Man lots of stuff going on! Last weekend (October 25 - 30, if you call that a "weekend") we went camping. When we first told Geoff's mom about the camper she was kinda like "okay... great for you guys... not so much for me!" She's never really been camping before and wasn't all that excited about it, but we got her kinda excited by talking about our camping trips, our excitement for the camper, how nice it was, etc. So she said she would come camping with us for the first two nights (Thursday and Friday) of our camping trip. She met us at our house and we drove to the campground - only about 30 minutes away. We had salmon and artichoke for dinner the first night... rough camping trip, huh? We also worked on a puzzle and talked a lot... Geoff watched Air Force One because "he doesn't like puzzles". The next morning Geoff actually started working on the puzzle, and enjoyed it! We just hung out all day... had a giant breakfast, set up the awning and the party lights, "peeped" on people (involves watching other campers, especially on Friday afternoons as they try to back in their rigs without crashing into anything and as they bring out all of their stuff which is fun to watch), etc. That night we had steak and roasted potatoes for dinner... then sat around the campfire making up stories about the people we were peeping on ("oh, see those people next to us? That is Grandma Lily and Grandpa Jack with their grandkids Bill and Jane, they are babysitting while the parents have a romantic date night"). It went on and on, it was HILARIOUS. Geoff's mom and I were making up the craziest, funniest stories, while Geoff just sat there laughing at us. Geoff says we play off each other quite well and it's very fun to watch. We had such a grand evening! Saturday we hung out in the morning, then went to Oma's (Geoff's grandmother) 70th birthday party! That was so fun, and I got to hold the baby! I love babies. Only to age 2 though! Geoff's mom "HATED" camping so much (that was a running joke all weekend... "but I HATE camping!!!!") that she stayed Saturday night too! Sunday morning Geoff went to work, and she and I finished a second puzzle, read, and she knitted. And did more peeping, of course. Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday, Geoff and I did some hiking around the state park, hung out, and relaxed! We forgot our bikes which was super annoying, but we WILL remember them next time. There are so many awesome bike trails in that state park!!
Now that Geoff has worked on the puzzle, he's become obsessed! We went to Rainy Day Games and got a 2000 piece puzzle of Times Square which is currently taking up the dining room table. It's great! And I've been going to jigzone.com when I have some free time during work to do a quick puzzle here and there. I love puzzles, I'm glad Geoff does now too!
This weekend was great. Friday night we went out to dinner. Saturday I watched Northwestern lose to the Hawkeyes... that was brutal. Geoff came home pretty early and then we worked on the puzzle while we watched the University of Oregon / Arizona State game. Saturday night we went out to dinner at a place called Bugatti's and in came the Roloff parents with some friends and their film crew! It was cool to see that, and watch for us on TV. The only problem is that they had to turn on the lights very brightly in what is normally a very dimly lit restaurant. It wasn't a problem for us, but it sure would be annoying to have to go EVERYWHERE with those bright lights. Yikes! Then we had to tell Addy and Cindy immediately because they both love Little People Big World. Sunday Geoff got up early to have breakfast with his stepdad Gary... they had a good conversation about life, work, etc. They always have a good time at breakfast together. We went to look at new houses (I LOVE looking at new houses, and particularly like this developer). Then Geoff talked to our roommates and told them that we're at a point in our life where we really want to live on our own. They were very gracious and kind and willing to move out. It works out rather nicely timing-wise - my parents are coming to town for Christmas and New Years, so it will be nice to have some space in the house for them. It will be sad for us to have the guys to move out, but overall I think it will be a positive thing for us.
Upcoming for us:
This Wednesday: RV Show! We're taking Geoff's parents with us, I'm ESPECIALLY looking forward to Geoff's mom seeing all of the different types of RVs. We "trained" her pretty well to recognize the different ones outside when we were camping, but she hasn't seen the inside of a lot of them, and I think she'll really enjoy some of them - like the big monstrosities and then the babies like this one.
Friday: a play/dinner fundraiser event at an inner-city church downtown, again with Geoff's parents. I'm excited because I LOVE inner-city churches.
Saturday: I'm hanging out with my friend Katie, I'm SO excited because I haven't seen her in 100 years!
Next weekend: couples weekend! Our friends Kendra and Beau rent a beachhouse every year and invite couples to go along for a weekend of fun with them. We went last year and had an absolute blast, so we're very much looking forward to this. Each couple is in charge of one meal, so they really bring their "best of show" and so it is a weekend of good eating and good friends! (with a trip to the outlet mall thrown in!)
Following weekend: wine weekend! Okay, some might call it Thanksgiving. ;-) Every year at Memorial Day and Thanksgiving, the wineries here host big wine events. Geoff's mom and I have made it a tradition to go. This year, it's getting even better! Geoff and I are taking the camper down to a nice RV park in wine country Wednesday night. Thursday night we'll go to Geoff's parents for Thanksgiving - they have a new kitchen this year and it's her first Thanksgiving in her new oven (well, Thanksgiving itself might not be in the oven). We'll help them clean up afterwards, and then *hopefully* (if all works out) both of Geoff's parents will join us in the camper Thanksgiving night. Friday morning we'll hit our favorite wineries - Kramer is ALWAYS our first stop and over Memorial Day we discovered Carlton Winemakers Studio which we enjoyed and will go to again. We'd normally stop at a few more places, but this year we have SATURDAY TOO!! So Saturday we'll go to new places that are further south than we'd normally go - but because we'll be staying in the area, it will be no big deal. VERY exciting. It will be fun to have a nice relaxing weekend with Geoff and both of his parents. Very much looking forward to it! Should be a great November this year. :)
Monday, November 05, 2007
Thursday, October 25, 2007
Education time!
Alright... here's another pet peeve. People who use "XST" for all of their times, even when we're in Daylight Savings Time. I think a lot of people think "standard time" means like "official time" or something along those lines... it doesn't! In this context, it basically means, non-Daylight Savings Time. And it DOES matter!
In Oregon, from October - March, you should say PST. From March - October you should say PDT (Pacific Daylight Time)! That differentiates. I understand that it doesn't matter 99% of the time, but it does in a few instances.... for example:
Last night, Geoff said "what time is 10 PM MST for us?" I said it's technically 10 PM for us too, because we're still in Daylight Savings Time, so 10 PM MST = 10 PM PDT. But I also told him that MOST people don't use the ST/DT designations correctly, so it was more likely 9 PM PDT, just because of a usage error.
Also - if you're trying to talk to someone in a state like Arizona that doesn't use daylight savings time, the designation also becomes important. If I want to set up a meeting with someone in Arizona and they say it's at 8 AM MST, they really mean it - so it's 8 AM PDT or 9 AM PST.
The lesson learned here is just be aware of your ST/DT designations and realize that they DO mean something different. If everyone starts using them correctly, then we can actually use them for what they're intended for. YAY!
Edited: one more thing I thought of. When in doubt - just say PT/MT/CT/ET. No reason to specify standard or Daylight time if you're not sure!
In Oregon, from October - March, you should say PST. From March - October you should say PDT (Pacific Daylight Time)! That differentiates. I understand that it doesn't matter 99% of the time, but it does in a few instances.... for example:
Last night, Geoff said "what time is 10 PM MST for us?" I said it's technically 10 PM for us too, because we're still in Daylight Savings Time, so 10 PM MST = 10 PM PDT. But I also told him that MOST people don't use the ST/DT designations correctly, so it was more likely 9 PM PDT, just because of a usage error.
Also - if you're trying to talk to someone in a state like Arizona that doesn't use daylight savings time, the designation also becomes important. If I want to set up a meeting with someone in Arizona and they say it's at 8 AM MST, they really mean it - so it's 8 AM PDT or 9 AM PST.
The lesson learned here is just be aware of your ST/DT designations and realize that they DO mean something different. If everyone starts using them correctly, then we can actually use them for what they're intended for. YAY!
Edited: one more thing I thought of. When in doubt - just say PT/MT/CT/ET. No reason to specify standard or Daylight time if you're not sure!
Tuesday, October 23, 2007
Stuff
First of all, I'm sick of coming up with blog titles. I rarely blog about something that can be neatly wrapped up into some small little title. Nuts.
Moving on, I have a confession. I am actively avoiding someone who works in the same building as me. It's a sad situation. I know when he/she eats lunch, so I have REARRANGED my lunch schedule so that I eat at a seperate time. Like I'm seriously afraid to see him/her in the cafe! Only I'm not really afraid... it's like I know this person as an acquaintance but don't really have anything in common with him/her, so I feel it's awkward when we talk. So instead of chancing running into him/her and talking, I avoid him/her. There is an entire part of our building I won't go to because I know he/she works there. I should just get over myself. What a fool.
I called into a radio show for the very first time this morning! I listen to 104.1 the Fish in Portland, and every morning on the Pete and Brenda show they have the Nearly Impossible Question. I have a decent guess for the answer about 20% of the time, although I'm not always right. And a lot of times they give a hint anyway. So this morning's question was "Up until recently there were very few books written about this topic, but there have been almost 100 in the last 3 years". I got in the car about 10 minutes after they first asked the question, so they were giving a hint when I was driving to work. Tthat clue was “car carriers, car seats, and strollers”. So a bunch of people guessed babies and stuff, which I thought was dumb because think of Dr. Spock in the 70’s! There are tons of books on that. So I was like “you idiots, it’s obviously multiple babies” (cause of all the infertility treatments and stuff). So they gave the phone number and I called it for the very first time!!! Pete himself answered (he’s the host!) and said “Pete and Brenda, nearly impossible question, what’s your guess?” I said “um, multiple babies” (I was thrown off by him answering!) and he said “no” and hung up. DANG!!!! I ran into work (cause I was in the parking lot when I got through on the phone, took about 10 busy signals before I did) and listened on the computer… they didn’t play my answer, but they played someone else who said multiple babies without the um. But it was fun!!! I’m going to call every day now, at least if I have an inkling (I probably have an inkling about once a week). You win great gift certificates to restaurants and stuff!
By the way... the correct answer was "Baby Name Books". LAME.
Patrick sent me the menu for where he works today - it was SHOCKINGLY similar to the menu where I work. I was going to just link the menus, but I'll just post a sample instead:
Patrick's work:
Tuesday
Au Bon Pain Soup - Potato Cheese - $2.39/$2.89
Breakfast - Breakfast Sub - $5.59
Exhibition - Pasta Primavera - $6.29
Wild Greens - Garlic Roasted Shrimp Salad- $7.29
Deli - Roast Turkey, Provolone Cheese and Bacon Stacker - $6.29
Entree - Lemon Pepper Chicken - $5.99 - $6.99
Grill - New York Deli Burger - $6.99
My work:
Tuesday, October 23, 2007
Soup - Ham and White Bean, Red Bean, Beef and Collar Greens, Cabbage and Rice - $1.80
Breakfast Grill - Breakfast Croissant Sandwich - $2.25
Lunch Grill - Tuna Melt with Fresh Avocado - $3.25
Healthy Grill Entree - Hazelnut Encrusted Chicken Breast with Dijon mustard Sauce - $5.50
Crossroads Menu - Mustard Braised Pork with Roasted Red Potatoes, Vegetarian Leek and corn Stuffed Peppers served with Steamed Broccoli - $5.25/4.95
Personal Pizza - Enchilada Chicken with Grilled Onions and Peppers - $4.25
International Station - Bento Chicken with Jasmine or Brown rice and Stir fry Vegetables - $5.50
M-F Off Shift Crossroads - Chicken cordon bleu with Cream Sauce - $5.25
M-F Off shift Grill - Chipotle Chicken Wrap - $3.75
I was just VERY amused at how similar the two menus were! I guess corporate America is all the same....
Has anyone else noticed how much bank the Facebook peeps are raking in with the "gifts" they sell each day? They have "today's new gift" every day, and the availability of these gifts is generally 1 - 10 million. At $1 each, that's up to $10 million a day, provided they sell every one. I'm quite sure they don't, but SERIOUSLY! $10 million dollars a day for being able to create a graphic and allow people to select it, pay for it, and post it to someone else's "page". That's nuts. I wish I was so brilliant! And now by mocking this I have probably ruined what little chance I had to work at Facebook.... which is unfortunate, but I guess that's something I'll have to live with. Every time I check they have no jobs for me anyway!
Moving on, I have a confession. I am actively avoiding someone who works in the same building as me. It's a sad situation. I know when he/she eats lunch, so I have REARRANGED my lunch schedule so that I eat at a seperate time. Like I'm seriously afraid to see him/her in the cafe! Only I'm not really afraid... it's like I know this person as an acquaintance but don't really have anything in common with him/her, so I feel it's awkward when we talk. So instead of chancing running into him/her and talking, I avoid him/her. There is an entire part of our building I won't go to because I know he/she works there. I should just get over myself. What a fool.
