Now I am that guy that I hated. I sit at a desk. I work on a computer. It’s cool, because it’s a cool, fulfilling job, but it sucks, because due to the nature of international business, there are some busy times of year and some slow times. So I totally am that guy…writing on a blog, surfing the internet, making copious use of StumbleUpon. I know that I’ll be busier in a few weeks and will probably cry when I read this blog, but being not busy sucks more than it looks like. I have to act like I’m busy, doing really important things, while I’m actually reading Perez Hilton. And I also have to stay until 5, even if I haven’t gotten an e-mail since 1. Putting in the hours doing nothing sucks as much as putting in extra hours doing a lot. There were times in November when I’d stay at work til 11 at night. I had that much to do. Now that I have like nothing to do, I still have to stay til 5. I could be outside, playing and running and doing fun things, but instead I’m stuck inside, wasting daylight, reading crap on the internet about people adopting babies from
Wednesday, February 27, 2008
Work, bleh...
So when I was a bike messenger, I would go into offices and be like, "What a sweet life. Sitting in front of a computer isn't dangerous." I resented the people I saw sitting in their fancy, dry, air conditioned offices, playing Solitaire. It's not that I wanted to be them, it's that I hated that they were making double what I was, when I was risking my life every day on the streets (that's a little dramatic, but I WAS hit by three cars, as well as nearly run down more than once) to keep their business running, and they were trying to decide if they should have the rose design or the fish design on their Solitaire cards.
Thursday, February 21, 2008
La Pared
Sabes que sin tí ya yo no soy
Sabes que a dónde vayas, voy
Naturalmente
Those words come from a Shakira song called "La Pared." I know. It's Shakira. But she's really a brilliant songwriter and while she's had some poppy English-language hits, her Spanish songs are more emotional and more complex, with wrenching lyrics and haunting melodies. I've been listening to her Spanish language music since I was a dorky ninth grader who studied Spanish for fun.
Chip's been gone essentially since Sunday morning (he was home Sunday night but I was asleep and he left Monday morning as I was waking up). He is driving a truck along with the Tour of California for mechanical and other support. He'll be back on Monday, the 25th. I miss the crap out of him! Going home to an empty apartment, while I did that for years while living on my own in Baltimore, is just not fun. There's only so much fun to be had hanging out with a dog and three cats. There is endless litter-scooping, walking, feeding, vomit-cleaning, etc. to be done though. Great.
So I've been listening to music. And cleaning. And reading. And watching Law & Order. And listening to more music. Chip's not one for talking on the phone, and when he is, it's an inconvenient hour (such as the two 1:30 a.m. phone calls I received in the last week..."oh, were you sleeping?" "YES! I'm NORMAL!") So I've been having Katie time, and while it gets kinda boring, it's also kinda fun.
Sabes que a dónde vayas, voy
Naturalmente
Those words come from a Shakira song called "La Pared." I know. It's Shakira. But she's really a brilliant songwriter and while she's had some poppy English-language hits, her Spanish songs are more emotional and more complex, with wrenching lyrics and haunting melodies. I've been listening to her Spanish language music since I was a dorky ninth grader who studied Spanish for fun.
Chip's been gone essentially since Sunday morning (he was home Sunday night but I was asleep and he left Monday morning as I was waking up). He is driving a truck along with the Tour of California for mechanical and other support. He'll be back on Monday, the 25th. I miss the crap out of him! Going home to an empty apartment, while I did that for years while living on my own in Baltimore, is just not fun. There's only so much fun to be had hanging out with a dog and three cats. There is endless litter-scooping, walking, feeding, vomit-cleaning, etc. to be done though. Great.
So I've been listening to music. And cleaning. And reading. And watching Law & Order. And listening to more music. Chip's not one for talking on the phone, and when he is, it's an inconvenient hour (such as the two 1:30 a.m. phone calls I received in the last week..."oh, were you sleeping?" "YES! I'm NORMAL!") So I've been having Katie time, and while it gets kinda boring, it's also kinda fun.
Saturday, February 9, 2008
Jeff Goldblum
Does anyone else have a favorite actor that embarrasses them? I've been in love with Jeff Goldblum since I was 10 and saw him in Jurassic Park (he was like 40 then, but whatever). As I've gotten older, I've found him to be intelligent, witty, talented, and...sexy. Why did it take me so long to type the word sexy? I couldn't get my fingers to type that word. Because every single person to whom I've told this has laughed instantly. Instantly and a lot. Most people think I'm joking. I'm so not! I think he's funny in a smart way and sexy in that I apparently have a thing for tall skinny men with big noses. The only guy I've dated who wasn't tall and skinny with a big nose broke it off with me within six weeks. After that...back to the big noses. I once made out with this guy I worked with because he looked like Jeff Goldblum.
