summer fading into fall

Every summer it seems like I run around like crazy. That has not been the case this year. While summer seems to be going by quickly, I haven't done a whole lot of notable things. With the exception of the short trip out to Western South Dakota over the 4th, I haven't gone anywhere. My fall schedule was looking similar to my summer – not a whole lot of anything was going down. A couple of weddings, but that's about it.

That all changed a couple of days ago. Between September and October, here are the things that have been added to my calendar:
Girl's night at the Dome
An Aerosmith concert
A pajama party
A Ben Folds concert
A Halloween party

Having things to look forward to makes the week a little easier for me to get through. Busy is good for me I guess. I also hope to make it out to Colorado to visit my brother in October but I don't know if that will happen yet. Add all of that to the two weddings which are both out of state, I'm going to be running around like crazy. I love it!

Anyone else have upcoming plans that they're looking forward to?

crazy weekend

Friday

Post work happy hour for a 50th birthday celebration. It was held @ Santorini in Eden Prairie. If you haven't been there, they have a GREAT deck. Happy hour was a good time – there were probably 60 people in and out over the course of a few hours.

Saturday

The day started with a hair cut & highlights. Then it was off to the Laundromat, Leann Chin and Cub with Rachel. Saturday night brought a grill out & game night in Farmington. A very competitive game of kickball was played and was so intense that it went into extra innings J

Sunday

It was an early morning road trip to the southern part of the state. Rachel and I left around 7:15. She met her mom and sister in Worthington and I rode along and got dropped off at my parents' house. Once Rachel got back, we hung out for a while and stayed for dinner. On the way home, we made a quick stop by the Jolly Green Giant statue. Of course there are pictures but they're on Rach's camera.

And now it's Monday and I wish it were still the weekend.

I just couldn't resist

Idea stolen from Rach and courtesy of the Lazy Bloggers Post Generator

Peter Pan! I just got slapped with a wet salmon - really - I have not updated this since Hammertime was in the charts... You would not believe that my hands were chopped off and I was waiting for bionic ones. I'm sorry you'll just have to take my word for it..

I am hopped up on caffeine with finding Jesus (after someone told me he was lost), watching Dexter, just generally being a nuisance to every man and his dog. My day is a nightmare I would like to wake up from the first cockadoodledoo from the rooster to 11pm at which point I fall asleep on the couch. I am avoiding recapture. it will be fun fun fun till they take my TBird away.

I go, my lords and ladies; I will make more of an effort to blog more often until the nice men in the white coats come back. You have my word! Don't hold your breath though, you're likely to turn blue..

purple people eaters

No, this post has nothing to do with the Vikings. It especially has nothing to do with the Brett Favre's "to become or not to become a Viking" decision.

It just has to do with the color purple. I've been going through a purple phase and I'm not sure why.

Here's what one website had to say about purple:
Purple represents royalty, spirituality, nobility, ceremony, mystery, transformation, wisdom, enlightenment, cruelty, arrogance, mourning. Purple is considered an exotic color.

Purple dye was made from the mucous gland of a snail. It required thousands of snails to yield 1 gram of dye causing it to be a color only nobles could afford. Today purple is a trendy color targeting creative types.

I don't know if any of that really applies to me but I found it interesting.

Purple things that I've acquired within the past few months:
-six (yes, six) purple shirts
-a water bottle
-a wallet
-flip flops

Does any one else go through "color phases"? If so, what's your color of choice right now?

countdown

I have a calendar that hangs at my desk. Every day, the first thing I do is put an "X" through the previous day. I do it so I know what the date is. Also, a part of me likes being able to cross off three days after a weekend. I'm not sure why.

Anyway, today one of my co-workers asked me if I was counting down to something. The answer was no. I don't have any big trips coming up. In fact, I only have one mini trip scheduled between now and the end of the year. I am taking a tour of South Dakota over the 4th of July weekend with a one night stay in Sioux falls and a 2-3 night stay in Kadoka(out by the Badlands).

Now I have an even bigger urge to plan a big trip. Too bad my checking account tells me no.

I've got a hunch

Ever needed help making a decision? Wanted to find something out about yourself that you didn't already know? Addicted to questionnaires or surveys?

