her feet?

My next door office neighbor likes to talk to herself, and she's been quite the chatterer today (and it's only just 8 a.m.). Just a second ago, out of nowhere, she said "funky." I think I can go home happy now.

I've been meaning to tell you ...

Project Runway - I didn't get a chance to write about the Brooke Shields episode from 2 weeks ago, but I have to say I was shocked to see Kelli go. Her outfit was not great, but I never questioned her taste level. And once again I thought the judges were on crack when they picked the winner. Keith's dress was plain ugly IMHO, and Jerell's was clearly a higher quality garment that even *I* would wear. But whatever. As for the drag episode ... most colorful episode EVER! Fun fun fun. I want drag queens as friends. I loved all of the top 3 and didn't care who won either way. So congrats, Joe. Bottom 3, I was glad Jerell didn't get auf'd, and I think they made a good decision to send Daniel home because he just wasn't paying attention to the jobs at hand. And cute as he was, he never ever smiled, and he was starting to look like a bobble-head. Though Keith better be the next to go because I'm getting reeeeally bored with him. We should call him "Scrappy" or something. And seriously? His so-called specialty of doing the fabric swatches all over the place, with unfinished edges, is really more of a cheat to get him out of hemming, or having to create something with a real shape! C'mon!!

TYG-meter - My neighbor says "There you go" about a bazillion times a day. Not as in "You asked for this report, and I have it ready, so there you go." But the slang-ish "There you go" meaning, "You're right" or "That's a good idea." Except she uses it as a filler so much that it's also taken on the meanings "What you said is very funny" and "That's very interesting." I was curious how many times she really does say it, so every day this week I'm keeping count. So far today we're at 6, which seems low, to tell you the truth. I just dread the day when I find myself saying it!! Gawd!

things I won't miss

About my job :
- The whistler. I will definitely not miss the tuneless whistling all day long, or the random verses of the Flipper theme song, or even the occasional ad jingle.
- Mr. Booming Voice. I will not miss hearing every single word this guy says, including when he's "whispering" on the other side of the room. Nor will I miss his weekly inspections of my fingernails and my coworker's hairstyle.
- My cubicle.

About my apartment:
- The squishy kitchen floor. Why it's squishy, I don't think I want to know.
- The schizophrenic shower. Temperature control is pretty much random, and that's only if the cold water knob doesn't fall off.
- The door that jiggles in its hinges every time the outside door opens or closes.
- The small and mysteriously radiator-free bedroom.
- The useless "eat-in" kitchen.
- The bathroom radiator covered in chipped, rusty (lead?) paint.
- The medicine cabinet that won't close because it's been painted too many times, and the overhead cabinet doors that won't open because they've been painted too many times.

nutshell

In a month I am moving again, trying to stay in the same neighborhood, just need a *better* apartment, which will probably cost me a bit more, not to mention moving costs. Since I lost my car, I have been very unhappy with using public transportation to get to work and back and I've come to the conclusion that I am not one of those people who can get by without a car. I was going to put off buying a new one until the finances allowed it (more comfortably anyway), but now I'm thinking sooner rather than later. The GOOD news is, the finance situation soon may not be as dire as it was. I was just today offered a new job at my company, which will come with a promotion and a pretty nice raise. And I have to say that this job really just fell in my lap right when I needed it.

Life is good. Complicated and messy, but good.

wishing I'd listened to myself

As I was walking down the stairs to leave my apartment building and go to work this morning, I had this awful feeling that today was going to be a Very Stressful Day. One of those days where I'd wish I had stayed in bed that morning. And if my inbox at work hadn't been so overflowing, maybe I would have.

I should have listened to my gut.

As if my current cartastrophies, apartmentastrophies and medicatastrophies weren't enough, I now believe that the world has gone crazy in its entirety. I've spent the whole day dealing with crazy people, ignorant people, confusing people, pushy people, and the occasional very nice person (I must be honest).

