Friday, January 30, 2015

Five on Friday #41

UNO

During Christmas, Spotify ran a special for non-members to do a trial session for 99¢ per month for 3 months.  I've loved it.  Best dollar I've spent per month.  I was using Pandora during my runs since it uses less data, but when I'm at home or anywhere with wifi, I use Spotify.  Since I have admin rights on my work laptop, Spotify was easy to add and now it's playing almost all day.  It helps me power through formatting and editing documents that feel way overwhelming.

I'm already dreading the day I resume having only 5 skips per hour and listening to ads.  I'm so cheap.



DOS

I haven't started reading Where'd You Go, Bernadette yet.  In my defense, I HAD to finish Just One Year since I'm only 50ish pages from the end and I need to know if Gayle Forman is a script writer and ends the book the same was as she did Where She Went.  There was that whole platform shift (where I had to convert all my books from Nook to Teh Flamin' Kindle format (yay for Calibre!)), and I didn't go to the gym on Wednesday like I had planned, which meant I missed my reading time and I didn't get to make it up since I was making dinner and setting up my new shiny.

I finished it yesterday at the gym and I'm glad she didn't finish it exactly the same.  I knew what was going to happen at the end since it was the 2nd book, but she didn't do it exactly the same as the first set of books.  Extra points for NOT being like Nick Sparks!

Also, if you see me on GoodReads, please don't judge the fact that I'm "currently reading" 7 books, plskthx.  Yes, this is a semi-accurate statement since 4 of them I started reading and then either lost interest in, am reading extremely slow (Out of Oz), or in the case of Flowers for Algernon, my copy was corrupt about 60% of the way through.  Talk about all.the.rage.  There's actually books that I've started that aren't even listed there (A Farewell to Arms).



TRES

I got my hair cut on Wednesday (thus why I missed my gym/reading time on Wednesday).  I went to the lady who dyed my hair before my Company interview.  It will be the last time I go back to her.  She did a pretty good job on my hair the first time, considering the difficult task of removing the blue, but she was doing my hair and other girl at the same time and one of us was always waiting.  I took her card after that session and said I'd come back for my trim.

First off, if you have a website scheduler.. USE IT PROPERLY.  I went to her website and it looked like she was completely open.  WIN.  Within an hour or so of scheduling my appointment online, I get a text from her saying that she doesn't have that appointment time available but she has random time, random time, random time, and random time.  None of those were really my preference so I asked her if she had anything available that afternoon.  She said she could get me in at 4.  Ok, easy day.

I skipped the gym to head to the salon.  Where I waited for 30 minutes.  Lady, you are not a doctor.  I made an appointment with you because I didn't WANT to wait.  That's the purpose of an APPOINTMENT.  All I required was a trim, I told her she didn't even have to wash it (which of course is complementary).  I'm easy.  Trim it all one length.  No layers, no taper, parted in the middle and then flip it to both sides to make sure its even.  Easy peasy.  It took her 15 minutes and that was only because instead of filling up her spray bottle with water from the beginning she took the time to try to spray my entire head with an empty spray bottle.

I'm over it.  Next.


I only got my hair trimmed and I figured it wasn't really noticeable...  Mr. Scrooge said it was kinda and when I was washing it the next morning I was all, "Where's my hairs?"

QUATRO

I love all the technology bits about Teh Flamin' Kindle.  I do.  But the struggle is real.  I was trying to read Feedly last night and instead of just showing me the posts in the reader, it would take me to the original site.  That kinda defeats the purpose, but whatevs.  Then as I was trying to comment, I would accidentally swipe the screen wrong and the browser screen would disappear and my comment would be lost.  Unlike Suzy2.5, there is no magic button to bring up all the open apps, so I would have to start all over again.  This happened 4 times.  I was ready to flip out and Mr. Scrooge was sitting beside me telling me he could just return it if I didn't like it.



CINCO

Thank Jesus it's Friday because it was so difficult to get out of the bed yesterday morning.  I actually brought home my work computer last night to accomplish some stuff and after reviewing and making the edits to a document, I (thought I) saved it, and closed it.  When I went to email it, it was no where to be found.  Then again, I'm not really good at finding ANYTHING EVER on a Mac, but that's not the point.  I even did a word search and the document didn't appear.  I'm thinking I closed it without saving the changes thinking it was another document I had open.  Le sigh.  Whatevs.  I'm still counting that as an hour worked.


Additionally, at one point, I had my personal computer, my work computer, Suzy 2.5, Teh Flamin' Kindle, and the TV around me.  I could have brought Nook and had a freakin' party.  The number of technology devices was more than the sentient beings.  I definitely need to take that down a level.

It's Friday though.  It's about to go down all the levels!




Happy Friday, Gentle Readers.
Linking up with these ladies since it's FFFFRRRRRRIIIIIIDDDDAAAAYYYY!!!!!!!!!