If you answered "yes" to any of these questions, give this website a try:

www.hunch.com

I'm not sure why, but I've wasted a lot of time there today.

be nice to me

I gave blood today.

So far, I have the quickest time of the day. 5 minutes 7 seconds.

Here are some interesting blood facts (courtesy of the American Red Cross website):
-Every two seconds someone in the U.S. needs blood
-More than 38,000 blood donations are needed every day
-One out of every 10 people admitted in a hospital needs blood
-Total blood transfusions in a given year: 14 million (2001)
-The average red blood cell transfusion is approximately 3 pints
-The blood type most often requested by hospitals is Type O
-The blood used in an emergency is already on the shelves before the event occurs
-More than 1 million new people are diagnosed with cancer each year. Many of them will need blood, sometimes daily, during their chemotherapy treatment.
-A single car accident victim can require as many as 100 units of blood.
-The actual blood donation typically takes less than 10-12 minutes. The entire process, from the time you arrive to the time you leave, takes about an hour
-The average adult has about 10 to 12 pints of blood in his body. Roughly 1 pint is given during a donation
-The #1 reason donors say they give blood is because they "want to help others"
-Two most common reasons cited by people who don't give blood are: "Never thought about it" and "I don't like needles"
-One donation can help save the lives of up to 3 people
-If you began donating blood at age 17 and donated every 56 days until you reached 76, you would have donated 48 gallons of blood, potentially helping save over 1,000 lives!
-People with O- type blood are universal donors. Their blood can be given to people of all blood types. Only 7% of people in the U.S. have O- blood type
-Type O- blood is often used in emergencies before the patient's blood type is known, and with newborns who need blood.
-45% of people in the U.S. have type O (+/-) blood. This percentage is higher among Hispanics — 57%, and among African Americans — 51%
-People with AB+ type blood are universal donors of plasma, the liquid portion of blood. AB+ plasma is often used in emergencies, for newborns and for patients requiring massive transfusions

So give blood. It's important!

back?

A happy Monday to you all.

The moving is done. The unpacking is almost complete. The relaxing is about to begin. I'm excited. The past month has certainly been a long one. Now that things are a little more settled, we'll see how often I get this thing updated.

On top of the moving, I managed to squeeze in a weekend of camping at Whitewater State Park. It was fantastic. The weather was great – it was about 80 and sunny both days. Of course there are pictures from the trip. I'll try to get something posted soon.

My mom was in town over the past weekend to help me get some stuff done. We took a trip to Ikea, got things unpacked and cleaned and even managed to sneak in a movie and a little bit of shopping. As I was walking her to her car yesterday morning, we got to observe something interesting: one of the garages designated for garbage dumpsters was on fire. We stood there for 20 or so minutes watched the Hopkins FD do their thing. The remnants of the building will have to be torn down. I'll try to get a picture of that up too. Then yesterday afternoon, Ace, her mom and I went and saw Phantom of the Opera at the Orpheum. Good times.

my last week

The time is upon me. I'm looking at my last week in my current apartment. I've done a bunch of packing and don't think it will be too hard to finish the rest (provided I get a few more boxes). I've got a U-Haul reserved and am planning to pick it up on the 23rd around 9 am.

I've barely started but am ready to be done :)

word of the day

UGH

From Wikipedia:
Ugh is an onomatopoeic representation of anaspirated sigh or gasp, used as an interjection to express annoyance, irritation, disgust, or boredom.
Other forms of the word include urgh, ungh and ergh.

Why it's my word of the day:
All the way around, things have been pretty stressful over the past few weeks. Today the icing was put on the cake when I got to work and realized that I had two completely different shoes on: one was brown, the other was black. I'm about ready to run away with the circus - which is a pretty big deal if you consider how much clowns creep me out.

slow ride

...take it easy

As of yesterday, I'm no longer working overtime.

On the one hand, it will be nice. No more weekends. No more working until dinner time.

On the other hand, I have absolutley no idea how all of my work is going to get done. Plus, no overtime on my paycheck is going to suck. I got used to it.

And crap, now I want to play Guitar Hero.

it's over

and I'm safe.

However, I can't say the same thing for 13 others in my office. What a crappy day.

what's happening in my world

I'm afraid it's going to be a long week...

