Sweet, some random person(s) left a TON of Oreos in the breakroom. They left a large assortment—chocolate filling, mint filling, double stuf, chocolate covered, etc. You name it, that Oreo was there.

I LOVE Double Stuf Oreos! I find them far superior to normal ones—the filling is a more solid consistency and tastes better, IMHO.

I took 4. I really wanted to take more, but the day is still young, and I didn’t want to seem, you know, greedy.

Posted at 10:56 AM | (3)

Brrr, it is super cold. Winter is definitely approaching, and bringing with it the “I-can-see-my-breath-almost-freezing-in-midair” kind of cold.

Of course, blasting Christmas tunes in my car while driving with the heat all the way up is the perfect way to counter-act this. The only thing that would make it more perfect would be if I had gotten the heated seat option in my Jetta. Ah well, we can’t have it all.

Living in Southern California, you might think I’m being a bit overdramatic. After all, we don’t refer to things like “wind chill factor” in everyday conversation, nor do we need chains, snow tires, snow scrapers, etc. But I’m going to complain anyway! I mean, it’s getting down into the 30’s at night! That means that IT COULD SNOW HERE! Today we’re expected to have a high of 59 and a low of 35. That is quite cold to me, what with the little natural insulation that I possess. To illustrate the coldness, all the mountains in the LA area were snow-capped over the weekend. Looks very cool (literally! HA HA!).

Anyway, it also makes me wish that my new studio weren’t over 100 years old and actually had central heating. It is COLD in there in the morning, OH MY GOD. I wound up wearing SHOES with SOCKS just because my feet were so cold walking around in the morning while getting ready.

Is it Spring yet???

Posted at 10:30 AM | (11)

I must be getting more domesticated in my old age—especially since moving into my very own living space. Since my old residence was actually occupied by the woman who rented the rooms out, all of the furnishings and kitchen items like pots, pans, dishes, utensils, etc. were hers.

Now that I am in my studio that came completely unfurnished, I am having to procure items that I had no need of before. Of course, my mom is awesome and gave me a bunch of her old dishes and utensils, as well as bought me some new pots and pans.

Anyway, I’m wondering what it means that for Christmas I’m considering asking for a brownie pan! My mom just bought me a cookie sheet, and I found myself thinking “Hmm, it would be really nice to also have a brownie pan. I could make brownies for the office holiday party.” Of course, I could make brownies at other times too, if that is incentive enough for someone to buy one for me!

My goodness, what is becoming of me!? Next thing you know I’ll be asking for something entirely devoid of function and purely decorative such as throw pillows.

Posted at 11:43 PM | (1)

Happy Turkey Day to all my American readers! Hope you all had a nice dinner with your friends and/or families.

I just got back from my large family gathering, where I had tons of turkey, mashed potatoes, fruit salad, and pumpkin pie!

To add a bit of interest to our food, it turns out that the ham we ate was actually purchased by my cousin. As in, her family went to an auction, bid on the pig they wanted, and it was then butchered to order. I didn’t actually wind up eating any of the ham, but the white meat of the turkey was quite tasty this year.

Anyway, now that Thanksgiving is over, you all know what this means. The holiday shopping season has officially begun. Ugh….I have NO idea what to get anyone this year.

Has anyone paid attention to commercials lately? If so, you may have noticed that there are some really bizarre kids toy advertisements out there.

The first one I noticed was for various preschool-age educational toys with a Care Bears theme. Exaggerated in a surreal Ovaltine commercial sort of way, the little kids play with the toys, saying things like “HOORAY FOR ME!” and “Shake it Wish Bear!”, cuz, you know, Wish Bear likes to get his groove on.

Is it just me or is there something odd about a 7 year old white girl whispering this line of encouragement to a fake bear that dances when you push some buttons? I mean, at least if she did it with some attitude I could understand, but she says it like it was totally normal.

Topping the toy oddities are the other Care Bear products, that include talking aerobics instructor Bears that move and motivate kids to work out, as well as the Hokey Pokey Elmo.

What ever happened to the simple, non-moving, plush animals and plastic toys of yore? And, how is it fair that kick-ass franchises like Care Bears, Strawberry Shortcake, My Little Pony, and the like have seen a major comeback and are being enjoyed by kids who don’t even know that there used to be a cartoon show?!

Thank God I’m not a kid anymore…..or else I’d probably TOTALLY want these toys!

Posted at 8:40 AM | (2)

So as I mentioned, I got my internet hooked up yesterday, but didn’t have time to actually set it up until I got home from work.

I hadn’t turned my computer on since moving, and when I did, the first thing I noticed was that it refused to acknowledge that I had an ethernet card. Ok, that’s not good. After trying to mess with software aspects and rebooting a bunch, I decided to pull the card out and stick it back in. Well, that apparently worked, since it showed up when I turned the computer back on.