I really wish I could say that there was a full moon, but alas. People ARE crazy and they have no excuse.

a serious question

Is there a way, without overstepping any boundaries, to tell a coworker who is a superior (in title only, mind you), that it is impolite, Blackberry or no, to type an e-mail in all caps?

Methinks no, and I will just have to endure his YELLING.

not liking people today

It seems like everyone is irritating me today. I am trying not to show it, but I just wanna go home. People who I've been talking to at work only have bad things to say (mostly "Here's one more thing for you to do because I don't want to do it."). And even people who aren't talking to me are being annoying. I overheard a manager say to one of his subordinates that he should check with him before he prints anything. Apparently, he thinks PRINTING is something worthy of micro-management. The guy sighed in frustration once the manager had left, and I FELT HIS PAIN!!

I swear, this job is getting to me. My gray hairs are OUT OF CONTROL!

I did, however, have a very nice weekend. Despite having to go into work on Friday, my day off, and not being able to complete either of the two things I went in specifically to do, the rest of the weekend was pretty fab. Some friends called me up on Saturday and we went out to see Superbad, which was hilarious! Then I went to a b-day party for a work friend. It was nice to catch up with people I hadn't seen in a while, and I learned that a friend had just gotten engaged!! Then on Sunday I got a call from another friend and we went to see the movie Once, which was fantastic! I need to buy that music, like NOW!! And then I went to some friends' apartment for a home cooked early birthday dinner for myself, which was also wonderful. At the end of the night, I totally kicked their butts playing the Scene-It Friends edition! Yeah!!

So it was a good weekend. Maybe I'm just bitter that it's Monday.

kid stuff

I am loving Bring Your Child to Work Day! And I don't even have kids! Several of my coworkers have brought their kids in today, and I gotta tell ya, these kids are all pretty cool. The guy who sits in the cubicle across from me brought in his 8-year-old daughter and she was absolutely adorable! Another coworker and I (her dad stayed at his desk) got to take her down to the employee store to get a little gift they were giving out to the kids, and ALMOST got our picture taken with her as if she were our own. Now THAT might have started some unsavory rumors. :) Another coworker brought her son in (he's probably around 10 years old), and he has been helping us out by organizing binders and picking things up at the printer, and he LOVES IT! He's thanking us for giving him things to do and asking for more!! It's so cute! And earlier today, I tagged along with a big group of parents and kids for a tour of a couple different areas of our facility that I'd never been to before, and it was really interesting. I got to learn about some of our products in terms I can actually understand! Geez, how sad is that - I have to listen to the Kid's Day version of how our products work in order to understand it! ;) It's funny, though, when you don't spend that much time with kids, you forget how much fun they can be! And how cute and funny. I just wish I'd been able to hang out in MY Dad's office all day long instead of actually having to work. That would have been awesome!

p.s. If you'll notice above these posts, I have added a countdown to all things Harry Potter. Book 7 and Movie 5 coming out a week apart! This summer is so going to rock!

I have fought my way here to the castle beyond the Goblin City

I made the observation today that my place of work is a lot like the Labyrinth in the movie of the same name. It was kind of like that to begin with, in the sense that all of the hallways look exactly the same, and they're very long and you never seem to be getting anywhere. But lately, it's become even more like David Bowie's little game because everything keeps changing! For example, you used to be able to go into the room where my cube is, and walk through two rooms to get to where my Dad's office is, without going back out into the main hallway. The rooms were all connected. Now, you can only walk into the next room, and you come to a dead end. To get to my Dad's office, I have to go out into the hall, then back through a door into the next room over (which now only has one entrance and MUST be a fire hazard). And somehow they squeezed an entire new room in where there wasn't one before. More recently, an entire program office up and moved into a brand new area (nicknamed Land of the Big Doors). I don't know what was in this area previously - to me it just kind of appeared suddenly out of nowhere. And the people in the offices in their old area keep changing. Makes it kind of hard to find my program managers if I need them. Accounting recently moved out of their area into a new office where all the walls are now in different places. It's like The Powers That Be (Jareth?) move everyone out, shut the doors for a few weeks, then when they open them up again, it's totally different inside. Kinda cool, but very confusing if you already don't know your way around. And then TODAY, I walked past the office where another group I work with sits, and something was ... different. I couldn't put my finger on it at first, and then I realized, "Oh, there used to be a wall there ... and now there isn't." I'm NEVER gonna get my baby brother back if they keep moving the walls!!