I called into a radio show for the very first time this morning! I listen to 104.1 the Fish in Portland, and every morning on the Pete and Brenda show they have the Nearly Impossible Question. I have a decent guess for the answer about 20% of the time, although I'm not always right. And a lot of times they give a hint anyway. So this morning's question was "Up until recently there were very few books written about this topic, but there have been almost 100 in the last 3 years". I got in the car about 10 minutes after they first asked the question, so they were giving a hint when I was driving to work. Tthat clue was “car carriers, car seats, and strollers”. So a bunch of people guessed babies and stuff, which I thought was dumb because think of Dr. Spock in the 70’s! There are tons of books on that. So I was like “you idiots, it’s obviously multiple babies” (cause of all the infertility treatments and stuff). So they gave the phone number and I called it for the very first time!!! Pete himself answered (he’s the host!) and said “Pete and Brenda, nearly impossible question, what’s your guess?” I said “um, multiple babies” (I was thrown off by him answering!) and he said “no” and hung up. DANG!!!! I ran into work (cause I was in the parking lot when I got through on the phone, took about 10 busy signals before I did) and listened on the computer… they didn’t play my answer, but they played someone else who said multiple babies without the um. But it was fun!!! I’m going to call every day now, at least if I have an inkling (I probably have an inkling about once a week). You win great gift certificates to restaurants and stuff!
By the way... the correct answer was "Baby Name Books". LAME.
Patrick sent me the menu for where he works today - it was SHOCKINGLY similar to the menu where I work. I was going to just link the menus, but I'll just post a sample instead:
Patrick's work:
Tuesday
Au Bon Pain Soup - Potato Cheese - $2.39/$2.89
Breakfast - Breakfast Sub - $5.59
Exhibition - Pasta Primavera - $6.29
Wild Greens - Garlic Roasted Shrimp Salad- $7.29
Deli - Roast Turkey, Provolone Cheese and Bacon Stacker - $6.29
Entree - Lemon Pepper Chicken - $5.99 - $6.99
Grill - New York Deli Burger - $6.99
My work:
Tuesday, October 23, 2007
Soup - Ham and White Bean, Red Bean, Beef and Collar Greens, Cabbage and Rice - $1.80
Breakfast Grill - Breakfast Croissant Sandwich - $2.25
Lunch Grill - Tuna Melt with Fresh Avocado - $3.25
Healthy Grill Entree - Hazelnut Encrusted Chicken Breast with Dijon mustard Sauce - $5.50
Crossroads Menu - Mustard Braised Pork with Roasted Red Potatoes, Vegetarian Leek and corn Stuffed Peppers served with Steamed Broccoli - $5.25/4.95
Personal Pizza - Enchilada Chicken with Grilled Onions and Peppers - $4.25
International Station - Bento Chicken with Jasmine or Brown rice and Stir fry Vegetables - $5.50
M-F Off Shift Crossroads - Chicken cordon bleu with Cream Sauce - $5.25
M-F Off shift Grill - Chipotle Chicken Wrap - $3.75
I was just VERY amused at how similar the two menus were! I guess corporate America is all the same....
Has anyone else noticed how much bank the Facebook peeps are raking in with the "gifts" they sell each day? They have "today's new gift" every day, and the availability of these gifts is generally 1 - 10 million. At $1 each, that's up to $10 million a day, provided they sell every one. I'm quite sure they don't, but SERIOUSLY! $10 million dollars a day for being able to create a graphic and allow people to select it, pay for it, and post it to someone else's "page". That's nuts. I wish I was so brilliant! And now by mocking this I have probably ruined what little chance I had to work at Facebook.... which is unfortunate, but I guess that's something I'll have to live with. Every time I check they have no jobs for me anyway!
Monday, October 22, 2007
Weekend in review
This weekend was pretty good! Friday night Geoff and I went to PF Changs. Normally I put PF Changs in the same category as Cheesecake Factory - overrated and overpriced! They're decent food, but just because they turn the lights down a little lower than Chili's do they really need to charge twice as much? People seem to rave about these places, and it's just lame to me. Needless to say, PF Changs REALLY hit the spot Friday - I think it was better than it has ever been before on Friday night. Yum! Oh, and we watched Evan Almighty, which was very lame as predicted. Geoff thought it was cute.
Saturday I got up around 8 and went to visit Addy at Target... that was fun! Saturday night Geoff's parents had a birthday dinner for him - his birthday is tomorrow. His mom made tacos - his grandmother is Mexican, so the tacos are super good. I have only had these tacos once before and they are VERY tasty. They're going on the list of things to make in the camper. :) We had a really fun evening with his parents, as well as his grandmother and cousin!
Sunday night we went to Tim and Shannon's (Tim is a coworker of Geoff) for dinner and a movie. They made great steaks, cauliflower with cheese sauce, and salad for dinner. TASTY! And a strawberry cake with cream cheese icing for desert. Then we watched The Holiday. I absolutely adore that movie!
And now it's Monday... 3 and a half more work days until CAMPING!!!!!!
Saturday I got up around 8 and went to visit Addy at Target... that was fun! Saturday night Geoff's parents had a birthday dinner for him - his birthday is tomorrow. His mom made tacos - his grandmother is Mexican, so the tacos are super good. I have only had these tacos once before and they are VERY tasty. They're going on the list of things to make in the camper. :) We had a really fun evening with his parents, as well as his grandmother and cousin!
Sunday night we went to Tim and Shannon's (Tim is a coworker of Geoff) for dinner and a movie. They made great steaks, cauliflower with cheese sauce, and salad for dinner. TASTY! And a strawberry cake with cream cheese icing for desert. Then we watched The Holiday. I absolutely adore that movie!
And now it's Monday... 3 and a half more work days until CAMPING!!!!!!
Friday, October 19, 2007
Update on Google Chat
My sister got it and now we are chatting away from here to Spain!!! LOVE IT!!! Everyone should get it!! Oh and Patrick plugged in his headphones to his microphone jack and left me a voicemail, it worked well.
GOOGLE TALK!
So this morning, while I was doing some user acceptance testing of a new system at work, I was GChating with my friend Andy. As usual, I was lamenting the fact that GChat doesn't blink when you have a new IM, because it was lowering my productivity (I had to check back and forth between what I was doing and the GChat window to see if Andy had said anything). Andy informed me that he used Google Talk to cure just that. I said that I had it at home, but didn't use it much because I don't use my home computer much. I didn't have it at work because you can't easily use most IM services through work because of our firewall. Andy said this was similar to GChat and worked fine. So I installed it - it is the CAT'S MEOW!!!!
Andy had to go run some errands, so I IMed Patrick and forced him to get it too. He got it and then he pressed the "Call" button on there to call me. I answered the call and we were like "what does this do?" Then he said he could hear me typing!!! So I spoke "Hello?" and he typed "I can hear you!!!" He didn't have a microphone so he couldn't talk back, but I yammered at him for a while.
Then I had some meetings and stuff so we had a hiatus... then just a while ago Patrick and I were IMing again and I saw a voicemail option! So I left him a "voicemail" - basically it's just an audio file that is sent to your gmail! It's super cool! And there is a British woman who tells you to leave a message at the "meep". It is too frickin' funny. I absolutely love it. Now I'm trying to get my sister to download it so we can talk while she's in Spain. And by "trying" I mean "sent her one email and she's currently downloading it on the slow Spanish internet". SWEET! Up with Google Talk!!!
The one drawback: the smiley faces don't turn like they do in gchat. But they do turn blue...
Andy had to go run some errands, so I IMed Patrick and forced him to get it too. He got it and then he pressed the "Call" button on there to call me. I answered the call and we were like "what does this do?" Then he said he could hear me typing!!! So I spoke "Hello?" and he typed "I can hear you!!!" He didn't have a microphone so he couldn't talk back, but I yammered at him for a while.
Then I had some meetings and stuff so we had a hiatus... then just a while ago Patrick and I were IMing again and I saw a voicemail option! So I left him a "voicemail" - basically it's just an audio file that is sent to your gmail! It's super cool! And there is a British woman who tells you to leave a message at the "meep". It is too frickin' funny. I absolutely love it. Now I'm trying to get my sister to download it so we can talk while she's in Spain. And by "trying" I mean "sent her one email and she's currently downloading it on the slow Spanish internet". SWEET! Up with Google Talk!!!
The one drawback: the smiley faces don't turn like they do in gchat. But they do turn blue...
Thursday, October 18, 2007
Just life
First off, I made this recipe for Spicy Bean Soup the other night. VERY tasty! I only used 1/4 cup of chili powder instead of 1/2 cup... 1/2 a cup of chili powder in anything is just nuts!
I moved up to "Full Member" from "New Member" status in the RV forum I've been reading... YEAH!
Tonight is book club... I finished the book on Monday night. It got so intriguing at the end that I couldn't stop and I just kept reading, which is too bad because I rushed through finishing it and I didn't read as thoroughly. It was still good though.
We're going camping a week from today. I can't wait.
I got the Hood to Coast registration all mailed in yesterday. I didn't go to the actual post office, but I did go to a blue post office box which I believe to be just as good. I dropped it off about 1:15 and pickup was 2:45 so I should be safe. Now we just have to wait 6 weeks... oh, and I'm extra excited because my friend Kathleen from high school is going to run with us! So I am really hoping that it works out for us to run again next year. Some people have run like 25 years in a row... that is just nuts. In the beginning it was obviously easier to get into the relay, but the last 5 or 10 years have been much more difficult. But if you're fast, then it's easy because the top 6 teams from every division get automatically accepted each year. It also helps to be old, because there are fewer teams competing from the older divisions. But as long as you have even one member below 30, you're not eligible for any of the "old" divisions. Ha - I love that, 30 is old. Geoff is only 21... we have at least eight years to go until we can be old. And it's not like we're all of the sudden gonna rock the 30 year olds... maybe when we're all over 50. Just 29 years to go! :) Wow I just spent quite a bit of my life (and yours) on that. Good thing I type fast.
I took a typing test after I wrote that to see how I did. I went to www.typingtest.com and just did all of the defaults - ick! My net speed was 89 words per minute, accuracy 94%, gross speed 94 words per minute. That is not very good for me. I usually come in over 100 words per minute with 98 or higher percent accuracy. Chalk it up to being too early in the morning? Maybe I'll try again in a week or so.
Speaking of typing - yesterday I had a headache (apparently this will be the long winded version of this story) so I went home from work around 1 and slept until 7 PM. I went to bed again around 11 PM and fell asleep, but I was up quite a bit during the night. During one of those times I was awake, I was thinking about how cool it would be if when you were at the dentist's office, you got a little computer that you could type on so you could talk to the hygentist. It's always awkward when she has to be a talk show host and just yammer at you the whole time, it'd be so much cooler if you could just type what you wanted to say and it would talk back to her. Maybe I'll implement that at my dental practice. Which has gone nowhere, by the way.
I moved up to "Full Member" from "New Member" status in the RV forum I've been reading... YEAH!
Tonight is book club... I finished the book on Monday night. It got so intriguing at the end that I couldn't stop and I just kept reading, which is too bad because I rushed through finishing it and I didn't read as thoroughly. It was still good though.
We're going camping a week from today. I can't wait.
I got the Hood to Coast registration all mailed in yesterday. I didn't go to the actual post office, but I did go to a blue post office box which I believe to be just as good. I dropped it off about 1:15 and pickup was 2:45 so I should be safe. Now we just have to wait 6 weeks... oh, and I'm extra excited because my friend Kathleen from high school is going to run with us! So I am really hoping that it works out for us to run again next year. Some people have run like 25 years in a row... that is just nuts. In the beginning it was obviously easier to get into the relay, but the last 5 or 10 years have been much more difficult. But if you're fast, then it's easy because the top 6 teams from every division get automatically accepted each year. It also helps to be old, because there are fewer teams competing from the older divisions. But as long as you have even one member below 30, you're not eligible for any of the "old" divisions. Ha - I love that, 30 is old. Geoff is only 21... we have at least eight years to go until we can be old. And it's not like we're all of the sudden gonna rock the 30 year olds... maybe when we're all over 50. Just 29 years to go! :) Wow I just spent quite a bit of my life (and yours) on that. Good thing I type fast.
I took a typing test after I wrote that to see how I did. I went to www.typingtest.com and just did all of the defaults - ick! My net speed was 89 words per minute, accuracy 94%, gross speed 94 words per minute. That is not very good for me. I usually come in over 100 words per minute with 98 or higher percent accuracy. Chalk it up to being too early in the morning? Maybe I'll try again in a week or so.
Speaking of typing - yesterday I had a headache (apparently this will be the long winded version of this story) so I went home from work around 1 and slept until 7 PM. I went to bed again around 11 PM and fell asleep, but I was up quite a bit during the night. During one of those times I was awake, I was thinking about how cool it would be if when you were at the dentist's office, you got a little computer that you could type on so you could talk to the hygentist. It's always awkward when she has to be a talk show host and just yammer at you the whole time, it'd be so much cooler if you could just type what you wanted to say and it would talk back to her. Maybe I'll implement that at my dental practice. Which has gone nowhere, by the way.
Wednesday, October 17, 2007
Hood to Coast Day
So today is the day that Hood to Coast entry forms must be mailed in. This morning I double checked my application, had Cindy review it, copied it, added the check, and put it in the envelope. Cindy was like "why'd you wait until the last minute?" No no... this isn't the "last" minute, this is the "only" minute. Only forms that are correctly filled out, have the correct check with them, and are postmarked ON October 17th will be considered. Then it's a lottery from that point. That's why I was so careful about making sure it was done correctly - this is my only chance to get it right! I will have 11 other team members who will be disappointed if we don't get in... and there's still a high chance of that, but I certainly don't want it to be my fault. I will drive to the post office (don't trust the work mail for this one) during lunch to get it mailed off! Scary day.
