I am the cloud above my head...

The latest injury in my ongoing list...my back. I think I stressed something in my back(lower left side) on Monday, aggravated it on Wednesday and then yesterday, really aggravated it. It's not hurting as much now as it was last night, but it was still quite a beyotch to wash my lower body in the shower, put on my socks, and also my shoes. Man, it really sucks...things like this that make me feel older. I was actually gonna go into the gym to get some weights in too, and now, I have to put that on hold...again. I swear, by the time I actually can go back to the gym, I'll be 50. And by that time, there'll be nothing left to work out... :( It's been the longest day because of this back pain. I just wanna go home already and veg out.

I haven't had the chance to blog all week, but I did the Nike Run Hit Wonder run this past weekend! It was so much fun. And Great to get it over with too, but check it out!!!! Here are my results!!!. I'm bib #211. And here are my PICTURES!
Don't I look tired as hell? And yes, I know I wore sweats, I'm insane, but I swear I thought it was gonna be cold! Next time, I'll use my cool running shorts I got, along w/ my shoes!


Anyway, gotta finish all this stuff before I can go home...

I am a few pages missing...

It's been a while since I last blogged. And since then, there have been so many things that have come accross my mind, things I wanted to mention, delve deeper into, or just rant about, but they seem to have slipped my mind. In an attempt to fish out lost thoughts, here's what I came up with:

A moment of silence...
I'm sure everyone's heard of Tillman, the former NFL player who was killed in action in Afghanistan the other day. I send my deepest condolences out to his family and friends and keep him in my thoughts, as with the rest of the soldiers and families who have lost their lives so far and those still fighting. I am in no way knocking on this soldier who was a hero for us, but I think it's kind of sad that he is being called "one of the greatest" heroes in our nation. I don't think it's right to place him above people simply because he turned down a 7 fig contract or anything. I'm sure he was a very stand-up man, from all I've heard so far, but let's not forget he's a great member of a great group. I just want people to equally acknowledge the mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters, children, and friends who have done the same....

presenteeism
I wasn't even sure what this word meant when I first saw it. Here's a reason for all y'all workers out there to stay at home when you're sick.

spray on wrinkle remover
This one comes all the way back from the Ensenada Cruise, and I may have even mentioned it already. But we found out we couldn't bring irons on the ship, so we needed a quick fix solution for our dress shirts...well actually Chris is the one that asked for it, and Jenn told him about this Downey spray they had that can remove wrinkles. Having no choice, he went with the only option he had, the spray. We finally used it when we were on the ship while we were unpacking... MAN, that spray is freakin crazy!!!! We couldn't believe our eyes when we saw our wrinkled clothes coming straight from our luggage would straighten out after spraying that stuff on it! I totally got spray happy and was trying to straighten everything I could, my other clothes, blankets, pillow cases, whatever....it is so freakin cool...I'm serious! But man, I wonder how the heck it works and how come I never thought of inventing something like that. Looks like I'm gonna have to really put that scantron pencil and create it already...he he he.

Sharing thoughts
I'm one of the biggest proponents for sharing thoughts and team building and growth. I'm attending this People Skills Training next week for work, and I'm pretty excited about it...from the description, it sounds like Mini-Spop(for you anteaters that went) for the real world working life. It's just a self assessment, team building training session. It's weird though, cuz a lot of the people in my dept have already been through it, but none of them seem to have gotten anything from it. They constantly interrupt each other, think they are smarter, or better, and are just close-minded to things...it's sad. I really wish people could take open-mindedness to heart and realize the benefits that can come from it...

Runnin w/ runs
I experienced one of the worst tortures yesterday. It was our first game of the season, and I didn't have too much food throughout the day, but had some coffee. So when it gets nearer to game time, I felt it. A sudden case of, "I need to go...NOW!" So I go to the bathroom and see what I hoped wasn't so...the bathroom stalls had NO DOORS!!! I did not have enough time to go all the way back to work and do my thang, so I did what I could only do, hold it. Naaaaaaaaaaaaasty. Can you imagine playing an entire game having to "do the doo?" It was horrific. Esp when I played for longer than I wanted to...blech. WOrd to the wise, no coffee before games and always go to the bathroom where it's safe, you never know what'll happen, he he he.

You know you're living in 2004 when...
Your reason for not staying in touch with friends is that they don't have e-mail addresses.

I am silly putty in the dryer...

Have I mentioned lately how much I hate the most recent Laker's Supercuts Promo? It does me no good at all. The deal is, if the lakers win by 0-10 pts, then you get $1 off at supercuts, if it's 11-20, $2, and $3 for 21-30. $3 off for a 30 point victory? Come on now, can't you guys find something better? But the capper is that I dont' need any freakin haircuts from supercuts. I'm a die-hard fan, and this deal helps me in no way at all...how sad. I wish I had hair so I could capitalize on this deal, but alas....

