Trying to figure my life out, one day at a time. And wondering where the hell the signs are.
Milwaukee, WI Last night David (from London), Steve, Jim, and I went to Jazz in the Park in Milwaukee. It was amazing. We had some wine, some beer, some sushi. Well, I had sushi and they had sandwiches. Then David and I walked around Milwaukee a bit while Steve and Jim went running. The fools. Apparently running after a few beers is the proper and only way to do it. If I had known this sooner I would have been running all along. Here are some pics from my days here in Wisconsin so far.
Racine, WI What a crazy couple of days. For those who know me best, we would all agree that I'm not shy, but I also don't meet people on the road very often. I tend to sleep on the plane, therefore avoiding having to get trapped into conversation with a potential adulterer posing as an uber-Christian who then buys me the Left Behind book (this has happened). I also love the time of day when I go back to the hotel, usually with takeout in hand, settle against my headboard with my laptop and dinner and usually a terrible in room movie to keep me company. Thus, smiling, greeting, and any general "what's your story, this is mine" kind of interaction is kept to a minimum. Just the way I like it. Or so I thought. On Tuesday afternoon I decided that hanging out in the Wausau hotel with nothing to do was not going to hack it. I convinced the hotel to let me check out without a charge (it was 3pm in the afternoon) and I headed towards the Marriott in Racine enjoying the long drive and my book on CD that Leah lent me called Kitchen Confidential. Great book. I highly recommend it. Calling ahead, I begged the Marriott to let me check in a day early. As luck would have it, all they could put me in was their biggest suite. Finally, things are working in my favor. According to Steve, this was going to be a great Marriott because it had a concierge level. I would say it is an old Marriott with a stale stank to it that makes my eyes tear up, but they do have a concierge level, which translates to free food and beverages, with alcohol to purchase. I decided I deserved a little hot tea and a glass of red wine (strange combination, but god I love the two). Upon entering the room, there were two gentlemen talking on the couch. The concierge was schmoozing it up with them and shamelessly showing them her glamour shots. I was going to take my goods and head back to my room, but the gentleman seemed fairly approachable and interesting. One was gesticulating wildly about being a Master Colorist and Hair Stylist and I figured I'd settle in and eavesdrop. Turned out to be a great idea; I ended up hitting it off with them. The hair guy, Lenny, was traveling for work training stylists on how to properly color/highlight people's hair with his product. He works for a big company that owns products even I am familiar with (and you know I have little or no knowledge of hair). The other gentleman, David, was originally from London {insert moan of passion over his accent here} but was now moving to Racine to work as an IT programmer of sorts for another big company. Long of the short of it, Lenny asked us to be hair models for him the next day and we accepted. My hair getting dangerously close to my butt and the highlights grown out below my ear, I was both embarrassed and anxious to get it fixed. Especially by someone who pretty much has his PhD in hair. :) After sharing many glasses of wine, the three of us decided it was time to check out the bar scene and grab some food. We stayed out until almost 3am, enjoying the local gay bar where they helped us order some Italian delivery (can you believe I was able to find some non-pizza delivery after 11pm at night)? The next day we dragged ourselves out of bed for a day of beauty at the local salon. I felt like a princess. Everyone petting my hair, discussing how to make it seem more vibrant, less fine, and less frizzy...okay, maybe I felt a little picked over, but it was amazing. We followed it up with another night of good food and wine, and then I worked their brains a little too hard with yes/no puzzles. Ah, the good life of meeting people. Tonight I might head up to Milwaukee for Jazz in the Park with David. Moral of this story? When you have a good feeling about people, say hi. You could have great company and free hair styling for the rest of your trip. The one thing people may be upset to hear is that I gave Lenny complete license with my hair and he cut off about 5 inches. No more long luxurious hair. But let's face it, the hair was starting to get pretty nasty. Better late than never. Here's Lenny! He'll hate me for showing the picture I took after a long night of wild dancing. At least it's small.
Chicago, Illinois Gretchen and I were just talking about how in a short period of time we have slept in a large number of states. Here is my best record yet. In three weeks I have slept in: Connecticut Massachusets New Hampshire Maine Wisconsin Illinois Six states in three weeks. Not bad. Gretchen's was more impressive because it was 4 in one week. Pretty crazy. Just a tally. Nothing more interesting than that.