Sunday, October 14, 2007
Random Stuff
Yesterday Kristie and I went apple picking (sorta... that's a story for another time) and then made apple pies! We had a blast and they turned out really well. :) Yummy.
Today I sorta felt like taking a drive around... so I went to the Dollar Tree. In the past, I have not been a big dollar store patron, but it is a perfect store for camper items. I have found that the Dollar Tree is much bigger and better than Everything's a Buck, which is much closer to my house. Today I bought ten items - two packages of "snack size" chocolate chip cookie mix (makes like 18 cookies), two bottles of body wash for me (one for home since I'm running low, one for the camper), one small bottle of body wash for Geoff (for camper), a two pack of loofahs (for home, Geoff uses them too), and 6 pack of mini-loofahs (for camper), a little set of tweezers / nail clippers for the camper, a 500 piece puzzle for camper entertainment, and a two pack of small Purell-type stuff... after we're done getting the camper all hitched up to the car and we're ready to go, it'd be nice to clean our dirty hands. I also went to Ross but couldn't find anything the camper couldn't live without. I really am trying NOT to buy too much stuff for the camper, since it really doesn't need the extra weight, but it's so fun to outfit our mini home! Way more fun than the real home. I think because you have to actually think about your space and weight restrictions, so you have to try to find good, small, useful purchases. That's one thing that makes the dollar store so attractive, they have smaller sizes of stuff. I also went to Big Lots the other day... they also have good camper stuff. But nothing I couldn't live without there. Just a place to keep in mind if I do need anything for the camper.
When Geoff gets home from work today, we're going to Ikea with Kristie! I love Ikea. :) So might the camper... ;-) Just kidding. Sorta.
A few months ago I started noticing more and more of these little stick people on the back of people's cars. Typically minivans, occasionally an SUV. I mentioned it to my friend Patrick, and he said he'd noticed them a lot too!!! We both think they're absolutely awful. No one needs to know about your family, how many kids you have, and CERTAINLY not how many pets you have! One of us found ourstickfamily.com, where you can even custom order your stick family. Now we always text each other when we see a stick family, especially if it's "custom". The other day I saw a lesiban stick family - they had a rainbow bumper sticker that said "FAMILY" on it... and then above it they had two mommies, two little girls, and a dog in stick family stickers. Patrick replied by text that that seemed dangerous, "you never know what kind of right wing psycho is driving behind you". Funny. Today I texted him to inform him that I saw a stick family all wearing Mickey Mouse ears - no reply yet on that one. And now there probably won't be a reply becuase he won't want me to blog it for the whole world to know. ;-) Anyway, the stick families are taking over the world. Do your part and DON'T buy a stick family! If you do though, be sure it's a custom one of something absolutely ridiculous so I can mock it.
Now back to reading my book for book club - The Drowing Tree by Carol Goodman. It's not bad.
Today I sorta felt like taking a drive around... so I went to the Dollar Tree. In the past, I have not been a big dollar store patron, but it is a perfect store for camper items. I have found that the Dollar Tree is much bigger and better than Everything's a Buck, which is much closer to my house. Today I bought ten items - two packages of "snack size" chocolate chip cookie mix (makes like 18 cookies), two bottles of body wash for me (one for home since I'm running low, one for the camper), one small bottle of body wash for Geoff (for camper), a two pack of loofahs (for home, Geoff uses them too), and 6 pack of mini-loofahs (for camper), a little set of tweezers / nail clippers for the camper, a 500 piece puzzle for camper entertainment, and a two pack of small Purell-type stuff... after we're done getting the camper all hitched up to the car and we're ready to go, it'd be nice to clean our dirty hands. I also went to Ross but couldn't find anything the camper couldn't live without. I really am trying NOT to buy too much stuff for the camper, since it really doesn't need the extra weight, but it's so fun to outfit our mini home! Way more fun than the real home. I think because you have to actually think about your space and weight restrictions, so you have to try to find good, small, useful purchases. That's one thing that makes the dollar store so attractive, they have smaller sizes of stuff. I also went to Big Lots the other day... they also have good camper stuff. But nothing I couldn't live without there. Just a place to keep in mind if I do need anything for the camper.
When Geoff gets home from work today, we're going to Ikea with Kristie! I love Ikea. :) So might the camper... ;-) Just kidding. Sorta.
A few months ago I started noticing more and more of these little stick people on the back of people's cars. Typically minivans, occasionally an SUV. I mentioned it to my friend Patrick, and he said he'd noticed them a lot too!!! We both think they're absolutely awful. No one needs to know about your family, how many kids you have, and CERTAINLY not how many pets you have! One of us found ourstickfamily.com, where you can even custom order your stick family. Now we always text each other when we see a stick family, especially if it's "custom". The other day I saw a lesiban stick family - they had a rainbow bumper sticker that said "FAMILY" on it... and then above it they had two mommies, two little girls, and a dog in stick family stickers. Patrick replied by text that that seemed dangerous, "you never know what kind of right wing psycho is driving behind you". Funny. Today I texted him to inform him that I saw a stick family all wearing Mickey Mouse ears - no reply yet on that one. And now there probably won't be a reply becuase he won't want me to blog it for the whole world to know. ;-) Anyway, the stick families are taking over the world. Do your part and DON'T buy a stick family! If you do though, be sure it's a custom one of something absolutely ridiculous so I can mock it.
Now back to reading my book for book club - The Drowing Tree by Carol Goodman. It's not bad.
Thursday, October 11, 2007
Becoming a dentist
I've been thinking lately about becoming a dentist. I have a couple of issues with this: (a) I never took biology or organic chemistry and (b) my grades aren't good enough. I wish I'd had this brilliant idea while actually in college and I could have done something about it. Although I suppose I could take orgo and bio at Portland State and get As in them, then do well on my DAT and still manage to get into a decent dental school. Volunteering at a dental clinic would also help. I (totally unrelatedly) have a dentist appointment today, so I might talk to them about becoming a dentist. I'm not sure if I'm ready for that though... might just continue to research for now and then go from there.
I'll keep you posted on what I'm going to do with my life...
I'll keep you posted on what I'm going to do with my life...
Wednesday, October 10, 2007
Quick...
Just a few comments from my family (who for some reason refuses to comment) on my pictures from the first camping trip:
"It looks like your bear is passed out from all of the camping fun!" - Mom
"I thought the Tahoe was big, but next to the trailer it looks like a Smart Car!" - Christine
Not much else going on... there is some talk of a gals excursion to go pick apples and maybe bake apple pie this weekend. SO EXCITED! Might even turn it into a camping overnighter, we'll see. :) Fun either way. Have another camping trip planned for the end of October, Geoff's mom is going to join us for a couple of nights on that one. I am planning on taking a quilting class, but I realized I might need to learn to sew first, so I have to stop into Jo Ann's to figure that out. I don't know why I've had a quilt obsession lately. Am I 80 years old? Northwestern won in OT last weekend... wish I was in Evanston to see the purple clock tower. That's all. I want to go for a bike ride but I will probably just go run at the gym instead. Hood to Coast 2008 is in just 10 months... want to run on my team? Email me or comment.
"It looks like your bear is passed out from all of the camping fun!" - Mom
"I thought the Tahoe was big, but next to the trailer it looks like a Smart Car!" - Christine
Not much else going on... there is some talk of a gals excursion to go pick apples and maybe bake apple pie this weekend. SO EXCITED! Might even turn it into a camping overnighter, we'll see. :) Fun either way. Have another camping trip planned for the end of October, Geoff's mom is going to join us for a couple of nights on that one. I am planning on taking a quilting class, but I realized I might need to learn to sew first, so I have to stop into Jo Ann's to figure that out. I don't know why I've had a quilt obsession lately. Am I 80 years old? Northwestern won in OT last weekend... wish I was in Evanston to see the purple clock tower. That's all. I want to go for a bike ride but I will probably just go run at the gym instead. Hood to Coast 2008 is in just 10 months... want to run on my team? Email me or comment.
Monday, October 08, 2007
Second camping trip!
We went camping again! We went Thursday through Monday and had an A-MAZ-ING time. Our friends Kendra and Beau joined us for Thursday night through Friday afternoon, then Saturday Geoff went into work (we were camping nearby at a new state park!) and then Sunday we went to a birthday party. But really, we camped. It was so relaxing and nice to just be together. Some pictures...
Kendra, Beau, and I all knew how to play "Mexican Train" dominoes. Geoff did not. So we taught him... and he LOVED it. He was like me when I first learned how to play - wanted to play nonstop. I think that's all I did spring quarter senior year of college. I had Double Nine dominoes that I brought along, and Geoff decided he wanted to get a bigger set. So he got Double Fifteens when we were out on Sunday... this is him unpacking all of his dominoes!
This is the results of a round of Mexican Train Geoff and I played Monday night. Yes, this seriously is from ONE ROUND played by two people. Double Fifteens is nuts!
Our beautiful campsite! :) Number 54 at LL Stub Stewart State Park.
Geoff's early birthday present (his birthday is in two weeks). A fancy new TV in the camper... we used our Costco rebate check for it.
Beau and Geoff. This picture turned out really crummy!
A random shot of our kitchen??
Another campsite shot. This one is mostly for Patrick to mock - note me reading. ;-)
Kendra, Beau, and I all knew how to play "Mexican Train" dominoes. Geoff did not. So we taught him... and he LOVED it. He was like me when I first learned how to play - wanted to play nonstop. I think that's all I did spring quarter senior year of college. I had Double Nine dominoes that I brought along, and Geoff decided he wanted to get a bigger set. So he got Double Fifteens when we were out on Sunday... this is him unpacking all of his dominoes!
This is the results of a round of Mexican Train Geoff and I played Monday night. Yes, this seriously is from ONE ROUND played by two people. Double Fifteens is nuts!
Our beautiful campsite! :) Number 54 at LL Stub Stewart State Park.
Geoff's early birthday present (his birthday is in two weeks). A fancy new TV in the camper... we used our Costco rebate check for it. 
Beau and Geoff. This picture turned out really crummy!
A random shot of our kitchen??
Another campsite shot. This one is mostly for Patrick to mock - note me reading. ;-)Sunday, September 30, 2007
Got the pictures to work!
Geoff standing in front of the Tahoe (Tara) and the Tango (Todd)
Putting down the jack and stuff...
Rolling out the awning.
The middle of the process of putting things away...
My excellent welcome mat! It's from Wal-Mart
The bed all made up. That is my bear. Don't make fun.
Geoff relaxing and watching TV.
Geoff MORE relaxed with his feet up...
Lying down to watch football.
Cuddling up with a blanket. He claimed it was cold.
Breakfast in the morning!
The library
I've been going to the library lately. They have a lot of RV books and magazines, plus I've been checking out the Sue Grafton alphabet books. I've read most of them, perhaps all of them, but I started in 7th or 8th grade so it's probably been long enough that I can start back at A again. Anyway... here are some camping pictures! I'm sorry that I suck at posting pictures... I know when you click on my pictures, they show up in giant size and it's really pointless. One day I will learn how to resize pictures. I mean, I KNOW how to resize pictures, but it is a huge pain. So one day I will figure out a faster more efficient way that I will actually DO.
Okay, just kidding, I'm not posting pictures because I've tried 3 times and Blogger keeps saying:
We're sorry, but we were unable to complete your request.
When reporting this error to Blogger Support or on the Blogger Help Group, please:
Describe what you were doing when you got this error.
Provide the following error code and additional information.
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This information will help us to track down your specific problem and fix it! We apologize for the inconvenience.
Okay, just kidding, I'm not posting pictures because I've tried 3 times and Blogger keeps saying:
We're sorry, but we were unable to complete your request.
When reporting this error to Blogger Support or on the Blogger Help Group, please:
Describe what you were doing when you got this error.
Provide the following error code and additional information.
bX-6tnzzz
Additional information
blogID: 6zzzzzz host: www.blogger.comuri: /upload-image.g
This information will help us to track down your specific problem and fix it! We apologize for the inconvenience.
Saturday, September 22, 2007
Camping!
I know I've been scarse lately. Geoff and I DID end up buying a camper after all. It is SO GREAT! Tonight we are on our "maiden voyage". We are camping in Cannon Beach... if you can call it camping, I AM on the internet after all. (there is free wifi in our campground!) We have had so much fun this past week... getting things all set up with our camper! And if you come visit, we will take you camping. I went to Geoff's mom's today and she donated many things (towels, etc.) to our camping cause. So we're pretty much all set up. Geoff is watching TV (yes, our camper came with a TV and there is cable at this campground too) and we got back a little while ago from the hot tub. We are seriously just having a blast, and it will be great to be able to get away. We are already planning an October camping trip with his parents. And his mom and I go wine tasting every Thanksgiving, so this year we might take the camper and make it a multi-day thing! Hopefully Geoff can get a few days off. :) My parents are coming for Christmas (YAY!) and we will go camping with them too. I LOVE camping (I grew up with it) and I love that you can camp year-round here. I'm so excited about it. I have pictures and I could even post them since there is a card-reader on this computer, but I'm getting tired so I will post them tomorrow or later in the week! I just wanted to share a little bit of my excitement.