And on an unrelated note, do peanut butter Twix still exist?

adventures in commuting

As you may or may not know, I usually take the train to work on Fridays. Some people ask me why I don't take the train every day. But believe it or not, it takes waaaay longer to get to work via train than it does by car. Yes, even on Fridays. But I do the train thing on Fridays for two reasons. 1) to save my car a little mileage in its old age, and 2) 'cause my coworkers and I often make it a "beer train." However, if there is one instance I can cite to support my opinion that driving can be far easier and less stressful than taking the train, it is last Friday.

About a half hour before quittin' time on Friday, I got an e-mail from a coworker asking if anyone wanted to take the early shuttle and go grab some beer before the train arrived. Okay, let me back up a little and explain the shuttle thing real quick. At around the 4:00 hour, there are two shuttles that leave work headed for the train station at Arlington Park. The one at 4:10 gets to the station in time for commuters to catch the outbound train, and the 4:26 shuttle gets people there in time to catch the inbound train. (Note: there used to only be one shuttle, at 4:10, so the inbound commuters would have quite a long wait at the station - another reason for my initial hesitation to take the train every day) Anyhoo, Nilsa, the coworker, wanted to take the 4:10 shuttle, and have the very accomodating bus driver drop us off at the liquor store next to Arlington Park, where we'd buy our beer, then hoof it back over to the station. I was the only one who was done with my work for the day and didn't need that extra 15 minutes to finish up, so I agreed to go along.

We met up in the Post 1 lobby where the shuttle picks us up. It was kind of yucky outside, so we stayed inside and watched for the bus to arrive. It didn't. There was a very nervous man in the lobby making all sorts of phone calls to Laidlaw, and to our company's other location, trying to figure out where the bus was. Since he was trying to make the outbound train, we could understand his nervousness, but he was freakin' everyone out! Seriously! Turned out there was a substitute bus driver that day and she didn't know where she was going or what her schedule was, so she was running very late. Nervous Guy and a couple other commuters ended up getting rides to the station so they could make their train. Since Nilsa and I were in no hurry, we waited a few more minutes to see if the bus would come. When it became evident that it wasn't coming, we decided to take another coworker up on his offer to drive us to the liquor store ... ahem, I mean, the train station. :) Actually, he WAS nice enough to drop us off at the liquor store, so we were in pretty good shape. We bought our drinks (only for ourselves, tee hee), and walked back to the station in plenty of time to make the inbound train. However, it was beginning to rain harder as we walked, and even though we had umbrellas, we were grateful for the shelters at the stop. There was a very interesting group of people huddled under the shelter who were headed into the city for some kind of event, and who were very amused by our drinks concealed in paper bags. Of course, they had a whole cooler full of booze, so who were they to talk? :)

So it got closer and closer to the time the train was supposed to arrive, and we saw no bus arriving from work with the rest of our friends and coworkers. Were they going to make it in time? Would the sub bus driver know where she was going? Suddenly, in the distance, we saw the giant headlight of the train approaching the station. Just about the same time, the bus arrived! But see, the thing about the Arlington Park station is that the drop off location is on the opposite side of the tracks as the platform you need to be on to catch the inbound train. So, needless to say, the bus came to a screeching halt, and out came a steady stream of my coworkers RUNNING AT FULL SPEED to cross the tracks in time to 1) catch the train, and 2) not get HIT by the train. Thankfully, all made it across in time and in one piece ... but just barely. I heard one of them say as we boarded the train, "If the bus driver hadn't gone through that yellow light, we wouldn't have made it!" Also, keep in mind that by this time, the rain was coming down pretty hard.