I beat Aaron Smith's score. I can't believe it. I'm evil. The Dante's Inferno Test has banished you to the Seventh Level of Hell!
| Level | Score |
|---|---|
| Purgatory (Repenting Believers) | Very Low |
| Level 1 - Limbo (Virtuous Non-Believers) | Very Low |
| Level 2 (Lustful) | Very High |
| Level 3 (Gluttonous) | Very High |
| Level 4 (Prodigal and Avaricious) | Moderate |
| Level 5 (Wrathful and Gloomy) | Very High |
| Level 6 - The City of Dis (Heretics) | Very High |
| Level 7 (Violent) | Extreme |
| Level 8- the Malebolge (Fraudulent, Malicious, Panderers) | Extreme |
| Level 9 - Cocytus (Treacherous) | High |
Wausau, WI Wisconsin again. This is actually a beautiful state. Not much to say except that my laptop monitor crapped out on me so I can't use my laptop. I borrowed my co-worker Steve's tonight so I could do extensity, but every time I tried to work on my expense reports it would get stuck and mess things up because the connection is too slow. I'm going to have to plug into the library's network tomorrow. Isn't this the most exciting stuff you've ever read? I know, I know. Brenda is probably shaking her head at me. "Katie, this is so boring. You can do better." But I'm tired and I'm cranky from lack of working laptop. It really is an extension of me. Argh. That's a bad sign. You can take my cell phone, my TV, my car, but leave me a computer with internet access and I can do anything. "Sleeping with the Enemy" is on TV right now and I forgot how this movie brought the song "Brown Eye Girl" back into rotation. We all loved it. We also thought the movie was incredibly scary and whenever he would play that creepy music by Berlioz, oh man...the chills. But now I think it's just an okay movie if not a little boring. Funny how time does that. Ruins movies. Hmmm..... I could ponder more on what happens to movies over time, but alas I'm still cranky and now I'm tired and Steve probably wants his laptop back. Damn.
New Canaan, CT Warning! Mushy Baby Entry! I'm still visiting my cousin Chris and his wife Pam and their beautiful baby girl, Margaret. Now, I realize everyone thinks their baby is the cutest, but I am convinced this is one of the most lovable darling babies I have ever seen. Hey, does anybody hear that? What's that sound? Is that a ticking? Holy Jesus, I think it's my biological clock... She looks like a Toft. No question. And she thinks everything is funny. She can't stop smiling. I give her ten years and that smile will be replaced with cynical sarcasm. What do you think?
Boston, MA
Since Kris managed to post in the midst of chaotic weekend deabauchery, I decided I best throw some pics up here. Damn right. Since I only ate the vegetarian insides of my sandwich for lunch on Friday and then proceeded to skip dinner and go straight to the beer, I found myself pathetically drunk after only two beers and two vodka/crans. But everyone will vouche for me that those were some mighty strong vodka/crans.
I finally took the Fruity Object Quiz Stephanie suggested. Here are my results:
Seattle, WA Sadly, last night was Max's going away party, but I like to think of it as "Max-is-going-to-Atlanta-for-a-little-bit-party." In honor of his move, I shall post two pictures from the last move. The first is from packing the UHaul at his apartment on 14th in Capitol Hill. The second is on the Oregon Coast when we were driving him down there. This is a pre-trip-becoming-a-huge-disaster picture. :) Anyone up for planning a trip through the south to visit? Say around October or so?
Hotel bed in hotel room in Sidney, NE So here I am watching trash tv and trying to learn a bit about div's and the like so that I can ditch tables and start using KB's smooth ass process. But don't worry, I'm not getting on here to discuss that. I was just wondering if anyone knows why Pink always wears her pants so freaking low? I mean, it looks really strange. Britney's low pants are sexy, but Pink lowered them to the point of seeming like we are giving her a physical exam. Just wondering. Is there anyone of you out there that thinks it looks good? If so, let me know. Curiousity is starting to preoccupy my mind. But then again, I was watching MTV to take a break from my constant Disney channel obsession, which Johnny and Gary had to hear all about the other day. Maybe soon I'll go into it more on this.
Sidney, Nebraska So I'm blogging this on one of our FUT laptops after getting the wireless lab up and running at the Sidney Public Library. For all you trainers out there, get this: I come upon this FUT install realizing that I have to set up the Cisco wireless network for the laptops. I've never done this before. So I come into the room and start setting everything up, all the while thinking "geez, I hope there are instructions for the wireless stuff" and also "how come there are two separate labs here, Neptune and Denali?" Anyway, I am assuming the two separate labs is so we have all the wireless stuff and...oh who knows. That mystery is never solved and doesn't need to be (although they were unlocked which we all know is disconcerting considering what just happened with the theft in New Jersey, but I don't think the last trainers had a chance to lock these). Anywho, I find some simple instructions, I get into the router, I set up the network and I put in all the wireless cards. Viola! Done. I felt pretty damn good about myself. But what's this? No connection! What the hell? So I troubleshoot a few things, while quickly realizing that for some reason my brain is turned off. Eventually I call Kent, the networking God. Here's where the frustrating part comes in. Problem #1: No cell phone range, no cordless phone, no phone drops in the room, too far away to use the long phone cord. I end up running from one end of the library to the other while troubleshooting with Kent. Pride points: drop 2 points for the number of people watching my fat ass run back and forth. Problem #2: Since my brain was turned off, I hadn't thought to look for a link light coming from the Ethernet 1 port to their drop. No link light. Switch cable for our own. Now there is a link light. Pride points: drop 10 more points for having to be reminded to check for the link light, send e-mail to Kent apologizing for being an idiot. Problem #3: Despite link light, still not working. Can't ping their network. Spent a good two hours working with Kent, running back and forth, calling him back, sending him the configuration. Still feeling like my brain was off. Pride points: drop 1 point for occassionally forgetting what I just did on the computer when I was relaying it back to him. Argh. Problem #4: After all of this, Kent suggests we check where the drop is going and whether we really are plugged into the network. The tech woman and I discover that on the switch side of things, there isn't a link light and furthermore, that port has died. So we plug it into our switch and SUCCESS! Pride points: drop all my remaining pride points for not thinking of this from the very beginning when I orginally forgot to look for the link light on the router side of things. Why didn't I follow that up then? Argh. So now that I have it all up and running and feel great about the connection and the set up of the lab, I went to check on my e-mails from Kris to see how I did on Ruth's page and what went wrong. My Pride points are now in the negative because it turns out I really fowled things up with her website and I still don't understand the basics of html and tables and crap so Kris, aka Angel of All that is Blog, fixed it. I checked out Ruth's page and he had COMPLETELY changed it. Because Kris and I are alike in the sense that once we get involved, we pretty much get engrossed in fixing a problem and lose ourselves in it, he basically went in and started from scratch fixing everything. I had been working on her comments and page for about 8 hours yesterday before I finally crashed, but not before sending out my SOS to KB. So here's my shout out to KB and my apologies to Ruth for not being better versed at all this yet.