Wednesday, January 28, 2015

Confessions {1/28}

-I've been having trouble sleeping on nights before I have to go to work because I'm using a Mac and I'm not 100% on all it's functions and in my dream (usually the same one) I can't figure out how to minimize everything at once, which is the final test on how to use the Mac.  I mean if Windows can minimize everything at once, a Mac can definitely do that.  I just don't know how.


-Mr. Scrooge and I washed the cars on Sunday.  I learned made the final decision that we don't make a good team.  This assessment was made after I'd been trying to do my thing and I got "LT-ed" for every move I made.  After 3 times of his micromanagement, I finally slammed the car door, where I had been trying to clean the window of the window, so hard I was afraid I might actually break the window, and screamed at him (while we're standing outside with the neighborhood kids riding/walking by and for all the other neighbors to hear), "FUCK YOU!  Do it your damn self since I can't do it right.  Let me know when you want me to move Yurtle," and stomped inside.  I slammed the garage door for good measure.  No.  I will not be micromanaged when I'm washing MY car.


-The situation above directly correlates to something that a cashier observed as we were checking out at the store last week.  I was wearing my Thing 2 hoodie and he was wearing a Bullwinkle shirt and she observed that we were both missing our cohorts.  Yeah, we're not a good team.  Probably should work on that if we plan to keep this relationship going.......

-I was completely dressed and almost out the door on Monday morning when I realized that I was wearing a knee length dress and had prickly legs.  Teh MD Adult Roomie said that it was ok if I was wearing stockings.  I wasn't.  I went to work anyways.  I sit at a desk all day and I wasn't even worried that the guys I work with were going to notice at our conference calls.  #hairydontcare


-I've claimed the stall furthest from the door as "my" stall when I go to the restroom.  Apparently, it is also someone else's stall and I'm pretty sure I heard her huff when the door was locked and she couldn't get in her stall to do her business.  #newgirldontcare

-I wish gym results were immediate.  Then again, I consider the scale not going up progress at this point.

-1 week till my birfday!!!! Woooo!!!


-I have a friend, Jqubed, who restarted his blog.  One of his topics recently was typography, which is highly interesting to me.  Not just because my job is to be a tech writer, but because I write a lot in general and the science of fonts and formatting, etc is right up my alley.  Anyways, if I could get past the muscle memory of 2 spaces, I'd probably start using 1 space only between periods.  But really, 2 spaces is muscle memory for me and one space indicates the next word, where 2 spaces indicates a period and the start of a new sentence.  I'm obnoxiously set in my ways.


-Mr. Scrooge ordered a new "ready thingy" for my birthday.  He didn't really ask me for specifications, which means that while I only wanted a backlit Kindle (reader only), he ordered the biggest and best Kindle available on the market which means that I have a Kindle Fire HDX 8.9 with all the bells and whistles arriving today.  Despite the fact that it was WAAYYYY too much, I'm afraid I'm going to love it.  I've considered buying a tablet for years, but with my blogging, I prefer a full keyboard.  I'll still have my laptop though.  I'll let you know how (awesome) it is when it arrives in a few days.

-Since I ended up finding out what my bday present was before it showed up (due to an extra email that I didn't anticipate since he bought the protection plan, which said Protection Plan for Your New Kindle), Mr. Scrooge ended up telling me EXACTLY what he had purchased which means that I went case shopping.  Yay shiny toys!


-I finally got to start doing some documentation work on Tuesday and despite some technology difficulties, it's still amazing.

-I might just bring my personal computer into work to do my documentation stuff on since I have no idea when my (Windows OS) work computer is arriving.

-Since my NC insurance company could write policies for SC I had to switch insurance.  I went with Esurance because they called me first after I did an online quote.  Because I wanted the cheapest possible rate, I agreed to put one of those tracker things in my car.  It arrived on Monday but I still haven't put it in yet.  Partially because I have no idea where the port is to put it in, but also because Big Brother much?  I've considered calling and asking how much my premium would go up if I decided against it, but that's really more work than just finding the port and seeing how good someone else says I drive.


-Yesterday, Teh Worldwide Jesus Lover told me some Mac shortcuts and now I know that F11 shows my desktop and that 3 finger swipes up makes all my windows appear.  Now it's just too bad that this keyboard doesn't have "End" and "Home" buttons or the ability to differentiate between delete and backspace (one deletes to the left, one deletes to the right).


-Despite all the vitamin C washes and trying to shampoo my hair as minimally as possible (which is generally once a day if I go to the gym), the green is coming back.  But now, I have the job and I can look like a martian and I don't care anymore.  I'm just going to accept algae tinted hair.  I'm also going to make an appointment with the lady that fixed it the day before my Company interview and have her cut it.  Not that taking off the length will take the top green out, which is where it is most noticeable, but it might take off some of the dead/split stuffs.

