What's With People

This morning at school my study buddy for this semester (Andreea) and I had to give a PowerPoint presentation on FASB 142 Goodwill and Other Intangible Assets.

I HATE speaking in front of people so that alone was stressful enough.
The fact that I did the preparation for this presentation and had NO IMPUT from my buddy really stressed me out.
On top of the above we also had a test today!

So, the early morning freak that I am was up at 4:30am trying to cram information for the test into my brain so that I wouldn't bomb.
Still no word from Andreea either via e-mail or phone.
Got to school at 7:30am made sure that the PP presentation could be retrieved from my e-mail.
At 8:00am when class is scheduled to begin, no Andreea, but luckily no Professor either.
Both show up at 8:10am and I indicate to the Prof. that we are ready.

All Andreea said was "thanks for doing this".
That's IT!
Not, I'm sorry I haven't been in touch, or you really saved us, or I completely forgot about the presentation!!!

I should be grateful that she showed up, that she performed well and that she at least said thank you.

I think I will get a very low passing grade on the test so it turned out better than I thought.

Only 4 more weeks of school and then my Saturday mornings are free!!!!!!

Let me hear a YIPPEE!!!!!

Stress

I am VERY stressed right now.
I just can't get my head to straighten out.
Have you ever been this way, where you have so much to do that you just don't know where to start so you end up not doing anything?
I am at that point.
I have a presentation on Saturday at school.
The PowerPoint is finished but I have not heard from my study buddy Andreea with her imput.
I also have homework that is due that I know I will not be able to finish. (shame, shame on me).
The very last and biggest thing is that I have an exam that is covering some pretty abstract concepts that the Prof. is going to create workable problems.
MY HEAD IS NOT WRAPPED AROUND THIS AT ALL.
I have ONE day to cram all of this into my head.
I need to take a deep breath and start with one concept and work from there.
WISH ME LUCK!!!
I REALLY, REALLY NEED IT!

The Final Four

So for those that know me I grew up with brothers that watched and sometimes put wagers on sporting events. I enjoy professional sports and have in my day been the participant in many a pool, whether it was football, basketball, baseball....

It was a very big surprise for me that when I picked my college brackets for the current college basketball pool that I was just picking randomly and by the name of the school. To my surprise I am leading my pool group. It is only made up of 4 other people but they are all male. All four of my teams have made it to the final four. So girls, keep your fingers crossed that I may come into a minor windfall in which to go out shopping. After all, that's why I gamble, to give me extra spending cash for those sales that a girl just can't miss.

You Go Girl

Sorry that it has been awhile since I posted but things are getting crazy busy for me.

Our fiscal year ends on Saturday at work and so this is always a busy time and school is beginning to get crunchy.

This Saturday at school I have an exam, a PowerPoint presentation with my study buddy Andreea on the FASB rule that governs the accounting procedures for Goodwill and Intangible Assets.

That is not the reason for this post so I will get to the main part of this post.

This Thursday in Mesa, AZ the pre-season game between the Arizona Diamondbacks and the Chicago Cubs (go Cubs!!) will be called by a female umpire. Ria Cortesio who has been calling games in the minors for over 9 years has been "called up" to call a game in the majors.

I think this is great since eyes are eyes and as long as you have a pair that work there shouldn't be any reason that a female can't call the strike zone just like any male counterpart.

So all I have to say is:
YOU GO GIRL!!!

Control

Perhaps I never had it and that is why I cannot remember at what point I lost control of my bed.
I have been sleeping in a queen size bed from the time that I moved out of my parents house when I was 22 years old.
For some reason growing up sleeping in a twin bed I have never embraced "the other side" of my bed.
I always just slept on one side.
This makes for a very easy making of the bed each morning because only one side is messed up.
I have always had pets and they have always slept in the bed.
However, my two current girls are bed hogs!
Not only do they sleep on MY side but they sleep horizontal while my body is trying to sleep vertical.
Now I know you are probably saying, just push them over or why let them sleep on the bed in the first place?
Well my answer to that is, I like having the warmth of them during the winter and as for pushing them over. That is easy with Gidget the chihuahua but try pushing the dead weight of a 75lb lab known as Miss Harley.
She is just stubborn and doesn't always get the hint when I prod her with my foot.
Perhaps the solution to the problem is moving over to the other side when they crowd my side and then I can get a good night's sleep.

The Hug

I have always known this but truly felt the power over the weekend.
A hug is an awesome thing that has a power all to itself.
A hug can be a brief touching or a deep connection.
A hug can be both a platonic gesture as well as one of a sexual nature.
I found the hug this past weekend as a way to reconnect with friends that I hadn't seen in quite some time.
Instantly when I hugged those that I hadn't seen in many months it brought me back to the great friendships that I share with these people and it erased the many months that had gone by.
I love this about the hug and what it says about those that have special places in my life and heart.
So, if you haven't hugged someone today, do so, it's an awesome feeling.

