This is why I drink at night....
Step One: Email is sent to Program Coordinator (that's me!) from Board member with some random question.
Step Two: Program Coordinator sends said email to a un-named Manager with intro question "Do you want to reply to this, or do you want me to?"
Step Three: Manager replies with "I will - please forward her email so I can respond"
Step Four: Program Coordinator calls Manager, confused, and asks, "what do you mean - forward the email? As in something different than the email I just sent you?"
Step Five: Manager says "Why don't you forward me the original email, so it doesn't have your question on it and I can reply to it that way"
Step Six: Program Coordinator replies (dumbfounded) "Okay"
Step Seven: Program Coordinator silently shakes head as she thinks about the forwarding/replying email process. Knowing that Manager is going to have to use the forward function on her email regardless of which version it is. Program Coordinator then comes to the conclusion that apparently it's just too difficult for the Manager to delete the intro.
Step Eight: Program Coordinator takes break outside while contemplating job options.
Tuesday, December 30, 2008
Monday, December 29, 2008
Final Book List
I've just started reading Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell and since it's almost 1,000 pages long I don't think I am going to finish it by Wednesday. So here is the final book list of 2008. I kept count after I hit the goal of 52, listed back in this post from September, though I feel towards the end I may have gotten forgetful. With the additional 27 listed here my grand total is 79. Not too shabby.
September: (7)
Jitterbug Perfume. By Tom Robbins.
Magic Kingdom for Sale - Sold! By Terry Brooks.
A Thousand Splendid Suns. By Khaled Hosseini.
Bone Vol. 1: Out from Boneville. By Jeff Smith.
Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret. By Judy Blume (my very own autographed copy!)
The Sirens of Titan. By Kurt Vonnegut.
The Perks of Being a Wallflower. By Stephen Chobsky.
October (6):
The Hummingbird's Daughter. By Luis Alberto Urrea.
Lamb; The Gospel according to Biff, Christ's childhood pal. By Christopher Moore (a re-read for me)
Ocean. By Warren Ellis.
Scars. By Warren Ellis.
Crooked Little Vein. By Warren Ellis.
Y the Last Man: Volume 1. By Brian Vaughn.
November (10):
Y the Last Man: Volume 2. By Brian Vaughn
Y the Last Man: Volume 3: By Brian Vaughn
Fahrenheit 451. By Ray Bradbury.
Y the Last Man: Volumes 4-10. By Brian Vaughn
December (4):
Dracula. By Bram Stoker
Zombies Calling. By faith erin hicks.
Higher Power of Lucky. By Susan Patron.
American Gods. By Neil Gaiman.
September: (7)
Jitterbug Perfume. By Tom Robbins.
Magic Kingdom for Sale - Sold! By Terry Brooks.
A Thousand Splendid Suns. By Khaled Hosseini.
Bone Vol. 1: Out from Boneville. By Jeff Smith.
Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret. By Judy Blume (my very own autographed copy!)
The Sirens of Titan. By Kurt Vonnegut.
The Perks of Being a Wallflower. By Stephen Chobsky.
October (6):
The Hummingbird's Daughter. By Luis Alberto Urrea.
Lamb; The Gospel according to Biff, Christ's childhood pal. By Christopher Moore (a re-read for me)
Ocean. By Warren Ellis.
Scars. By Warren Ellis.
Crooked Little Vein. By Warren Ellis.
Y the Last Man: Volume 1. By Brian Vaughn.
November (10):
Y the Last Man: Volume 2. By Brian Vaughn
Y the Last Man: Volume 3: By Brian Vaughn
Fahrenheit 451. By Ray Bradbury.
Y the Last Man: Volumes 4-10. By Brian Vaughn
December (4):
Dracula. By Bram Stoker
Zombies Calling. By faith erin hicks.
Higher Power of Lucky. By Susan Patron.
American Gods. By Neil Gaiman.
Everyonce in awhile, I am totally awesome.
Saturday night boyfriend shares that his parents got "us" (well really him, but I think they may have said "here, take JJ") a $100 gift card to AMC theaters. And while this seems ridiculously large, it really will only cover about 2 and half movies if we get snacks. And I have to get movie popcorn. It's like a drug. A wonderfully salty drug.
Anyway, we start discussing what movies we should go see and he says he really wants to see Frost/Nixon. I have absolutely no interest in this movie. Not to say that I don't think it will probably be interesting, I just am personally not interested. And we spend about 20 minutes with me trying to explain that. But since I can't really come up with anything other than "I'm sure it is interesting, I'm just not interested" we didn't get very far except to decide that he was more than welcome to go see it without me.
