a 15 minute walk. Brisk walk. Add that to the 1.5-2 miles I booked before and after work and we've successfully integrated exercise into my work day! In my work clothes! Across a steamy parking lot! Yay! (Obviously NOT yay).

But who am I to complain? Our friend Rachel (not my roommate) had a car accident yesterday (she's fine physically just, you know, not thrilled about the situation). We are making her dinner tonight (I'm contributing some easy-peasy brownies) so she doesn't have to hang out by herself. That should make both of us happier I would imagine. :)

It's been a long day but tomorrow will be better.

Tuesday, July 5, 2011

My Struggles (NOT Mein Kampf!)

I swear when I titled this it was not intended to be a play on Hitler's book. Promise. I really am writing about a struggle I am currently having. The one of work/life balance. Or in my case work/life/school balance. For whatever reason I don't seem to be able to ever accomplish everything I should. I fantasize about the day when I don't have but work and life to balance but I'm sure my life and work will just swell to fill the gap and I'll still have a laundry list of "I should have's". I haven't been consistent at anything but going to work and trying to study (inefficiently) over the past week. Everything else is intermittent. This includes cleaning, dealing with my finances, exercise, and picking up after myself. Don't get me wrong I try to hit up those things but I just don't get around to it like I should.

Either way my life isn't so bad. I like my job a lot. For the first time it feels like I was requested instead of thrust upon my employer. The ol' "oh yea... you're here... uh... you can do this!" was getting old. I'm wrapping up a project where I help document parts of the process that can be moved off of the critical path. I finished the "schedule" I made for it today and barring major overhaul I think it's done (knock on wood). I'm about to embark on my next work adventure--documenting tooling in our area in detail so they can plan for it's storage as they finish construction and expansion of our area. It's a huge undertaking but it's going to keep me busy which is key to making the day pass.

This weekend for the 4th we didn't do a heck of a lot. Slept adequate amounts which was lovely. We saw Transformers: Dark side of the Moon which was awesome. Also I went and re-watched Bridesmaids which was epic the second time (just in case you were concerned it didn't have staying power). Yesterday we did and intern pool-side barbecue and then we went and parked our lawn chairs on the edge of the river to watch fireworks. Good times had by all! Here are a few pictures to prove I have friends and we did in fact see fireworks:
The Rachel's! Left to right, Rachel and Rachel (my roommate).

Alex! He's a good sport about hanging with the girls in Phil's absence. :)
7th Street bridge... We though the fireworks would be over the bridge... they were through the tree just out of shot. No worries though...
Other view from our spot. This is where the magic happens... when you miscalculate where the fireworks are supposed to be and end up watching a different show...

SEE?! There they go. I think these came from the botanical gardens. They were pretty legit.
And more fireworks but this time with a little artistic river reflection added for some drama. You're welcome.