Monthly Archives: December 2004
If you needed another reason not to be in Toledo…
A warzone in downtown Toledo
12.29.04 1:46pm(2 comments)
We interrupt this blog for a very special announcement
Okay, so I never did get around to talking about the trip to Joe's last saturday, the trip to OK, and the current holiday events... I'll get to that later. However, I would like to take this time to wish everyone in kristyland (and every where else too) a very Happy Holidays. May all of you find yourselves in warm homes with loving company and feasts of food. Make sure to reflect on the year, be thankful for all that you've accomplished, and learn from all of your mistakes. Don't forget about those less fortunate than you and appreciate all that you have. Tell your loved ones how much you love them and have an extra glass of eggnog / mulled wine / hot buttered rum / scotch straight up / or whichever of your preferred alcoholic beverage of the holidays for me. See you soon ;)over and out.
12.24.04 5:39pm(0 comments)
Tell me Sir, what am I going to do, Somehow I’ve got to buy her these Christmas shoes
Continuing the saga...I had an awesome weekend...
Friday, Tom and I carpooled to work, so we could take off from Toledo post work and head up to Ann Arbor. Although it was busy, and ass cold, we were able to find a decent parking spot in the garage where we always park. We braved the cold to make it to the Blue Nile, an ethiopian restaraunt. I completely realize that some people don't like food that isn't anything like what they're used to, but man, I am addicted to foreign food. Don't ask me where I picked up a taste for the stuff, but the wierder, spicier, and more foreign, the better. Bring on the wacky bites! So we're at this ethiopian restaraunt, eating off of a platter in a basket, with no flatware or plates, using bread to scoop up hunks of meat and goo. Although it probably sound too appetizing, it was incredibly tasty. We finished our wine, bread and goo dinner with a nice lemon sorbet for which the waitress was nice enough to give us some spoons to eat.
After some hot towels to clean our hands, out in the cold we went, but were much warmer than we previously were. We did some shopping at Urban Outfitters, got some xmas gifts, and finally bought a set of the 'kitchen in a box' plates that Tom and I had been looking at for almost a year now. They're very slick plates, if I do say so myself, a pretty turquoise, like a bit darker than the kristyland background, on the inside of the plate that's ever so slightly curved with white on the outside. They were on sale for the same price as some dishes we had been eyeing at meijer, so we went for the cool discounted plates. w00h00! I got a few books from borders for presents (one of which I'm going to read before I give away, shhhh) . We loaded the car with the goodies and then headed for the Michigan theater to see Kinsey.
We were in line promptly at 9pm so that we could be sure to get tickets for the 9:30 showing. Fortunately we were some of the first folks in the theater, which ended up selling out. I read a little bit of that book that I'm going to give away for xmas and eventually the movie started. Being so excited about a movie can be a dangerous thing; getting one's hopes up to be let down. Fortunately for me (and for Tom, since he not only had to pay for and watch the movie, but also listen to me talk about it), the movie was much more than I had expected. That's one for the dvd's to purchase list. How could you go wrong with a movie about the first sex researcher? Hell, I don't even like Liam Nieson too much either, but he was great as Kinsey.
By the time we got out of the movie, it was pretty late, so we headed home. If anyone is game for going to see Kinsey, let me know. I'd love to see it again, and I'm always up for an Ann Arbor run.
As always, Thank you Tommy for such a wonderful evening :) What a perfect dinner / movie date!
12.20.04 3:36pm(2 comments)
Sir, I want to buy these shoes for my Mama, please.
Ahh the holidays...Tuesday was the office christmas party. In days past ABLE had done some formal evening event, and last year even opted for a family event. This year, it was all staff, and during the day, thankfully (because there's nothing more annoying than hanging out with people from work who you already think are incredibly annoying, only to be trumped by their hellatious children running all over the place while they, the parents, oblivious, are hanging around just annoying other coworkers). So we're all at the girl scout camp in Lima, and I'm helping to get the projector to work with an ancient VCR that the motivational speaker had brought with her. After finding a solution around a "select spanish or english" issue without a remote, I finally get the projector hooked up and can't get any sound... son of a.. So we settled on hooking it up to a much smaller TV, but it worked, so I can't complain. For all my efforts, the motivational speaker gave me some mad props at the beginning of her speech and called me a technology goddess. Which, well, I am, but it's always good to hear it come from someone else :)
So she went on with her speech, and we got to some of the group activities, one of which was to go around and tell everyone how much you appreciated them. Wow... I don't think I was prepared for the response to that one or how I would feel sharing my appreciation. Bordering on verklempt, I was able to get myself under control just in time to avoid being swept away by the video of brute force optimism by this guy. Holy crap dude. Come off of cloud nine for a second, lay off the psychotropics, and stop making videos. Now, I understand that everyone, including me, loves a little "hey you too can be optimistic in every aspect of your life" promotional video every now and then. However, if this guy were just discussing with friends the things he had been saying in his video, everyone would think he was on something. Forgive my sobriety, but damn... this much optimism gives me the heebie jeebies.
Moving on, we all depart the girl scout camp lodge and head to the bowling alley, Westgate lanes. I remember this place fondly because my grandma Hanly used to take me there when she would bowl in a league. When we went, there were a bunch of little old ladies bowling too, but I doubt that she was there; the woman's gotta be in her 90's if she's still alive. Anyway, we have a bit of lunch and start bowling. My right wrist starts to get tired after awhile, so for the second game, I bowled with my left hand. I got an 80 the first game and a 60 the second, but I still didn't have the lowest score. No one I had been playing with had seen the big lebowski, so my references fell on unknowing ears, but I had fun anyway.