Cut to a few stops down the line, when the train came to a stop somewhere just after the Mount Prospect stop, and we didn't know why. In answer to our question, the conductor got on the intercom and announced that the train wass stopping because of a tornado warning, they didn't know when they'd be able to get moving again, and that we should all be patient because this was for our own safety. Oh, wonderful. We're stopped on the tracks for our SAFETY in a train that would be shredded to pieces were a tornado to actually hit it. At this point, Nilsa and I were very glad we had our beers, and the people with the cooler full of liquor, who were sitting right above us, were very glad they had that cooler full of liquor. I believe we were stopped on the tracks for about 45 minutes, which in the grand scheme of things, isn't that long. But when you're trying to get home after work and start your weekend, it's an eternity. I sent text messages, I talked on the phone, I drank my beer and joked around with fellow passengers. I even attempted to read the book I had with me (I think I only read a page). Meanwhile, Mother Nature was rearing her ugly head outside. It rained, it hailed, it rained some more. We DID NOT get hit by a tornado, and as far as I know, no one in the vicinity did either. So that was good. The delay in my commute was not so good.

FINALLY we started moving. We were a bit concerned that the train might skip some stops to get itself back on schedule, but luckily, it made all scheduled stops, so there weren't any further delays. HOWEVER, the minute we arrived at the Irving Park stop was the same minute that Ma Nature decided to release her bladder. So of course, the absolute worst five minutes of this storm were the five minutes when I was walking from the train to my car. I was incredibly thankful for my Nightmare Before Christmas umbrella. Or at least my upper half was. From the waist down, I was completely drenched. To the skin. Even through my shoes and socks. I can honestly say that I've never been outside during a worse downpour. The thunder cracked directly overhead at one point and literally stopped me in my tracks. And of course, in keeping with the theme, the rain let up dramatically as soon as I got in my car.

For the last leg of my journey, I had to make a stop at the pharmacy to pick up a prescription. It was mighty embarrassing sloshing down the aisles at CVS while everyone else who had been outside was only mildly damp, because they had the common sense (and good luck) to NOT be outside during the worst of the downpour.

But anyway, I got home. That's the point, right?

In conclusion, it's those kinds of days that make you appreciate the days when commuting goes smoothly. But it's also those kinds of days that make for really fun blog posts. :) It was an adventure.

the little things

I think it is important to remember the little things in life that keep you amused. Because sometimes when it seems like the world is out to get you, the only thing that will convince you that all is not thunderstorms and stepping in poop, is one of those funny little things that happens every once in a while that makes you smile despite yourself. This is why I am going to begin using this blog to keep track of those things for myself. So when I'm having "one of those days," I can refer back here, and hopefully I won't be tempted anymore to jab a sharp metal instrument into my eye socket.

Here's the first one.

1) Office Intercom
We have a paging system here at work, and most of the time, it works relatively well. The things that amuse me about it, however, are as follows: a) when one person begins a page, gets cut off by a page from another location, then has to begin their page all over again, trying very hard not to have an annoyed tone in their voice, b) the people who don't know how to pronouce a person's name, so when they repeat the name and extention for the second time, they say it completely different than the first, just to cover their bases, c) the people who stop mid-page because they forgot which extention they were paging to, d) when the extentions being paged to mysteriously have 5 digits, even though all extentions are only 4, and e) (my favorite) "John Smith, please call extention 1234, John Smith, extention ... Oh, there you are!"

