Let’s find a new job!

The countdown has officially begun! Six days and five shifts until vacation starts. It is more than needed. We are catching an early flight out of Dulles on Saturday morning and arriving just in time for Ayer 4th of July festivities. Then Sunday I am headed to the much longed for vacation house where I plan to swim, play, drink, barbeque, and spend as much time outside as I possibly can while bothering every member of my family to the extreme to let them know what they’ve been missing. I am ready. I have been fighting back starting to pack for the past week. Really, I am so ready.

As for life here in Virginia, it is… well… making me want to take a vacation. I have a wonderful apartment, wonderful company, and a few good folks that I work with. However, I need a new job. I spent the majority of this morning looking for jobs and coming out pretty unsuccessful. Part of me feels I need to go back to school in order to get the kind of job I want. But I already did that! I still haven’t paid off the Bachelor’s degree yet. I think I may talk Cyndi into getting her teacher’s certificate with me in whatever state we go to next. I’m leaning more towards environmental groups, non-profits, safety, conservation jobs but those results either have me in Washington, DC asking people on the street to donate, or require a much more advanced and specific degree that I really really don’t have. Suggestions? I really shouldn’t complain. I mean, my job is easy, I get to wear ripped shorts and t-shirts, and it is a very easy trip by bus to get there. I just have a feeling that I have reached some retail coma where customer service doesn’t come as easily and my bosses are morons.

We have been going swimming pretty often. I am so damn thankful that we found an apartment with a pool.

Posting again soon… some more comments on job hunting as well as growing things and writing.

June 29th, 2008 - Posted in Uncategorized | | 0 Comments

Power!/Baltimore/Music

We have survived! All is back to normal (if this place in Virginia could be considered normal at all) in our neck of the woods. I was at work getting bits of weather news about tornadoes touching down around our store. Things went about as they normally do though, except maybe our customers were about 40% less than usual. However, Cyndi was trapped in the apartment without power not knowing what the hell was going on. Our hallway is a pretty fun wind tunnel and made it so she couldn’t open the door with the storm outside the living room window. When the wind broke she made her way down to the lobby with other residents. They gave us candles and tips to deal with the lack of power. After a few days and a predicted return of power to be FRIDAY 10PM it came back mid-afternoon Friday. So, we have lights, we have cable, we have air conditioning for the record breaking temperature weekend. All is well in Virginia.

The Cabrio has a new serpentine belt (a what?) and we took it to Baltimore last night. Baltimore! We saw a great show- Cyndi’s favorite band, Rilo Kiley. They had a really good (and really fitting) opening band called Thao with the Get Down Stay Down. We got there hours early because I didn’t know it was Saturday because I never know what day it is and was nervous about traffic heading up north. It was the first time I had gotten early to a concert since we used to go in high school. But we got a great spot that I guarded with my intrusive elbows. All was worth it.

Baltimore was pretty cool. It seemed a little sketchy as we were walking around, but there was water and boats and some entertaining nightlife.

I’m out! Off to work! I loooooooooove night shift. Ha.

Thao from Thao with the Get Down Stay Down

June 8th, 2008 - Posted in Uncategorized | | 0 Comments

Do you have an hour to spare?

If you do, or even if you don’t, you should watch this:
Randy Pausch Last Lecture

June 3rd, 2008 - Posted in Uncategorized | | 0 Comments

The owners are coming!

So work has been pretty insane but I’ve been too delirious (from illness) or absent (also from that damn cold) to really notice how absolutely insane it really was. I went in about 45 minutes early this morning and it felt good. I’ve been working the late night shifts for the past few weeks and missed the morning crew. But, as good as it was, it was a day filled with ridiculous chores and frantic managers. I knew the president (located in CA throughout the year) was planning a visit sometime within the next week or so BUT we will also be honored with the presence of the German (German? Really?) owners very soon. So, a lot of today consisted of power washing random things and higher ups looking skittish. I really did have a nice day. It was refreshing to feel good about being at work. Cyndi had a good work day too which is phenomenal because yesterday I caught her taking a career test online. She’s my rock! She needs to reassure me it’s okay to work in the kind of jobs we do. She may become a nurse though while I train to be a firefighter. That might be slightly more rewarding than customer service.

Enough about work? Yeah, I should probably stop. I did WALK HOME from work today which is a good three and a half mile trek with many horrendous hills. It’s taking me less time now that I do it more often. It gives me some hope that I can get on the pathway to regular exercise. I’m hoping to get ready to do a triathlon with my sister in a year. Here’s hoping.

We received the Save the Date! magnet in the mail from my brother and Shay. Cyndi was very impressed and put it directly on the fridge.

Thinking about putting some stories up on here. Thoughts?

June 2nd, 2008 - Posted in Uncategorized | | 1 Comments

Obligatory Preamble

I’m starting this blog because I feel bad for how much Cyndi has to listen to.  Whether it be childhood-like changes in career goals, new obsessions on where to visit or live, how to lose weight, or how to drastically change my life for the better, she has successfully and supportively (what a good sport) tuned in, or at least appeared to, and gave the okay.  But now as the Virginia heat is climbing and her job is getting more hectic I have decided to go the route of the man + machine made outlet.  In this blog (which has always been such a dirty word to me) I hope to at least slightly entertain the select family and friends I let know I’m doing this. You’ll see pictures, links to whatever subject I obsess over at the moment, incites into life in the nation’s capital as someone lacking passion for politics and traffic, and some of the obnoxious “hey listen to me listen to me!” moments that I have every once in a while.

So welcome! And thank you for reading post #1!

I’ll leave you for now and get back to the Discovery channel’s new series, “Alaska Experiment” which will probably make me want to run away to the wilderness (without a camera crew) for a least this afternoon.

June 1st, 2008 - Posted in Uncategorized | | 2 Comments