Umm.. I think I'm going to break up this submission into chunks, or it's going to be a long one. That, and I'm on the phone with my insurance company and wood county hospital getting this carpal tunnel surgery bill paid off. I file a worker's comp claim, it get's denied, but the insurance company won't pay because it can be covered by workers comp... and then wood county hospital has a bit of a communications issue... All in all it's driving me nuts... so I'm going to go deal with that now.
12.20.04 9:39am(0 comments)
Okay, I’ll take it…
Although I've never thought myself to be all that great with 'dem wurds' this online quiz tells me that I am.... So it must be true.Your Dominant Intelligence is Linguistic Intelligence |
You are excellent with words and language. You explain yourself well. An elegant speaker, you can converse well with anyone on the fly. You are also good at remembering information and convicing someone of your point of view. A master of creative phrasing and unique words, you enjoy expanding your vocabulary. You would make a fantastic poet, journalist, writer, teacher, lawyer, politician, or translator. |
12.17.04 7:28am(1 comment)
Does the thought count if you’re told what to give?
I'm a little cranky. I admit it... I've got a little of that jolt of road rage that reckless drivers tend to give you. I was driven off the road this morning, and on the way home, I tried to pass someone, but they sped up at the last minute and I almost hit them. How karmic of them. Here's to moving to a city where I can rely on public transpaortation... Cheers...In other news: I am almost done with my christmas shopping, but am way far behind with my christmas crafting. I might not be able to get it all finished by the deadline, so I may resort to buying some presents, which I didn't want to do. Fortunately, with the help of the following sites, I'll have no problem making sure my money goes to businesses that support Democratic causes:
This christmas, please make sure to patronize those businesses that support democratic causes.
After all, Jesus was a socialist...
12.15.04 6:04pm(5 comments)
Called careers information, Have you got yourself an occupation?
Yesterday was kind of a crazy day...1.) I had to fight with my former boss about how we should pay for training for people on Adobe Acrobat. His argument was that the folks listed for training would never use acrobat. After reminding him that it was his idea to put one (very expensive, mind you)copy of the software in every office and with these people on the list in particular, he arrived at the conclusion that he had way to many other, more important battles to fight and that he would just agree on this issue.
2) My current boss told me, a few times, "You have no clue" referring to the "art and science" of office politics and persuasion...
3) I told my former, and then my current, bosses about how I applied to a legal services organization in Chicago.
4) My former boss went on about how he would hate to see me go, but would love to see me get into one of the biggest and best legal services programs in the country, and how it is closely tied to Kent law school, who wants to become *the* place for legal tech in the country. He said, "there goes my Christmas." I said, "When it comes to guilt trips, Ed, you ain't got nothing on my family."
5) By telling my former boss about the job application elsewhere, I had to tell the current boss about it too. Tying my potential evacuation into the need to hire my intern Will, I think that Paul's claim about my having no clue is now null and void. And here's where my day turned for the worse...
Paul: There are some job openings that I believe you would be interested in.
Kristy: Oh really?
Paul: A few of them are located in Afghanistan and even more are located in Iraq.
Kristy: I assume you're talking about joining the military?
Paul: Yes, of course
Kristy: Yeah, I'm not into that whole killing people thing.
Now, it's one thing to joke about joining the military during peacetime... But joining the military now to become a bullet sponge for the bush regime is pretty much a death wish. For someone like Paul, who is a Vietnam vet of the swift boat persuasion, to joke about it with someone like me, commie pinko make love not war liberal me... is insulting. Downright insulting.
I wonder what "Quaker and therefore pacifist" former boss and "Conscientious Objector During Vietnam" executive director would think about that comment.... All I gotta say is that Paul is damn lucky that I didn't give Mom his name and number when I told her what he said to me. Perhaps my mom isn't as pro war as she says she is...
In usual fashion, my Blonde knight in green button down and tie came to rescue me and whisked me away to a romantic dinner at Diva, a fancy shmancy, it's Wednesday but we're going to ask if you have reservations, upscale, place that happens to be right across the street from where I work. It was incredible. I haven't had a meal like that in a long time (thanksgiving doesn't count, because it tastes different when you've cooked it, not when someone's cooked for you). I had shitake beef soup, pan-seared sea scallops with plum fondue and a shitake risotto with steamed asparagus. Tom had the tomato bisque with grilled Ahi tuna, orzo, fennel and beets. We both had tanq 10 martinis (Waiter: "Oh, did you mean Tanqueray 10? Yes? I thought you said "tank") a glass of chardonnay and split the most incredible blueberry cheesecake that I have tasted in my entire life. Best cheesecake, evAr... After that, Tom and I went home a little red-cheeked and drowsy from the decadent meal. It was your average night after that...
But, I had some problems sleeping... It's hard for me to stomach that my boss has some sort of death wish for me. Join the military... hrmph.. Fuck you.
12.09.04 2:42pm(9 comments)
When you’re wondering what planet I’m from…
You Are From Mercury |
You are talkative, clever, and knowledgeable - and it shows. You probably never leave home without your cell phone! You're witty, expressive, and aware of everything going on around you. You love learning, playing, and taking in all of what life has to offer. Be careful not to talk your friends' ears off, and temper your need to know everything. |
12.09.04 12:24pm(0 comments)
funny fark headline
I'm a regular reader of fark and I tell you, they have some of the funniest headlines. Like this one:Amputees hit the slopes, mostly with their faces and rear ends
12.08.04 8:17am(3 comments)