Work selfies to show off my new accessories (and my green hair).

-I really like the YoCrunch yogurts with Oreo in them, so when I saw they offered Frosted Flakes and Fruit Loops versions I figured I'd give it a try.  NO.  DO NOT DO IT GENTLE READERS.  Cereal should only be consumed dry or with MILK, NOT yogurt.  It's just.. an abomination to cereal.


-It's 30°F in Charleston right now and since it's not snowing (or even pretending it might), it's too cold for these kinds of weather shenanigans.


-I bought a space heater from Target Monday morning because having cold legs was unbearable.  I understand that wearing dresses means making sacrafices, but when my boss said that he regularaly has cold legs and feet, I knew I wasn't going to make it.  When I went to Target, I knew that my old team was there and I could have stopped by to say hey, but I didn't want them to feel like I was rubbing my new job in their face (what with me being at Target during the middle of the work day) and I really wanted to get back to work so I could leave at a decent hour.  Additionally, because the space heater was on clearance from $29.99 to $20.98, since it was over $20, I got to use the $5 off Target coupon making it half off of the original price.  WIN.

-I bought a rainbow umbrella.  I've been dreaming about this umbrella since I learned that when in uniform you can only carry a black umbrella and I refused to buy a black umbrella so I always just got rained on.  Now my clothes have the potential to be see-through so that is no longer an option.  Umbrella = acquired.


-I got my free birfday drinks from Starbucks, plural because I have 2 rewards cards. #likeaboss  I just can't figure out when to use them.  #firstworldproblems.

-Receving a super huge task with minimal direction and minimal understand (from both myself and the tasker) doesn't make for a good rest of the week.

-I get sad when the linkup isn't already posted by the time I publish my blog (late) on Wednesday morning.  I'm an early bird.  I'm going to be obnoxious when I'm old, I can already tell.


Making Melissa

Sunday, January 25, 2015

Catching up..

Within the last few months, most of the bloggers that I follow have talked about being burnt out and needing a direction or have even gave up blogging entirely.  At the time, I was all toots-magoo because I had all the time (and rage) in the world and I was keeping up with my M/W/F schedule like a boss and I was feeling like I'd posted a linkup too many, but that schedule also helped me tell you about the goings-on in my life, which is the point of this here blog, so it was kinda working for me.  I wasn't feeling like the "blogger sickness" was effecting me...

Then it was Christmas, then it was New Years, then it was CA trip, and now it's my "real life" job.. I just feel so life overwhelmed that stopping and spending some time with Teh Blog is more difficult than I want it to be.

You see, I love this space.  I love how inviting this blank white box is for me to fill in all my thoughts.  Then I get to hit publish (which still gives me a little thrill) and it's out there for other people to see if they want to.  But taking the time to fill that white space.. sooo much effort.


In addition, I had some personal drama that was going on that I'd love to talk about here because this is my rant/venting space, but it's not appropriate to air my dirty laundry on the internet (knowing how many people I personally that know read this).  Is it strange to anyone else that I wouldn't mind airing my dirty laundry to strangers, but mind when it's people that know me?  I find that a little ironic/confusing, but it is what it is.  After some real talk, most of that personal drama went away, thankfully.  Granted, there was an unavoidable catalyst that got it started, but in the end, everyone came out unscathed.  Thank Buddha.

I had planned on doing the Friday link up Friday morning, but instead got distracted doing my taxes instead.  Something about dollas in my bank account was more motivating than bragging to you about how awesome my work is, but don't worry, we'll get to that.

After working 4 days, I'm struggling to get into a schedule.  I'm hoping that next week my schedule starts becoming consistent and my life will be better (aka, going to bed at 7pm is desirable).  I did accomplish some great things this week though, the biggest thing being finally getting my SC plates and finalizing my SC registration.  Le sigh.  Teh Sister kinda lit the fire under my ass when she pointed out my NC plate expired in November and the latest you can get away with an expired tag is 15 days into the following month.  Well.. We were a month past that 15 days.  My bad.  I had been driving around completely oblivious too, but the minute she pointed it out, I became paranoid.  Now, I can drive easy again with my crappy paper plate until the real metal one comes.


Side note: Why are collegiate plates so freakin' expensive?  Ugh.  I just wanna be special, not pay an arm and a leg for a pretty tag.  Whatevs.  In keeping with the theme, I went with the SC NCSU plate, because that's what I've had for my NC plate since I got back from Bahrain and before I graduated college until I left for GTMO.  It's a thing.