Riding

Today I am riding my broom!
The reason that I am riding my broom is that I am upset with one of my co-workers.
I do not profess to run the office nor do I hold the esteemed title of "Office Manager", that so called self given title goes to Sharon in my office.
When it is convenient for her to use this title and all she believes it holds she whips it out.
When it conflicts with her schedule or what she wants to do she forgets that she holds this title.

Take yesterday for example.
We were having problems with our network server.
We kept losing our internet connection and once that goes our software which runs through the same box (technical terms and wiring were explained to me by the IT guy but it went in one ear and out the other).
Apparently this box was blown and we needed a new one.
This was discovered last night at 5:30pm.
Guess who was the sucker still in the office with the IT guy.
If you guessed me, ding, ding, ding, you win the prize.

I manage the accounting office and yet here I was until a little after 6pm with the IT guy.
We had no computers from about 2:30 yesterday afternoon and I would have loved to have left early but Sharon decided that she needed to go work out since she couldn't "do anything" without the computer. She left the office at 3:45, the IT guy had not yet arrived and I and another co-worker in my department were the only ones left in the office.

I blame myself for this, I allowed her to sneak out when I was on the phone with Mr. Big asking for his help for a homework problem that I was working on for Saturday's class, but now I am still upset and that is not good. I haven't run into her yet this morning and since I am astride my broom will probably have a few words with her.

I'll let you know whether I stay on the broom and fight this battle or whimp out and just stew all day.

Endorphins

I would like to meet the idiot who said that exercise gives you a natural high.
Clearly this person has been smokin' something because I have recently dragged my fluffy arse back to the gym (Mr. Big has alot to do with this new found desire to sweat but that is another story). So, unlike my last adventure at the gym, I am not hiring a personal trainer and I am staying away from the weights for now. I have been setting the goal of just getting some fat burning cardio into my life. So my question to anyone who is an exercise lover and has had this so called endorphin "high" I would like to pose this question: "When does the high kick in?"
Last night I did 60 minutes total on three different machines (recumbent bike, treadmill and eliptical trainer) and did not feel any sense of euphoria or joy. I felt sweaty and tired and just couldn't wait for the hour to end.

So all you exercise lovers, please, when does this begin to feel good?

Lost Creativity

I don't possess great creativity, not like my friend Simone.
I do well in duplicating with a twist things that I have already seen produced by someone else.
So you can understand my frustration when my creative juice has dried up and I have a workshop this Saturday for my Stampin Up business.
I made a card last night that is okay but not spectacular.
I sure hope that the tonight a creativity fairy visits.

Knit One Purl One

Yesterday I completed my first ever knitting class.
I learned to knit and crochet when I was very young.
To date I have been able to do the very simple things like scarves and afghans.
A couple of months ago I went into a yarn shoppe not too far from my home that offered classes for people like me.
You know how to cast on, cast off, knit and purl but not how to read a pattern or many of the other vast stitches that are out there in the knitting world.
I chose a baby sweater to knit this time, not because I have a baby that will wear it but because this class is only four consecutive Saturdays and I wanted to be able to finish the sweater or just abouts before the class ended on 3/31.
I went to Micheal's to buy my supplies because I felt that it would be cheaper.
I found the pattern book that I wanted to use, the needles required for the project and the brand of yarn that the pattern used but not the right weight. So I ended up buying the yarn needed for the project at the yarn shop and if I would have known could have saved the money at Michael's. I may return the yarn that I bought at Michael's just because I am not sure what I would do with it now.
During class, which is two hours long I did my first ever gauge swatch to see if the way that I knitted (my personal tension on the yarn) was in compliance with the pattern.
I passed the first test as it appears that I knit tightly but not so much as to throw off the pattern in anyway.
During the making of my swatch which consisted of stockinet stitch (knit one row, purl the next) it was discovered that all of these years I have been purling incorrectly.
I was "throwing" my yarn in a clockwise fashion during purling when it needed to be thrown counter-clockwise. I often didn't use the purl stitch because I often found that if I needed to knit the row after a purl row that it was difficult for me to pick up the stitches and therefore I didn't use the purl stitch in many things that I made.
Well, if I had been doing my purling correctly I wouldn't have had the twisted stitches that made it difficult to knit a row after a purl row.
Things became much easier for me just in learning that new thing and I was able to make a great deal of progress on my swatch.
By this point there was only about 20 minutes left in class when it was finally time to start me on my project.
I casted on the required amount of stitches and began the knit one, purl one process that would become the ribbing on the bottom of the sweater.
Much to my chagrin the instructor wanted me to rip out what I had done so that she could show me a new cast on procedure that would give the garment a much better edge.
She was absolutely correct in that the new edge is much nicer, even and stable than the way that I was casting on.
I worked on the back of the sweater last night and I am proud to say that I have completed the 1-1/2 inches of ribbing for the bottom and have switched to larger needles and I am about 3 inches into the body of the sweater with 3 more to go. I have to stop when I get to that point because I chose a pattern that will need me to begin decreasing to shape the back and I have yet to learn how to do that.
All in all, the money that I have paid for the class which works out to be $8.25 per hour has already been paid back to me in the lessons that I learned yesterday.
I'll make a separate post to discuss my fellow students.

