Monthly Archives: January 2003
You know you gotta put a cover sheet on your TPS reports, Richard! That ain’t new baby!
Welcome to a new installment of the life of Kristy :)The title of the post is a quote from the best commercial from the superbowl: Reebok's, Terry Tate: Office Linebacker. The superbowl was.. the superbowl. I don't really like football all that much, so it wasn't a big deal for me. I ended up doing what I usually do during the superbowl, cooking and stepping into the living room when I hear a loud crowd or when I hear the commercials coming on. Last year, I made a huge batch of meatballs. This year, I made a huge pot of chili, and damn... it was good chili :)
Monday, I started karate again for this semester. This time, I'm in the intermediate class and its much harder. Although, I do enjoy the challenge and I'm able to get out much more aggression with some of the exercises we do. I had almost forgotten how nice everyone is though. Monday I was partnered with the girl in my class who is 5 months pregnant. I think it's kind of cool that she is still in karate, although I don't think that it's a great idea. It was also kind of hard for me to be paired with her, because I couldn't even tap her during the exercise. I guess it was an exercise in control, but still... Either way, if I ever get pregnant (not for quite some time mind you) I hope I'm in good enough shape to even consider being in karate, although I'll probably opt for something a bit less violent, like yoga instead.
My job still rules. I was in the break room the other day and people were talking politics, someone mentioned that "those damn republicans are ruining things for the working man." Man, I got such a good feeling when I heard that. I go from a place where I'm the tree-hugging hippy to a place where people actually have a little compassion. Even though I value having people with different perspectives to discuss, at Sky, it was usually either you agree or you're wrong. It didn't take me long to get that vibe from a few of the folks there, so I started asking questions that would piss em' off and egg em' on. Usually, I ended up getting some conservative opinions yelled at me, called a hippy, or even told that I'm uncultured, uneducated and have no knowledge of history or current events. Meh, it comes with asking those sorts of questions :) There needs to be more conservatives like Tom's friend, GT, who, even though he is extremely conservative, will recognize that people think different, have different opinions, and also have a right to individual opinions. Agree to disagree :) Here, I can have my ACLU button displayed proudly, so bite me :)
I even got a hug yesterday! A few folks were building a report for funders and were unable to get some figures out of excel. Apparently, the person who used to do the reports said such things couldn't be achieved. They gave the report to me, with a little clicking here, some digging in excel help there, 20 minutes later, problem is solved, everyone has their figures, and is also quite happy. So we'll be submitting the most accurate report to funders in quite some time all because I took 20 minutes to check something out, crazy huh. It really feels good to be appreciated.
Tuesday night, Tom and I met up with friends at bdubs to watch the state of the union, because no one in their right mind should be forced to do that sober. Hell, Ted Kennedy even fell asleep :)
I really didn't pay much attention to it. I knew it would be a bunch of mindless dribble anyway and I knew that I probably would get pretty disgusted. Regardless, it was fun to hang out with folks, and in normal fashion, Tom and I ended up taking a very drunk Mark and Kim home, completed with a big sloppy kiss on the cheek from Mark for both Tom and I. Whomever said Mark wasn't a friendly guy was lying :)
Oddly enough, I ended up with Amy M. and her roomate at bdubs again last night for karaoke. Amy was nice enough to buy my drinks, being that I'm kinda hanging on a string until pay day tomorrow. I even ended up getting a martini for free. Oh yeah, the dude at bdubs makes a really good martini :) I sang baby got back, viva los vegas, centerfold, and sin wagon. It was a good time and it was really nice to hang out with Amy again :) I get to go out much more now that I don't have to be at work at the butt crack of dawn. I actually look forward to going to work these days, and if I get sick or something, I can even work from home if I so chose. Once again, My job rules :)
01.30.03 10:33am(5 comments)
While I wait on these critical updates……
So friday was my last day at Sky and it was pretty uneventful. Terri got me some tea and a nice card and Louann brought in some tasty treats. Keep in touch guys! I know somebody's reading my site there :)I also decided not to take Japanese this semester again. It seems as if we're probably not going to go in the spring, so I might as well take the second class closer to the time when we'll actually go. I'll miss my Japanese friends, but not having that class on saturdays kinda frees up my weekends. Originally, Tom and I were going to go visit his sister and see if we could visit Joe sometime during the trip. However, she never got back with Tom to make plans, so that gave Tom and I the chance to spend more time with Joe. Hooray! It ended up snowing too, so driving 4 hours in the snow would've been a serious pain in the ass.
