You will always be my neighbor…

"I've always wanted to have a neighbor just like you. I've always wanted to live in a neighborhood with you.

So, let's make the most of this beautiful day. Since we're together we might as well say:

Would you be mine?

Could you be mine?

Won't you be my neighbor?"

In Memoriam

Fred Rogers

(1928 - 2003)

02.27.03 9:29am(2 comments)

Things are going great, and they’re only gettin’ better

Craziness for me lately...

Let's see here... I've:

-Blown out my knee in Karate class, went to the dr. and was referred to an orthopedic surgeon

-Got some training by the dude who used to have my job.

-Worked all this weekend rebuilding a sql server, moving the DB's and trying to get it all to work

-Put a lot of miles on my car going to Defiance, Fremont, Sandusky, Lima, Dayton, and Springfield

-Basically, working my ass off, but man.. it feels good.

-Lost 5 pounds :)

-Got really drunk at the Elm Street house

-Made it all the way back from Toledo in the worst of the storm, when going 30mph on I-75 could've been considered speeding.

But yeah, I've been crazy busy and am also tired. However, tonight is Jay's most excellent part-tay, so I'm incredibly excited.... but maybe I'll take a nap first :)

02.24.03 7:21pm(3 comments)

Down with Sky Bank, Up with my new life!

So last friday Sky Bank decided to shove it's final daggar into my back, just for good measure. Really, it was more the HR person than anyone else, but really, what happened to me was pretty shitty regardless of who did it. Here's the story:

During my exit interview, the HR chick and I were talking about my final paycheck. She said to me that my paychecks were offset and that I would be getting paid for 3 full weeks of pay, plus acrued vacation time. That didn't seem right to me so I explained to her how I thought that I was paid for the time that I earned bimonthly(like on the 15th I was paid for the 1-15) and then any extra time was put on the paycheck. She told me that I was wrong, and I asked her if she was sure. Yeah.. she was sure. I even called her later to double check... Oh yeah Kristy, you're getting a full paycheck. Ok, HR lady. Friday rolls around and I get about 1/4 of what I'm expecting. Come to find out that HR lady didn't know what she was talking about, but led me to believe something that I initially didn't think was true. I freaked out friday morning because I had bills to pay, and I couldn't do that on 1/4 of my expected paycheck. I couldn't get a hold of the HR lady either, big shock there. I ended up calling payroll and they explained to me what was going on. The HR lady called me back like nothing was wrong and I mentioned to her that she told me to expect a full paycheck. She then said "Yeah, I did tell you that and that was my fault, but you were told during orientation how your payschedule would be, so you should've known that." I told her to make sure to double check so other people didn't go through the same thing I did. Im too good natured to say what I should've said. Now, if she is the HR chick, and can't keep it straight, how the hell am *I* supposed to keep it straight.... especially after I was right in the first place and then she corrected me and told me I was wrong! Anyway, good riddance to that sort of bullshit. Irregardless, I'm ass poor right now. Like can't afford groceries, can barely afford gas to get to work poor. Fortunately for me, My mom helped me out and was able to pay my rent and then I was able to pay the other important bills with the tiny paycheck that I received. Tom is poor too, since he's just now transitioning back into work at school and doesnt have much money. Fortunately for us, we've got cool friends that understand our financial situation and hang out with us anyway.

Friday night, we went to see "Bowling for Columbine" with Jay and a few others. I was able to pass for a student at the cla-zel and since Tom is a student, we were able to get in for the 3.75 a piece rate. What an excellent movie. In typical Michael Moore style, there were a few moments where he went overboard, but other than that, it was brilliant. Go see it, even if you're not a "tree-hugging hippy" like me. After that, we hung out with Jay for a bit at cosmos while he closed and then headed towards waffle house. Had some cheap food, listen to the jukebox, and chatted with Jay (who must've taken pity on Tom and I and payed for our meal. Jay you rule! Thanks!).

Saturday, Tom had a lot of work to do, and I didn't really want to sit around the house and mope all day, so we went to cosmos to visit Jay and get some work done. Tom finished all his grading and I am almost done with Tom's hat. All I need are some double pointed needles to finish, but probably won't be able to buy them until the next paycheck. We spent most of the day at cosmos and the rest of the weekend in. Saturday night we watched Swingers, which puts a smile on anyone's face :) Sunday, I conned TOm into finally helping me with the kyokushin website. It looks pretty sweet, so I'm glad to be working on it again.

Sometime last week, I got a chance to talk to my lil' who has recently become engaged to this guy who was her best friend for 15 some odd years. Congratulations to her! She deserves a good man that treats her right.. and if he doesn't, he'll have me to reckon with :) It was good to talk and catch up with her. It gave me some piece of mind to see that she was in a good place in her life to start settling down, she had her fun and then she found a good one. The last thing I wanted to see was another one of my sorority sisters be terribly miserable because they jumped into marriage during or shortly after college, especially my lil'. Girls, there's nothing wrong with living life a little and in this day and age, there is certainly no rush or need to get hitched. Then again, marriage isn't quite the institution to me that it is to so many others, but that's a conversation for another post.

Sunday night, I suited up and headed to karate class for another night of ass kickin' fun. I was the only girl in karate on sunday and there happened to be an odd number of folks. When it came time for everyone to pair up for exercises, I got paired with the sensei. I don't know if it's because I'm a girl and their afraid to hurt me, or touch my boobs during an exercise, or if it's because I suck, or I'm to shy to make friends in karate class, but regardless, when the numbers are odd, I'm usually the odd man out. Getting paired with the sensei is a double edged sword... I really learn a lot and he helps me out a lot during my part of the exercise, but when it comes his turn to do the exercise, I get my ass kicked. I was so sore on Monday, but went right back to class. This time there were an even number of folks, but even so, I tore up my shins so badly I could barely walk the next day. Surprisingly enough, on Wednesday, I was watching the screen savers interview William Gibson and Stan Lee and ended up falling asleep on the couch and missing class. Maybe I'm getting old.

Speaking of which, I headed over to the sorority house to volunteer my help as a possible advisor or help with the webpage. I emailed the chapter advisor, she hasnt gotten back to me yet. Regardless, it was nice to hang out with the girls again. I'm going to go back tonight and try to offer my services one more time, but if I don't hear anything, then oh well. I could be spending my time elsewhere I guess. Funny how things have changed so much there.

Last night, Tom and I hung out at cosmos and played some simpsons trivia with Jay and Justin. It's so nice to have a place to go where you can just chill... Like my "cheers" or "central perk." If I had to stay in my dirty apartment all the time, I'd go postal. Hanging out at the university doesn't quite do it for me either and I'm too poor to go to other establishments. Cosmos coffee is cheap :-D Last night they had my favorite blueberry coffee and I had about 6 cups of it. Needless to say, I couldn't get to bed until about 2, so I'm exhausted today. Tommy had to deal with me last night *and* this morning too. What an amazing guy :) I have the best boyfriend ever :)

Work is keeping me busy though. I was feeling rather smug today when I had 3 vnc sessions going and was installing programs on 3 computers at a time. Now if only I could find the key disk to the NEC phone system program, I'd be in business. I'm learning so much here and I feel like I get so much accomplished. I'm doing something worthwhile with my time and people appreciate it. Yesterday morning they had the monthly "coffee and conversation." It was great, everyone came down and drank coffee and talked! You don't see that much in the workplace these days, but it was quite refreshing. Another new hire and I were discussing how layed back it was here and how we're so used to telling people when we go to the bathroom or get a soda. Did I mention I adore my new job? Well, if not, I adore my new job :)

Okay, I'm done typing now.

02.06.03 4:40pm(9 comments)