Week in Review numma 3

Hey kids! So here's what went down this week. Last Saturday my roomie and I were throwing a party, so Friday after work I basically started getting ready for that. Well, truthfully, I was kind of pooped from the crazy week I had had, so "getting ready for the party" pretty much consisted of doing my laundry and going to bed early. So that meant that Saturday morning/afternoon was filled with cleaning, shopping, and making general preparations for this shindig. I got my bedroom spotless, and then started on the rest of the place, swept, rolled up the rug (learned my lesson after the last party!), rearranged furniture, etc. I had the task of going to the grocery store for snackies and whatnot, while roomie went to the liquor store and cleaned the bathroom. That is, he cleaned OUR bathroom, and then went to the liquor store. He didn't clean the bathroom AT the liquor store, as much as they might have appreciated that (he does an excellent job). :) Anyhoo, the party was a blast. Several people who I rarely see showed up, and one friend from high school who I hadn't seen in about 5 years! That was super exciting! A work friend showed up later in the evening with his dog, and it just made me miss having a dog so much! And she (the dog, Kawie) was such a sweetie too. Got along with everyone and just made herself right at home! So much so that the next day I realized I had dog hair all over my couch AND my bed. Not that I minded at all. :) Love the doggies. I can't think of too many wild and/or crazy stories from the night, but that's because I once again felt like it flew by and I didn't get to talk to anyone! It seemed like I got a few really good conversations with a few (really good) people, but I know for a fact that some people came and went and all I got to say to them was hello and goodbye. Such is the fate of the hostess I guess. Oh, and eewww. I looked at my camera the next morning and I look ridiculous in every picture I'm in. Yeah, no one will be seeing those. :) All in all it was a good night. I think the final people count was about 37, which is pretty damn good in my opinion! Sunday was a day spent recovering. I slept for a lot of it, watched some TV I think (oh yeah! Desperate Housewives finale!!), and helped the roomie clean up the major garbage, but the rest of the cleaning we left for a time when we'd have more energy ... and motivation.

So Monday after work, that's what I did. I came straight home, changed my clothes, put on some music and got down to business. I cleaned all of the table/counter surfaces, mopped the floor and picked up what was left of the garbage, and put furniture back in order (including the rug which was spared the inevitable spillage). It took me just over an hour and afterwards I felt a huge sense of accomplishment. Cleaning does that to me. :) And even though the roomie didn't say anything to me about the spectacular cleaning job I had done, when he walked in the door (I was in my bedroom), I heard him say to himself "Fantastic!" so that was good enough for me. Tuesday night was Ladies Night, which is always a good time. 6 of us ladies went out to Opera, an Asian fusion (?) restaurant on Wabash and it was EXCELLENT! I recommend it. But if you can, try to go on a Tuesday and ask about the special deal (which won't be around forever!!). You'll be glad you did. :) My meal consisted of Maine lobster spring rolls (very good), Beef with Asparagus (really really good despite the lack of descriptive details), and a Mandarin Orange dessert which, against my better judgment, I finished because it was so tasty! And I had more than half of my entree left to take home and have for dinner later in the week. Yay! Wednesday night I went out to my parents' to have dinner with my little bro!! He's in town for a while from Seattle and wanted to take the family out to dinner. We went to a Japanese hibachi/sushi place that was pretty good. My brother was the only one who ordered sushi, but everyone tried a little, including my Dad! I was so proud of him!! And I think my Mom enjoyed the sushi very much because she kept eating it after my brother and everyone else had had their fill! The rest of us ordered hibachi stuff - garlic shrimp for Dad, calamari for Mom, and scallops for me (one of my new favorite things, I think), and it was all very good. Okay, just a side note here - I feel like Nora!!!! Blogging about food!!! :) So anyway, it was cool to hang with the baby brother, even though he left without saying goodbye! I think he was going out to meet some friends. Hopefully I'll get to see him again before he leaves for home. I think he's going up to Detroit this weekend, but maybe next week. Oh, and that night Mom and I watched the Lost finale! So exciting!!! All kinds of new information, and plenty of cliffhangers - exactly what you want in a season finale. Thursday was delightfully relaxing. All I had to do when I got home from work was pack for this weekend (going to Indiana for a friend's birthday), and go to the drug store. So that's all I did!! Woo hoo! It was great having no obligations for once! Well, once in a long while anyway. I do go through spells where I have absolutely NOTHING to do for days or weeks at a time, but lately that has not been the case. I'm a busy little bee. :) At least work wasn't too bad this week. It was pretty hectic early on, but had calmed down drastically by about Thursday, which was nice. Next week is gonna suck, though, because it's the end of the month and I'm always swamped. Plus one of my coworkers is moving to another department and next week is her last week here, so she will need to be basically teaching me everything she knows about the programs I'm taking over for her. She's shown me a bunch of stuff already, but this will be our last chance to get everything handed over. Blagh. Not that she won't be still in the building and reachable in case of a massive meltdown (which isn't completely out of the realm of possibility), but still. It's a lot for me to take on, still being the newest person in the department.

