Handy

Really could've used this last night.

Dear Roommates

I know that our remaining time together is short, but I have one small request.

Please, please, please tell the men whom you are dating and those men who are hopelessly pursuing you to stop coming over to chat. They need to call first. You are never here when they come over, so I have to walk down to the door, open it, walk around and look for you, and then tell them you're not home.

I am lazy. I don't like to repeatedly open the door, especially when it is never for me.

Also, my knee is hurting again, so I'm pretty much done answering the door.

My sincere apologies to the men who will now not be able to find my roommates. My suggestion? Try calling them.

Thanks bunches,

Liz

Wall

At work, we often discuss how at about 3 o'clock each afternoon, we all seem to hit a wall that we have to push through to continue working so as to not lose our jobs or our minds.

Because my wise, wise professor gave us the week off from classes (but not from homework, sadly), I was planning to get most of the move to my new apartment done this week. This strategy seemed particularly wise because the next two weeks of school are going to be particularly difficult.

The move had been going great. I dropped off a load of boxes this evening, swung by Cafe Rio to pick something up for my sister, and headed back to my apartment to pack and move another load.

Sadly, I hit a wall...one not of my own making.

Hello, patellar tendonitis. We meet again. Clearly, you have been sent to mock my independence.

But the silver lining here? At least I did not hit an actual wall. That would have been worse. And infinitely more embarrassing. 

You Are Totally Ruining Moving Day!!

Dear Friends, Coworkers, Roommates, Relatives, and Acquaintances:

As many of you know, I've begun the process of moving to my new apartment. If you didn't already know, now you do--that's why I have a blog. Read it, people.

Over the next few weeks, you may be tempted to ask me about the new place or how moving is going. For the sake of humanity, here are some appropriate questions that you may ask:

• So, you're moving? 
• Are you excited?
• Is your apartment fabulous?
• Do you just love the location?
• Is packing and moving boxes getting old?

The answer to all of the above questions will be yes. You may ask similar follow up questions. You may make remarks about how fabulous and wonderful everything is.

Questions you are NOT allowed to ask:

• Why on earth would you want to live there?
• Are you sure this is really what you want to do?
• Is it really expensive?
• Aren't you afraid?

Similar thoughts phrased as comments are also unwelcome.

The papers are signed. The decision is made.

Seriously people. You are RUINING moving day for me. I still have several more weeks of moving day to go. Don't let me down here.

Regards,

Liz

The Final Countdown

Beyond my countdown of days until the end of the semester, I've crafted an additional countdown. (I had a few spare minutes the other day in class while people asked the same question that the poor professor had already repeatedly answered...)

There is a substantial amount of team work that takes place in these courses, as well as some testing, including a senior exam which covers all of the material we were apparently supposed to remember from all of our courses. Oops...

But aside from that, we have still have some regular class meetings. Because our fabulous professor is giving us two breaks during the semester and a couple of class sessions to meet with our teams, the number of class lecture sessions left is fairly small. One of my courses is actually shorter than the other, and we only meet once more for lecture. My other course meets only four more times.

Here's your new countdown.

Formal Class Sessions Remaining: 5

Hours of Lecture Until Graduation: 14

Storage

After three years, my relationship with my storage unit came to an end today. I got my storage unit because I needed to get all of my belongings out of my parents' house, and they (the belongings) didn't fit comfortably into my apartment.

I felt sort of like I had to explain it to the nice older gentleman who was closing out my account. I explained that I was moving to a bigger place, and I'd finally be able to have all of my things live with me.

As we walked from where my fabulous parents were getting the tarp situated on the truck borrowed from my incredibly generous uncle and aunt, we were making small talk about how long I had been in town. He asked if I was moving out of the area, and I told him that I was just getting a bigger place here with some space.

His question: So, are you...all alone then?

Me: (probably disproportionately perkily) Yep!

Him: (pause) Well, that's...neat...

Goodbye storage unit. It's not you--it's me. Except it turns out that it's you at least a little bit.

Terrific Tidbit

After a long day at work, I was driving to school and heard a delightful story on NPR.

Here's the link. Part of the joy is listening to the reporter interview the gentleman in question, beyond the delightful silliness of the whole idea. Be sure to click on the audio to get the full experience--it's worth the 3 minutes.

But I've gotta say, he's probably on to something.

I've been giggling about it ever since. Hope it brings a bright spot to your day, too!