Moving on, I started my new "real life" job!  It feels unbelievably surreal.  I have my own desk and my own computer and I wear adorable dresses and there's free drinks and snacks and no one is harassing me to do this month's GMT (general military training) and people are offering to help me find things to make my job easier, even though it's not their job to help me, nor do they even have any idea what I actually do, they are just nice people.  When I told my manager I was probably going to work 7-3, he said ok.  I'm treated like an ADULT.  I'm not treated like I'm less than anyone/ignorant/lacking something/inexperienced because of a stupid collar device on my uniform.  I just.. I don't even have words for how amazing it is.  To say I'm thankful and grateful is an understatement.


I keep thinking back to the first time I saw the job posting and the feeling I got when I was reading the company name and the posting and how it just FELT right.  In a way that seems silly, but it's true.  The name alone hit a nerve with me (in a good way).  Then when I was interviewing and they gave me a tour of the office and the one guy (my now manager) who kept saying WHEN I do things, not IF I get the job and I do things.  Finally, when the company from October called with an offer on the first day of the CA vacation and I didn't feel tempted.  I KNEW I had gotten exactly what I had been praying for.

Did I mention that faith is hard?  Yeah.  It is.
See I talk to God sometimes and after the Friday that Company was supposed to call and tell me if I got the job or not (aka the Thursday night that I had barely slept at all, despite having to work at Target on Friday morning, each time I woke up, I'd say my prayer, "Please God, let me get this job," and go back to sleep for another 30 minutes), I vowed to go to church that Sunday, despite the fact that they didn't call, and I had to contact them.  Not that God works on a bartering system, but sometimes you have to put forth a little extra effort to show God you are serious.  Some people fast, I barter.  Maybe it's the Catholic in me.  "God, I'll say 10 Hail Mary's tonight, so please don't let there be horrible traffic in the morning."  And fasting gives me migraines and hangar and many unpleasant things that no one likes for me to experience.

I got up that Sunday morning and got dressed up cute and headed out the door to the church I'd been wanting to try, only to find out they were having a 10am service.  I had made a deal with The Big Man, so I went to the other church that I'd been to once before.  When I pulled in the (empty) parking lot, I noticed their sign said they were doing a 10am service as well.  At which point, I FELT God let me off the hook.  Instead, I went to Walmart and picked up some items while there was barely any crowd and went back home and spent the day (which was a good day in the midst of lots of bad ones) with Mr. Scrooge.  Sometimes, it's about the effort.  2 days later, I got the call that I got the job.

I've never cried from happiness and relief in my entire life until that day.  I didn't hear the end of the voicemail.  I didn't try to listen to it again before calling my HR lady back.  The weight that came off my shoulders from GETTING this job overwhelmed me.  Now that I'm actually working it.. I'm overwhelmed at how I landed such a sweet gig.  Seriously, it's all I can do not to rave on the Facebooks all day about how awesome my job is.  I considered using my Twitter account just to rave about how awesome my job is since I want to tell people about it practically every second.

Awesome job example:
I took a selfie with the laptop and posted it to FB during a conference call on Thursday with my boss sitting right beside me because we were all in a stupor at how the call was going.


I work with people who have nothing to prove because they are awesome at their job and they don't have to be better than anyone else at doing it because it's THEIR job and ONLY their job.  There's no competing with other people in your office for a check in a box on a piece of paper every year.  Even at my lowest point, I've never regretted leaving the Navy.  This job only further cements that feeling.

I still want to show you my Magnolia Gardens photos (which are mostly still unedited) and I want to tell you about the CA adventure.. but I also wanted to admit that right now I'm teetering on burn out and most of that has to do with the pressure I put on myself to blog.  I mean, I have like 5 whole readers (and one of those is Teh Dad) so it's not the world ending (ok, yes I have more than 5 readers, but I'm workin' the drama llama, go with it) if I don't post all the time.

But at the same time, some of the self-pressure is because writing my Monday post to review my weekend is my way of not forgetting what happened.  My Friday post is to kinda review my week.  Wednesday is confessions, and well, you get what you get with that.  It's a mishmash of rants and occurrences that have happened over the last week.

I constantly have a list of things I'd like to do that rarely seems to get accomplished.  For instance:
-Finish the puzzle that has been on my table since... idk when.  For a few weeks now.  I'm ready to reclaim my space... and find another surface to do puzzles on because using the table is KILLING me.  Done.  And then I started another one.  FML, I have no will power against puzzles.



-I want to go take photos in downtown Charleston on a nice day.  The buildings are old and it's good exercise, if nothing else.
-I want some sunrise photos over the (stinky) marshes.
-I want to play the video games I bought back in October that I STILL haven't played yet because I rarely take the time to play video games and Mr. Scrooge refuses to play my games (for a reason unbeknownst to me)..  I think I did unlock all the levels in Katamari, so I get credit for that.
-Continue our weekend gatherings with our SC homies.  Sometimes it seems like a lot of work, but I really enjoy having everyone over or going to their house.
-Workout (I always have good intentions.  Hopefully having a consistent schedule will help).
-Catch up on my Feedly, which wouldn't be so bad if I would just read my subscriptions every day.
-Catch up Teh Blog on missed events (Magnolia Gardens, CA vacation)
-Catch up Teh Puppies Blog and schedule out posts of all the photos I need to share because my dogs are unbearably adorable.