By Brett Philbin 
Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES
Apr 16, 2009 

NEW YORK (Dow Jones)--UBS AG (UBS) plans to cut roughly 2,000 jobs in its U.S. wealth-management business, according to people familiar with the situation.

The layoffs, expected to occur next week, are part of the Swiss bank's plans to reduce its headcount globally by 8,700 and cut operating costs by 15%. Both measures were announced by new Chief Executive Oswald Grubel at the bank's annual meeting in Zurich on Wednesday.

The cuts in the U.S. are expected to include some lower-producing financial advisers, rookie brokers and support staff, the sources said.

Last Thursday, UBS Wealth Management U.S. head Marten Hoekstra discussed pending job cuts during a conference call with employees. Hoekstra said that despite the layoffs, UBS has no plans to exit the U.S. wealth-management business.

In the U.S., UBS had 8,182 financial advisers at the end of the fourth quarter.

In March, UBS said it would sell up to 55 of its 406 U.S. wealth-management branches to Stifel Financial Corp. (SF). The branches, located in 24 states, include about 320 financial advisers with approximately $15 billion in assets under management. They are mainly lower-producing UBS offices concentrated in smaller towns.

Shares of UBS recently traded up 21 cents, or 1.9%, at $11.44.

 -Brett Philbin, Dow Jones Newswires; 201-938-5393; brett.philbin@dowjones.com 

I Love You Man

To add to the movie marathon weekend, I saw this movie today. I LOVED it.

2 of my favorite actors + too many awkward moments to count = awesome. You should go see it.

movie marathon

I had today off. In honor of my three day weekend, Ace and I decided to get movies. My trip to the Redbox got a little out of control. In a 20 hour span, we watched the following (in order):

Slumdog Millionaire
Seven Pounds
Sex Drive
Rachel Getting Married
The Rocker
Doubt

I liked all of the movies except Doubt. I guess I just expected more out of it. What a great day to not be at work :)

A decent weekend

Friday night = Wild game. We had awesome seats:

We're not a bad looking group of hockey fans either:
The Wild won 4-0. Then it was off to Dixies for a post game beer.

Saturday led to a haircut, a few hours at the office, a stop at my sister's, some shopping and a birthday party in St. Paul.

I spent Sunday sleeping. I watched a couple of movies in there too but it was all about the sleep.

Today (which really isn't a part of the weekend) we had a Twins Home Opener Potluck at the office. It included a few baseball themed games and was a good time.

big things are happening

The weekend threw me a wild card. I bought a new car. It's shiny.

Even though I didn't get it from Roger's Auto Group (I don't even know where that is), the car looks a little something like this:

Disclaimers: This picture is stolen from google images and the actual car isn't quite as big as this picture makes it look.

blogger is not playing tricks on your eyes

I finally am sitting down for a new post. This life thing keeps happening and really isn't slowing down. On to the updates:

Work
The new job is going well but is still extremely busy. I'm still doing the 50+ hour work week. It will probably continue through the end of April. However, I really like the women I'm working with...it makes the long weeks pretty easy. The more I work with them, the better I think we mesh. I hope it keeps going this well. We're all beyond the normal amount of tired and stressed so I think we're seeing the truest versions of each other.

This upcoming weekend marks my first full weekend off since I got back from vacation at the end of January. I'm traveling to see my parents. I haven't been down for a visit since Christmas and that was for less than 24 hours.

Dawn, to answer a question of yours from a long time ago: yes, I am working in the same office that most of my Minnetonka peeps went to. My old bosses aren't at this office which is sad but the management team in the Bloomington office is fantastic.

Home
I don't see it as often as I'd like to. When I am here, I'm normally having dinner, or sleeping. I found out on Monday that my lease ends May 31st. This is news to me. I thought I had until the end of June. So now apartment hunting is in full swing. I want to move closer to work (22 miles one way is about 12 miles too many for me). I have something that I hope works out but I won't know for a few days. Needless to say, there will be a moving party at the end of May. I may be reaching out for some help with this one. I'll keep you posted :)

Family
My brother got a new job and will be staying in Colorado Springs - yay for him! Mom still continues to do pretty well. Her lungs are taking very well. She's having some issues with kidney function that the doctors are trying to straighten out. Keep your fingers crossed.