We headed towards columbus saturday afternoon (after 10 loads of laundry and a trip to finally get my hair highlighted / cut). Joe lives in Powell in a cute little apartment in yuppy land. We did a lot of catching up with Joe and also exchanged Christmas presents (he got me a book of Letters to / from kids to / from Einstein, which is really cool, and I got him a candle). We went out to dinner with some of his friends at fridays and had an entertaining evening. The next day, we all got around, had lunch at olive garden and headed towards the easton mall. Joe had a little car issue that we were able to take care of and then we did some shopping. Easton is such a cool little spot, but I'm sure it would've been much more enjoyable in the summer :) Joe had to be in early because he gets up before the crack of dawn to be at work, so we left before dinner time. Tom and I stopped at our favorite chinese restaurant in dublin where we used to eat all the time when Tom was interning. It brought back all kinds of memories and we recounted how much fun we've had together over the time we've been together. It was totally sweet and we talked about it all the way home. Tom is such an incredible guy :)
Monday, I got to sleep in and then we headed to Ann Arbor with Jay. We hit all the usual hot spots, did some shopping and then went to relax in Cafe Felix. I wish we had one of those in BG (you mean cosmos isn't good enough for you? :) ). We did some more shopping and had a bit of coffee later. There was this homeless dude soliciting people and asking them to run him over with their vehicles, so we took that as our cue to leave. Trying to find our way out of Ann Arbor, we ended up by the mall and indulged in more hardcore American consumerism. Jay got some cinnabon and Tom ended up buying me a shirt that says "talk nerdy to me." We headed home shortly after that, but it was hard for me to relax because I was nervous about the new job.
Monday, was most excellent. I headed in to Toledo after 8 because I don't have to be at work until 9. I found a close place to park and headed into the spitzer building. I met up with my new boss who spoke with me for a bit, gave me keys to my new office, and gave me the grand introduction. Fortunately for me, there is a pictorial directory, so I will be able to at least try to remember who I met. After that was over, I explored the network a bit to see what was out there and then they took me to lunch at Eddy B;s, downtown and then to beaners for a capp... and it was FREE! :) It's to have that sort of treatment again. In the afternoon, I got to rip the mobo out of the sql server for repair and then take the new dells out of the boxes (that were waiting dutifully for my arrival). Needless to say, my new job rules. I get to do all kinds of stuff (even some programming after I get these new pc's deployed). I'm going to Findlay on monday and then they're also going to try to send me to Portland, Oregon for a conference in April.
Speaking of which, this windows update deal is taking forever to download.. geesh..
Later on Monday night, Tom and I met up with the gang at BW3z for wing night. Tom had to leave for work, but I stayed and hung out with everyone. I even got a few compliments on my "nerdy" tshirt :) Mays and Pete had this sudden compulsion to go to 2play, but it was closed... so they got ice cream instead (yeah, I was puzzled too). We headed back to bdubs, Tom stopped back after work, had some more wings, and I started buying drinks for Pete. Mark and Kim were already pretty much two sheets to the wind, so I told them that I'd give them a ride home. Lucky me, they both gave me a big smooch before getting out of my car :)
Today I got to go back to my most excellent job and discover the fun that is dell device drivers :) I brought a bunch of personal stuff with me to warm up this office a bit. You could definitely tell there was a guy here before me :) I even have a plant in here. One downfall to this office, is that it's seriously staticky. I need to get one of those wrist straps that I used to tease my old coworkers about. Or, I could just get some dock martins because apprently the rubber soles are good grounds...
Yeah, 7mb out of 27 for the critical update... I think I'll leave it overnight.
So for all of you wondering about my new job... it absolutely rules :)
01.22.03 4:41pm(2 comments)
sky access haiku
hicks with computerscant tell ass from hole in ground
users go to hell
or alternate ending
hicks with computers
cant tell ass from hole in ground
big ass deep dark hole
01.17.03 3:45pm(4 comments)
Quittin’ Day Haiku
My last day at work
The new job starts on tuesday
So long to sky bank!
Free bagels for me
Homemade applesauce cake too
Last day presents rule!
Stupid tellers annoy
Can't even spell "saturday"
They give you money?
Over and over
Resetting passwords all day
Monotony kills
AS400
Novell and Groupwise suck shit
NT skies smiling
New job at Able
more interesting things to come
using my talents again
Play with the server
Code until my heart's content
My new job is cool
I froze at sky bank
I get my own office now
Warmth surrounds me there
Funny helpdesk friends
I hope they read kristyland
Try to keep in touch
Non job related haiku:
Tom gets an I-book
He can sleep on the couch now
Still sleeps with me though
01.17.03 12:51pm(2 comments)
Simple Pleasures
Life is good when:You come home from lunch after a hard morning at work, have a nice warm lunch, and watch an episode of Reading Rainbow. Then you realize that the episode of reading rainbow is about Luan and his magic paintbrush. They tell the story and then talk about Chinese calligraphy... Then.. and here's the best part... they start talking about how they animated the story on these newfangled computer deals :) HIGH TECH!