Getting my SC tag was on that list since November, so having taken care of that (ouch, my poor wallet), that kind of relives some serious pressure (what with the fear of getting pulled over and getting multiple tickets).

My "real life" job is hopefully going to take off next week.  My manager and his cohort have been trying to make sure that I know what my job is supposed to be and helping me get that ball rolling since I'm the only tech writer at Company or at least in our office.  I'm also hoping since it will be a full work week AND Mr. Scrooge and I have meals planned for the week, I'll be able to keep a consistent schedule.  That means, go to work, get off work and hit the gym, come home and make dinner, then veg until bedtime.

I managed to get all my errands done this weekend, which sucked, but it's infinitely better than trying to fit it in after work when I'd rather be at home in pajama pants.  We didn't have our normal gathering which was slightly disappointing, but it meant that Mr. Scrooge and I were able to not do anything all.weekend.long. (other than my errands, which I didn't make him attend).

My goal in the near future is to catch up on all the blog things.  The photo editing, the posts, etc.  I'm not sure how successful I'll be, but I'm at least going to think about it on the regular, which counts for something.

Also, I think I've committed to doing a cyber book club in February.  We're reading Where'd You Go, Bernadette which I've never heard of, but I've been looking for some reading direction and this just happened to fall into my lap.  I read while I'm working out, and my goal is to work out at least 3 times a week, but ideally 5 days a week, which means at least 40+ minutes of reading every day.  ANNNDD I'm a fast reader which means that I go through books fairly quickly, so I'm glad to have some direction.  I finished One More Day while on the flight to CA, and I tried to start The Girl You Left Behind by JoJo Moyes, but I knew that One More Year was also on Nook and I could see if Gayle Forman is a script writer like Nick Sparks AND, more importantly, I would be able to know what happened to Willem.. and after reading all about Paris in One More Day, I wasn't sure I was ready to take on another Paris book with The Girl You Left Behind.


What I've learned over the past few months of reading: I'm a sucker for a good book based in the south.  I think part of it is that I know where these places being described are actually located.  I've never been to Paris or London or anywhere in Europe besides northern Scotland, so it is very difficult for me to completely comprehend the setting descriptions.  Additionally, "southern books" that have the dialect written into it make my brain so unbearably happy.  I'm not sure why, since it usually means when I emerge from my reading I'm speaking with an extreme southern accent, but I do.

The other thing I've learned from all my reading exploits over the last few months is that I'm ready for a new ereader.  I want one that is backlit so I don't have to use a light (likkkkeee when I'm on a plane or in the car) and Nook has been giving me some issues with the buttons (which I have to use while I'm working out for some reason since the screen doesn't like when I touch it) getting stuck, then all of a sudden I'm in the middle of a sweat session and Nook is going crazy just flipping pages.  No, bad Nook.  The rage usually takes me over and I worry that I'm going to fall off the elliptical while trying to reset the stupid thing.  Yay self-birthday present!  If you have any ereader suggestions, I'm all ears, but my only criteria is that it works will with Calibre since I download most of my books and put them into whatever format I need.

Any chance I get to use a Disney gif is a good day.


Finally, I'm still on the quest to find that stupid Today is Going To Be A Great Day! 2015 Page-A-Day Calendar that is marked up so high on Amazon.  I actually messaged 2 sellers and said I'd buy it if they dropped their prices.  So far that hasn't happened yet.  The morning after I messaged the 2 sellers, I saw them posted for $15 and I couldn't believe my luck.  You better believe I ordered that sucker RIGHT THEN.  I kept waiting on the shipping email from Amazon and later that night I got an email from the seller saying it was sold out... I wanted to reach through the computer screen and smack a ho.  I still haven't seen the stupid calendar fall below $40, which I still refuse to pay because its.a.calendar.(and this is a #firstworldproblem to the max).  There's always next year, but that's SUCH a long time to wait.  /weep

But now, I think it is time to get ready for tomorrow and go to bed.  If you made it through this entire post, I commend you.  I know it was quite wordy, but I really needed to have a solid word vomit session.  You're the best, Gentle Readers.

Flowers for no reason.  I'll keep him.

I saved the best for last.
If this isn't the cutest thing you'll see all day, then you're super lucky.