We did move on to decide though that we were going to try and see a different movie Sunday night. He works downtown (close enough to River East to walk) and had a possibility of getting done as early as 4. He gave me free reign to pick the movie and so I jotted down some movie times of what I thought we should see (Slumdog Millionaire, Milk, The Spirit, Benjamin Button, etc.) and headed down to surprise him around 3.
4 o'clock came and it looked like he wasn't going anywhere till closer to 8. I was all ready to pack up and head home when he flies around the corner and says they cut him early- let's go!
Excited we start the windy walk to the theater and I come up with the brilliant plan that I think he should let me pick the movie and let it be a surprise. He is very hesitant about this, I think it was the walking through the movie theater with his eyes closed that he was nervous about, but eventually he conceded. So I stood in line alone and bought the tickets, and when we got upstairs he stared at the carpet as I gently lead him to the theater. He was a great sport.
We got in to the theater and it was ridiculously small and almost all the way filled. We didn't get the exact seats we wanted but I think that's okay. I waited nervously for the movie to start, to see his reaction when he figured out what we were going to see (I kept teasing him that it was Twilight - a movie and book series we are both really against). The previews ended and the show began. Here was the moment to see if my plan of having this be a surprise would be worth it. Before we even got to the name of the director a smile came over his face and he leaned in to whisper thank you in my ear. Yup, in case you hadn't guessed already, we saw Frost/Nixon last night.
Anyway, we start discussing what movies we should go see and he says he really wants to see Frost/Nixon. I have absolutely no interest in this movie. Not to say that I don't think it will probably be interesting, I just am personally not interested. And we spend about 20 minutes with me trying to explain that. But since I can't really come up with anything other than "I'm sure it is interesting, I'm just not interested" we didn't get very far except to decide that he was more than welcome to go see it without me.
We did move on to decide though that we were going to try and see a different movie Sunday night. He works downtown (close enough to River East to walk) and had a possibility of getting done as early as 4. He gave me free reign to pick the movie and so I jotted down some movie times of what I thought we should see (Slumdog Millionaire, Milk, The Spirit, Benjamin Button, etc.) and headed down to surprise him around 3.
4 o'clock came and it looked like he wasn't going anywhere till closer to 8. I was all ready to pack up and head home when he flies around the corner and says they cut him early- let's go!
Excited we start the windy walk to the theater and I come up with the brilliant plan that I think he should let me pick the movie and let it be a surprise. He is very hesitant about this, I think it was the walking through the movie theater with his eyes closed that he was nervous about, but eventually he conceded. So I stood in line alone and bought the tickets, and when we got upstairs he stared at the carpet as I gently lead him to the theater. He was a great sport.
We got in to the theater and it was ridiculously small and almost all the way filled. We didn't get the exact seats we wanted but I think that's okay. I waited nervously for the movie to start, to see his reaction when he figured out what we were going to see (I kept teasing him that it was Twilight - a movie and book series we are both really against). The previews ended and the show began. Here was the moment to see if my plan of having this be a surprise would be worth it. Before we even got to the name of the director a smile came over his face and he leaned in to whisper thank you in my ear. Yup, in case you hadn't guessed already, we saw Frost/Nixon last night.
Wednesday, December 24, 2008
Building up the karma, brick by brick
So as you have read I recently lost a pretty nasty cat fight between myself, Northwest Airlines, and Mother Nature. Needless to say I have been a little disgruntled lately because of it. But it seems that its starting to look a bit better out there for me. In fact I even stepped up and took one for the team for a complete stranger last night. That sounds way more mysterious than I mean it to be.
Last night, standing outside the bar smoking with my friend W, our conversation was interrupted by the all to familiar Midwestern sound of car tires spinning uselessly in the snow. Turning, we saw a guy either trying to get into a parking spot or get out we couldn't tell. I looked at W - "We should help him shouldn't we?" "Yeah" he replied. And we stared a bit longer.
But we finished our smokes and trudged over to the car. Coming around to the drivers side I asked if he was trying to get in or out of the space. He motioned that he was trying to go backwards so I said we would help push.
Attempt One: We got absolutely nowhere. Walked around to back of car to see if there was a way to dig anything out with my boot. Tried again.
Attempt Two: Pushed so hard that I pretty much fell into the car and then into the snow. Not a face plant kind of fall, just a slow descent onto the knees. But at the end of attempt two we found success! The guy was able to get back on to the road and on his way.
W and I brush off our hands and head back into the bar pretty nonchalantly as though we do this kind of thing all the time. And if you live in the Midwest, you kind of do.
Because see, it's all about the karma. I don't own a car, but I did at one point and I might one day again, and if I stay in this area I guarantee I'll get stuck at some point. I'm not that big and I'm not that strong but if I'm around I will always at least try and help. It's what being in the Midwest is all about.