The Rain

Today when I was out with my friends, I told them how beautiful I thought the weather was. They thought that the day would be more beautiful with sunshine, but I love overcast skies. As we were walking outside, I felt a raindrop and told them how excited I was that it was going to rain.

(Note to self: most people here seem to not love the rain. In future socializing attempts, try to be more mainstream.)

The windows in my apartment are open right now as part of a cat exorcism. (Don't ask.)

I'm sitting by my giant bedroom window listening to the rain fall.

Rain is so peaceful, so soothing.

I really shouldn't live in a desert.

Out

Now that the two semesters of working full time and attending school full time are finished, I'm struggling to adapt to my new life.

Since I'm now just working full time and going to school part time, I have a bit of free time. The one thing that I really gave up during the past two semester was my social life. I basically didn't have one. If I went out to dinner or to go shopping, I went alone, as it was easier to just go when I had a few minutes instead of trying to coordinate with others.

For the past couple of weeks, I've been trying to find time to get to know my roommates. It's not that we just moved in together; rather, I've been essentially absent for the past nine months.

Today we got together with another friend and went to see Terminator Salvation (teeny movie review: good, not great. Definitely not Star Trek.). Then we went and had lunch and did lots of laughing. It was a great afternoon, although I have a hard time after spending time out because I feel like I haven't been very productive. I had some reading I wanted to do for school, laundry to be washed, and I needed to run to the store, but I suppose that those things will just have to wait since I'm working on being social right now instead of working on having clean clothing.

Although I was able to get my groceries later in the evening, I do feel a sense of loss about this particular afternoon. Apparently, Darth Vader was at Costco today. I am not sure why, but he was, and I wasn't. And that's sad.

And the fact that that's sad to me is sadder.

Jacket

I love coats and jackets--LOVE them! Many women go out and buy dozens of pairs of shoes, but I sort of collect jackets and coats. I really need to live in a climate where I can utilize the jackets more. It got too hot here too fast.

But turning my attention to the topic at hand: there is a fabulous jacket at Lands' End that I have been coveting for months. I didn't purchase it because it was $79.50, and I feel like that is a ridiculous amount to spend on a jacket.

As the seasons turn more toward summer, the jacket is now on sale. New price? $55.65. Still WAY too much for me to spend on it, even with free shipping.

Alas, I will continue to not buy the jacket. Maybe it'll get cheaper...

At what point will it be reasonable to purchase the jacket?

Keep in mind, it's really cute. And I look great in jackets.

Accepted

Today is one of the days that you celebrate a minor victory.

I just got word from the graduation office at the university that my application for graduation has been accepted. I suspect that most people are accepted, particularly once they pay up the cost to graduate, which I think was $25-$30. I'm not sure what that covers, but I'm thinking that maybe my diploma will come with a box of chocolates or something. One can hope...

So now, I just have to survive the next 70 days and pass my classes.

Things I Don't Like

Things I'm not enjoying today: (I'll come up with a list of things I'm enjoying later...)

• Not being the winner
• Not having the time or attention span for homework
• 90 degree weather--seriously, what happened to spring?
• My inability to make everything work perfectly
• My impending homelessness
• Insomnia
• Allergies
• Going to the gym at 6:30 in the morning
• The fact that ice cream is not a vegetable
• The heat--it's too hot here
  

It's going to be a long couple of months.

Also, I could use a cloud or two to shade my universe. Just saying...

For My Relatives

Another set of Seattle pictures and stories...

On my last afternoon in Seattle, I went to the Smith Tower, which is a really tall building in the older part of Seattle. It's, uh...tall...and, well, old... The details escape me at the moment, but I think it's Seattle's first skyscraper.

Anyway, for a couple of bucks they'll take you up in an old-fashioned elevator to a floor with no offices, but just a big room called the Chinese room. It's really pretty and is often used for wedding receptions and such. Around each side of the room is an observation deck where you can go look out over the city.

The elevators:

I didn't take a picture when I was inside the elevator with the operator because I thought that he'd think it was weird, but it was pretty cool looking, and I've never been in an elevator that had to be operated by someone before. I guess it's the oldest set of elevators like it on the west coast. I thought it was neat.

Some views from the observation deck:

Looking Northwest...

Looking Northeast...you can see the Space Needle up the street a ways....

Looking Southeast...

There are lots more pictures looking all over the place, some with me in them, but I don't really know all of you so I'm going to skip the pictures of myself.