Wednesday, January 21, 2015

Confessions {1/21}

-Overheard on our flight from Houston to Charleston while the (male) steward (with the strong foreign accent) was serving beverages:
Steward: Would you like ice?
Lady behind us: Sure.
Steward: Ok.
Lady behind us: Do they have ice where you are from?
EVERYONE around us turned and looked at the lady and then we all looked at each other like we weren't sure we actually heard what we heard.
Steward: Excuse me?
Lady behind us (louder AND slower): Do they have ice where you are from?
Steward: Where do you think I am from?
Everyone in the vicinity gives each other quizzical looks and tries to let it go.

Turns out, the guy was from Spain, but I had figured by the rainbow pin on his apron that he was definitely from a VERY civilized place... that definitely used ice.  /facepalm


-Unpacking to turn around and repack is challenging and fun at the same time.  Partly because I didn't fully unpack, so I had to remember what I had already packed.

-This was by far the best trip to CA (of the 3) that Mr. Scrooge and I have taken.


-I started a recap post.  I was planning to update it daily.  I got through the first 2 days then we got busy.  I also think that my being all the computer "all the time" (rather than just sitting in front of the tv) was weird for Mr. Scrooge's family.  A few mornings when I would get up before his mom, I'd be on my laptop when she came into the living room and she'd laugh and say, "Of course you are on your computer!"  I finally explained to her that I don't need a tv in my life and it seemed to make a little more sense.


-When I did my security training that my FSO (facility security officer) emailed to me last week, I completed it on Chrome.. which apparently was the wrong browser.  Queue all.the.rage.  I had to do the entire thing over again on a different browser to be able to print out the certificate.  I.hate.government.technology.


-The original company finally called me back and I told them if they could beat my pay with MY company then I'd consider it.  The manager said that wouldn't be case (it would have actually been lower than what I'm getting paid) and actually seemed disappointed.  I told him that if anything changed I'd keep him in mind.  What I really meant was, "If in 2 years I move from Charleston and need a job, I'm calling you so you can tell people in your company at other locations about me."  Climbing that networking ladder, one rung at a time.


-I wanted the Today is Going To Be A Great Day! 2015 Page-A-Day Calendar but it's sold out everywhere except Amazon where it's $40 and I refuse to pay $40 for a calendar.  There was another one posted for $2346.73... for a page-a-day calendar.  WTF?  I messaged both sellers (since they are 3rd party) and said if they were willing to drop the price to $20 including shipping, I'd be willing to purchase it immediately.  That's still steep for a calendar since it's already 2015, but whatevs.  None of the other page-a-day calendar compare to this one.


-Getting to see Teh MD Roomies was everything I wanted it to be.. except for the time limit.  I didn't want that part.  Need more time!!!

-My first day of work was yesterday and it was AMAAAAAAZZZZZIIINNNGGGGG.


-When I got to work this morning there was a MacBook Pro sitting on the table and when my manager told me he was going to get his computer to show me some stuff since the one on the desk wasn't properly configured, I asked, "Who's is this one?"  When he said, "Yours.  Unless you want a Windows OS."  My mouth almost hit the floor.  My own DESK AND my own laptop.  A girl could get spoiled quickly with this type of treatment.


-My first day dress kinda make me look like I belonged on the Enterprise.

Oh yes, that's me with my new mug that Teh MD Roomies got me from DW.

-Choosing a health care plan was easier after my HR manager said, "I don't go to the doctor much and I don't get sick often, so I got this insurance plan and I don't do a healthcare savings since Company puts in money for you."  Thank you for reaffirming my decisions.

-It's strange to me to be in an environment where everyone isn't/wasn't military.  One of the HR ladies I had a conference call with today had no concept of Tricare Prime and actually commented on how awesome it was when I told her that health care options were told to you and the insurance was free.  No, wrong.  Military doctors almost kill you then they give you Vitamin M (motrin) and tell you to go home and drink some water.  Not cool.

-I got all kinds of cool stuff.  A backpack, layanard, a cup, a coaster, stickers, glasses clothes, reusable bag, pens, a notebook, 3 shirts (that I have to order).. Sweet loot if you ask me.  Additionally, the company has amazing benefits.  I hit the jackpot.


-The local HR lady explained that they didn't mind if dogs came to work since the carpet was cheap squares that are easily replaceable.  WINNNNN for Phil coming to work with me.

-Despite how much I've always wanted to have a MacBook Pro, I might have to sacrifice the one I have for something with less of a learning curve.  Now on my home computer, I keep trying to scroll like I'm on the Mac and I forget that I have right click.  When I'm at work I keep trying to right click and I have to go through all the function/alt/control buttons every time to figure out which one pops up the "right click" menu.


-For all the writing/typing I'm going to be doing, I'm going to have to find a good keyboard that is similar to my personal laptop since I'm a pro at typing on this sucker... and it has to be a quiet keyboard because I know how my clackin' can get annoying quickly.