Lincoln, Nebraska...still I decided that even though I have to drive six hours west to Sidney for my next stint, it still wasn't worth doing tonight. I contemplated driving the 8 hours to Boulder, CO but again, I decided it would be nice to rack up some Hilton points here at the Embassy Suites in Lincoln. I found a great mocha place called The Coffee House, I've scoped out all the theatres, and the room service here is outstanding if I decide to stay in my pajamas all weekend. Which finds me sitting here on my computer for the sixth hour in a row. I've been trying to catch up on everyone's blogs and news and other fun sites. I'm also working on my html skills and trying to design Ruth's new page. Right now she is using a template, but when she starts her biking tour job we hope she will start posting her digital pics and writing about her adventures. So I'm getting stuff ready for her to do that. I'm sort of Ruth's Kris Bell. Filling the role he usually takes.
Lincoln, Nebraska #2 I can't believe how many amazingly supportive comments I got from all of you about my running. I think it might be enough to convince me to do it again. Except Aaron's comments about running with a beer in one hand sounds kind of fun and challenging. I can see myself concentrating, "Come on Katie...don't spill...don't spill...don't spill. Okay, now take a big swig! Way to go!" With this much input you might all be wondering if I went running again last night or if my prophecy of sitting on my bed with a bag chips came true. The answer is neither. I ended up going for dinner and drinks with Steve and Todd. Drank way too much and then stumbled my way with them over to the new Matrix movie. Let me just say, don't ever try and watch an action packed, fast paced, people flying everywhere kind of movie when you are sloshed. I had to go to the bathroom twice in fear of losing it and eventually I moved away from the boys into a row all my own so I could stretch out and stop the spinning. They looked at me sort of funny. I think they thought I was repulsed by them. :) I was just getting a bit claustrophobic in the middle of all the people. :) I'm such a ninny. But regardless of the fact I was close to losing my amazing dinner we had eaten earlier, I stilled really enjoyed The Matrix. WARNING: SLIGHT OPINIONATED MATRIX SPOILER TO FOLLOW (very slight) My only observation and I'm not sure how I felt about this was that the Matrix was focused more on sex and love this time. Which was both sexually frustrating when you end up having to go back to your hotel room alone, and exciting because well let's face it, there are a lot of attractive bodies in The Matrix. I have more to say about the movie, but I'll wait until more people have seen it. That's all for now.
Lincoln, Nebraska Just got in tonight. Went to dinner with Steve and Todd at a Cajun restaurant and the highlight was the Bananas Foster. Neither Steve nor I had ever had it. Delicious! But then I came back to the hotel and realized there were far too many mirrors in here. That might be nice when you have a little lover to play around with, but instead I kept catching my reflection and thinking, "Who let that fat girl in my room?" Needless to say I threw my sneakers on and went running. I didn't get very far and my lungs felt like they were on fire. Actually, it's been two hours since I ran and my lungs still feel like they were ripped to shreads. Kris Bell once told me that if I decided to start running I could work myself into it and eventually it wouldn't hurt as badly, but it's hard to have faith. :( Sometimes I understand why people have the fat sucked out of them. I would never do it, but I understand the desperation and especially the laziness. Laziness being the key word. It's strange how I go about my days thinking I look about 120lbs. and then I see my reflection all of the sudden and am still shocked that I'm no longer that small. Is this the epiphany you were talking about Kris? You said it just hit you one night. Could this be my night where I really start doing something? Knowning me, it will pass. I'll be sitting on my bed eating chips this time tomorrow night.
Seattle, Washington What a beautiful week to be home. My god. It was so nice I even went to the zoo with my sister Marie, my great friend Tonja, and her boyfriend Piet. The animals all seem to get busy around the same time because there were a lot of babies to be seen. I'm talking about both the caged animals and the human animals. But I guess since the gestation period is probably different for each animal, maybe there was a memo about when to have their young. We saw two baby tigers, three baby gorillas, and a baby elephant! I loved it. The gorillas were my favorite.