So then after just trying to plug in the new modem, I had to give in and let the install CD configure it—I then had internet, yay! BUT, I want to use my wireless router so that I can use my laptop, so I tried to just plug in my router. It refuses to acknowledge when I plug the modem into the router, and if I’ve already tried to configure it, it makes the modem stop working unless I run the configuration CD again! Grr, it’s a bit frustrating, and I guess I’ll get to play around with it again. Hopefully I won’t have to go out and buy a new router.

I didn’t have any trouble the first time I set all this up, so why does it hate me now??

Well this weekend my family came up to bring furniture and do some heavy duty moving. My mom, as previously mentioned, actually came up on Friday to start setting up the home-like touches like putting up curtains and blinds, hanging pictures, etc. She rocks, by the way, for buying me so much new stuff and putting it all up and stuff. :)

My sister (conveniently?) broke her finger or something the night before coming up, so she got out of lifting heavy stuff. I did what I could, but for the most part, Steve and my Dad moved the heavy items.

Unfortunately, the furniture didn’t really fit the way we envisioned—as a result, the edge of the desk is right up next to my bed, and I don’t have room for my computer chair, so I will just have to sit on my bed to type.

All the big items are in place though, and I put away all my clothes. Now all that is left is finding a place for all the crap that I dumped into boxes. Once that’s all done, it will probably be a bit weird to have it all final that I have my own place—I don’t have to worry about someone hogging the kitchen or bathroom when I want to use it!

And this morning I took care of my biggest priority—getting the TV and Internet hooked up! :) I did the cheaper option where they just run the wires for you (all stapled nice and neatly along the walls where I can’t trip on them) so the computer isn’t totally hooked up yet, but I was late for work as it was. I just got in at 10:30am today!

Anyway, now I’ll have TV and Internet available to keep me procrastinating whenever I feel an urge to unpack…hooray!

Posted at 10:55 AM | (6)

I let my mom into my new place during my lunch break, so that she could get started on making it “homey” or something.

Despite giving my mom the dimensions of the living space in my new studio, and repeatedly stating that it is quite small and not at all suitable for entertaining large parties (or more than one or two people at a time, really!), she still exclaimed “Wow” when she walked in and saw exactly what she was dealing with.

NOW is it time to freak out??

Posted at 1:49 PM | (2)

Last night as I was about to go to bed, I accidentally let a large fly into my room (although, does anyone ever INTENTIONALLY do this?!). It was zipping around, crashing into my mirror repeatedly, but generally refusing to go back out the door.

When it finally landed on the mirror, I hit it with a shoe, causing it to fall to the ground. If you know me, you’ll know how grossed out I am by killing any creature large enough to make a crunching sound, feel squishing, or leave a mess behind. Therefore I just kind of whacked it again with the shoe, to make sure it was dead. It fell into the track of my sliding closet door, so I just shut the door on top of it for the night, and figured that was that.

It wasn’t there this morning….

I have no idea where it went…I can’t see/hear it now, but it’s definitely not where I left it. The body just got up and walked/flew away.

I really hate flies!

Posted at 5:12 PM | (6)

This week has been dubbed “Blurker Amnesty Week”. In case you didn’t know, a blurker is a blog lurker—someone who reads blogs but doesn’t leave comments. So if you’re a blurker on my blog, or even if you’re not, leave a comment and say hello! I’m pretty sure I’ve got at least a few blurkers, so why not introduce yourself? I won’t bite, I promise! :)

Posted at 10:31 AM | (6)

Melany’s wedding went pretty well, and she looked quite lovely and happy. On Saturday my grandma also made me a wonderful birthday dinner comprised of breaded turkey, fried potatoes, and rolls (ok, so not super healthy, but really, really good!)

Not everything about the weekend went picture perfect however.

On Saturday night I put on my pajamas and crawled into bed, prepared to do a bit of web surfing before drifting off to sleep. My legs felt a little itchy so I pulled back the covers to find several ants in my sheets! I then discovered that they were all over my pants and IN MY PANTS! EWWW.

So I of course took the pants off and attempted to remove all the ants from the bed and clothing. They were apparently all marching in a line along the carpet, but it was impossible to tell where they were coming from or where they were going. My mom sucked them up in the vacuum, although they made a reappearance the next night when I foolishly believed it was safe to leave my clothes on the ground.

Blech.

Posted at 11:06 AM | (6)

It is nearing time for me to take the 2nd of 3 trips home this month—this time for the infamous Melany wedding. Of course, I’m not leaving for LA QUITE yet, but I still have to get gas and I want to check out the cable modem deal at Circuit City. I’ve got TV scheduled to be set up the Monday after my parents come bring me furniture, but I still need to see if I can get the free cable modem before I try to schedule Internet.

Still so much to do!

I just realized that my posts are a little more scant lately. I think that has to do with all the packing and worrying that is going with my new place. So far I’ve packed up a few boxes and figured out with my mom where all the furniture will go. I think this just might work.