Go Lakers!

I often take a moment to think about the shape our world is in, and I get sad. Why? Because I see how all the bad overshadows the good. I mean, when we were kids, we watched shows where good always triumphs over evil, and though I firmly believe that, at the end, Good WILL triumph over evil, it's gonna be really rough. Seems like the bad wins most of the battles. Women have to go out running carrying mace or pepper spray in their pocket...just in case. When kids are brought to the park, their parents have to rake through the sand to make sure there are no needles and razorblads in it. People find you weird when you try to be nice to people you don't know. No one trusts anyone anymore, only bad news is news worth telling, the list goes on and on. I mean, how else can one explain that when someone is victimized, they might be lying? Or high profile celebrities can get away with murder? Or you can sue because your coffee was too hot. And then I think to myself, "Do I really want bring children into a world like this? What's the point?"

...

But then the optimist in me rises up and tells me that the good will overcome. It's because this world is just our stopover onto something better. And no matter how bad things are going, there is always hope in the good...and my children, after teaching them everything good I've learned from those before me, might just be one of those people that can change the tides...

You know you're living in 2004 when...
...you e-mail the person who works at the desk next to you.

It's April 15 and everyone was late to work today.

I wonder why...

I am a lost manuscript...

I totally thought I posted this...

Whew
Man, I finally finished conducting my first training session last week and it feels good that I'm done. Esp since it was only a 4-day week! Anyway, this was the first ever training that I had to conduct and man, was it unnerving! I got so damn nervous doing my presentation, taking questions, and all that. I mean, I did pretty well in providing the info...I knew this stuff a lot better than I had initially thought. But I still get business stage fright. I was sweatin like a mad-man man, floodgates were totally open and the hounds were released. It's so weird, cuz I don't really get like that in front of other people, just in the work setting..well, this and singing in front of people...blech. But I feel good about conducting the training now that it's done. Now we just have to go over the training surveys and see where we have to improve. Overall it was pretty cool...I think I can do it again. It's probably always the hardest your first time around.

Last days
There has been quite a bit of movement around here lately. New people coming in, old people leaving, new people leaving, etc...'tis crazy. One of our new managers took a "dream" job that was offerred to her and was only here like 3 months. Other people are going to be taking new positions(still in the same company) but are going to be non-local as much. And Thursday, we even said good-bye to one of our own eval peeps. Joel, the guy that got hired at the same time as me as a temp worked his last day at Alpine. We took him out to lunch and had a good time. I never really talked or hung out with Joel too much, but he was a good guy. We'd have lunch, go out on test drives together, and just have the occasional conversation about the Dodgers. It kinda sucked that only one of us could get the FT position when we applied for it, and then watch 2 other people get hired FT all the while he stayed in the same position. I kinda know how Cic felt when she felt all bad for that one old guy on one of the clients she was at. But from a business POV, he lacked a certain intuitive sense when it came to our job. He would do exactly as he was told and that was it, no thought to how future projects of similar stature or procedures could be improved, and all that. Good news though, he got his old job back in OC and it's FT so he'll be okay. At least he won't have to commute all the way from Mission Viejo anymore. Best of luck, Joel!

You know you're living in 2004 when...
...you have a list of 15 phone numbers for a family of 4

I am the turn...

Ode to mom
My mom is freakin superwoman man. I really don't know where she gets all of her strength. I could really learn a thing or 100 from her, as could a lot of people I think. It really inspires me to work harder and be stronger, and at the same time makes me feel guilty for all the complaining I do, all the attitude I give her(only sometimes though, he he he), and just everything else that's not cool. Last night, she worked 16 hours at work. I don't know many people that can work shifts like that. I remember before pop had the stroke, she would do it all the time. But now, she occasionally does that, AND still does everything like taking pop to the doctor, watch London and cook and stuff. She really is an amazing woman. And she deserves the best. I used to get mad at her when she'd complain about being tired, or when she complains about not wanting to drive somewhere(btw, if you didn't know, my mom cannot drive on the freeway, it's a personal thing for her. So anything that's far, like family stuff, the only way we can go is if I drive. Sometimes pop can drive, but only in the daytime and not over long distances.). It shouldn't matter that she doesn't drive far, I should want to do it for her anyway, after all she's done for me. On mother's day, I'm taking her out to see "Mama Mia" with pop and CIc and her folks too...it's gonna be cool. But I also hope that she knows how much her hard work is appreciated by the stuff I do for her. But in reality, all that I will do will not even amount to a smidgen of all that she's done...what a woman.