Narf, fart guy. Blurgh. Knifey fire! What's up, my moggas? Now Katie's turn: I suppose I should edit this. But I think I'll keep the original text that Kris put in here just for the memory of it. I leave tomorrow for Nebraska. I start off in Lincoln and then drive 5 and a half hours to Sidney. I think I may drive the 8 hours to Boulder on the weekend since it would only be three hours back to Sidney at that point. Otherwise I'm taking suggestions for Lincoln restaurants and activities.
Seattle, Washington I'm trying to get my laundry done while making mix cd's at the same time, but I keep Kazaaing things and waiting to see what my progress is. Needless to say, my laundry is sitting behind me wanting to be washed and wondering if I'm going to pull the ol' "pack dirty laundry and hope to wash it on the road" trick. But I can't because I leave tomorrow for Trenton, New Jersey and I'm staying at my Uncle's instead of a hotel. Some of you may say, "well then you'll have a free way to do laundry so no worries," but my pride won't let me show up at my uncle's with laundry to do. That would just perpetuate the family belief that I am forever the procrastinator and irresponsible Toft girl. ...which may be true, but no need affirming it. At least the procrastinating part is true. Meeting up with some BMGF pals for dinner at Snappy Dragon tonight. I hear it's great, but I've never been. You know me, always excited about food. I'll give a proper review when I return.
Seattle, Washington Home again, home again, jiggity jig. Well, I felt great on my trip. Had an amazing time. But then I got on the plane, slept the whole way home, mouth wide open, breathing in all the wonderful germs, and now I'm sick. Sick as a dog. Cold, sore throat, naseua, etc. Scott tried to convince me it was SARS. :) And I even looked to see if people from Toronto might have jumped on my Seattle flight from Chicago. Sure enough, they could have. Everyone with me on this one? No, I'm just sick. Wanted to go into work, but we have a girl there who just finished up her chemotherapy and is extremely susceptible to germs, so I checked with the bossman and we decided I should stay away. First couple days are the most contagious anyway. Well, I get little spurts of energy and then I crash. Here I go.....crash.
Soldier's Grove, Wisconsin I worked in Soldier's Grove today with Nicole and Helena. There is a river there called the Kickapoo River and they say it is the oldest river in the world. Any takers on researching this? Here is the co-op in Gays Mills where we did an install next door and then ducked in for some organic snackin'.
Then on the way home we drove through a very quaint one store town where we were inspired to pose for a picture:
Onalaska, Wisconsin Wisconsin is a lot prettier than I expected it to be. I had already visited the eastern side of the state with Jeff, but I hadn't noticed how many rolling hills and trees and beautiful farms made up the state. And the Amish. I can't tell you how many times I've gotten stuck behind a horse and buggy on long roads where you can't pass. It's really hard to make your minivan go 5mph. And folks, that is officially how fast a horse and buggy go. Trust me. Speaking of the Amish. Can someone fill me in on what they believe? Because apparently they will ride in a car if someone else drives it and I saw a group of Amish kids playing with nerf baseball bats and such. I wish I had a camera and could have sneaked a picture, because seeing these kids in their drab clothing in front of their little farm swinging the flourescent orange bats and throwing the big bright yellow nerf balls was quite the sight.
I'm so not surprised that this is who I am. For all you sad people who haven't see "Donnie Darko," you have to. I am never scared or creeped out by things, at least not very easily, and this movie CREEPED ME OUT! See it.
LaCrosse, WI MY TURN!!! :) Alright. I was telling Kris the other night (in the midst of playing with my dictation device...ew that sounds dirty) that I have a hard time blogging lately because I don't feel I have anything interesting to say and that in general I am just an extremely boring person. But after some thought on this, I've decided, well it's not like all of you are THAT much more interesting, yet you still find ways to keep me reading. So I shall try my hand at this again. Although...I was eager to hear more about our Mr. Boorish Morton and his ingenius plan. Some who know me well have heard of my tactics where I use double or triple shot mochas as a chaser to many things. :) Anywho... Kris! I forgot to bring your bag into work. I was going to leave it on my couch for you, but Scott kept putting it in my room. So your bag is in my bedroom. Use your key. Scott usually comes home from work around 5:30pm so go over anytime before then. Just in case he's there you can try knocking first, but just let yourself in when he doesn't answer. I'll let him know you might be doing that. Max! Your scrapbook from work is sitting on my printer on my desk. You do not have a key so you'll have to arrange with Scott. I'll let him know. For all of you wondering why some people have keys and others don't...well honestly, Scott and I went through this wave of passing our key out to anyone who had space on their key chain, all willy nilly and shit. But then we thought, "we're not that important that all these people want our key." So we stopped. No, really, I'm not sure about the rhyme and reason of the key extravaganza. Some people like Tonja and Kris are great with the key because it really does come in handy for situations exactly like this, but the entire time I dated Jeff I couldn't get him to carry it on his keychain which led to many many many complicated times. As a matter of fact, I think the key is still sitting on top of their fridge, useless. If you're ever over there Max, feel free to take it. So now that I've told everyone in the world where a key to my house is :) let's move on. Why has it taken me so long to get into Sleater-Kinney? I just heard the O2 song again and really dig them. There is no reason for me to have been so late in the game on them. Kris and Johnny have always been fans and I can't tell you how many times I've driven by the exit sign for Sleater-Kinney Road which should have aroused my curiosity at least. So Kris, I would have you just burn me a copy, but I am a strong pusher for buying albums of artists I respect and want to support. Same reason I won't just burn a copy of the new "Be Good Tanyas" album. I'm not completely loyal to this idea, but I'm trying. I also just heard a song at the end of a Six Feet Under episode called "Come and Find Me" by Josh Ritter. Really liked it, but don't know anything else about this guy. Anyone? Anyone?