So that was my wek. Heh, I typed "wek" and I'm keeping it like that 'cause I like it. :P I REBEL AGAINST THE SPELL CHECKER!!!! Wait, does blogger even have a spell checker? Oh look at that, it does. Obviously, I don't use it very often (or EVER). I pride myself on my most excellent spelling abilities, and my obsessive proofreading (and since I said that, everything will now be spelled wrong and people will laugh at me). My grammar sucks, and I may occasionally use the wrong words in the wrong places, but at least I spell them right! Right?

Ok, bye.

Well!! Week in review

I definitely did not think that there would be no postings at all in between my weekly reviews, but the way this week went, I am not surprised this happened. So let's just dive right in, shall we?

Last weekend was tons of fun, and busy!! Started out Friday with the Bachelorette party I mentioned in my last post. It was a good time. I really only knew the bride and one other person well, had met a couple others once or twice, and the rest I did not know from Eve, but they all were very nice (and funny!), and a good time was had by all. I was very proud of the bride for finishing ALMOST everything on her list of embarrassing and/or stupid things she had to do, and managing to wear her bachelorette sash for the entire night (the hat with the veil was abandoned relatively early for fear of hat hair).

Aaaand, it is now Monday again and I didn't even finish writing my entry for last week. Well, let's just continue right on. Saturday I made my way over to Kristi's house for her sweet boy's second birthday. So cute!!! He was making eyes at me all day. :) Not sure how much he appreciated my gift of a chronicle of Oz stories - he was much more interested in the giant semi-truck filled with Matchbox cars - but it'll be something he can get into at a later age ... I hope anyway. Nora and I had plans to go to a Secret Machines show that night, so I took off and met her at my apartment where we had a drink or two before departing for the Metro. We were meeting a friend of mine from work and her roommate, and they were running a bit late, so we went to Full Shilling for a beer while we waited. They showed up just before showtime and we arrived at the venue just as the band was taking the stage. Perfect timing! And the show?? AWESOME!!! Love their live show so much! Their albums are amazing, but they don't even do their live show justice. The lights they use are perfect for their sound, and the atmosphere makes it so easy to just fully immerse yourself in the music. I am so excited that I'll get to see them again at Lollapalooza, though I am guessing they'll have a daytime slot and it won't have nearly the same effect as the shows I've been to in the past. But you can bet I will be in the audience at every show they have in Chicago from now until the end of time. Yeah. :) Well, after that was over, we chatted with some Metro employees who recommended we head over to Gingerman Tavern cause that's where they were also going, so we did. Had a couple drinks there, then made our way back to Smart Bar where the bartender from Gingerman said he'd be going once he closed up. Why we decided to put our fate in the hands of all the random employees we met that night I'm not sure ... well maybe it was because they were cute ... but we danced and drank the night away and I believe we all had a smashing good time. Not to mention we randomly ran into my roommate and his bro at Smart Bar. That was nice. But yeah, that was the latest night I had had in a very long time. Nora and I went back to my place to go to bed at around 5 or 5:30 (details a little foggy at this point). Next morning I got Nora up so she could make her way out to the burbs for Mother's Day brunch, and ended up just staying up myself - for some reason I have a hard time sleeping the morning after drinking a lot. Sleepiness doesn't come until much later in the day. And boy, did it! I too went out to the burbs to see my Mama. Some family was over for a barbecue and I tried to be sociable for as long as I could, but at one point, I just had to escape. Right before dinner I went upstairs to my old room for a bit of a lie-down. Didn't get any actual sleep 'cause I was called down to dinner. But AS SOON AS dinner was over (I even skipped dessert if you can believe it!!), I went right back up for a glorious little nap. Got up just in time to head back home and watch "Desperate Housewives" and "Grey's Anatomy" (Desperate Anatomy, for short). Good stuff.