Anyway...I've been watching this a lot and I think it's great. Not just because it's Jeff Goldblum, but because it's hilarious. Jamie Kennedy is seriously underrated. It's ridiculous how much leeway people give "celebrities." If a regular person were tapping like that, or talking about himself in third person, or saying things like, "masterful, yet self-effacing," everyone would walk out of the room. But someone "famous" does this crap and people just play into it. Ridiculous.
Creating the aura of Goldblum...
Anyway...I've been watching this a lot and I think it's great. Not just because it's Jeff Goldblum, but because it's hilarious. Jamie Kennedy is seriously underrated. It's ridiculous how much leeway people give "celebrities." If a regular person were tapping like that, or talking about himself in third person, or saying things like, "masterful, yet self-effacing," everyone would walk out of the room. But someone "famous" does this crap and people just play into it. Ridiculous.
Creating the aura of Goldblum...
Tuesday, February 5, 2008
I heart Mexico
One thing I love about my job is that I get to interact with people from around the world every day. Actually knowing people from other parts of the globe has me learning Cockney rhyming slang, getting birthday cards from Mexico, and hearing how the surfing is in Portugal.
This week has been especially exciting and international for me. Over the weekend, our distributors from the Czech Republic and Portugal flew in for meetings. On Monday evening I found myself having dinner with two Americans, a German guy who lives in France, two Czech guys, and 2 Portuguese guys. On Tuesday I spent time on the phone with people from Bermuda, Guatemala, Puerto Rico, and Chile. On Wednesday I'll be in meetings all day with our Mexican distributors, conducting business in Spanish. On Thursday I'll be flying to Salt Lake City for more meetings with our Mexican friends and our colleagues in Utah. On Friday it'll be back to English and some serious resting.
I'm so excited to get to meet the people I've been e-mailing for eight months and put names to faces. I am so excited to get to chat with them in Spanish, and learn more about how we do business. I'm so new to all of this still that I just love to soak up everything I can. I feel like the moron who said on his resume's cover sheet, "I am a wedge with a sponge taped to it. My purpose is to wedge myself into someone's door to absorb as much as possible." Not a wedge-shaped sponge. A wedge that has a sponge TAPED to it. What.
In any case, I'm being very productive, important, and international this week. Work's been going really well, and I'm finally falling into and feeling comfortable in my first job. It's taken so long, but things are finally pretty awesome. Yay for my professional life!
This week has been especially exciting and international for me. Over the weekend, our distributors from the Czech Republic and Portugal flew in for meetings. On Monday evening I found myself having dinner with two Americans, a German guy who lives in France, two Czech guys, and 2 Portuguese guys. On Tuesday I spent time on the phone with people from Bermuda, Guatemala, Puerto Rico, and Chile. On Wednesday I'll be in meetings all day with our Mexican distributors, conducting business in Spanish. On Thursday I'll be flying to Salt Lake City for more meetings with our Mexican friends and our colleagues in Utah. On Friday it'll be back to English and some serious resting.
I'm so excited to get to meet the people I've been e-mailing for eight months and put names to faces. I am so excited to get to chat with them in Spanish, and learn more about how we do business. I'm so new to all of this still that I just love to soak up everything I can. I feel like the moron who said on his resume's cover sheet, "I am a wedge with a sponge taped to it. My purpose is to wedge myself into someone's door to absorb as much as possible." Not a wedge-shaped sponge. A wedge that has a sponge TAPED to it. What.
In any case, I'm being very productive, important, and international this week. Work's been going really well, and I'm finally falling into and feeling comfortable in my first job. It's taken so long, but things are finally pretty awesome. Yay for my professional life!
Friday, February 1, 2008
Cakes to the (animal) rescue!
Ever since we adopted Cal from the Lake County shelter, I've wanted to give back to them in some way. This shelter is located in a very rural area; shelters like this receive lots of stray and unwanted pets, but get a low volume of foot traffic in to adopt. So in order to facilitate adoption, some volunteers have made an effort to get the word out about Lake County pets. That is how I found out about Cal; he was listed on craigslist with a beautiful picture of him (just try and resist that hang-dog look and those ears):
The three of us are so grateful for the work these volunteers put in; they often post until 2 in the morning on craigslist, trying to stave off what for half of these dogs (and more than 80% of the cats) is inevitable. The volunteers for the shelter also post to request transport assistance. Often the best prospect for these animals is to get them into no-kill rescues in areas that are more populated. When I saw their post on Tuesday asking for transport from Lake County to the town I live in, I jumped on it. I've been wanting to see the shelter for so long. Since we got Cal I've been sending up a monthly care package of flea meds, treats, food, toys, chews, blankets, and whatever else I could afford. I've stayed in touch with the shelter manager and she loves getting updates on Cal. I knew this was my opportunity to help out even more and also to meet the wonderful Paula.
The ride up was uneventful; Cal hung out in the back seat and hung his face out the window when he felt like it. It rained a bit, and there was some construction, but for the most part, it was fine.