Boorish Morton decided one sunny morning to go to the store and buy some whiskey for his wake-me-up spot o' joe. Boorish Morton's life, you see, was a never-ending cycle of stimulants and depressants, and finally, on this fateful morning, the ebbs and flows of this cycle merged into a single monolithic habit: alcoholized caffeine. What happened as a result of Boorish Morton's liquid experimentation, (or, as we might say, dear readers, "abomination of nature"), is a story of staggering heights, dreadful lows, brushes with death, violence, fame, and fortune, and constitutes the most dramatic tale of our times. Your turn, Katie.
My name is Katie, I like potatoes, and when I dance up in the air, I think fondly of the Care Bears. My name is Katie . . . do do do do do doooooo.
Linthicum, Maryland (not Lithium, although that would be nice) So here I am killing time until I fly out tomorrow morning. I can't wait to get home. I have so much to do. And I get to see Dave! Yeah! I would have flown home tonight, but Dave is flying into Seattle from Oakland tomorrow morning so we figured it would be easier if we shared my town car back. So I held off flying home early. He better feel special. :) I am officially addicted to reading and planning on writing Blog Lists. We have some great ones on there. Now I just need to contribute more. The problem is I find myself spending more time thinking about that and not about my blog. My other problem is that I read everyone else's blogs when I get on my computer, but then when I'm all done I'm too tired to write my own. My eyes and head start getting that computer ache. My roommate sent me this crazy posting from Craig's List and I'm starting to think maybe that's what happened to our cat. On an "I'm pathetic and watch too much TV" note, I saw a couple episodes of the Nashville/American Idol rip off show and I have to say, those are some talented bastards. They have a song writing tryout as well. So first they sing and then they sing their own original song. It's been pretty cool to watch actually. A lot of them play instruments. American Idol now looks like the Mickey Mouse Club. Um....not that it wasn't already like that.
Salisbury, Maryland I went to D.C. this weekend and was met with the best weather I could have asked for. Sunny and warm. Warm for me anyway. I could wear my coat or not and still be comfortable. Hung out with Nicole, Ruth, and a couple of Ruth's friends. But mostly wandered around seeing the classic D.C. stuff. My library from Thursday and Friday was great and they had birds that added to the atmosphere. I told them I had heard of library cats, but never birds. They couldn't believe a library would have a cat and I looked at them quizzically and said, " but you have birds?" They thought it was hilarious. Great group. I thought is was funny that two of the birds were love birds, but they were in separate cages. The woman who took me over to introduce me to the birds told me not to get too close because they were mean as hell. I said I didn't think they were so much in love then. Again, she thought that was really funny. So who wouldn't like hanging out in a place where people are nice and they think you're witty. Then as I was coming back on the second day, I noticed the sign welcoming people to the town. It all made sense.
I'M BACK!!!! I just spent all night catching up on reading Johnny's blog from when I left for Europe until now. I don't know that I'll get to Kris' or Joey's or Aaron's or...oh my god...I have so much to read. But Johnny always gets my first read. He's my blog idol. Coming soon on my blog will be the boring details of Europe, complete with pictures. But for now I wanted to say I watched "Far From Heaven" and loved it. It was so eerie and well done. And tonight I watched "Hot Chick" and I hate to admit that I liked it. But of course, I'm a sucker for a bad movie in a hotel room. Alas, for now, I must get back to reading the blogs and watching my HGTV Thursday night line-up.
I do hereby proclaim Katie Toft dead dead dead to the blogging world. May Katie forever rest in peace, until that day she arises and proclaims her place on blogging's royal throne... which is a real possibility, actually, given that Katie isn't really dead, but is actually alive and faring moderately under the witness protection plan in Alliance, Nebraska. Katie should've never given me her password. We can all learn a less from this, kids.
Alright, here's the deal. I need suggestions on where to look to find possibilities for my post job volunteer or non-profit international work. I know there is the typical "Teaching English Overseas" deal, but I was thinking something different from that. And maybe for a shorter amount of time. For example, my friend Elizabeth went to South Africa for three months to help build libraries. That sounds good, but I don't end my job until the end of September so I need to have some options. Probably looking for something that would start after the new year. So I am hollering out to all you non-profit bunnies: Use my comments! Give me suggestions!