AND THEN!! The week from Hell. I don't particularly feel like going into all the details of how hellish my week was - it was all work related - but if you can imagine one of those weeks when you think you have a few reasonaly achievable goals to meet, and you come in each day thinking, "Hey, today shouldn't be too bad, I have this, this and this to do and that's all," and then EVERYTHING GOES WRONG. New things are piled on your desk by the minute and the things that should have taken 5 minutes to complete end up taking 5 hours, and every single thing has to be done RIGHT NOW ... yeah, it was like that. In fact, it was exactly that. Which is why there were no blog posts last week ... and why I didn't even finish this one until today, Monday, a full week and 3 days after my last posting. Grrrr. Who knew this blogging thing would be so demanding!!? Wait, who's demanding anything of me? Hmm, no one really is, now that I think of it. It's just me. In my imagination I have this gaggle of faithful readers who start to wonder what happened to me when I don't post in a few days, and then if it gets to be a week with no posts they all start to turn against me and post angry rants on an imaginary fan forum, but there are those few who will always stick up for me saying, "Hey people, she's a busy lady and wouldn't you rather she be out and about living and doing things so that once she has some time again she can have something interesting to write about?" and all the skeptics are like, "Yeah, but man, a week? She can't even find time to post one sentence in a week?" and the good folks say, "Hey, don't be a hater."

But then I remember that I have a very active imagination.

Cheers!

Congratulate me please!!!

I PASSED THE TEST!!!!

That horror of a Configuration Data Management Apprentice test that occupied months of my time and finally finished about two weeks ago ... I PASSED!!! Woo hoo!! This is happy news indeed.

Here's the e-mail I got:

"Heidi:

Congratulations on successfully completing the NDIA CDM Apprentice exam taken on 20 April 2006! Following are your scores:

Part 1: 72.5% Part 2: 82.5% Part 3: 80.0% Part 4: 78.8%
Overall Exam: 78.4%

Additional scoring information will follow in a few days by USPS letter."

AND, just so you really know how smart I am, the average score for this test is only 71%. Yeah, I'm a genius, I know. :)

Cheers!

Finals Week

So, it's definitely been a while since I've been in school (5 years. Yeesh!), but yesterday, I felt like I had just finished my last final and was on my way home for summer vacation. Why, you ask? Well, let me tell you.

Over the last three days (not counting the weeks and weeks of prep) I have been in training for an NDIA Configuration Data Management Certification. Man, that's a mouthful. In a nutshell, I was basically studying about 20 or so Military Standards dealing with procedures that had close to nothing to do with my job. Why my boss insisted this was necessary is still beyond me, but I just do what he tells me and don't ask questions. :) Well, not really, but in this case, I really didn't have a choice. So, we get a listing of the documents we have to study ahead of time, and then for two days, NDIA (National Defense Industrial Association) sends an instructor to our facility and we go through the study guide and review the important points. Then ... dun dun DUN ... there's an EXAM!!! An exam that lasts for an ENTIRE day. That's right, folks. 8 full hours (well, almost) of true/false, multiple choice, matching, and essay questions. Bluurgh.