Monday, September 17, 2007
"The Greatest Thing I ever did"
I put the title in quotes because it's a HUGE exaggeration. But anyway, the "greatest thing I ever did" was start cooking what I call "Rachael Ray style". Basically, that means "eyeball it". Tonight I made a homemade spinach artichoke dip from the Better Homes and Gardens cookbook... and I did it without using a measuring cup! I started doing this a couple of months ago and it's so great. You just dump the right ingredients together and somehow (unless you're baking!) it all works out. I love it... so much simplier, cuts the prep time and cleanup in half. It used to be that if a recipe called for 10 oz of product x and I only had 8 on hand... I'd go buy another can or whatever so I'd have enough. Now I dump in the 8 and call it good. And my food is better than ever. YUM-O
Okay, I'm done talking like Rachael Ray now...
Okay, I'm done talking like Rachael Ray now...
Sunday, September 16, 2007
The Baby
I bought a 6 pound bag of pretzels from Costco for Hood to Coast. It was really nice to have, salty food is good when you're running. The only problem is it was so big it took up a significant amount of space in the van! We started calling it "the baby" because 6 pounds IS the size of a newborn baby. And it took up even more space than a newborn would... so somebody always had it in his/her lap or else we had to wedge it in somewhere. It was quite amusing.
Needless to say, Geoff and I are still eating the baby. I think there are about 2 - 3 pounds left at this point.
Needless to say, Geoff and I are still eating the baby. I think there are about 2 - 3 pounds left at this point.
Wednesday, September 12, 2007
Nothing
For once, I'm not not blogging because I have been too busy or just haven't been paying attention to my blog. I'm just boring! I've done a lot around the house lately and it's looking good... but then, it didn't look bad before. Geoff and I have been looking at buying an RV. Well really, we just were looking at RVs for fun because I love them. But then we found a perfect one and at a great price, since it's a 2006. (that and I'm a good negotiator, things to the Negotiations for Engineers that I took in college) Problem is, it's 8' wide, and the spot next to our house is 8' wide... and also where the utility meters are. So we need something that's about 7' wide, which is much harder to find. We're going to go to the RV show this weekend and check it out. Truthfully, I don't see anything happening on this front for a while (while = months - years, don't know exactly). This afternoon I think we're going to go pick out our Christmas tree. Yes, I know it seems early, but Sleighbells in Sherwood will let you go tag yours early and then you just cut it in November or December. My parents are coming for Christmas, YEAH! I dunno... that's about all for now. Oh someone at work asked me how my new last name was pronounced. For those of you who know what it is, that should be pretty funny. More later if anything ever happens in my life...
Thursday, September 06, 2007
"there's a rat in the house"
First, I am completely ridiculous. After I called my insurance company to add Geoff to my policy last week, they had the names printed on our cards like this:
Geoffrey George Garrison Martin
Kelly Rumquist
So BOTH of Geoff's middle names (the middle and last names are not real (correct initials though)... and story on the two middle names in a minute) and not even my middle initial! It looked so silly.. his name being so long and mine being so short. So since yesterday I had to call to tell them that I got my name changed on my drivers license and I needed a new card with my new name on it (they are cool, they will email you the cards or you can get them on the website anytime, love it!) and I said "I know this is so silly and picky, but can you change the names to either add my middle name or change his to just a middle initial? They did! So now it looks like:
Geoffrey G Martin
Kelly E Martin
It just looks shorter and cleaner. I don't know why I'm so particular. But I really appreciate them for satisfying my whims! I would have been like "no, you're ridiculous, goodbye". Okay, not really, but I would have thought it in my head. And probably blogged about the fool later. So I guess it's good that I'm blogging about the fool (myself) anyway. What fun is a blog if you don't make fun of yourself equally with others?
Story on the middle names: Geoff's great grandfather had no middle name. As he was growing up, it was always frustrating to him because he'd have to explain to people he had no middle name, he never had anything to put in the middle name box, etc. So when he had kids (6) he decided to give them all TWO middle names, each starting with the same letter as their first name. For example Emily Emma Elizabeth Martin, or Julie Jane Judith Martin (wow those names aren't really very good combinations together, but you get the idea!). Geoff's grandparents really thought that was cool, so when they had kids (5), they did the same thing. Then Geoff's parents thought that was cool as well, so when they had kids (2) they did it as well. I'm not really sure how many other members of the family (like of the 6 people in Geoff's grandfather's generation, or the 5 people in his dad's generation) did the same thing, but I know not all of them did/will. To me, it seems like MORE of a pain to have to have two middle names... like it's funny to me that the first dude had no middle name so he gave his kid two middle names... but that can be a problem logistically, explaining to people, etc. too. So it fixed one problem but created another one! :) Geoff and I have (for the most part, subject to change) decided that if we have kids, we will probably do one with the two middle names and others without it. There's a reason behind that too but I'm not quite ready to blog it just yet.
And now my last story for now. At work we have this area of little "cubby" type things where you can drop off outgoing stamped mail (personal or work related), interoffice mail, etc. I frequently take advantage of it, it's picked up between 10 and 11 AM and it's very handy. Well yesterday I go to drop off some mail and I see this sign:
"To the Netflix thief: watch the movies and then put them back in the mail!
To all others: don't put anything in here that you really care about! There's a rat in the house."
Yikes... I hope the "rat" doesn't care about my thank you notes and my letters requesting my name changed... if anyone hasn't received a thank you note, now you know why! :)
Geoffrey George Garrison Martin
Kelly Rumquist
So BOTH of Geoff's middle names (the middle and last names are not real (correct initials though)... and story on the two middle names in a minute) and not even my middle initial! It looked so silly.. his name being so long and mine being so short. So since yesterday I had to call to tell them that I got my name changed on my drivers license and I needed a new card with my new name on it (they are cool, they will email you the cards or you can get them on the website anytime, love it!) and I said "I know this is so silly and picky, but can you change the names to either add my middle name or change his to just a middle initial? They did! So now it looks like:
Geoffrey G Martin
Kelly E Martin
It just looks shorter and cleaner. I don't know why I'm so particular. But I really appreciate them for satisfying my whims! I would have been like "no, you're ridiculous, goodbye". Okay, not really, but I would have thought it in my head. And probably blogged about the fool later. So I guess it's good that I'm blogging about the fool (myself) anyway. What fun is a blog if you don't make fun of yourself equally with others?
Story on the middle names: Geoff's great grandfather had no middle name. As he was growing up, it was always frustrating to him because he'd have to explain to people he had no middle name, he never had anything to put in the middle name box, etc. So when he had kids (6) he decided to give them all TWO middle names, each starting with the same letter as their first name. For example Emily Emma Elizabeth Martin, or Julie Jane Judith Martin (wow those names aren't really very good combinations together, but you get the idea!). Geoff's grandparents really thought that was cool, so when they had kids (5), they did the same thing. Then Geoff's parents thought that was cool as well, so when they had kids (2) they did it as well. I'm not really sure how many other members of the family (like of the 6 people in Geoff's grandfather's generation, or the 5 people in his dad's generation) did the same thing, but I know not all of them did/will. To me, it seems like MORE of a pain to have to have two middle names... like it's funny to me that the first dude had no middle name so he gave his kid two middle names... but that can be a problem logistically, explaining to people, etc. too. So it fixed one problem but created another one! :) Geoff and I have (for the most part, subject to change) decided that if we have kids, we will probably do one with the two middle names and others without it. There's a reason behind that too but I'm not quite ready to blog it just yet.
And now my last story for now. At work we have this area of little "cubby" type things where you can drop off outgoing stamped mail (personal or work related), interoffice mail, etc. I frequently take advantage of it, it's picked up between 10 and 11 AM and it's very handy. Well yesterday I go to drop off some mail and I see this sign:
"To the Netflix thief: watch the movies and then put them back in the mail!
To all others: don't put anything in here that you really care about! There's a rat in the house."
Yikes... I hope the "rat" doesn't care about my thank you notes and my letters requesting my name changed... if anyone hasn't received a thank you note, now you know why! :)
Wednesday, September 05, 2007
"Oh crap, I lost Kelly"
Last night was interesting. Geoff woke me up at 4 AM and then ripped the pillow out from underneath my head. Um, okay. That must be some weird dream. He felt ready bad about it this morning when I gave him a hard time about it. ;-)
Also, he said that when I woke up to shower this morning, he woke up a few minutes after me and looked over and didn't see me and thought "Oh crap, I lost Kelly! Where did she go?" Then he heard the shower. Hehe.
And my mom had a dream that Julie and Gary (Geoff's parents) were moving all of our stuff for us... but she didn't know why. And it was just a bunch of teeny tiny little things.
Strange happenings...
Also, he said that when I woke up to shower this morning, he woke up a few minutes after me and looked over and didn't see me and thought "Oh crap, I lost Kelly! Where did she go?" Then he heard the shower. Hehe.
And my mom had a dream that Julie and Gary (Geoff's parents) were moving all of our stuff for us... but she didn't know why. And it was just a bunch of teeny tiny little things.
Strange happenings...
Crazy feedback lady
I have become crazy feedback lady. As I run into roadblocks with the name change process, I am trying to provide feedback to the companies/agencies that I have difficulties with. I'm not angry or trying to be mean to people (especially the customer service representatives), I just honestly want to make the process easier for others! It's already time consuming enough as it is without getting wrong information or having to do extra things to get it done. So I wrote a letter to Comcast Corporate Headquarters (in process, to be published on blog at later date) to inform them that I thought their process was too complicated. And I just submitted this form as feedback to the Oregon DMV:
Form Confirmation
Thank you for submitting the following information:
Reason: Web Site ContentProblem_Page: Info_Found:
Specify_if_Other
Comments
I am going through the process of changing my name due to marriage. One of the things I need to do per DMV guideline is change the title on my car. At the name change website: http://www.oregon.gov/ODOT/DMV/dv/chgname.shtml it says to use the "Request for Correction of Title Records" to change one's name on your title. However, in person at the Tanasbourne Express DMV office as well as on the phone at the DMV Portland metro phone number, I was advised to use the "Application for Title and Registration" to change my name. Sounds like the website might need to be updated. :)
Unable_to_find
Return to the form.
Friendly enough? I hope so.
Form Confirmation
Thank you for submitting the following information:
Reason: Web Site ContentProblem_Page: Info_Found:
Specify_if_Other
Comments
I am going through the process of changing my name due to marriage. One of the things I need to do per DMV guideline is change the title on my car. At the name change website: http://www.oregon.gov/ODOT/DMV/dv/chgname.shtml it says to use the "Request for Correction of Title Records" to change one's name on your title. However, in person at the Tanasbourne Express DMV office as well as on the phone at the DMV Portland metro phone number, I was advised to use the "Application for Title and Registration" to change my name. Sounds like the website might need to be updated. :)
Unable_to_find
Return to the form.
Friendly enough? I hope so.
Tuesday, September 04, 2007
Quick Comcast Rant
No one likes Comcast. Seriously, read online forums and you will see a lot of "Com-crap" and such, people think they are a monopoly, overpriced, bad customer service, etc.
Here are my two recent vents about Comcast:
1. Refusal to carry the Big 10 Network. I'm not anxious to switch to Direct TV and we don't have FIOS TV available in my area, so I am stuck having to go elsewhere to watch Northwestern football games this season.
2. Requiring an in person visit to their service center to change one's name. SERIOUSLY!? You won't even let me mail you in a copy of my marriage certificate like the other 40+ agencies I've already talked to will? Seriously, I can understand you not wanting to let me do it online, or even on the phone... but at least let me do it by mail. Your nearest service center is 25 minutes away from where I live! What if the other 40 establishments all wanted me to visit them too? I think my credit card companies and banks would be slightly more particular about my name than a random utility, but they seem to have been fine with either a phone call or a letter with a marriage certificate. Ridiculous.
Here are my two recent vents about Comcast:
1. Refusal to carry the Big 10 Network. I'm not anxious to switch to Direct TV and we don't have FIOS TV available in my area, so I am stuck having to go elsewhere to watch Northwestern football games this season.
2. Requiring an in person visit to their service center to change one's name. SERIOUSLY!? You won't even let me mail you in a copy of my marriage certificate like the other 40+ agencies I've already talked to will? Seriously, I can understand you not wanting to let me do it online, or even on the phone... but at least let me do it by mail. Your nearest service center is 25 minutes away from where I live! What if the other 40 establishments all wanted me to visit them too? I think my credit card companies and banks would be slightly more particular about my name than a random utility, but they seem to have been fine with either a phone call or a letter with a marriage certificate. Ridiculous.
Fun on the phone...
Okay, so I'm on a conference call, and keep having to loudly blow my nose. Every time I start to blow, I remember I'm on the phone and look frantically at my phone (mid-blow) to make sure the mute button is still blinking. Luckily, I've been safe so far. :)
Also, I've been on this call for about 45 minutes. One of my suppliers has called THREE TIMES in that 45 minute period (I have caller ID). They also have not left a message (I have a voicemail light that lights up). Just leave me a message, I'll call you back! Or, better yet, just send me an email... then I'd get back to you right now, since I can obviously be on the computer right not but I can't be on the phone while I'm on the phone!
Wow two entries in a day... it is pretty fun to just share all of my crazy little thoughts with you people...
Also, I've been on this call for about 45 minutes. One of my suppliers has called THREE TIMES in that 45 minute period (I have caller ID). They also have not left a message (I have a voicemail light that lights up). Just leave me a message, I'll call you back! Or, better yet, just send me an email... then I'd get back to you right now, since I can obviously be on the computer right not but I can't be on the phone while I'm on the phone!