PEOPLE I THINK ARE BRILLIANT: 1. The Coen Brothers 2. The creators of "Dr. Katz" and "Home Movies" 3. Johnny Peel 4. Kyle Ancowitz (link to his theatre group) 5. Kurt Vonnegut 6. whoever invented condiments (i.e. ranch dressing, special sauce, thousand island, etc.) 7. Ani Difranco (except she always sounds a little crazy when she talks) I may add to this list as time goes on.
So I'm 27 today. Wow. I feel so much older than that. Especially in the last two years. I remember when I started this job and I would be reading on the plane, people would always ask me if the book was for school and if I was on vacation. Now nobody even cards me when I order drinks. Argh. Yesterday I had a great day. Brenda and I arrived in Bend Oregon and roamed the streets. What a great town! We had an amazing dinner at Merenda downtown. We shared Fire Roasted Mussels, an amazing veggie platter with acorn squash and brown butter, and a giant crab that was cooked in a way I've never had. SO GOOD! We shared a bottle of wine and some dessert as well. Really pampered myself, pre-birthday. Then moved on to Fiddy's which was a total dive with local appeal, then on to the Winterfest where we relaxed in a Jazz and Java tent on this couch they had dragged in there. Then stumbled upon a martini bar where we really squatted for quite a while. A great time. Today Brenda and Erin took me to the Deschutes Brewery which was great but we weren't hungry enough for all the food we ordered. They also gave me bath salt, a barnes and noble gift card and two french translation and phrases books for my trip to Europe. I felt so special. I haven't really celebrated my birthday in years so this was really nice. I can't believe they got me gifts. Way too nice especially since I've been talking their ears off the last week and a half. They've got to be sick of me. :) Thank you to everyone who called or e-mailed or gave me a shout out in their blog today. I've never felt so loved! Wow! Now back to our regularly scheduled program.
I just saw the worst preview. "The Guru" Has anyone else seen it? Scary. Poor poor Marisa Tomei.
Leah is here with me. She's the one who wrote that I was a dork. I have to concur. If you read the comments on KB's site, you'll see why. We sweet-talked her into doing a sweep for a librarian and told her she could share my room for doing it. She currently has a hotel in Walla Walla, but the sweep was closer to Baker City where we are.
My most recent addiction is Hot Tea. Every chance I get I've been ordering pots of tea. I love it. There is something extremely comforting in a hot pot of tea. I wish I had one right now. Usually in the hotel room I put the tea bag in place of a coffee filter in the coffee maker and it makes a nice big pot of tea. Unfortunately I don't have a coffee pot in this hotel room. Oh the simple pleasures of life we take for granted. One of my favorite trips was when I went on the Celestial Seasonings tour in Boulder. They let us go into their peppermint tea room that is sealed off. They have to seal it or else you would be able to smell peppermint for miles around, they said. Which of course would taint all the other tea in the factory. Very cool tour. Besides, I have a fetish for factories. It dates back to Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood. Is it just me or did Lady Elaine in Make-Believe Land seem very much like a man. She reminds me of Eddie Izzard. Hmmm...
First off, check out my MOVIE LISTS on the left. Click the links and browse the crappy movies I've watched this year. Then feel free to make fun of me and trash my choices. Just know that I haven't seen any other movies except what's listed so I may be missing some amazing ones. Where am I these days? Oregon. Baker City. Nestled in the hills. Kind of cute. I can just see me with my kids in the future as an old mom during a road trip through here, boring them with the tales of my life. Anywho. Getting amped to go to London and Paris next week. It hasn't totally sunk in. I'm still thinking of it as just another trip. But here and there I have moments where I remember this is not for work and I'll have total free time. Very cool. Would love tips on what to do or see. I'm wacthing the Osbournes right now. In the words of Erin Hawk, I heart The Osbournes. I just have a soft spot in my heart for Ozzy and Sharon. Kelly is throwing little temper tamptrums on this episode and all I can think is how much she is going to hate these episodes when she gets older. They showed an old documentary on the family from about 8 years ago. It was really cute. The kids were still sweet and Ozzy was a bit more coherent. But the patterns he had then are still true. I loved it. I'm pathetic. Had a great dinner in the room with Brenda and Erin after The State of the Union. Here we are eager to eat:
Taking a break from working on my class prep. This Content Server gig is tough because I do better by watching people and then adapting it to fit my style and comfort, but I haven't seen anything taught for awhile and it changes with each class to fit the needs. This makes it hard to really get a handle on it. I was the last person added to the Content Server team and I think I'm nervous that there isn't enough time for me to get my groove going before it's all over. I know everyone is still working to get a rhythm going during their lessons, but this just intimidates me more at times. Still, I feel maybe after this trip I'll get enough confidence up to run with it no matter who I'm grouped with. I hope.
I better get back to work, but first I thought I'd purge my mind of some silly thoughts.