-I took a desk on the far side of the room that was turned so everyone who walked in the space wouldn't see my workstation/crap.  It's not that I have secrets, it's just that I like everyone not seeing what I'm doing.  Each "cell" is actually 4 desks that make a + in the middle.  I'm in the 4th quadrant (that means bottom right).  When my manager told me his picked his desk since he got a view of outside, I just looked at him, looked at his desk, realized you COULD actually see outside and said, "I'm not used to having windows period."


-I brought in all my personal crap for my desk this morning.  It was hard to resist yesterday, but I didn't want to walk in all loaded down with stuff like I owned the place/was moving in.  I had the decency to wait until day 2.  Although I did stake a claim in the fridge with some peppermint mocha..

-For all my coffee lovers, there is free coffee in my building.  Every.single.day.  My HR manager says that she teleworks any day the coffee place isn't open.  All these civilian options are overwhelming me.. Like TELEWORKING!  WHATTTTTTTT??!??!?!  WIN.  Hopefully the majority of my projects won't be classified so I can take advantage of these things.

-This same HR manager said that she tried to put a charter bus into the budget for 2015 so the entire office could ride down to New Orleans (where Company is headquartered) for their Christmas party, which is apparently pretty epic.  It didn't get approved, but I commend her for trying.

-I love Company, even if I haven't started my actual job yet.













Making Melissa

Monday, January 19, 2015

Weekend Review {1/19}

Sooo, I had intended on doing a vacation recap, but we got so busy it just didn't end up happening.  As you will see, it was also a busy weekend, so I haven't had a chance to catch my breath.  Soo we'll see about (eventually) doing a CA review (probably about the same time as that Magnolia Gardens photo review).  I'll will tell you it was a blast though.

FRIDAY

As the first day back from vacation, it was ok.  Mr. Scrooge went to work, much to his dismay, and I got to sleep in for a little bit before getting up and starting the unpacking process.  After everything was removed from the suitcases, I had a change of heart and instead started being motivated in a different way: SC car insurance.  Ugh.

After almost 30 minutes of doing online quotes for every insurance company I know of, Esurance called me within 5 minutes of completing my online quote.  I was so tired of dealing with insurance in general, and they had the lowest online quote rate that I just told the guy we could do it.  So I finally have SC insurance which means that I can now get an SC tag... and THEN I will be completely official SC resident.

After finishing up my insurance stuff, it was time for the gym.  I had to go early since Mr. Scrooge and I were meeting for lunch and I had to go period because when I got home and stepped on the scale, I almost shed tears.  Vacation was extremely generous to my waistline... /sads.  So now that I'm going to have a schedule, I'm super pumped about getting back to the gym on the regular.

I was able to get home and shower before Mr. Scrooge was ready for lunch.  We went to Zaxby's for lunch for possibly the last time.  Ugh.  It was super greasy and the girl who took our order was an idiot.  Our prior experience wasn't much better.  After lunch, I went back home to start the laundry and finish putting away all the stuff I had unpacked and generally be ADD.

When Mr. Mystery got home, we chilled for a little bit before heading out to have dinner with Teh SC House Finder and Teh Architect.  It's restaurant week in Charleston and Friday was my only opportunity to partake of this greatness.  Teh SC House Finder suggested we go to Basil since they had a 3 for $20 option.  It was a Thai place, but I was able to find some delicious non-spicy options.  I had the coconut chicken soup and the pad thai and the coconut custard for dessert.  It was completely worth waiting to eat at dinner until 8:30.

After dinner, we went back to pick up the dogs and all their stuff since Teh SC House Finder and Teh Architect kept the puppies while we were in CA and we headed home.  After a late night, we finally crashed with everyone under one roof again.  Woot.

(For the interesting part of my day (the evening), my phone was left at home, thus, no pictures for this section. /sads)


SATURDAY

Despite wanting to stay in bed and not be productive for a while, Teh Sister informed me that she was scheduling an appointment to go wedding dress shopping since Teh Mom and I were both coming into town at the same time, which meant that I had to get motivated quickly.  Mr. Scrooge helped me pack up the car, which was mostly already packed since I didn't unpack the dog stuff from the night before.  Phil and Meri took the opportunity to wait in the car since the back hatch was open.  Silly puppies.

Phil really loves french fries.

We headed to Fayettenam and might have done some minor speeding in order to make it in time for the appointment.  We were still late, but it wasn't my fault.  WIN.

Teh Sister tried on 5 or 6 dresses and apparently you know you have the one when there are tears?  IDK, there were no tears and she didn't decide on a dress.  She really liked one that she tried on, but not enough to deem that one, THE one.  Teh Mom and I kept trying to do silly things, but the attendant that was helping Teh Sister wasn't really in the mood for our shenanigans.  Additionally, she got double booked and ended up being much more helpful with the other girl than with us.  Whatevs.

I assisted her with a headpiece.