The people who were taking this exam who had tons more experience than me were soooo nervous about it, which sort of made me nervous. But having still been the freshest out of school, I looked at this as taking a class on something I wasn't too familiar with and being tested on it. Not too too scary, but stressful none the less. One unexpected surprise (both good and bad) was that I actually was not getting certified. In order to qualify to take the actual certification test, you needed a minimum of 5 years experience in Configuration or Data Management. I have just over a year. I guess my boss thought I could somehow get around this requirement, but no dice. I found out the first day of the review that I would only be taking an apprentice examination, which wouldn't certify me, but would be considerably easier. Easier test = good. No certification after so many hours of studying = not good. Having to retake the test in its entirity anyway after I do receive 5 years experience = not good. The not good definitely outweighs the good, but whatever.

So, the test was yesterday and it went ... okay. It was T O U G H. We need to get 70% to pass, and the average score for the apprentice exam is 71%!!! That seemed really low to me. Many of the multiple choice questions were super hard. And the true/false were brutal. The matching questions were a joke (basically free points if you could match an acronym with what it stood for - umm, yes, I learned my alphabet before kindergarten, thankyouverymuch). Esaay questions - some were hard, others, not so hard. Anyway, I won't find out how I did for at least two weeks, which kinda stinks, but hey, what can I do now anyway? Stressing about how I did won't change anything. It's done and on its way and now my part is over with.

So now, the idea of going back to normal life and resuming business as usual is soooo wonderful. And the fact that its Friday and I get to go home early is oh so nice. Ahhhh.

2 funny things ...

Okay, I have two funny anecdotes to share today. One that randomly popped into my head yesterday and one that just happened last evening. Let's start with the latter ...

Yesterday I got home from work and was squatting down to do something when my roommate's cat comes up and starts to use me as a scratching post like cats tend to do (don't worry, she's declawed, so it's more like a massage than actual scratching). She happens to be behind me, so she's pawing away at my lower back, and since I was in this odd squatting position, the waistband of my pants was sticking out a little and her paws kept catching it. Apparently she decided that this game was more fun than just scratching my back, so she kept on pulling at the waistband of my pants! The cat was trying to undress me! She just kept doing it!! It had to be one of the oddest things ever and I cracked up for about 5 minutes.** And sadly, this was more action than I had gotten in a long time.

And story #2 ...

One of my old managers at a previous job, we'll call her Pam, told me this story once about a time she was redecorating her daughter's bedroom when she was little. The daughter made a crown out of a leftover piece of wallpaper and gave it to Pam to wear while they worked. Well, later that day, Pam had to go to the grocery store, and didn't realize that she was still wearing the wallpaper crown. Walking through the store, she kept wondering why people were giving her funny looks! She finally realized why when she saw a particular father and daughter's interaction. The small daughter pointed at Pam and whispered something to the father that she couldn't hear, to which the father replied, "I don't know, honey. Maybe she's a queen."

:)
Heidi

** I do realize that this story would have been much more entertaining had the cat ended up ripping my pants and I had to explain the ridiculous story of what happened to someone, or if someone had walked in and seen what was going on and got the wrong idea, or something along those lines. But that's not what happened, so cut me some slack here. I personally found it hillarious.

Two

That's how many e-mails I received today at work. Neither of which were work-related. And THAT is just how slow this day has been. I wanna bang my head against the desk just for something to do. But at least I get to go home in 45 minutes. Yay, Home!! Where I get to ... do laundry, and ... pay bills, and ... study ... maybe I'll just stay here and surf the 'net some more. :)

Whoa, just got another e-mail and it has to do with WORK!! Let's see if it requires me to do something ...

Heh, well that took all of one minute to take care of. Bah! At least the sneezing keeps me busy.

H