Thought #1: This one is coupled with a confession. My thought is that I should really be 200 lbs. After eating Mexican tonight with Erin and Brenda, I felt unsatisfied and munchy. I really just wanted a glass of milk so I could have some of my cereal, but then I remembered they have these really great pots of tea downstairs and they have room service. So I called and planned on just ordering the glass of milk and a pot of tea. Then I thought, well I usually want two pots of tea because they are kind of small, so I added a pot of tea. Then I saw they had popcorn so I ordered that, but they were out. For some reason I felt like I had to pick something else to replace the popcorn so I ordered a piece of cheesecake. But then I remembered I wanted something a little less sweet so I saw they have half sandwiches. I ordered a half a turkey sandwich and they said it came with salad, so I said, "Great, I love salad!" So in the end my glass of milk turned into: 1 glass of milk, 2 pots of tea, half a turkey sandwich, salad w/ ranch dressing, and a piece of Oregon Berry Cheesecake.
You know what the worst part was? Not only did they assume there were two of us in my room and brought settings for two people, but I couldn't even fake that my imaginary second person was around somewhere (which is what I normally do, "oh they ran to the car," or "they're in the bathroom") because just before they brought the food, I locked myself out of my room and had to go get a key. We arrived at the same time and it only makes sense that if I had a second person I wouldn't have needed to go get a key. Embarrassing. I made Brenda eat most of the cheesecake and half the salad. And don't forget, the milk was for cereal. And I ate that too. Pathetic.
Thought #2: The artists whose works end up in hotels must change their names to escape from the failure. If I were an artist, my pictures would be hanging in K-Mart bathrooms. I just know it.
Thought #3: Just because it's gold, doesn't make it pretty.
Thought #4: Am I the only person who eats Goldfish crackers by biting them lengthwise? And if I'm not the only person, do those who do it too feel as much satisfaction as I do?
Oh the little things.
Those Sprint PCS commercials go back and forth from being funny to just plain annoying. The monkey with a cold was cute, I admit, but a bunch of us couldn't figure out why the guy got all the weiner dogs. What did he really ask for? It sounds like he asked for Dachsunds, but what he really said was Oxen. I finally figured it out. These are the things that keep me up at night. To rival Johnny's Oscar list, I have compiled a list of all the eligible movies that I have seen this year. In doing this I discovered that I have a seen a great deal of crap. Mostly thanks to the hotel in-room movies. So I might have to separate the list into categories. We'll see. Watch for it to come.
"Hem: rabbit songs" is not as much like "Voices on the Verge" as I thought. It's a little less interesting. It's a nice background, soft sound, but not extremely noticeable. Watched the Superbowl today with Brenda and Erin. Wish I could've put money down because I would have made bank. Can you believe the number of interceptions? My god! That's gotta hurt. A little dissappointed in the commercials though. Not clever enough. We did win a Coors Light T-shirt as a door prize at the hotel bar. But I think that's just because we were the ONLY people in the bar. Crazy. Watched a bit of Fear Factor as well. I would love to go on this show if it weren't for the eating and the bugs. I can handle heights, stunts, water, etc. But I could never eat silkworm or pig intestines without throwing up, or sit in a coffin filled with angry scorpions. Snakes, worms, rodents, I could handle hanging with. But bugs and spiders....eeeee...willies. Totally unrelated thought, but man, I could really go for some Maguro right now. Maybe a little Miso soup and California roll. Mmmm....
Bought two new albums today: "Africans in America: America's Journey Through Slavery" which is an amazing audio accompaniment to the PBS special. The music is compiled by Bernice Johnson Reagon and her daughter Toshi Reagon. Pretty amazing. Check it out. "Hem: rabbit songs" which reminds me a bit of "Voices on the Verge," which I am uncontrollably addicted to. Went to Goldy's today and ate the scrumptious breakfast I had dreamed about all week. Here's a picture of Brenda and me at the restaurant. Only Erin, Brenda, and I know what's in the camera case. :)
Finished watching "Death to Smoochy" and I think I lost interest along the way. Not sure what kind of review to give it. I think they needed a little David Lynch touch to make it extremely outrageous. It had potential to be that sort of creepy, cryptic, weird sort of movie, but it was too pulled together in the end. Hmmm...I may have to give it more attention and watch it again, but maybe not.
I wanted make a note in response to Johnny Peel's latest Blog. He was complaining about having to pay $50 for Amy's birth control. He wondered why, if he paid so much for insurance, did he have to pay for birth control. I guess the guys haven't been clued in. As long as I've known things to work, birth control has NEVER been covered, but viagra is. Go figure. Just what we need. More procreation. Freakin' freaky freaks.