Wow two entries in a day... it is pretty fun to just share all of my crazy little thoughts with you people...
Thai Food
Geoff and I went to my favorite Thai place, Thai Princess, approximately a year ago (it was probably even longer than that, I don't know for sure). We both got medium spicy Pad Thai. He thought it was way too spicy and he hated it and refused to eat Thai again for the longest time. I have only had Thai on rare occasion for the past year, whenever I could convince a friend to go with me. For some reason, last week he agreed to meet me at Thai Princess for lunch. He had mild spicy Pad Thai... and LOVED IT. We've had Thai 3 times in the past week. He can't get enough of it. He says it's my fault for making him order medium spicy last time... apparently, since I ordered it, he had to order it too because it wouldn't be "manly" to order a less spicy food than your girlfriend. LAME!!! I can't believe I missed out on a year's worth of Thai food because of this. I told him I might cut him off for the next year to see how he likes it... although, at this rate, I'm going "catch up" from the entire year in a month. I'm sick of Thai already! Although that Thai cookbook my mom got me will come in handy now... :)
The process of changing your name is so interesting. Nerd that I am, I have made a fancy tracker in Excel. I put in the place I need to change it, method of change (sending a letter, phone call, visiting an office in person, etc.), and date of change. When the date is in, it adds it to my "percent completed". As of this morning I am at 43% completed. Yes, I am a total complete dork and I realize this. Secretly, I think I am cooler than anyone else who changes his/her name... I have a colorful, fancy tracker. It even has weird random stuff, like changing my name on Noodlegrams (the emails I get from Noodles & Company). There are 59 items on it currently... I know I will continue to think of more! Yaaaaaaaaay for dorks! :)
The process of changing your name is so interesting. Nerd that I am, I have made a fancy tracker in Excel. I put in the place I need to change it, method of change (sending a letter, phone call, visiting an office in person, etc.), and date of change. When the date is in, it adds it to my "percent completed". As of this morning I am at 43% completed. Yes, I am a total complete dork and I realize this. Secretly, I think I am cooler than anyone else who changes his/her name... I have a colorful, fancy tracker. It even has weird random stuff, like changing my name on Noodlegrams (the emails I get from Noodles & Company). There are 59 items on it currently... I know I will continue to think of more! Yaaaaaaaaay for dorks! :)
Monday, September 03, 2007
sick
I'm sick. I've been sick since Friday. I even came home from work early on Friday because I was sick. I'm not a fan! It's boring to be sick, especially on a weekend that you have tons of fun stuff planned. This weekend I missed an NU alumni event (watching the game on Big Ten Network at a bar), Joelapalooza (a family event with Geoff's family), and Carrie & Mark's wedding reception. I did go to Carrie and Mark's wedding because I refused not to go, but it was painful because I was so sick! At this point my entire nose is just totally raw - ew. I have gone through almost an entire box of tissues just over the weekend. Tylenol Cold is my new best friend. I am at work now... I figured it'd be good for me to be up and around a little and I won't be getting anyone else sick since no one else is here. I will only stay another hour or two. But I have gotten a lot done, which is nice. I hate being sick! (does anyone LIKE being sick?)
In fun news, I use Google Analytics to track who is reading my blog (yes, I'm stalking you stalking me!). Oh speaking of fun Google tools, if you don't use Google Reader, start. You're just ridiculous if you don't! If you have questions, let me know, but it will make your life 236892362 times easier and you will be able to read 23589678% more blogs! Anyway. So the number one way people find my blog via google? By googling: kelly geoff blog. Here's a few other fun ones (quotes shown exactly as they were googled):
"i met james van der beek"
"big bacon omelette"
"oringial pancake house" franchise
"ryan zordan
"tampons at work"
costco hood to coast
p-town blog
porn star vin's
scottsdale old navy hours (I actually checked this one - my blog shows up on the very bottom of the 10th page of Google)
I also got three visitors from Marisa Mitchell mentioning me in her blog. 19% of readers visit my blog just once... 15% of readers visit over 200 times. The majority of people (26%) visit between 100 and 200 times. 86% of people visit for between 0 and 10 seconds - HA! I love that one. I really know how to captivate my audience, huh? ;-) In the past month I had visitors from 9 countries - 270 from the US, 2 from Australia, 2 from Canada, and a handful from various other places. Citywise - 83 Chicago visitors, 38 Phoenix visitors, 33 Denver visitors, 25 Troudale (that's in Oregon) visitors, 14 Hillsboro (also Oregon) visitors, 11 Atlanta Visitors, 7 Scottsdale (that's Arizona) visitors, 6 Portland visitors, and 5 Richardson (Dallas, TX where my parents live) visitors. 81% of my visitors are returning.
I don't know what all of that means (for instance, why would 81% of my visitors return but only read for 10 seconds... makes no sense... well, maybe they're not using Google Reader so they're checking to see if I've updated and I probably haven't). And I probably just bored you all to death (except maybe the keywords part, that's the best part!). Oh well, I had fun!
In fun news, I use Google Analytics to track who is reading my blog (yes, I'm stalking you stalking me!). Oh speaking of fun Google tools, if you don't use Google Reader, start. You're just ridiculous if you don't! If you have questions, let me know, but it will make your life 236892362 times easier and you will be able to read 23589678% more blogs! Anyway. So the number one way people find my blog via google? By googling: kelly geoff blog. Here's a few other fun ones (quotes shown exactly as they were googled):
"i met james van der beek"
"big bacon omelette"
"oringial pancake house" franchise
"ryan zordan
"tampons at work"
costco hood to coast
p-town blog
porn star vin's
scottsdale old navy hours (I actually checked this one - my blog shows up on the very bottom of the 10th page of Google)
I also got three visitors from Marisa Mitchell mentioning me in her blog. 19% of readers visit my blog just once... 15% of readers visit over 200 times. The majority of people (26%) visit between 100 and 200 times. 86% of people visit for between 0 and 10 seconds - HA! I love that one. I really know how to captivate my audience, huh? ;-) In the past month I had visitors from 9 countries - 270 from the US, 2 from Australia, 2 from Canada, and a handful from various other places. Citywise - 83 Chicago visitors, 38 Phoenix visitors, 33 Denver visitors, 25 Troudale (that's in Oregon) visitors, 14 Hillsboro (also Oregon) visitors, 11 Atlanta Visitors, 7 Scottsdale (that's Arizona) visitors, 6 Portland visitors, and 5 Richardson (Dallas, TX where my parents live) visitors. 81% of my visitors are returning.
I don't know what all of that means (for instance, why would 81% of my visitors return but only read for 10 seconds... makes no sense... well, maybe they're not using Google Reader so they're checking to see if I've updated and I probably haven't). And I probably just bored you all to death (except maybe the keywords part, that's the best part!). Oh well, I had fun!
Wednesday, August 29, 2007
Lots of stuff!
Ooops... I just made the mistake of looking at the kitchen organization section on the Bed, Bath, and Beyond website and now that's all I can think about! Lots of ways to create more space in my kitchen (which is pretty tight with 5 people using it). The reason I was looking at that section is because tonight we bought a hanging basket for fruit and stuff. I can't find it on the BBB website for some reason, but we got the exact one that they have at that Amazon link - although the link looks like there is cardboard or something in the baskets, which there is not. They're square at the bottom and round at the top and they are great! With the organic bin we get (yes we switched companies recently) we often have garlic, tomatoes, avocados, etc. and other things that don't need refrigeration. Plus we have a roommate that eats a lot of fruit. So this stuff just ends up as *CLUTTER* on the counter. The basket creates great vertical storage! I love the way it looks! :) I should have taken a before and after picture... oh well. Plus for the past two years I have had clear plastic letter trays for people's mail. I had them on hand and just set them up as a short term solution when Addy and Christine lived here... now through tons of roommates they have stayed and they are UGLY! So we went to Target and got a mesh three tier organizer (quite similar to this one) and it is so much nicer! We also got a brown storage "box" thing - something like this but not really at all. Helpful, huh? It is a similar size/shape, but it is brown leather. It's also square and was only $14. I got that to put on the coffee table as a catch all (even though I hate catch-alls) for keys, sunglasses, etc. At least it will keep that stuff together instead of finding it weird places, and it will keep it off the counter and make it easier to cook and eat there! YAY! The kitchen looks better already, and there are still some lingering items. I love love love organizing!
We also went to Home Depot for a few things and saw a garage door monitor (Geoff sorta has his eye on a keypad entry thing for the garage door so we were in that section). THIS IS PERFECT FOR ME! I told him this is what I want for Christmas. :) Every night I worry and ask Geoff a thousand times "is the garage door closed?!" About 10% of the time I get dressed and go downstairs to check. This comes from my mother who is a compulsive garage door / front door / back door checker. I swore I would never be her, and I honestly am not even half as bad as her, but I do worry a little with so many roommates. If it was just us I don't think I'd worry so much. Anyway though... with this thing, you have a sensor on the garage and a monitor (think baby monitor) anywhere in your house that has a green light if the door is down and red if it's up. There was a picture on the front of the package of this lady who was reading a book in bed and I was like "GEOFFFFFF!!! This lady is ME!!! Look how nice and relaxed she is with her monitor!!!!" It was too funny. I definitely might need to get that thing. Definitely might. Yes.
Geoff likes Thai food!!! Seriously... we went out for Thai at a place I love about a year ago. He got the medium pad thai and hated it... too spicy. So he wouldn't go and wouldn't go and wouldn't go. Then today we went out for lunch and he agreed to go to Thai for whatever reason. He got the mild pad thai and LOVED it. He kept saying how good it was... aye. A whole year of not much Thai food because "he didn't like it". Oh well, at least we can have it now!
Well... Geoff just got back from a motorcycle ride, so I guess I should wrap it up and go to bed. I didn't so much get to post about Hood to Coast yet, but I'll try to do that by this weekend. Peace out homies! (yes that is a tribute to Molls and Stine)
We also went to Home Depot for a few things and saw a garage door monitor (Geoff sorta has his eye on a keypad entry thing for the garage door so we were in that section). THIS IS PERFECT FOR ME! I told him this is what I want for Christmas. :) Every night I worry and ask Geoff a thousand times "is the garage door closed?!" About 10% of the time I get dressed and go downstairs to check. This comes from my mother who is a compulsive garage door / front door / back door checker. I swore I would never be her, and I honestly am not even half as bad as her, but I do worry a little with so many roommates. If it was just us I don't think I'd worry so much. Anyway though... with this thing, you have a sensor on the garage and a monitor (think baby monitor) anywhere in your house that has a green light if the door is down and red if it's up. There was a picture on the front of the package of this lady who was reading a book in bed and I was like "GEOFFFFFF!!! This lady is ME!!! Look how nice and relaxed she is with her monitor!!!!" It was too funny. I definitely might need to get that thing. Definitely might. Yes.
Geoff likes Thai food!!! Seriously... we went out for Thai at a place I love about a year ago. He got the medium pad thai and hated it... too spicy. So he wouldn't go and wouldn't go and wouldn't go. Then today we went out for lunch and he agreed to go to Thai for whatever reason. He got the mild pad thai and LOVED it. He kept saying how good it was... aye. A whole year of not much Thai food because "he didn't like it". Oh well, at least we can have it now!
Well... Geoff just got back from a motorcycle ride, so I guess I should wrap it up and go to bed. I didn't so much get to post about Hood to Coast yet, but I'll try to do that by this weekend. Peace out homies! (yes that is a tribute to Molls and Stine)
Tuesday, August 28, 2007
YAY!
I realized (okay I googled and found out) that by going to "Settings" and "Permissions" in Blogger, you can "invite others" to contribute to your blog. So I invited my new gmail address and now here I am posting from it. I no longer have to sign out of gmail to blog which makes me much more likely to blog! I also invited Geoff to blog on my blog. I am quite sure he won't, but if he does, you should see it at the bottom. I think it will say the time/date and then "by Geoff". Mine most likely will start saying "by Kelly" soon... let me go check!
Monday, August 27, 2007
Newest pet peeve!
Does it annoy anyone else that facebook always says "Jim Bob has removed kayaking from their interests"? Why not say his/her interest, or even use the gender designation that individual has chosen to determine which to say. Their is just so blatently WRONG!
I was crazy yesterday with being annoyed with just about everything! That's what no sleep and being cooped up in a van for 36+ hours will do to a person. :) Things are looking up today.
Full H2C update to come soon...
I was crazy yesterday with being annoyed with just about everything! That's what no sleep and being cooped up in a van for 36+ hours will do to a person. :) Things are looking up today.
Full H2C update to come soon...
Wednesday, August 22, 2007
Resolution
I forgot to update you on what happened on Sunday! (or was it Saturday?) In either case, I talked to the guys and they were like "yeah, we knew you didn't want clutter... sorry, I forgot to pick up my ipod last night, but we're totally cool with the no clutter thing, we want this room to look good too!" So they were on board... only silly Geoff didn't understand. ;-) And the room looks great!
I am still annoyed about Blogger. I need to email Google to see what I can do about getting my blog moved over to my new Google account, because as it is I have to sign out of gmail to update my blog and that's lame.
I switched Geoff's car insurance to mine (I have USAA which I will rave about another time, although I think I already have) and it went down by 75%! YAY!