Last weekend I found out that my 25 year old cousin is having a total hysterectomy due to ovarian cancer. No, 25 is not a typo. I can't imagine what she is going through. A couple of years ago we lost her mom to breast cancer. I am happy that she has had the chance to have a baby so she won't miss out on that completely. Please send some happy good thoughts her way.

Friends
I don't see any of you as often as I'd like. Hopefully by the time summer rolls around that will change. There's always a chance we could meet up to catch some...

Baseball
Season opener is just around the corner. Only one more year of indoor baseball! I have to admit that I wasn't super excited about the upcoming season - just the normal amount of excited. Then I was gifted a Flex 40 plan. Now I'm uber excited. Who doesn't love free baseball?

Funny
Claussen prompted this with his comment on the banana phone video. Here's another random video. You might have to watch it a few times to find it funny. I did. Due to language - probably not good to watch at work.



I think that's it.

ring ring ring ring

BANANA PHONE!

A new adventure

A conversation with Rachel last weekend made me realize that I didn't make a somewhat important update. I got the new job I was talking about in the last post. I'm working out of the Bloomington office at the same firm I was at in Wayzata. I now work with a new recruit that came over from a different firm. I've been at the new job for about a week. In that week, I've learned how much I still have to learn. It's a good thing, that's for sure. I really like the team I'm working with. Right now we have so much to do...it's overwhelming. I have 33 hours on the week so far and it's only Wednesday.

Other than work, it feels like all I've done is sleep. I have a three day weekend coming up and I plan to take advantage of it. :)

life moves pretty fast. if you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.

-Ferris Bueller

I hate to count my chickens before they hatch but it looks like I'm getting a new job. I didn't find out about the position until Wednesday, so the past few days have been a bit of a whirlwind. I don't want to get into a lot of specifics but I should know by the end of the week whether the job is mine or not. If I get the job, it could really help relieve some of the financial stress I'm under. Yay! Keep your fingers crossed!

A week from now, I'll be waking up in a condo overlooking the mountains. Yay again! I'm crazy excited about getting out of town for a while. It should be a good time.

I'm enjoying my three day weekend.

Yesterday I met the lady I will potentially be working with for lunch. After lunch, I swung by my sister's place for a few hours. Then Ace and I went and saw not one but two movies. We saw Yes Man and then Bedtime Stories.

Today I don't plan on doing much other than cleaning my apartment and watching movies. Tomorrow, in honor of MLK Jr. Day, I might go out and do some pre-trip shopping.

5 days until vacation!

Oh Niner

Somehow, we're a week into 2009. There are a lot of things that I need to make decisions on in the beginning half of this year.

Work
There are so many things that could be said. While I'm not miserable at work, I'm not happy either. I like the people I work with (which is huge) but the work is becoming less challenging and I barely make enough to live off of. I have a salary review coming next week(hopefully). I'm trying not to get my hopes up but it's hard not to. Depending on how that goes, I might be able to stay put. There is also the chance that it won't turn out well at all which means either a part time job or a new job altogether would be in the picture.

Apartment
My lease is up at the end of June. I would like to move a little closer to civilization. You know, a legitimate suburb where the nearest non-Lunds/Byerlys grocery store is closer than 10 miles. Refer back to the paragraph on work. The apartment decision will all depend on where I'm working and the cash I have available every month.

Car
It's becoming increasingly clear that this is my car's last winter. The door latches are much more tired than they were last year. Depending on how cold it is, sometimes the driver's door doesn't like to let me in at all. The car also grumbles a little when I start it after sitting for a couple of days. Again, going back to the work paragraph, we'll see what I have available for payments.

So my six month plan is simple:
1. get work stuff figured out
2. figure out everything else

16 days until vacation!

my weekend

It was boring.

Friday night I came home and played around on Facebook. This led to me getting a virus leaving me able to do nothing.

Saturday I reformatted and started over with the laptop. This made me realize that I should probably get around to getting my desktop fixed. A couple of X-Men movies and some football rounded out my evening.

Today I made chicken noodle soup which was mediocre at best. This afternoon I watched more football.

I didn't step foot outside of my apartment all weekend. With any luck, my car will start when I leave for work in the morning.

Less than 3 weeks until my "gocation". I can't wait! Hopefully it will help recharge my batteries. I can't imagine a week in the mountains could hurt...

I hope you all had good weekends!