Spring is in the Air

The weatherman is predicting about 50 degrees today.
Let me hear a WOOOO HOOOOO!!!!

Electricity

My little red car has an electrical problem.
The original diagnosis was wrong, it was her brain that got fried and not the blower motor.
The cost of brain surgery $280.00.
This is still WAY cheaper than buying a new car and there is a list of items that the mechanic says that I should watch as they are wearing out. After all my car is 10-1/2 years old. One of them is the clutch. The other is hoses and belts and there appears to be a small leak of anti-freeze at the heater block. All of which will be written down according to Juan as things that I can prepare for in the future.
So far, this random finding of a mechanic has been a good experience. I believe that if things work out well that they may become my mechanics for future service.

Car Doctor

Well, my sick car is now at the doctor's (mechanic).
It is believed that the blower motor for the heat/air has died and that was the horrid smell that was emitted as it died.
Best case scenario right now is about $160.00 and one day without my car.
Worst case????
I am waiting for the call from the "doc" as to the severity of the problem.
Hopefully it won't be too bad.

Car Trouble

My car is sick.

I don't yet know what the problem is but it gave off a horrid smell this morning that made me open up my window and drive with the freezing air blowing just to get rid of the funky smell. Once the funky smell was gone the fan for heater was dead. No air would blow from any intensity level. I have sent out the SOS e-mail to my brother in hopes that he can come to the office and pop the hood and instantly know what the problem is and how to fix it.

I have my fingers crossed that it is a simple, cheap, quick fix.

First Time Back

Today was the first time that I have gone back to the office on a Saturday since "The Intruder" post back in November. I got out of school early, 10:15 instead of 10:45 and I had an appointment to dye those nasty grays at 1:00. So instead of going home from school to only have to go back out for the hair appointment I decided to go to the office. The office is just a few blocks from the hair salon so I figured I would kill two birds, to be productive at work and avoid shopping and spending money which is always a fun pastime for me but I am trying to be a responsible adult.

I was initially freaked out when I first walked in and realized how quiet everything was but I soon got back into my old routine and turned up the music and got some stuff done. I did however leave the office tight and secure when I had to venture out to the ladies room.

So you could say that today I got back up on the horse that threw me and I am not a scaredy cat anymore.

How do you measure intelligence?

Last night I watched a show that pitted an adult against a handful of 5th graders. The adult was the contestant and had to answer 5th grade questions from a variety of topics. If the adult cannot answer then they must state to the viewing audience that they are not as smart as a 5th grader.

Let me tell you, "I am not as smart as a 5th grader"

Now I know that I have knowledge that goes beyond the 5th grade level but I was truly stumped by some of the questions. Take for instance, "what is a pronoun"? Now I know that at some point in my life (5th grade) that I could answer that question with ease. I had to look it up!!! Yup, a very humbling thing. How about "what is the closest star to the earth"? Tough one for me. As my mind went through the thought process, is the moon a star? Is it the north star? Not so easy for me. Here's one for all you math whizzes, "how many sides does a trapezoid have"?

Now for all of you who are reading this and know the answers I commend you and salute your knowledge retention. For those of you who are like me I will provide you with the answers.

A. A pronoun: any of a small set of words in a language that are used as substitutes for nouns. An example: John gave Mary a new coat. In this example the pronoun her could replace Mary, so it would become: John gave her a new coat. The pronoun her could replace Mary if the reader had been introduced to Mary in previous text and it would clearly be understood that her was talking about Mary.

B. The closest star to the earth is the sun.

C. A tapezoid has 4 sides.


Mr. Big update: I feel guilty and not for the what should be the obvious reasons (he's married). No I feel guilty because since he agreed to help with my paper I have done zero, zilch, nada. He on the other hand has already started reading the annual report and making notes. Yikes! I guess he's not a procrastinator like me. :-)