I got to the shelter, met everyone, loaded up the animals (6 cats and a dog) and headed out quickly. Cal was miserable being at the shelter. I thought he might feel comfortable there, having been there for 3 weeks, but his personality changed completely. He completely shut down, crouching low to the ground, ears down on his head, eyes darting around. Paula gave him some hugs and some goodies and we set off.
Our first stop was to drop off a dog in Cotati. He was a 14-year-old dachshund that had been surrendered by his owners. They just didn't want him anymore. Fortunately for Oscar, a doxie rescue in Los Angeles heard about him and requested that he begin his trip home with me.
When I dropped off Oscar, I realized that one of the cats had wet herself. Another cat had chewed a hole in his cardboard carrier and his big fat face was sticking out of it. I put out those fires and hopped back in the car on my way to Oakland.
A half hour later, after some scratching, meowing, hissing, and pawing, I saw a tiny little cat running around in the back of the car. This tiny little peanut of a kitten had chewed her way out of her carrier and was having some fun. First she pooped in the car, then she tormented the crated cats with her kitten antics. When we arrived in Oakland, we found that her brown tabby friend had vomited and pooped in his crate. I dropped off three cats in Oakland; a black kitten, a big black male, and a beautiful female Siamese.
After walking Cal and cleaning up all the disasters in the back seat, I was finally on my way home. I almost ran out of gas in Fremont, but I narrowly averted crisis. I got to the rescue in my hometown and dropped off the remaining three cats. I helped the rescuer wipe off the big 20-pound girl who had wet herself. Then I helped the little brown tabby boy settle in. He cried and stuck his face through his cage where he had to spend the night (the rescue is cageless but in order to allow new cats to settle in, they spend their first few nights in a cage). The big boy who'd chewed his face out of his carrier settled in well too, with a little bit of sneezing.
I got home and was completely spent. I haven't felt that tired in a while. But I saved 7 animals from euthanasia and that is a great feeling at the end of the day. And if you count Cal...8. Below are pictures of Cal with the new love of his life, his stuffed toy from Paula.
The three of us are so grateful for the work these volunteers put in; they often post until 2 in the morning on craigslist, trying to stave off what for half of these dogs (and more than 80% of the cats) is inevitable. The volunteers for the shelter also post to request transport assistance. Often the best prospect for these animals is to get them into no-kill rescues in areas that are more populated. When I saw their post on Tuesday asking for transport from Lake County to the town I live in, I jumped on it. I've been wanting to see the shelter for so long. Since we got Cal I've been sending up a monthly care package of flea meds, treats, food, toys, chews, blankets, and whatever else I could afford. I've stayed in touch with the shelter manager and she loves getting updates on Cal. I knew this was my opportunity to help out even more and also to meet the wonderful Paula.
The ride up was uneventful; Cal hung out in the back seat and hung his face out the window when he felt like it. It rained a bit, and there was some construction, but for the most part, it was fine.
I got to the shelter, met everyone, loaded up the animals (6 cats and a dog) and headed out quickly. Cal was miserable being at the shelter. I thought he might feel comfortable there, having been there for 3 weeks, but his personality changed completely. He completely shut down, crouching low to the ground, ears down on his head, eyes darting around. Paula gave him some hugs and some goodies and we set off.
Our first stop was to drop off a dog in Cotati. He was a 14-year-old dachshund that had been surrendered by his owners. They just didn't want him anymore. Fortunately for Oscar, a doxie rescue in Los Angeles heard about him and requested that he begin his trip home with me.
When I dropped off Oscar, I realized that one of the cats had wet herself. Another cat had chewed a hole in his cardboard carrier and his big fat face was sticking out of it. I put out those fires and hopped back in the car on my way to Oakland.
A half hour later, after some scratching, meowing, hissing, and pawing, I saw a tiny little cat running around in the back of the car. This tiny little peanut of a kitten had chewed her way out of her carrier and was having some fun. First she pooped in the car, then she tormented the crated cats with her kitten antics. When we arrived in Oakland, we found that her brown tabby friend had vomited and pooped in his crate. I dropped off three cats in Oakland; a black kitten, a big black male, and a beautiful female Siamese.
After walking Cal and cleaning up all the disasters in the back seat, I was finally on my way home. I almost ran out of gas in Fremont, but I narrowly averted crisis. I got to the rescue in my hometown and dropped off the remaining three cats. I helped the rescuer wipe off the big 20-pound girl who had wet herself. Then I helped the little brown tabby boy settle in. He cried and stuck his face through his cage where he had to spend the night (the rescue is cageless but in order to allow new cats to settle in, they spend their first few nights in a cage). The big boy who'd chewed his face out of his carrier settled in well too, with a little bit of sneezing.
I got home and was completely spent. I haven't felt that tired in a while. But I saved 7 animals from euthanasia and that is a great feeling at the end of the day. And if you count Cal...8. Below are pictures of Cal with the new love of his life, his stuffed toy from Paula.
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