Hood to Coast is Friday... I'm leaving in about 2 minutes for the first of 6 trips to the airport between now and next Monday! I have the Tahoe... hehehe. :) I have my shopping list ready for all of the stuff I need to get for our pasta dinner tomorrow and also to just have in the car with us. I'm totally not in good enough shape running-wise, but who cares. It will be a blast anyway! And I'm so looking forward to seeing old friends and meeting new ones!
I am still annoyed about Blogger. I need to email Google to see what I can do about getting my blog moved over to my new Google account, because as it is I have to sign out of gmail to update my blog and that's lame.
I switched Geoff's car insurance to mine (I have USAA which I will rave about another time, although I think I already have) and it went down by 75%! YAY!
Hood to Coast is Friday... I'm leaving in about 2 minutes for the first of 6 trips to the airport between now and next Monday! I have the Tahoe... hehehe. :) I have my shopping list ready for all of the stuff I need to get for our pasta dinner tomorrow and also to just have in the car with us. I'm totally not in good enough shape running-wise, but who cares. It will be a blast anyway! And I'm so looking forward to seeing old friends and meeting new ones!
Saturday, August 18, 2007
Better!
Lest you worry, I feel much better after a good night's sleep. Geoff read my blog last night and felt so bad that I thought he thought I treated him like a pet. He said that wasn't what he meant at all, that he meant I showed him a different way of viewing the world. He said before that he never would have thought of fluffing the pillows on a couch, or making sure the remotes were back in their space. He also said he was a messy slob (that part was funny!) before, and didn't even know it! He is glad that he tries to think about those types of things now, because now he feels like he can go to someone's house and be respectful and polite, whereas before he wasn't and didn't even realize it. I'm probably not explaining it very well, but it was a very nice conversation and he felt so bad! Poor thing.
It is cool living with all of the guys and Geoff. I bring my thoughts to Geoff first because he is obviously best in the position to understand the "man's perspective" and my perspective. Like "is it crazy to ask guys to wear only pink on Tuesdays so that everyone that lives here all looks uniform?" "ummm, yes honey!" (okay that one never happened, but wouldn't it be funny if it did!?!? ;-)) We have fun!
I have the dishwasher running and a load of clothes in the washer. Today is big cleaning day before we have 3 out of town guests stay with us for all of next weekend! Off to scrub the guest bathroom...
It is cool living with all of the guys and Geoff. I bring my thoughts to Geoff first because he is obviously best in the position to understand the "man's perspective" and my perspective. Like "is it crazy to ask guys to wear only pink on Tuesdays so that everyone that lives here all looks uniform?" "ummm, yes honey!" (okay that one never happened, but wouldn't it be funny if it did!?!? ;-)) We have fun!
I have the dishwasher running and a load of clothes in the washer. Today is big cleaning day before we have 3 out of town guests stay with us for all of next weekend! Off to scrub the guest bathroom...
Friday, August 17, 2007
ANNOYED
I am annoyed. It's a little late so I might be a tad crabby, plus I didn't get my run yet AGAIN. This week has been so dang busy and things just have not worked out how I've wanted them to. Here are things I'm annoyed about:
- RUDE people. I expect a basic level of etiquette from people. No, I don't care if you are Miss Manners or not, but know a few basics! (this might be partially left over from wedding planning)
- Blogger. I'm trying to switch names and it's not working very well with keeping me signed into my gmail on my new email address and blogger with my old email address. Google and their world domination...
- Geoff says I should complain about the guys. But I'm not really annoyed with them at all, just annoyed with myself that I miscommunicated to them yesterday! We moved a big TV from the "man room" to the living room, which was fine. We talked about how it was still the living room and they couldn't leave things laying around (dishes, etc). I thought it was clear that it is the room people see when they first walk into the house and would it would always be neat, clean, and presentable. The guys were down there playing video games earlier tonight, which was great. Then Geoff and I got home late tonight and I find a laptop, an ipod, and a video game contoller laying out, pillows strewn about, etc. I HATE CLUTTER. HATE IT. It probably should have been the first word in this bullet point. But anyway, so I tidy up and grumble about it. Apparently it was not clear to the male species that this was still the living room. It is a communial room for all, and when I want to go to the living room or have a guest over, I don't want to have to move a laptop from a chair or straighten up the pillows. It should be ready to go at all times unless people are in it. Geoff says this is impossible because guys don't get that. And I can't "train 3 guys the way I've trained him". Which also made me angry because it made me feel like he thinks he's my pet or something. He says the only solution is to just move the TV back to the other room. I don't want to TRAIN grown adults, but I don't want to just move the TV either. (they are all gone which is why I'm venting here, not discussing). I just want to discuss and see if they would rather move the TV or just work on keeping the room tidy. If you're done with your xbox contoller, put it back in the TV console. When you get up off the couch, put the pillow back against the edge. It takes 2 seconds but would save my sanity. Or if the clutter stays in the back room that used to be the man room, then I can ignore it. We'll figure something out.
Vent over.
Goodnight. :)
- RUDE people. I expect a basic level of etiquette from people. No, I don't care if you are Miss Manners or not, but know a few basics! (this might be partially left over from wedding planning)
- Blogger. I'm trying to switch names and it's not working very well with keeping me signed into my gmail on my new email address and blogger with my old email address. Google and their world domination...
- Geoff says I should complain about the guys. But I'm not really annoyed with them at all, just annoyed with myself that I miscommunicated to them yesterday! We moved a big TV from the "man room" to the living room, which was fine. We talked about how it was still the living room and they couldn't leave things laying around (dishes, etc). I thought it was clear that it is the room people see when they first walk into the house and would it would always be neat, clean, and presentable. The guys were down there playing video games earlier tonight, which was great. Then Geoff and I got home late tonight and I find a laptop, an ipod, and a video game contoller laying out, pillows strewn about, etc. I HATE CLUTTER. HATE IT. It probably should have been the first word in this bullet point. But anyway, so I tidy up and grumble about it. Apparently it was not clear to the male species that this was still the living room. It is a communial room for all, and when I want to go to the living room or have a guest over, I don't want to have to move a laptop from a chair or straighten up the pillows. It should be ready to go at all times unless people are in it. Geoff says this is impossible because guys don't get that. And I can't "train 3 guys the way I've trained him". Which also made me angry because it made me feel like he thinks he's my pet or something. He says the only solution is to just move the TV back to the other room. I don't want to TRAIN grown adults, but I don't want to just move the TV either. (they are all gone which is why I'm venting here, not discussing). I just want to discuss and see if they would rather move the TV or just work on keeping the room tidy. If you're done with your xbox contoller, put it back in the TV console. When you get up off the couch, put the pillow back against the edge. It takes 2 seconds but would save my sanity. Or if the clutter stays in the back room that used to be the man room, then I can ignore it. We'll figure something out.
Vent over.
Goodnight. :)
Quote of the Day
I am at work updating a lot of my marital status information through our online systems. I updated my life insurance information, then texted Geoff to tell him he was now on my life insurance. He wrote back "Yay! Don't die."
Tuesday, August 14, 2007
Wedding
Okay... I know you've all been waiting 4 days to find out the answer... did I run?! YES!!! I did. I got up at 8 AM and was out on the street by 8:10. I made a mistake though... the first half of my run I was on the east side of the street which was great because it provided shade... the second half I ran on the west side of the street. BIG MISTAKE... it was ridiculously hard/hot/sunny. Won't do that again in Dallas.
After the run I took a shower and then ate some of my sister's Trix. Hung out for a while and went to the church to get ready around 11. Taylor, Rebecca, Christine and I were there and just hung out eating cheese and crackers for a while. My hair and makeup was the only real thing we did... at 1 Annette (our photographer) and her crew (an assistant and another amazing photographer named Jason) came, and Geoff and Trevor came shortly afterwards. At that point we did lots of pictures in the Bride's Room, just stuff with us getting ready, giving gifts to the wedding party, stuff like that. TONS of people came to see me in the Bride's Room. Actually I think every woman who was at the wedding, plus my dad! It was awesome. At around 2:30 (I think, this timeline is all so rough) I put my dress on and put the finishing touches like shoes and veil on. I was cool as a cucumber the whole time - until I stepped out of the Bride's Room. Then I cried! Idiot. :) Oh well. I was like "get yourself together!" I pulled it together pretty quickly and by the time Christine and Rebecca started walking down the aisle I was good. Then it was my turn... I walked to Hayden's Serenade, which was the song I played in my very first flute competition. I practiced that piece for so long, it is by far the piece of music I've worked hardest in my life. I wanted something different and it was PERFECT! Geoff even asked me later to get the CD or something for him so he could hear it again, because he loved it (the only time he'd heard it before that was in the rehearsal). Geoff told me that the whole rest of the room blurred when I entered the room... he didn't even see my dad walking me down the aisle, he only saw me. (actually I didn't know that until today). He looked GREAT!!! The guys couldn't find ties until the day before the wedding, but they finally bought silver ties and orange pocket squares which looked great. I loved it. So we had our wedding... I couldn't look at Geoff while he said his vows to me so I looked at his chest. I looked at him when I said my vows though. While I was saying my vows, I didn't know how to make my voice sound so I kept changing it from low to high... people thought I was crying but I was just trying to sound good! That was pretty funny. :) The other thing I loved about our wedding was that it was funny. Pastor Anna made funny comments every now and then and Geoff and I kept squeezing each other's hands during funny or special parts to us... it was just really cool! Maybe everyone does that but it was cool. And then she prayed and I took that opportunity to fix my veil, which was literally about to fall off! I literally took it off and put it back on during the prayer! Ooops. And I think my favorite part was communion. I loved having communion! I've never seen that during a wedding before and it was so special to be able to serve each other communion and then serve it to all of our wedding guests. And Russ came to our wedding! I haven't seen him since a month after we graduated so it was awesome for him to be there! After that we took tons of pictures... it took a long time but was so worth it. I can't WAIT to see the pictures. Then Geoff and I went to a playground to take pictures... we wanted engagement pictures in a playground but it was too rainy, so we did them in our dress and suit! It was hot but I CANNOT WAIT TO SEE THOSE PICTURES!! It was sooooo much fun doing those, we were so relaxed and just having fun and I know they'll turn out great. LOL - Geoff is sitting next to me watching Mythbusters, and I don't know what reminded him of this (a commercial maybe?) but he just said "our photographer had an iphone. (Jason). He said he was eating a lot of ham sandwiches because of it but it was worth it." That's cool. Geoff loved Jason... he said if he lived in Dallas he'd definitely be friends with him. Then we went to our hotel... The Richardson Hotel... changed clothes, (got an upgraded room!) and then to our reception. We had my dad's car so we actually went in the garage door (it was at my parent's house) and kinda caught people off guard. My poor parents, especially my mom, worked SO hard that night. They'd hired a maid which was really great, but I wish I'd thought of that aspect before. Well, we were originally going to just have grandparents/parents/siblings at our wedding and a big dinner out which sort of involved to inviting more folks and having a BBQ at my parent's house. Which unfortunately meant that my parents were busy doing stuff and weren't able to have as much fun. If I had to change one thing about the wedding, it'd be that. But... I think everyone else had an absolute blast! I know I did! The "kids" (cousins and siblings) convinced me to even get in the pool at the end of the night! It was great. I loved talking to family friends and family and Russ and his girlfriend (she was wonderful and it was great catching up with Russ). We had probably 50 people there and I don't know what we would have done if it had been bigger! I felt like we neglected everyone! We had DQ ice cream cakes for our cake, which was a hit! (I think... at least it was with me!). Trevor and Christine both gave amazing toasts and we had fun cutting our cake. Annette took some awesome pictures... she did some cool things with our rings like putting them in our M&M favors and other neat artistic things. It was just such a fun night. VERY VERY relaxed and tons of fun. It was absolutely perfect. Geoff and I ended up going home around 11:30... we were the last people to leave! :)
Sunday we had a brunch for the grandparents/parents/siblings. It was soooo nice... my mom used all of her "fancy" china and crystal and stuff and it was nice to have a smaller group to talk to. After that people started leaving for the airport and Geoff and I spent the day hanging out with my parents and sister. We really didn't do much. :) We had dinner (leftovers of course!) at my parents and then went to our hotel.
Monday morning we had room service! It was the first time either of us has had room service and it was delish. A great post-wedding treat. After that we went to my parents to get packed up (it was so hard being between home/church/2 hotels). Then off to the airport. We got home around 10 last night. Trevor and Kristy picked us up from the airport.
Today was movie day... we stayed in bed most of the day watching the "Bourne" movies except to go to the theatre to watch the third. I've never seen them so that was fun! Our room/house is a disaster - we have Geoff about half moved into our "new" room (the master suite / my old room) and in addition to that we have our suitcases and some wedding gifts taking up our entire floor space. Plus downstairs there are boxes from wedding gifts everywhere. We have tons of work to do to get the house ready for 3 visitors and a team dinner for H2C next week! But it will get done. :) Very fun! Back to work tomorrow!