You go into the local coffee shop were one of your good friends is working. He puts on one of his groovy mixes, like always. This time it's composed of upbeat love tunes from the 60's and you know just about every word to the songs. Then, your very cool dj coffee shop friend gives you the mix!!! (you then listen to it every chance you get and burn off copies to send to relatives for valentines day)
Life sucks when somebody thinks it is necessary to send a bitchy moany email to you about one of your friends... Cry me a fricken' river...
01.14.03 5:27pm(0 comments)
“Seein’ a man come back from the dead can make you forget shit… Or maybe you just a dumbass!”
This weekend was quite a breath of fresh air. I was able to spend some QT with Tom and also got out of the house a bit.
Friday night, Tom and I went to uraku for sushi. Fortunately, we wanted sushi and not anything cooked. Apparently, the chef dude quit, so as to still honor him, they've taken all the cooked stuff off of the menu. While we were there a family walked out because there wasn't anything the kids could eat. I really hope they don't go out of business because of this. Screw honor and custom, if the dude quit, even though he was your pal, replace him and keep your business up. Geesh. I got this 20 dollar plate of sashimi, but wasn't too fond of the eel (too chewy), other than that it was good.
After that, we went home and watched a bit of AI... fucked up movie. It's really unfortunate that speilberg got his greasy hands into it deep enough to completely mess it up. It had potential.
We had made plans to meet up with Jay at grounds for thought and spent a lot of the night talking about various topics. That's one of the cool things about conversations with Jay... he always has something interesting to talk about :)
Saturday was nice and I spent some QT with Tom, who just happens to be the best boyfriend on the planet. Before he woke up, I even got a chance to watch some MST3k on Sci Fi... which is something I haven't been able to do in quite a long time. I don't know if I'll be able to front the funds to take Japanese II (which starts next saturday, 8am) but we'll see. If I cash in my stocks and my 401k from Sky, I should be able to pay off my bill from last semester and take care of the bill for this semester too. I'll work it out somehow.
Saturday night, we spent some time at cosmos with Jay and Harr. Afterwards, we headed to Trotters for drinks and snacks and an interesting topic for conversation... If hollywood were to make a movie out of your life, who would play you and the people in your life?
This got me thinkin....
Me - Some fusion between Janean Garofolo, Drew Barrymore, and Camryn Manheim
Tom - a fusion of Ryan Phillipe and Dennis Leary
Mom - Bette Midler (who else could be a business woman and crazy like my mom at the same time?)
Larry - Sonny Bono (we're including dead actors too)
Gramma - Betty White (cute and cranky)
Grampa - Jack Lemmon
Cassie - Sara Gilbert(Darlene from Rosanne)
Lawrence - Matt Damon
Suzanne - Thora Birch
Joe: Frank Dicarro (Out at the movies from the Daily Show)
Brandon: Dave Attell
Jay: Giovanni Ribisi
Pete: Horatio Sans
Mays: Michael Jay Fox
Clint: Topher Crace (Eric Foreman from that 70's show)
Mike: Danny Masterson (Hyde from 70's show)
Mark: VampHunter D (but no crazy hand dude)
Alot of my friends, I was stumped on, so if you're not listed, I couldn't think of someone to play you. Some of you, like Brian, Nick and GT, I had really good matches, but have since forgotten them.
Sunday, I did nothing... and it was everything I thought it would be :)
Monday was Tommy's first day of school, so he was all excited about that. It sucks that he has 6-9's, but it's nice to have some Kristy time. When he came home though, he had a single long stemmed rose and a bottle of wine for me!!!! How sweet is that!!! Like I said... best... boyfriend... ever....
So I start my new job a week from today, and I'm pretty excited about that. I also have a lease ready to go for Fox Run too. Now... I just need to do some laundry :)
01.14.03 11:35am(1 comment)
The Big News…
Monday I got a call back from ABLE / LSNO in downtown Toledo and they offered me a job as IT Manager :) It was quite a pay raise for me, and from what Brandon said (it was his old job) it is quite a sweet job too. I'm sorta sad to leave the people at the helpdesk, they're all a lot of fun and pretty cool. However, I get to program, build computers and do tech support at ABLE. I'm so excited! Wish me luck :)01.09.03 10:41am(3 comments)
It’s about damn time I posted something…
Woah... It's been before Christmas since I've posted, so I guess I'm about due. I'll pick up where I left off.Delivering presents was kind of cool... Thank god for mapquest because I had no idea where these people lived. I also had a little help from some dude from the United way. I made him take all the presents in perrysburg. Later that night Tom and I had a nice steak dinner and opened christmas presents. He got me a bottle of Pink by VS perfume, The second Lain DVD, and an absolutely gorgeous Pearl / diamond necklace. This sort of thing has some special significance with my sorority similar to when a greek guy "pins" a greek girl. However, when a greek girl is dating an independant, he gives her a pearl instead. Tom remembered this and gave me a pearl, which was incredibly sweet and romantic. I'm not going to go through all of the pomp and circumstance of keeping it a secret and then revealing it to all my sisters at a candle passing, being that I'm an alumna now. But still, it was quite an incredible gift and I hold it very dear to my heart. I got him jeans, pajama pants, slippers and a gamecube paired with super smash brothers melee.