It was cloudy and drizzly that day. Interestingly enough, it was the only day I was there that it wasn't blue skies and sunny. Who would've thought? I had a fairly sunny trip. I loved this day though. So beautiful! There are all kinds of interesting buildings in Seattle and the Smith Tower had a great view of the city.

The Chinese Room is filled with beautiful, ornate carvings all over the walls and ceiling. One of the things in the room is a chair that is over 300 years old.

The chair is supposed to be blessed with great fortune. Any single woman who sits in it will be married within one year of sitting in the chair. I read the story and all of the letters that the Chinese Room has received touting the efficacy of the chair along with wedding announcements. I took a picture of the chair, and then I turned to leave. 

Suddenly, I thought of my relatives. My poor, long-suffering grandmother who has probably given up all hope that I'll ever wed was especially clear in my mind. People seem to think that I'm not trying hard enough to date and marry. So, with my extended family in my mind and heart, I walked over and sat in the chair.

Now no one can say that I'm not giving it 100%.

Invested

Like I am in so many things, it appears that I have become invested in my capstone course.

I tend to be a touch competitive. I wouldn't have thought that before, but in the past few months, each of my parents has separately used the word to describe me, both saying that I'm a little bit competitive. It turns out that they are correct.

So how do we know that I am invested in my capstone course? Today is year two of decisions. All of the teams have to have their decisions submitted by 9:00 tonight, and then the computer quickly crunches the numbers and tells us how we all did.

My heart is racing, and this is just a practice round. This capstone combines two of my tragic flaws: my need for good grades, and my need to win. This class plays right into both of those. Ugh.

Big deep breaths...it's just a game...and a grade...

Update: 9:06 pm. We won the round. We have the highest stock price and the greatest cumulative profits. I'm still not completely thrilled with our contribution margins, but our working days of capital and ratios all look fabulous. For tonight, I'm one happy camper. 

I can already tell that this game is not going to be good for my health. I am way too invested.

This Semester

Although my capstone course is only worth one credit, school advisors recommend you take it in a semester where your only other obligation will be the corresponding Strategic Management course.

This other course is a fair bit of work itself. Each week we have a test (you may refer to it as a quiz, but there are no other tests so it accounts for a substantial portion of my grade) over the reading material assigned for the week. Thus, I am tested on a batch of information that I am expected to have taught myself. Fortunately, I am an experienced teacher, including many years of teaching myself a number of things.

But I digress. These two courses overlap quite a bit conceptually and with the work involved. Recently, I was trying to explain to Somebody's Mother why it is so difficult and frustrating.

My final description?

It's like my econ class and my financial management class and my operations management class got together and spawned a child from hell.

And I hold to that assertion.

In Which We Go Accounting

One of my courses this semester is a senior capstone. If you are unfamiliar with the concept of a capstone, you can quickly understand it by knowing that, when I tell people I'm taking my capstone, those who have already done theirs say, "Oh, no! I'm so sorry."

For the capstone in the school of business, you are required to compete in an advanced computer simulation of running a large corporation that manufactures electronic sensors. You are scored on various elements of the success of your business, from total sales, to customer satisfaction, to employee retention, to stock price, and everything in between. Whoever is the best in the class gets an A, and everyone else is graded on what percentage of that person's success they achieved.

No pressure.

The first part of the simulation, which is 25% of my grade, comes from working with a team. Much to my initial delight, everyone on my team except for me is an accounting major. In my mind, this was going to make the project much easier.

Sadly, this has not been the case. Not only are they not as obsessively-nerdily-overly prepared as I would have hoped, it turns out that I had a poor grasp of what accountants do. They know nothing about forecasting or finance.

"What?" you might ask. "Accounting is the same thing as finance!"

Unfortunately, it is not. As I talked through our financials with the team and evaluated our proformas from the first "year" of business, one team member asked, "how do you know this?"

The reply I wanted to give? "How do you NOT?"

But with no alternatives, as the course is required for graduation, I press on.

I was discussing this all with my dear sister, LL, who will be visiting our great state in 74 days...not that anyone is counting... I explained the situation, and she actually already knew that accountants didn't know anything about finance. I told her that I was so frustrated because I had no idea what accountants actually do.

Her perfect summation: "They can add. With calculators."

A Letter

Dear World:

Some of you who I barely know have recently taken to spreading gossip about me. Whether it is true or not is irrelevant, although in this case I'd caution listeners to beware of who they are trusting.

If I feel that it is valuable and/or necessary for you to know something about me, I will certainly let you know. Until then, please just leave me alone. As you sit around and come up with secret meetings and rumor about me, I can't help but think that you either have no social life, no work responsibilities, or that you neglect both of them for the sake of some imagined opportunity to break some fascinating news.