After the run I took a shower and then ate some of my sister's Trix. Hung out for a while and went to the church to get ready around 11. Taylor, Rebecca, Christine and I were there and just hung out eating cheese and crackers for a while. My hair and makeup was the only real thing we did... at 1 Annette (our photographer) and her crew (an assistant and another amazing photographer named Jason) came, and Geoff and Trevor came shortly afterwards. At that point we did lots of pictures in the Bride's Room, just stuff with us getting ready, giving gifts to the wedding party, stuff like that. TONS of people came to see me in the Bride's Room. Actually I think every woman who was at the wedding, plus my dad! It was awesome. At around 2:30 (I think, this timeline is all so rough) I put my dress on and put the finishing touches like shoes and veil on. I was cool as a cucumber the whole time - until I stepped out of the Bride's Room. Then I cried! Idiot. :) Oh well. I was like "get yourself together!" I pulled it together pretty quickly and by the time Christine and Rebecca started walking down the aisle I was good. Then it was my turn... I walked to Hayden's Serenade, which was the song I played in my very first flute competition. I practiced that piece for so long, it is by far the piece of music I've worked hardest in my life. I wanted something different and it was PERFECT! Geoff even asked me later to get the CD or something for him so he could hear it again, because he loved it (the only time he'd heard it before that was in the rehearsal). Geoff told me that the whole rest of the room blurred when I entered the room... he didn't even see my dad walking me down the aisle, he only saw me. (actually I didn't know that until today). He looked GREAT!!! The guys couldn't find ties until the day before the wedding, but they finally bought silver ties and orange pocket squares which looked great. I loved it. So we had our wedding... I couldn't look at Geoff while he said his vows to me so I looked at his chest. I looked at him when I said my vows though. While I was saying my vows, I didn't know how to make my voice sound so I kept changing it from low to high... people thought I was crying but I was just trying to sound good! That was pretty funny. :) The other thing I loved about our wedding was that it was funny. Pastor Anna made funny comments every now and then and Geoff and I kept squeezing each other's hands during funny or special parts to us... it was just really cool! Maybe everyone does that but it was cool. And then she prayed and I took that opportunity to fix my veil, which was literally about to fall off! I literally took it off and put it back on during the prayer! Ooops. And I think my favorite part was communion. I loved having communion! I've never seen that during a wedding before and it was so special to be able to serve each other communion and then serve it to all of our wedding guests. And Russ came to our wedding! I haven't seen him since a month after we graduated so it was awesome for him to be there! After that we took tons of pictures... it took a long time but was so worth it. I can't WAIT to see the pictures. Then Geoff and I went to a playground to take pictures... we wanted engagement pictures in a playground but it was too rainy, so we did them in our dress and suit! It was hot but I CANNOT WAIT TO SEE THOSE PICTURES!! It was sooooo much fun doing those, we were so relaxed and just having fun and I know they'll turn out great. LOL - Geoff is sitting next to me watching Mythbusters, and I don't know what reminded him of this (a commercial maybe?) but he just said "our photographer had an iphone. (Jason). He said he was eating a lot of ham sandwiches because of it but it was worth it." That's cool. Geoff loved Jason... he said if he lived in Dallas he'd definitely be friends with him. Then we went to our hotel... The Richardson Hotel... changed clothes, (got an upgraded room!) and then to our reception. We had my dad's car so we actually went in the garage door (it was at my parent's house) and kinda caught people off guard. My poor parents, especially my mom, worked SO hard that night. They'd hired a maid which was really great, but I wish I'd thought of that aspect before. Well, we were originally going to just have grandparents/parents/siblings at our wedding and a big dinner out which sort of involved to inviting more folks and having a BBQ at my parent's house. Which unfortunately meant that my parents were busy doing stuff and weren't able to have as much fun. If I had to change one thing about the wedding, it'd be that. But... I think everyone else had an absolute blast! I know I did! The "kids" (cousins and siblings) convinced me to even get in the pool at the end of the night! It was great. I loved talking to family friends and family and Russ and his girlfriend (she was wonderful and it was great catching up with Russ). We had probably 50 people there and I don't know what we would have done if it had been bigger! I felt like we neglected everyone! We had DQ ice cream cakes for our cake, which was a hit! (I think... at least it was with me!). Trevor and Christine both gave amazing toasts and we had fun cutting our cake. Annette took some awesome pictures... she did some cool things with our rings like putting them in our M&M favors and other neat artistic things. It was just such a fun night. VERY VERY relaxed and tons of fun. It was absolutely perfect. Geoff and I ended up going home around 11:30... we were the last people to leave! :)
Sunday we had a brunch for the grandparents/parents/siblings. It was soooo nice... my mom used all of her "fancy" china and crystal and stuff and it was nice to have a smaller group to talk to. After that people started leaving for the airport and Geoff and I spent the day hanging out with my parents and sister. We really didn't do much. :) We had dinner (leftovers of course!) at my parents and then went to our hotel.
Monday morning we had room service! It was the first time either of us has had room service and it was delish. A great post-wedding treat. After that we went to my parents to get packed up (it was so hard being between home/church/2 hotels). Then off to the airport. We got home around 10 last night. Trevor and Kristy picked us up from the airport.
Today was movie day... we stayed in bed most of the day watching the "Bourne" movies except to go to the theatre to watch the third. I've never seen them so that was fun! Our room/house is a disaster - we have Geoff about half moved into our "new" room (the master suite / my old room) and in addition to that we have our suitcases and some wedding gifts taking up our entire floor space. Plus downstairs there are boxes from wedding gifts everywhere. We have tons of work to do to get the house ready for 3 visitors and a team dinner for H2C next week! But it will get done. :) Very fun! Back to work tomorrow!
Friday, August 10, 2007
My last post as an unmarried woman
okay, I know some of you are probably throwing up in your mouth right now with that title! But I just feel like I should blog so I have SOME record of these days. Today was perfect. This morning I woke up and started helping my mom clean the house. Geoff and his family (Taylor, Julie, Trevor, and Kristy) came over around 11:30 AM and the guys mowed the lawn, the girls cleaned the pool, and Mom, Julie, and I cleaned inside. Gary dropped Rebecca off at around 2 and brought lunch, and took Julie shopping. They stayed until about 4, and then went back to their hotel. I went to David's Bridal to get my dress... and got a call from Geoff that the Malibu, my sister's car that he was borrowing, broke down (the battery died). I told him to call my mom. LOTS of spiritual warfare going on today with all sorts of stuff... which I figure is good, because of the Devil doesn't want us to get married, that must mean that it's good and God does! So I got my dress and picked up one extra corsage, and then back home. Geoff hadn't even called Mom, he just got Gary to pick up a new battery and a couple of tools and fix it (what can I say, he's a car guy!!). Poor thing. I showered and got dressed and ready for the rehearsal, and Geoff brought the Malibu back over. That left us down a car which was kind of an issue. We went to the rehearsal at 7 and it was great. The organist had to leave to go to the church play at about 7:15, so we had to get started right away. Because of that it was VERY fast. But I think it will still go smoothly. i hope. ;-) So then off to the rehearsal dinner - it was a blast! I love Geoff's stepdad (Gary). He is just awesome and was especially so tonight. We had just a great time talking with family and eating great food. Then I came home and wrapped gifts for the wedding party and now I'm going to bed.
The alarm is set for 8 AM tomorrow to get out of bed and go for a run! Even if I just do a quick 20 minute jog, that's better than nothing. H2C in 15 days... ;-)
The alarm is set for 8 AM tomorrow to get out of bed and go for a run! Even if I just do a quick 20 minute jog, that's better than nothing. H2C in 15 days... ;-)
Thursday, August 09, 2007
Pre-wedding
Well, the house is all quiet and I'm just spending some time catching up on work and personal email. :) My family is mostly asleep (my mom's in the office also on the computer, I'm in the living room) and Geoff and his family are at the hotel.
It has been a fun week! The only bad thing is I haven't been to the gym since Monday. This is a HUGE problem - Hood to Coast is 15, yes, 15 days away! That is going to be one painful weekend. I'm hoping for a good long run tomorrow. The good news about that is that both my back and my knee are feeling stronger, so I guess I can just view that as some good rest and recovery time before H2C. Even if I don't run tomorrow, I WILL run on Saturday... that will be my wedding day me-time! It will clear my head and make me feel fresh and fabulous! I love how I feel after a good long run.
Monday and Tuesday were just finishing up things in Oregon... working, packing, stuff like that. Tuesday night Cindy (my fabulous coworker) picked me and Geoff up and we left for the airport! With Wilma the Wedding Dress, of course (pictures to be posted of Wilma's journey at a later date ;-)). Anyway, we got to the airport WELL in advance, checked in, and enjoyed our time at the airport. We had a nice empty flight to SFO which went by quickly. SFO was AWFUL - we had to leave security to get to our next flight, to find that terminal we had to walk through the parking garage, there was mold growing on the ceiling, etc. GROSS. Sorry to my Bay Area friends. ;-) We arrived in Dallas about 6:30 Wednesday morning. My dad picked us up and we came home and went to the justice of the peace for our marriage license (they opened at 8). Well, they don't do marriage licenses until 9! So we came back home (it's only about 5 mintues away) and hung out for a bit. Then we went right at 9 and got the marriage license. Then home for a quick nap before we went to David's Bridal and Men's Warehouse (right next door to each other, how convenient!) to drop off our stuff to be steamed. We came out the doors at the exact same time - yay for good timing! Then we picked up some Boston Market for lunch and came home for a while. Geoff took a looong nap while my sister, mom, and I just talked (we might have done some other stuff but I don't remember!). At 3 we had to go to the church to figure out how we wanted the altar and stuff set up. We ran into both our pastor and organist which was fun! We got that all done and then picked up my sister and went to the mall to get our nails done. Geoff looked for ties while we were doing that (that's right people, we still don't have ties for the groom and best man. And I don't even care! I love our wedding). Then we picked up Taylor and Mike, Geoff's cousin and uncle who are here (Mike came in early for business). We went to dinner at Pei Wei (owned by PF Changs, but fast-style like Chipotle or Panera). Then home for LOTS of swimming in the pool. I judged hand stand contests and races for 2 or 3 hours. Then finally, sleep. :)
This morning we woke up about 9:30 AM to the flowers being delivered! YAY! They are GORGEOUS. They are from costco.com and seriously they are absolutely fabulous! Picture below (okay, I decided to just go ahead and download the pictures tonight, so Wilma pictures below too). Then we needed to get started on errands, so we woke up Geoff, picked up Taylor, and off to Ikea we went. We need tons of candles for the church, so we picked up most of those. Then Costco for food for the reception. I love Costco. Seriously I do not understand my obsession with Costco! Then we came home. We got Geoff working on programs, my sister and Taylor working on favors and running to WalMart, and my mom and I went to Central Market and Tom Thumb (a grocery store). When we got home, we started chopping onions and peppers for kabobs for the wedding. My mom is awesome and had already bought meat and chopped it up and frozen it several weeks ago, so that just had to defrost! Then we skewered, Geoff kept working on programs (the whole thing took him 7 hours!) and Taylor and Christine went out to the pool to clean the deck, swim, and clean the pool. Quite fun! Around 7:30 we were all starving from working all day and not really eating, so I went to Raising Cane's and picked up chicken (I can't remember if I already linked all of this stuff when Geoff and I were here in June... and I haven't linked much lately!). I got a 25 piece tailgate box and 4 orders of fries which ended up being perfect for the 6 of us (my dad was home from work by then). Then we all ran around cleaning up the house (just the clutter so it's ready to really be cleaned tomorrow) and then Geoff and Taylor went home. BUSY day. I can't believe I haven't really been online all day or been to the gym. But we got a LOT done, and my very stressed out mom feels MUCH better. She was most worried about the programs and the kabobs and those were both done by 9 PM, so that's great. Plus I think now she sees what a lot of people can do, and tomorrow we get 5 additional people to add to the mix! (Geoff's family is all here now, YAY!). I'm glad that we were able to get enough done so that Mom can relax a little more. Tomorrow is mostly just cleaning, getting tables set up, etc. The rehearsal is at 7 and the rehearsal dinner is at 8:15. Should be a great time!
Praise: my sister arrived from Spain on Sunday but without her LARGE suitcase with gifts and wedding things in it. It just arrived!
Okay, picture fun time!
Wilma all packed up and ready to go!
Me and Wilma, about to load her into the car!
Me in the Alaska Airlines line with Wilma
Geoff guarding Wilma while eating his Panda Express
Me with Wilma in the parking lot at SFO... and that's the end of her journey pictures, but she really did make it the whole way just fine! She's at David's Bridal being cleaned now!
The flowers, in the GIANT box they arrived in from Costco! They are beautiful, SO fresh, and I just love them!
This is a random. But we were at Costco and saw a car with Illinois plates. Then we saw Harper College and Palatine Township stickers on there! Those are from Palatine, the town in Illinois I'm from! It was so cool... I had to take a picture. My Palatine friends will appreciate this!
Christine and Taylor decided the hot tub was too dirty, so they emptied all the water and threw it in the pool (the pool cleaning system is better than the hot tub). It was a HILARIOUS site to watch, they had an assembly line going so they could get it done quickly enough before it filled back up. Too funny.
Wednesday, August 01, 2007
10 more days!
YIKES we're getting married in 10 days. :) Actually, I'm surprisingly not freaked out or stressed out about it at all! It will be grand. http://www.theknot.com/ourwedding/KellyRobinson&GeoffreyMohr is our wedding website for those of you who haven't seen it. Email me if you want the password. We leave for Dallas in 6 days and we get in Wednesday morning. By this time next week we should have our marriage license and we'll have dropped our suit and dress off at Men's Warehouse and David's Bridal for steaming! :)
Okay this is funny - my friend Emily said this morning "oh Kristin from high school facebook messaged me this morning and asked me to join the service". I was like "WHAT?!" Emily is not military like AT ALL... just very random! I was so confused... then Emily explained that she meant she asked her to join FACEBOOK - not the Marines. That was slightly more normal - although still a little odd since we weren't particularly friends with Kristin. I just thought it was hilarious - "Hmmm... I just love the Army so much! Who should I ask to join me? OH!!! Emily!" Yeah, that would never happen.