Last night, standing outside the bar smoking with my friend W, our conversation was interrupted by the all to familiar Midwestern sound of car tires spinning uselessly in the snow. Turning, we saw a guy either trying to get into a parking spot or get out we couldn't tell. I looked at W - "We should help him shouldn't we?" "Yeah" he replied. And we stared a bit longer.
But we finished our smokes and trudged over to the car. Coming around to the drivers side I asked if he was trying to get in or out of the space. He motioned that he was trying to go backwards so I said we would help push.
Attempt One: We got absolutely nowhere. Walked around to back of car to see if there was a way to dig anything out with my boot. Tried again.
Attempt Two: Pushed so hard that I pretty much fell into the car and then into the snow. Not a face plant kind of fall, just a slow descent onto the knees. But at the end of attempt two we found success! The guy was able to get back on to the road and on his way.
W and I brush off our hands and head back into the bar pretty nonchalantly as though we do this kind of thing all the time. And if you live in the Midwest, you kind of do.
Because see, it's all about the karma. I don't own a car, but I did at one point and I might one day again, and if I stay in this area I guarantee I'll get stuck at some point. I'm not that big and I'm not that strong but if I'm around I will always at least try and help. It's what being in the Midwest is all about.
Monday, December 22, 2008
Why I am in Chicago Right Now
So, since I don't really want to keep telling this story over and over again, I figured I'd hit up my last few friends who are readers of this insanity I call a blog and just do a post about it. Some of you may have known I had a trip out to Oregon planned for last weekend. It was going to be a whirlwind adventure in which one of my best friends drove down to Chicago, we were to jump a plane Friday and hop, skip, jump around the country (Chicago to Minneapolis to Seattle to Redmond, OR) until we landed at the feet of a third very close friend in Bend Oregon. There we would hide indoors, meet her new baby (3 months oldish) and celebrate the Solstice together such as we haven't been able to do in over 3 years. Then it was back on a plane Monday night to do the reverse trip with a redeye flight (I've never done one before!) that landed us back in Chicagoland Tuesday morning, into the car we would pour ourselves with gallons of coffee to get us back to the homeland of Madison, WI for some family Christmas time. A bus back to Chicago on Friday would of wrapped up the adventure. Get all that? Now here is what actually happened.
Tim (friend and travel companion) gets into Chicago way earlier than I expected Thursday night as he left responsibly early to beat the incoming storm. I, however, being buried in last minute work (I told them this would happen!) got out late and he actually beat me to my door. This was okay as he had a nice warm car and good coffee to keep him occupied while I raced from the train to meet him. We hung out, I got to show him my favorite local bar and second home and we went to sleep at a relatively decent time (Oneish?) to prepare for the next day.
Friday: Up by 8 we were out the door by 9. We were flying out of Midway so we did the Brown line to downtown and the jumped on the Orange line. Got to Midway around 10:30 which was just what we wanted for our noon flight. As we walked into the hustle bustle of the weekend before Christmas Tim looks at the flight arrivals and departures screen and says "Wait, Cancelled?" To which I, in all my splendid wisdom reply, "Huh?" "Flight 1287 says cancelled, that's our flight to Minneapolis" How the hell he knows our flight number has bogged down my distractable mind more than the end result of the flight being cancelled. "Lets just get in line and we can figure it out."
What feels like an hour later we get to the front of the line and begin the descent into hell that comes with holiday travel and dealing with airlines. I could give you a long, drawn out play by play of our conversation with the man behind the curtain, but that seems exhausting so I will try and sum it up instead.
Our original flight to Minneapolis was cancelled due to weather (in Chicago apparently). The guy behind the counter could find no other flights that would get us to Seattle in time to catch our connecting flight to Redmond. In fact, he could find absolutely no flights into Redmond for the rest of the day Friday. None on Saturday. None on Sunday. Since we were to fly home on Monday this basically means we are fucked. The closest he can get us is Portland. What the hell we think, we can jump a bus or rent a car. Let's go for it.
So we take the Portland option - which by the way will route us first through Detroit, and then to Minneapolis and then into Portland at 11:30 at night - and head towards our gate. But as we wait we overhear the guy with the laptop next to us talk about how Detroit is getting worse and worse. We strike up a conversation and learn that Milwaukee is closed (which has nothing to do with this story but gives you an idea of how crappy the weather was in case you know, you live in Australia and it is summer) and Detroit's wait time is getting longer and longer. As we examine our boarding passes we see that we have exactly half an hour in Minneapolis to catch our connecting flight to Portland or we are stuck in the twin cities. I did not pay $600 to hand out in the land of 10,000 lakes all weekend. Plus we talk to our friend in Oregon and learn that the pass through the mountains that we would have to take to get from Portland to Bend is pretty much shut down.