I have a blog. I use Facebook. I'm even on Twitter. (I know--I work hard to keep up with kids these days.) If you do not hear something from me in person or through one of these mediums, go ahead and assume that whoever is telling you garbage is making it up. If and when there is something to tell people, I certainly do so.

If you are spreading rumor about me, whether or not you believe it is true, please quit. I am so tired of discovering new information about my life from third parties. Even if any of it were true, it certainly wouldn't be any of your business.

It's situations like this that make it extra difficult for me to want to reach out and make friends. I clearly am surrounded by untrustworthy "friends" in so many arenas.

I have to go hire an agent now that can issue press releases of statements refuting the craziness that is being broadcast about me. Such a burden...

All kidding aside, I'm not that interesting. Please stop trying to make me more so.

Exhaustedly yours,

Liz

Seattle Picture of the Day

I don't really have time to run down the entire trip, but I'll post little snippets and pictures of it as time allows. Seattle was fabulous. The weather was gorgeous, the city was beautiful, and all of my plans worked out exactly as I hoped. Each of my well-researched choices turned out to be even better than I imagined, and I had a wonderful, wonderful weekend.

So here's your first little picture.

One of the things I did on my trip was to visit a few museums. This particular piece of art was in a huge outdoor park that was maybe a mile away from my hotel. I walked down and spent a bit of time walking around the art. There were some really interesting sculptures there, but one of my favorite parts was that there were signs all over the place telling you not to touch the sculptures. I found this in the museums I visited as well. There were signs everywhere: "Please do not touch the art."

I have no desire to touch the art. I understand that touching the art is inappropriate.

But when people put a sign out there and tell me not to touch the art, it makes me want to touch the art.

I resisted. I'm so grown up.

Here are a few more pictures from the sculpture garden:

I liked this one. All of the sculptures in this park are huge. This one is one of the smaller ones. It's probably my height. The waves in the first picture in the posting are really, really large. They're easily twice my height--probably closer to thrice my height. Completely fabulous.

This one is massive. You can see the people standing around it in this particular shot--that's why I picked it. I loved this park. In a lot of ways, it's like a regular park (grass, walking trail right by the water), but then there will just be this GIANT sculpture as you're walking along. So cool...

This one cracks me up. I cannot remember what it is supposed to be. I thought it was a wheel, but the little description said it was something else that surprised me. I'll have to look it up and get back to you. Anyway, I just love this one. The artist had deep meaning in it, but it just makes me smile. It's pretty big, too.

All in all, it was a very cool park. I had seen the park online before I went on my trip, but I had assumed that it was too out of the way in relation to the other places I was going. I ended up there by accident when I was just walking around one evening. I ended up walking over some hilly miles to get back to my hotel, but it was worth it.

I'm Back!

I took my little trip this weekend, and I survived. Shocking, I know...

Where did I go, you might ask? Was it the sharks? The middle east? The bungee jumping?

Sadly, you're about to be disappointed.

What was the trip that struck fear into the hearts of my friends and neighbors?

Congratulations to the three of you who correctly identified my trip as something else horrifying altogether. I went to Seattle.

Holding Pattern

It seems like the last few weeks have been filled with waiting. Waiting for the semester to be over, waiting for finals to end, waiting for Captain Awesome to have surgery, waiting for the surgeon, waiting for the Captain to start feeling better, waiting for change, waiting, waiting, waiting...waiting might be the wrong word--it's more like surviving.

Today should be a day of rest. I can't relax. I can't focus. School starts again on Wednesday. I am not looking forward to another semester. I want it to be over so badly.

This semester, I have two classes, both from the same teacher. The courses have been described as the most difficult in the school of business, as well as the most time-consuming. Even my advisor told me not to take other courses while I was taking these two, even though they only total 4 credits. I am complying, largely because I am finished with all of the other requirements. What's even more worrisome is that, from everyone I've talked to, I've heard that if you must take the classes, you should not take them from one specific instructor. As the universe would have it, I don't have any other options. I must take the courses from him. He has been described as not only a difficult instructor, but simply not a good person. I'm sure there's goodness in him somewhere, but apparently, it's buried deep, DEEP down where no one has ever seen it. Hopefully, I won't feel that way about him, but I certainly worry.

So I wait. Waiting, waiting, waiting.

Waiting. Surviving. Somehow.

86ish days to go.