So Geoff has a VERY HIGH pain tolerance. When he was a kid, he used to get HORRIBLE ear infections (side note: why do I use caps so much? ugh!). But his pain tolerance was so high that he wouldn't say anything to his mom until they were really bad, and then she'd take him to the doctor. The doctor once said "you need to bring him at the very first sign of pain, this has gotten really bad and it's not healthy". She was like "this was the first sign!" Similarly, Geoff's teacher at school used to ask him all of these questions about his home life, trying to determine if he was getting enough to eat at home because he would always eat so much at lunch! He was like "oh yeah, I had three hamburgers, a salad, and fries (or whatever) for dinner last night!" He was just a hungry kid. His poor mom though - always being accidentally accused of neglect!
Anyway, the reason for telling you about the pain tolerance is because last week Geoff was like "my tooth REALLY hurts". This only went on for a couple of days and he went to the dentist right away. Turns out his wisdom tooth came in and there wasn't room in his mouth for it, so food and stuff got in his gum because it had grown in weird, and it was VERY infected. They put him on penicillin for the infection and vicodin for the pain. Then he was to get it out yesterday. The reason he had to wait until yesterday was so the infection could actually go down a little before they did it. He has lost like 10 pounds in the past week because he can't eat much because of the pain. I think if I was in this much pain I would not be moving. He is a trooper. But yesterday he got it removed and he is in SO much less pain. Most people are down for a couple of days after they get wisdom teeth removed, but it's like he was just let out of prison! He worked on his motorcycle last night and took down a dining room table and chairs and moved them to a friend's condo (we got a new dining room set this weekend). Today he's picking up our new hutch, doing lawn work, and hanging up some shelves. Hilarious...
Okay this is funny - my friend Emily said this morning "oh Kristin from high school facebook messaged me this morning and asked me to join the service". I was like "WHAT?!" Emily is not military like AT ALL... just very random! I was so confused... then Emily explained that she meant she asked her to join FACEBOOK - not the Marines. That was slightly more normal - although still a little odd since we weren't particularly friends with Kristin. I just thought it was hilarious - "Hmmm... I just love the Army so much! Who should I ask to join me? OH!!! Emily!" Yeah, that would never happen.
So Geoff has a VERY HIGH pain tolerance. When he was a kid, he used to get HORRIBLE ear infections (side note: why do I use caps so much? ugh!). But his pain tolerance was so high that he wouldn't say anything to his mom until they were really bad, and then she'd take him to the doctor. The doctor once said "you need to bring him at the very first sign of pain, this has gotten really bad and it's not healthy". She was like "this was the first sign!" Similarly, Geoff's teacher at school used to ask him all of these questions about his home life, trying to determine if he was getting enough to eat at home because he would always eat so much at lunch! He was like "oh yeah, I had three hamburgers, a salad, and fries (or whatever) for dinner last night!" He was just a hungry kid. His poor mom though - always being accidentally accused of neglect!
Anyway, the reason for telling you about the pain tolerance is because last week Geoff was like "my tooth REALLY hurts". This only went on for a couple of days and he went to the dentist right away. Turns out his wisdom tooth came in and there wasn't room in his mouth for it, so food and stuff got in his gum because it had grown in weird, and it was VERY infected. They put him on penicillin for the infection and vicodin for the pain. Then he was to get it out yesterday. The reason he had to wait until yesterday was so the infection could actually go down a little before they did it. He has lost like 10 pounds in the past week because he can't eat much because of the pain. I think if I was in this much pain I would not be moving. He is a trooper. But yesterday he got it removed and he is in SO much less pain. Most people are down for a couple of days after they get wisdom teeth removed, but it's like he was just let out of prison! He worked on his motorcycle last night and took down a dining room table and chairs and moved them to a friend's condo (we got a new dining room set this weekend). Today he's picking up our new hutch, doing lawn work, and hanging up some shelves. Hilarious...
Wednesday, July 25, 2007
Bad retail and good retail
Something you don't think about very often: one retail job is not like the other. Yes, they definitely all have bad hours, long shifts, annoying customers, etc. But some stores are places people WANT to be, and some stores are places people do NOT want to be. For example: Hallmark. If you're going to Hallmark, probably 90% of the time it's because you are celebrating a birthday, holiday, wedding, etc. There's that 10% that you're getting a sympathy card or just have to get an obligatory gift, but usually you're pretty happy to be at Hallmark. Then there are auto parts stores. There, probably 90% of people are disgruntled because their battery died and they need a new one, or they have to replace their spark plugs, etc. There are the 10% of people that just need some air freshener or some new car wash soap, but in general people are probably not thrilled about having to fix their car, even if it's just regular maintenance. Somewhere like Target is probably more blended: maybe 25% of people are going to get some new fun clothes or a new CD, 50% of people just need some new laundry detergent and are pretty neutral, and 25% of people are there because they're sick and need some cold medicine or whatever. Just an interesting thought.
Tuesday, July 24, 2007
Dust overnight?
Yesterday Geoff and I were dining out and it was late in the evening. A waitress was putting glasses out on a table near us and I said "oh, looks like they're getting ready for tomorrow". Geoff said "If they're getting ready for tomorrow, she should put those glasses upside down so dust doesn't get in them!" I laughed. Dust overnight?!? I think it's ridiculous (not that dust couldn't get in them overnight, but I wouldn't worry about it one way or the other for one night). What do you think?
Tuesday, July 17, 2007
A good and a bad
Haven't felt much like blogging lately, not sure why. I definitely owe you an update on our weekend at Oma and Opa's, and my shower/bachelorette party this weekend. Both were a blast!
Just today I discovered that gmail trashed 2 / 3 comments on the Raw Celery Disease post! Odd. They were fun to read... too bad I didn't get to read them when they were actually written. And why 1 of them wasn't trashed, I dunno. ESPECIALLY since Blogger and Google are friends!
I just cleaned off my desk with desk cleaner. It was nasty. I need to do a big desk cleaning – like major overhaul. Go through all of my papers I’ve been accumulating for 3 years, file them or toss them, clean off everything, put up new pictures, etc! I have all of these pictures from graduation, senior week, etc. I need to move on. Freak.
On a positive note: I have finally gotten to a point where I love running again and it doesn’t kill me to run for 10 minutes at a time. YAY!
(I can run for more than 10 minutes. It just seemed like I was at the point of 10 minutes = death for much longer than I should have been).
Just today I discovered that gmail trashed 2 / 3 comments on the Raw Celery Disease post! Odd. They were fun to read... too bad I didn't get to read them when they were actually written. And why 1 of them wasn't trashed, I dunno. ESPECIALLY since Blogger and Google are friends!
I just cleaned off my desk with desk cleaner. It was nasty. I need to do a big desk cleaning – like major overhaul. Go through all of my papers I’ve been accumulating for 3 years, file them or toss them, clean off everything, put up new pictures, etc! I have all of these pictures from graduation, senior week, etc. I need to move on. Freak.
On a positive note: I have finally gotten to a point where I love running again and it doesn’t kill me to run for 10 minutes at a time. YAY!
(I can run for more than 10 minutes. It just seemed like I was at the point of 10 minutes = death for much longer than I should have been).
Thursday, July 05, 2007
Raw celery disease
Have I blogged about this before? I get what I call "raw celery disease" when I eat raw celery. It feels like what I think heartburn feels like... an odd pain in my esophagus. I wouldn't call it a burning, but it just HURTS. Pressing on it or rubbing it can sometimes help. Here is what I find on the internet in my self-diagnosis process:
- eat raw celery to help stop heartburn (umm... not so much!)
- from wiki, raw celery can sometimes cause numbness in the mouth and tongue (no, this is the esophagus / chest area)
- raw celery can cause an allergy, but the allergen doesn't go away when cooked (not me either, cooked celery seems okay)
- raw celery can be helpful in alcoholism (just interesting)
There is NOTHING on raw celery pain in the esophagus. What the heck?!
- eat raw celery to help stop heartburn (umm... not so much!)
- from wiki, raw celery can sometimes cause numbness in the mouth and tongue (no, this is the esophagus / chest area)
- raw celery can cause an allergy, but the allergen doesn't go away when cooked (not me either, cooked celery seems okay)
- raw celery can be helpful in alcoholism (just interesting)
There is NOTHING on raw celery pain in the esophagus. What the heck?!
Tuesday, July 03, 2007
And it's July.
Hello dear friends. Last Thursday was fun... we went out to dinner with our friends Kendra and Beau, then over to their house where the guys played poker with some of Beau's friends and Kendra and I talked. We are already planning our "couple's weekend" for this winter! Kendra and Beau have done it the last two years. They rent a beach house and invite 3 or 4 couples to come and hang out. We went last year and it was a blast! This weekend Geoff and I had "date night in" on Friday - he cooked lasagna and we watched Breach. Not a bad movie, and our first $1 movie from the Redbox! Saturday I woke up and went to the gym, then I went downtown and had brunch with Kristie, then shopping and sitting out at the park. Such a fun day! After that Geoff and I looked at some condos and townhouses. As fun as it would be to buy something that would be more space-appropriate for us and also newer with a more modern kitchen and pre-wired and stuff... it would just be dumb. Honestly. We have fabulous roommates that are fun to live with and provide an additional source of income, plus I just refinanced in December because we both committed to living here for the next 4 years at least. Obviously refinancing doesn't absolutely commit us, and I can think of a couple of reasons we would consider moving, but just to live in a new place is not one of them! It was very fun to look at though. This was our favorite one... we looked at a few other developments as well, one in a VERY nice area of town, but the quality of building didn't seem to be as good, which was a big dealbreaker. They didn't even have linen closets upstairs... and I am VERY particular about storage space! Plus in the Marin (the one linked above) instead of the bedroom 1 / study downstairs, you could have more garage space, which Geoff would LOVE! He'd have a shop area which would be great for him, and I'd love it too because it'd be great for storage. Anyway, that was a lot of fun, and then we went to Russell St. BBQ. Saturday night I had a very vivid dream that the Devil was attacking me, that I won't go into here for fear of freaking people out. Sunday morning I went to church, then I did some laundry and cleaning at home. Sunday evening Geoff and I went for a run together which was a blast and then we went to a very nice dinner with his parents! They took us out to a really great restaurant, and we got to talk about all sorts of stuff. They are having an engagement party for us on July 21 and they asked all about what food, music, flowers, etc. that we want. We are so thankful they are having this party for us and we are grateful for whatever they want to do. We also talked about wedding plans and they offered to very generously help us financially and otherwise with much of the wedding! We were so surprised and blessed by their offers. It was a great evening.
This is not to discount all that my parents are doing as well for the wedding. They have so graciously agreed to host the reception at their house (well, our Dallas reception... we are still going to have an Oregon party at a later time!!), and my mom has spent much of her summer making invitations, announcements, etc. for our wedding. They have provided so much for us and we are very thankful. We are incredibly blessed to both have such wonderful parents that we have grown up having a good relationship with and that we continue to have a good relationship with - and not just me with my parents and him with his... it goes both ways!
Oh, I forgot I wasn't going to talk much about my wedding on my blog. I suck. Monday I went to the gym until 7. Our teacher, Emily, was back from maternity leave and we had a GREAT workout! She looked incredible for just having had a baby 3 months ago! After that I went home and could tell something was wrong with Geoff... turns out he has to work a double shift on July 4th, which means he works until 8:30. He was so upset! Plus his friends were going to see Transformers and had an extra ticket, but he didn't think he'd be able to go because we were supposed to go to Portland Running Company to get him new shoes. I told him to go on ahead, and he did and was very thankful! He had a great time at the movie and I had fun making a lamb recipe that I saw on Rachael Ray. It turned out pretty well! Today I have my Remicade and then we'll just eat leftovers for dinner.
This is not to discount all that my parents are doing as well for the wedding. They have so graciously agreed to host the reception at their house (well, our Dallas reception... we are still going to have an Oregon party at a later time!!), and my mom has spent much of her summer making invitations, announcements, etc. for our wedding. They have provided so much for us and we are very thankful. We are incredibly blessed to both have such wonderful parents that we have grown up having a good relationship with and that we continue to have a good relationship with - and not just me with my parents and him with his... it goes both ways!
Oh, I forgot I wasn't going to talk much about my wedding on my blog. I suck. Monday I went to the gym until 7. Our teacher, Emily, was back from maternity leave and we had a GREAT workout! She looked incredible for just having had a baby 3 months ago! After that I went home and could tell something was wrong with Geoff... turns out he has to work a double shift on July 4th, which means he works until 8:30. He was so upset! Plus his friends were going to see Transformers and had an extra ticket, but he didn't think he'd be able to go because we were supposed to go to Portland Running Company to get him new shoes. I told him to go on ahead, and he did and was very thankful! He had a great time at the movie and I had fun making a lamb recipe that I saw on Rachael Ray. It turned out pretty well! Today I have my Remicade and then we'll just eat leftovers for dinner.
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