Oh and last night I demonstrated to…well, no one really, since I was by myself…just how kickass I am. I managed to take a newly-purchased bookshelf out of my car, CARRY it up a couple stairs into the house, and then drag it up the stairs to my 2nd story studio. All. By. Myself. The warning label on the box doesn’t recommend that a single person carry it, by the way.

I even put it together last night too—except for the backing, because I forgot to bring a hammer with me and didn’t feel that hitting the nails with the handle of a screwdriver was very efficient. It was also like 10pm and I didn’t want to make an enemy of any downstairs neighbors already.

Oh and Kevin, you’ll be glad to know that I was able to carry that box full of books into my trunk! Although…I did replace a few books for my CD collection. But it still counts!

This weekend had a dual purpose for me going home—celebrate my birthday with my family, and attend Melany’s Bridal Shower. Both events turned out to be ok, and it was cool because I hadn’t seen Melany’s mom or sister in forever. Man is it still weird though to think that the little sister that seems like she should still be in elementary school graduated high school in June. Time flies I guess.

So Melany is transitioning from single life to married life, and I am apparently transitioning from a small room in a house full of random people to a small studio where I don’t have to deal with people eating my food or using my shower products.

The studio isn’t large, and the actual living room/bedroom space is slightly smaller than my current room, but the bedroom, kitchen, and bathroom are all mine, and no one will pilfer my stuff.

Everyone is very excited for me. My mom is totally thrilled and even bought me a bunch of stuff that I will need, which is very nice. No one ever visited me at my old place because it was just too weird and awkward. I guess that’s why they are excited that I’m getting a new place. I guess I’m excited, but I don’t know….I’m mostly just freaked out.

I hate change. I hate moving. I worry that I made the wrong choice—what if a place I didn’t look at would’ve been better, etc. I also only have a limited amount of time in which to move, since most of my weekends this month are already full.

Soooo much to do, and so little time. So I’m freaked out and probably not nearly as excited as everyone else is. Ask me in a month how I feel about this, after I’m all settled. I guess I’ll be ok…I was freaked out about getting a new job, and that turned out fine, so we’ll see.

Posted at 10:19 AM | (4)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME!! Today I am a quarter of a century old. Old, huh? Anyway, I forgot to post this earlier and now my birthday is almost over, but I couldn’t resist the urge to shamelessly self-promote myself (like I don’t normally ;) )

Anyway, off to Kevin’s soon to play some sort of board game with him and Melany. Yay.

Posted at 8:24 PM | (12)

Dear Applicant,

When you respond to an internet ad for employment, remember to treat it as you would a regular inquiry. First impressions mean a lot, especially if you are a borderline hire.

Try to avoid sending emails from addresses that are sexual or juvenile in nature. This is especially true if you setup your email to be from a cute pseudonym like “Lollypop Girl” instead of your real name. There are many free services out there, so if you don’t want to give out your personal account, why not sign up for a Yahoo account or something using a more innocuous moniker.

Remember to spell-check and proofread your resume. This may seem obvious, but yet there are still a few out there with spelling mistakes and verb tense errors.

Please also spell-check your initial email. Treat it like you would a cover letter. And if you are going to write in there that you are an editor with 25 years experience who prides him/herself on your excellent work, please make sure that I don’t see 3 mistakes just in skimming your letter.

Also, make sure you read all of my instructions. Most people are able to follow them, and I think that they are pretty obvious as long as you actually READ. Not submitting something I ask, attaching something in the wrong format, or forgetting to attach at all, are signs that you lack attention to detail. In the instance that your writing is borderline, I will remember that I had to remind you 3 times to attach a resume, that you forgot to submit one of the entries, and that you spelled something wrong. I will then decide that you are not worth the trouble. If you couldn’t get this stuff right when you’re trying to make a good impression, you’re only going to get worse, and you’re a waste of my time.

And finally, please don’t take the liberty of shortening my name to “Jenny” after two correspondences with me. This hardly makes us good friends. The best advice is to follow the lead of the person signing their name—if I sign it Jenny, then by all means, follow suit after a few exchanges. I do the same if I notice you go by Steve instead of Steven, or Joe instead of Joseph, or Bill instead of William. However, I would never shorten the name unless the other person did so first. That said, I happen to hate the name “Jenny”. I am not a Jenny in any way, and much prefer Jen. If you had to err, I’d much rather you called me Jen. Again, if you’re borderline, I’ll probably hold this indiscretion against you.

Perhaps this seems a bit harsh, but when you put out an ad and get dozens of responses, you tend to notice a pattern. The ones that commit one or more of the errors noted above tend to fail our initial test screening completely. The ones we wind up being excited about are the ones where people are able to follow simple instructions, spell-check, and READ!

Please keep these things in mind as you apply for your next position. Perhaps then you won’t have to wonder why no one hires you.

Thank you.

Sincerely,
Jennifer (not Jenny)

Posted at 10:29 AM | (2)

Well the day has come—time for the Presidential Elections and all those Propositions. May this year’s election results be half so complicated as those of 2000.

Go vote, everyone!

Posted at 7:43 AM | (42)