Step One
You know, with all the recent talk about America being so obese and our children on the bad track and stuff, and cutting out sodas out of our children's diets, dadadadada, it seems as though we've failed to realize that our eating habits starts with ourselves. I mean, yeah, I agree with cutting it out of the kids diets..because of course they'd choose what tasted good over what was good for them, and if the option's not there, then it won't even cross their minds. But that's not what I wanted to talk about. I wanted to talk about the adults, on the bad track. I believe the main reason we are getting fatter and fatter is because we choose not to listen. I mean, it's always like food is this, and they should make light whatever, and not so many carbs, blah blah blah. The blame goes to restaurants who make greasy food or something. Well hello, if it's bad for you, then don't eat it. Look at smoking, the warning is RIGHT THERE on the box, can cause lung cancer, dadadada. I bet even if you put on food claims like, "Will make you fat," or "Will give you a heart attack," on food, we'd STILL be buying it in bulk from costco. We're hard-headed and no gov't warning or news article is gonna change that. So people, get off your fat arses and quit sittin around so much! Looks like we aren't the adults we thought we were. We have to have someone else take away our options, because we can't choose not to have them for ourselves.

Man shall not live by bread alone...
One of our coworkers told us the craziest thing today, he hates bread. Seriously can't stand it. If he saw bread crumbs fall on his food and even though he couldn't see them, he wouldn't be able to eat it anymore. We were all trying to find out what he considered bread and what not...so here was the "OK" list: Croutons, crackers, cookies, stuff like that. What he didn't like was loaves...no sandwiches, burgers, etc. Crazy. I can't believe he hates bread!!!

You know you're living in 2004 when...
You haven't played solitaire with real cards in years...

I am the first day of the month...

Gotcha!
Of course I have to start the day with this. While Cic and I were chatting this morning this is what transpired:

ME (10:17:00 AM): I have some crazy news
ME (10:17:12 AM): they pulled me into a meeting when I got in this morning
ME (10:17:21 AM): first I thought it was because I was late and I was gonna get in trouble
ME (10:17:36 AM): ...
Cic (10:17:36 AM): mmhmm
ME (10:18:02 AM): and then they said they started asking me if I was enjoying it here so far
ME (10:18:05 AM): and adadadadadaa
Cic (10:18:15 AM): you got promoted!!
ME (10:18:16 AM): and then they asked me if I thought i was well compensated
ME (10:18:23 AM): not yet...
Cic (10:18:23 AM): you got a raise!!!!
ME (10:18:41 AM): well, I told them anyone wouldn't reject a raise
Cic (10:18:43 AM): ok
ME (10:18:45 AM): he he he and we started laughing
Cic (10:18:51 AM): hahah
ME (10:18:52 AM): so they said they could offer me a lot more money
ME (10:19:03 AM): but I'd have to fill one of the missing NJ positions
Cic (10:19:07 AM): gasp
ME (10:19:08 AM): :-ME (10:19:13 AM): I don't know what to do
Cic (10:19:13 AM): so...
ME (10:19:19 AM): I have to make a decision by Monday
ME (10:19:26 AM): and move by the next week
Cic (10:19:37 AM): so what do you think?
ME (10:19:43 AM): I don't know
ME (10:19:56 AM): they said at most only a year and a half
ME (10:20:10 AM): and then I could transfer back
ME (10:20:26 AM): I would also get to be in charge of interviewing to fill more positions out there
ME (10:20:28 AM): what do you think?
Cic (10:20:40 AM): 1) great opportunity
Cic (10:20:47 AM): 2) raise is always good
Cic (10:20:55 AM): 3) temporary, but is that for sure
Cic (10:21:13 AM): 4) you couldn't even imagine moving to san diego a week ago
Cic (10:21:20 AM): 5) you have friends out there
Cic (10:21:27 AM): 6) you like your job
Cic (10:21:50 AM): i have no idea, this is all up to you bebs
ME (10:21:55 AM): hmmm
ME (10:22:01 AM): let's see, how long do I have to think about it
ME (10:22:04 AM): what's the date today?
Cic (10:22:10 AM): apr 1
Cic (10:22:13 AM): are you kiddin gme
ME (10:22:28 AM): :Happy face with big mouth:
Cic (10:22:31 AM): hahahhaha OMG!!!
ME (10:22:33 AM): :happy face with grin:
Cic (10:22:38 AM): NOT FUNNY!!!!!!
Cic (10:22:40 AM): hahaha omg!!!
Cic (10:22:49 AM): you are SO DEAD!!!
ME (10:30:34 AM): :happy face with big smile:

I didn't even have to say the words...but I will now...

APRIL FOOL'S!

Glum
What up with the weather yo? Don't get me wrong, I like it...but it's so weird. It was Africa hot on Monday and the last few days, it's been on the creepin back up side. Like I said before, I'm not quite ready for summertime type weather.

You know you're living in 2004 when...
You accidentally enter your password on the microwave.