The next day Toms pals (Nick, GT, Jason) and I all piled into the Rav4 to meet up with Brian and Shawn down in Columbus to see Two Towers. It was a lot of fun, because Tom's friends are cool / funny / entertaining, the movie was really good, and we got to eat at Mongolian BBQ (mmmm). Had fun, went home.
Sunday, I flew out to OK... to be with the family... for the holidays...Did some shopping in Tulsa when we got there, had dinner with grampa, went home. Gramma was so excited to see me that she was jumping up and down while I was trying to hug her, it was the cutest thing :) That monday, I did some last minute shopping and also Tulsa was starting to get dumped on. Mom and my stepbrother Lawrence were busy trying to pick up my stepsisters from the airport, finish christmas shopping, and make it home in one piece. We ended up having to push the odyssey up the mountain because the roads were too bad. Everyone's home, but no one can leave... It was a good time. Surprisingly enough though, Mom and I managed to only have one little fight. I had a lot of fun hanging out with her, gramma and my step sisters. Unfortunately though, my step-brother Lawrence and my step-dad Larry (Grumpy Jr. and Grumpy the 3rd) had some sort of mood swing deal going on on Christmas Eve and Christmas. Then after that Mom and Lawrence had some sort of tiff (If I even tried to pull the kind of stuff that he did, I would be *so* grounded.. I can't even believe the things that he did.. anyway). However, when they weren't being grumpy about something or other, it was kind of a pleasant homelife. Oh well, hooray for dysfunction. I built my family a computer and had no problems except with the case, which was truly screwless (even though it would've been nice to have some directions). Saturday before I left, my step-sisters and I went to Tulsa to play DDR and sushi... that was a lot of Fun. I hadn't really spent a lot of time with Suzanne before, so it was quite a joy to get to know her a bit better. She reminds me a lot of myself when I was that age. Kinda cool how that works huh :)
Sample of the Cool Stuff I got for Christmas includes:
-Digital Camera
-Roger's and Hammerstein Box collection
-Money
-Manga
-Bath n Body stuff
-Lead Crystal decanter, glasses, and plate
-Books
-Einstein Calendar
-Yankee Candle stuff
-there's more but I can't remember it all
Sunday, I went home... Ahhh it was good to be home. Tom and his Dad picked me up at the airport and we headed back to his parents place. They had presents for me and cooked me dinner! How cool is that. I got this sweet big rubber ducky for my bathroom (way cool), a Nice shirt with a funky pattern on it (I wore it for new years) and a blue sweater that has a martini glass on it and says "cheers." Very cool :) Tom has a cool family so it was nice to visit with them. We went home... it was so good to be home. Tom was also really happy to see me and I realized how much I missed him.
Went back to work on Monday... yeah.
New Years was awesome. Tom and I went over to Jays house where Jeb, Kristen, Edwards, and Tracy were also. Billy joined us later. Jay laid out quite a spread: marinated spicy olives, apples stuffed with walnuts an blue cheese, breads, salad, braciole, sauteed veggies, cheesecake, and lots of liquor. It was awesome. After an amazing dinner and entertaining conversation, we smoked some cigars and talked... at the appropriate time, we openned up the magnum and watched the ball drop (but no walleye :( ) There is no better time for the lord's work than just after midnight on New Years :) Kristy and Tom's apartment representin' :) And Jay got us a sweet gift cert to Linens and things! Thanks Jay!
I made corned beef and cabbage for New Years day and then later on, Brandon came over, talked a bit and played a bit of super smash brothers melee with us. Brandon was leaving for New Orleans, so I'm glad we got to hang out with him.
His life is *still* a soap opera, but you gotta give the man props for pickin' up a stripper :)
I did some shopping last weekend and used the gift cert from Jay to get a sweet 10 piece set of professional grade stainless steel pots and pans (marked down from 120 to 70, but I was sneaky and got them for 50!). THANKS JAY! I also picked up a food steamer and have been using it quite a bit. Tom and I had steamed salmon, veggies and pasta with red wine sauce. It was excellent. I'm trying this sugar busters diet and exercising a lot, and it seems to be working. Hooray :)
This post is getting kinda long, so I'm going to put the big news in the next post :)
01.09.03 10:38am(0 comments)