Boise, Idaho is not so bad a place. That's where I am now, but I'm not supposed to be. Long story, but what a crazy day. Heading back to Baker City, Oregon on Sunday just in time to see the Superbowl with Brenda and Erin from work. For now though, I'm just looking forward to breakfast at this great little place in downtown Boise called Goldy's. It's the kind of place where you want to sit at the counter and chat with the wait staff while you eat grits and sweet potato hashbrowns. Mmmm.... Even that will top the amazing BBQ we had at Goodwood the other night. God I love food. In the spirit of Johnny Peel, I have some random thoughts I figured I'd just throw in here. While here I've noticed a new commercial on TV that is driving me crazy. Aladdin Bail Bonds. They try to make it look all classy and caring. A presentable wife getting a phone call from her husband in jail, she goes to Aladdin Bail Bonds in the middle of the night, where she is greeted by a beautiful business woman who tells her, "take a deep breath, we're here to help you." And the silly woman does take a deep breath, on cue. Now I don't know about the rest of you, but I watch TLC fairly religiously and I've seen the special about the guys who chase down people who owe on bail bonds and that whole world is anything but businesslike and classy. Who are they fooling? This is now right up there with my other favorite "bad" commercial back in college where the girl opens her freezer and the narrator says "Are you having financial problems?" I never understood why they directed it that way. It's not like her freezer was empty and she was poor. It was an average freezer with and average amount of food. But after that commercial, my roommate and I used to say that quote every time we opened the freezer at home. Was that my old roommate Joey or was that Dawnelle? I can never remember anymore. I know Joey was the one who ate baby food and Dawnelle ate Bologna, but the rest is a blur. Oh god, that Bologna. I'm in the middle of watching "Death to Smoochy" and so far I feel it's been overlooked. I'm a huge Edward Norton fan, I think Catherine Keener is deadly, and Robin Williams has all my respect, so why didn't I think to watch this sooner. We'll see if I still like it when I finish watching it. There is a point where Edward Norton compares Captain Kangaroo to Jesus Christ which of course reminds me of my early childhood obsession with the man. Not Jesus, but the Captain. I wore that record out. Speaking of Edward Norton, I watched "25th Hour" and really dug most of it. But he didn't wear any eyeliner in that one. Just in "Death to Smoochy," so if you're looking for some fun crazy Norton, go with Smoochy. If you looking for serious, hardcore, sexy Norton, go with "25th Hour."
Whew! What a week. The video went extremely well considering how frustrated I was with it and how much I wanted to keep fixing it. At about 5:30am I finally just curled up in Kris' bed and surrendered to the video as is (Kris was on the couch, zonked out by 11pm due to a hard day of travel that started at 3am). I must say, Kris has one of the most comfortable beds around, and I'm pretty in love with my own bed, so that says a lot. Still, his bed was not comfortable enough to make my few hours of sleep feel like more. Therefore, I ran on adrenaline for the presentation (during which Kris had to troubleshoot technical difficulties with four laptops and the projector, thank god for him) and got through it fairly well. But now, as we all remember from college, the day after is always harder. Hits you like a brick and you start to see tracers every time something moves in front of you. Who needs drugs? Sleep deprivation is cheaper. My reward for all my hard work is this very Blog Kris designed for me. Since I wouldn't let him touch the video and only used him for consulting on my ideas, he kept himself busy with this. You should have seen some of the cool designs he tried out. The night went sort of like this: "Hey Kris, come tell me if you think I should edit this part of the video..." "Hey Katie, come look at this template I've created for your blog..." "Hey Kris, do you think this song sounds okay for the video?" "Hey Katie, I've completely changed your template now, check this out!" "Hey Kris, I'm going to blow my brains out if I can't get this to sync up..." "Hey Katie, let me tell you all the wonders of PHP, it's way cool..." "Hey Kris, everything you are saying to me right now is coming out 'blah blah blah' so let's focus on me, me, me and my video...okay?" Well, something like that anyway. What a guy. The blow my brains out part comes to you care of Gary, who managed to work that phrase into my repertoire. But what I've realized through the 30 odd hours of editing, is that I truly enjoy the whole process and regret that I ever strayed from the hobby. I remember in college I tried to get a job right away in the video productions department (not sure what they were really called, but that's the side of it I wanted to work in) and the guy said he would love to have me since I had editing experience from high school, but due to the fact I was NOT on work-study, he couldn't hire me. So we all know what job that sent me to. A sweet little local video store. And now look where I am. Well, okay. I guess the video store didn't have any effect on my life in a negative way, but just think what path I may have followed, had I only been given the opportunity to fuel my interests and build some skills. Hell, I could be a female David Lynch by now. Or at least doing wedding videos on the side (ick.) So this is my first real blog and I hope it was interesting for you. I'm off to pick up my friend and former co-worker Aaron Smith at the airport. He's flying in from Maine because he desperately missed Seattle, as well he should. And as odds would have it, my sister Maddy is flying in on the same connection flight through Atlanta, so I get to do two favors in one easy shot. I love it.
Kris and I spent all night working on a video. Well, really I spent all night on it; all he did was work on my template, which I guess gave him a multitude of problems (what's this abou CSS acting all funny?) He has to teach a journaling class in the morning, and he should be working on that, but instead he slaves away for me. Ah, the joys of having geeky friends. Tomorrow we give our big presentation, which I'm very nervous about. Yikes.