So here we are in Chicago with no way to fly to Redmond and no way to drive to Bend. What the hell are we supposed to do.
What we did was spend forever on hold with Travelocity to see if we could get our money back if we cancelled. After forever the woman said yes - minus a minuscule service fee. And after heart wrenching deliberation and some honesty that trying to get from Portland to Bend just wasn't safe we said yes.
So I spent the past weekend in Chicago where it has been negative 4 degrees as a high (before wind chill of course). I spent Solstice curled up on my couch wearing about 5 layers. And I am back at work on this chilly wintry morning explaining to my coworkers why I am not on vacation.
So that's the story. I wish all of you better luck with your holiday travel plans. And I am going to head back to work now. Cheers.
Tim (friend and travel companion) gets into Chicago way earlier than I expected Thursday night as he left responsibly early to beat the incoming storm. I, however, being buried in last minute work (I told them this would happen!) got out late and he actually beat me to my door. This was okay as he had a nice warm car and good coffee to keep him occupied while I raced from the train to meet him. We hung out, I got to show him my favorite local bar and second home and we went to sleep at a relatively decent time (Oneish?) to prepare for the next day.
Friday: Up by 8 we were out the door by 9. We were flying out of Midway so we did the Brown line to downtown and the jumped on the Orange line. Got to Midway around 10:30 which was just what we wanted for our noon flight. As we walked into the hustle bustle of the weekend before Christmas Tim looks at the flight arrivals and departures screen and says "Wait, Cancelled?" To which I, in all my splendid wisdom reply, "Huh?" "Flight 1287 says cancelled, that's our flight to Minneapolis" How the hell he knows our flight number has bogged down my distractable mind more than the end result of the flight being cancelled. "Lets just get in line and we can figure it out."
What feels like an hour later we get to the front of the line and begin the descent into hell that comes with holiday travel and dealing with airlines. I could give you a long, drawn out play by play of our conversation with the man behind the curtain, but that seems exhausting so I will try and sum it up instead.
Our original flight to Minneapolis was cancelled due to weather (in Chicago apparently). The guy behind the counter could find no other flights that would get us to Seattle in time to catch our connecting flight to Redmond. In fact, he could find absolutely no flights into Redmond for the rest of the day Friday. None on Saturday. None on Sunday. Since we were to fly home on Monday this basically means we are fucked. The closest he can get us is Portland. What the hell we think, we can jump a bus or rent a car. Let's go for it.
So we take the Portland option - which by the way will route us first through Detroit, and then to Minneapolis and then into Portland at 11:30 at night - and head towards our gate. But as we wait we overhear the guy with the laptop next to us talk about how Detroit is getting worse and worse. We strike up a conversation and learn that Milwaukee is closed (which has nothing to do with this story but gives you an idea of how crappy the weather was in case you know, you live in Australia and it is summer) and Detroit's wait time is getting longer and longer. As we examine our boarding passes we see that we have exactly half an hour in Minneapolis to catch our connecting flight to Portland or we are stuck in the twin cities. I did not pay $600 to hand out in the land of 10,000 lakes all weekend. Plus we talk to our friend in Oregon and learn that the pass through the mountains that we would have to take to get from Portland to Bend is pretty much shut down.
So here we are in Chicago with no way to fly to Redmond and no way to drive to Bend. What the hell are we supposed to do.
What we did was spend forever on hold with Travelocity to see if we could get our money back if we cancelled. After forever the woman said yes - minus a minuscule service fee. And after heart wrenching deliberation and some honesty that trying to get from Portland to Bend just wasn't safe we said yes.
So I spent the past weekend in Chicago where it has been negative 4 degrees as a high (before wind chill of course). I spent Solstice curled up on my couch wearing about 5 layers. And I am back at work on this chilly wintry morning explaining to my coworkers why I am not on vacation.
So that's the story. I wish all of you better luck with your holiday travel plans. And I am going to head back to work now. Cheers.
Tuesday, December 9, 2008
And so quickly it is gone
I closed the window by accident, tried to go back and it is already gone. I wish I could of gotten screen shots of all of it. It was pretty damn funny.
Silly, silly G Rod
Just in case it gets taken down I have to share this screen shot with everyone. Check out the actual link here so you can see all the Q&A. It's borderline amazing. Thanks to Will for the share.
Wednesday, December 3, 2008
No time
No time to blog. Instead I'll just share this from a random link a friend sent.
Cheers.
Cheers.
My emo band's name is Physical Immaculate Romance.
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