Bird cage veil was a no go... it didn't help that we didn't know how to work the stupid thing.

JUST LIKE her First Communion photos.......
...yep, I'm still bitter I didn't get to have First Communion photos.

TWINS...

When we got home, Teh Mom and Teh Sister went back out to Walmart for some items and I stayed home.  I tried to do my training that I needed to complete by the end of business hours on Friday, but my eyelids were just too heavy.  I just closed the computer and went and laid down for a while.

Teh Sister scared the crap out of me when she came home and shortly after Mr. Scrooge called so it was definitely wake up time.  Mr. Scrooge chatted with me while he made dinner and I woke up.  At the same time, our dinners were ready.

After dinner, we played some Cards Against Humanity while Teh Mom wrapped Christmas presents.  This is the first year I've ever had "late Christmas" and I think I like it.  Not only does it mean you get to shop after Christmas sales, you get to tell people what you didn't get for Christmas and maybe they'll get it for you!

Phil was interested in the food we didn't have on the table... or he wanted us to deal him in, I'm not sure which.

Eventually, it was late and bedtime.  YAY

SUNDAY

I was super ready to sleep in on Sunday morning, but Meri had other plans.  After feeding them, Phil settled back down for after-breakfast-naps, but Meri was way too enchanted by the leaves moving outside because the rain and the possibility of squirrels and birds to chase kept her staring out the patio door for 2 hours after she had breakfast.  She came and snuggled with me for a few minutes, but she quickly decided peering behind the blanket covering the patio doors was way more interesting.


I finally fell back asleep and Teh Sister woke me up with spam text messages.  13 spam messages to be exact.  I finally yelled at her to stop wasting my data and she pointed out that text messages don't count towards data.  Le sigh.  Eventually, we got up and it was time to open presents!

I got some pretty sweet loot, to include a humidifier, a handmade blanket, another scarf, another handmade blanket, a Charlie Brown pancake/waffle maker, and some flower bulbs to plant (hahaha).  After 3 different Christmas sessions, it was an amazing Christmas.


For breakfast, Teh Sister and I tested out our waffle makers, at the same time, so we could eat quicker.  After breakfast, Teh Utah Specialist played video games while Teh Mom, Teh Sister, and I chatted.  Eventually, Teh Mom left and Teh Sister and I headed out to do some returns of some Christmas items.


After stops at Macy's, Kohl's, and Target, it was well after Teh Puppies dinner time and we were getting hangry and we headed home.  We made frozen pizza for dinner since Teh Utah Specialist had friends over.

Then I started the process of trying to lift the blue from my hair with a vitamin C scrub thingy.  Le siiiigh.  After 1 hour of sitting it with vitamin C and clarifying shampoo on my head, I rinsed it off watched a little bit of blue tint go down the drain and repeated the process.  Another hour later, I rinsed off a bit more blue and conditioned it.  After sitting with the conditioner for about 20 minutes, I rinsed again and semi-dried it to devastating results.  My hair still looks like it has a green tint.... Hopefully in the daylight it won't be as bright green as it was before, buttttt we'll see.  It was pretty rough today under the florescent lights because it kinda looked like my hair was growing green mold it was glowing green.

Round 1.

My ghetto shower cap since Target didn't have ANY shower caps.

Round 2.

Teh Sister was putting on my "shower cap" and she was also using it as a blindfold.

What no one told me about dying my hair blue: It will stick.  ESPECIALLY if you go bleached blonde then apply the blue.  So much so, that it's almost impossible to cover and you might ruin your hair trying to lift it out...  But whatever, I loved that blue.  It was awesome and pretty and I'd almost do it again if it wasn't such a pain in the ass to cover up when I need to be "professional."  /tear.

At way too late, it was finally bedtime.  The hair situation didn't really improve much, despite the attempts to lift out the color.  I'm going to see what it looks like in the daylight when we go out today to see what our next step will be.  Probably to bleach all the color out and redye it, which seems to really be the only choice I can see, despite how much it might damage my hair.  I feel like trying to lift it out with different hair dyes or cover it with other crap isn't going to be much better than bleaching it, redying it, and being done with the entire process.  But moving on to more important things...

Today holds GETTING TO SEE TEH MD ROOMIES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  YYYYYYAAAYYYY!!!!!!! and more hair experimentation and picking up my ID from Macy's because the cashier didn't return it to me, le siiiiiigh, and driving back home, and getting to snuggle with Mr. Scrooge (which I missed and not just because he's soooo warm when we get in bed (I'm never as warm, despite how much clothes I wear to bed)).


PS.  I missed you.

PPS.  This is Meri and Phil accurately portraying how much I care about football/sports in general.  It's so accurate I couldn't have done it better myself.




Linking up with these ladies:
Weekend Recap w/ Bella and the City | Weekending w/ B Loved Boston