Why we don't

Obviously I like Macs, I own one. I wasn't in line to get an iPhone and probably won't own one of those for a while. I think never as long as AT&T is involved. Here's why I'm not a fan of AT&T.

Pictures seem nice

I realize I haven't posted photos in a while. I still have to make peace with the way iPhoto manages image files. Also, that whole "take a picture a day thing" kind of died a slow death. It needed to have died much earlier than it did. Sorry to put you all through that. I think it could have been really cool except I'm in a position where I can't take pictures of most of the people I see in my day to day life. As a social worker and as someone who works with teens (who are not able to give consent to spread their image all over the world) it just seems awkward an inappropriate. (Although selfishly, I did like some of the macros I took, those were fun.()

When I was in Chicago I took some pictures of my Mom and I. Mom always looks sad in pictures, something she remarked on when she was some of these. These two are my favorites. In one she tried to smile. The other one is too cute.





Oh, go ahead. I did just lob this one up there for ya....

Shopping

I had a nice day today. I ran in the middle of the day, which was a mistake, but the rest of it was really good. Here's what happened.

I woke up late. I've been really tired lately, which I'm choosing to blame on my period and not eating enough protein. More on that at some point I'm sure. And then I really didn't want to run because I was so tired. However, I knew that I would be trying on clothes later in the day, and so should run so I felt skinnier when I went to pick out clothes. I'm glad I know there's at least one guy who reads this. I think guys should know that some women really do think this way. Anyways, I ran. I realized it was the first time since getting the red iPod I'd run outside with it. I still can't use my Nike+ with it, but that's a story for another day. Really, I've only run outside a few times recently, and all the times in Chicago I didn't bring it with me because I forgot to pack headphones.

When I got back from running a measly 3.6 miles I was dead with exhaustion and dehydration and I thought a dip in the pool would be the perfect remedy before going to meet Kelly for some shopping fun. The universe had other plans though because the pool is not working. Something about a filter. How sad am I?

Kelly and I had a nice time shopping. We went to Macy's where I got a neat pair of linen pants, which will require me to find a dry cleaner, and a cute as hell brown shirt. I didn't have to front any money for those, because I had a gift certificate. Then we went to Panera bread where I had chicken wild rice soup (my favorite) in a bread bowl (mmm, carbs). There is discovered that the gift certificate I thought had $5.00 on it really had $20.00 on it, and now I can't wait to go spend some more of it. I also hit pay dirt at Eddie Bauer. I'm not really sure we can call it pay dirt. But, I found a nice pair of summer appropriate work pants and a nice pair of jeans. I still need to go to Marshall's and shop for more pants and outfits, but I feel good that I have at least two pairs of pants I can wear to work.

Then I gave Kelly her birthday present. I didn't write about it before for obvious reasons but it's a purse that was made by an income generating group from a township in South Africa and the red/white ribbon is from an income generating group in Uganda. The purse screamed Kelly's name to me when I saw it, so I hope I heard right.

I got home and played with iPhoto, one of my new favorite things about a macbook. I was picking out pictures to make prints of. The issue I'm having is that some of my photos are a very low resolution, especially the ones I got from other people. It seemed like I had all of my pictures onto this computer, though I'm still not convinced. Once I find some I think I'll buy nice frames and put them on my wall in a few spots. I'd like some new decorations to make this feel more like home. And then I cleaned. Not a lot. I'm trying to be more proactive. I'll let you know how far I get with this latest effort.

I've decided that I really enjoy having weekends off. I might change my availability at the aquarium to reflect said discovery. I might not. Everything else in my life is changing so fast I might just keep that one steady for a while.

A great thing for kids

I think if I'd had this toy growing up, my childhood would have been more normal. It was made by a collaboration of artists. Yes, it took more than one person to create this toy. I'd like to also point out that it has a tattoo and is free standing.



Viewed from http://www.presstube.com/project.php?id=254

Wow

I can't believe it's almost 11:00pm. I can't believe I don't have to work tomorrow. I can't believe it was the last day of Make It and I didn't cry. I expected none of these things, including the not having to be at work thing. That's nice.

It was a good day. I felt like we ended on a really good note. It was the right amount of work and reflecting and touchy feely stuff that the kids act like they don't like but I think secretly do. I learned all that stuff and I think it's important to do; talk about the experiences of the past two or more years.

Also, I gave all the kids the books they made. No one knows why it took so long for me to figure out they should all have one. Travis finally talked some sense into me. Thank goodness someone could. We all signed the books for each other and wrote nice things. That was good too. I miss how fun it is to sign year books. Maybe when I get to my next job I'll make them take a yearly team picture so we can remember each other. Maybe not right away.

After work Kao decided to keep me busy by taking me out to dinner with her and Cindee, who it was nice to see. (I'll be looking on your site for something you mentioned at dinner.) I had a lot of food thanks to Kao. It didn't help that it was a small plate so I couldn't really tell how much I'd eaten.

And now I'm playing on the computer and debating backing up pictures to a blank disc. I haven't really burned too many discs with this computer yet. It seems like I should get my money's worth.

Is it wrong

Is it wrong that when I read the headline for an article in Salon called I work with the most annoying many alive I immediately thought of someone who will probably read this blog tomorrow? As the co-worker, not the annoying person people.

Someone gets a shoutout

I was over tonight at Amanda's where someone (who's not me or Amanda) was getting her hair dyed. I had my computer out (no one knows why I took it to work, but I did) and I was showing off pictures. I also had my camera with me. When I pulled out, hair-girl said, "you cannot post that to your blog where my fiance reads and sees the pictures" and all I heard was that someone else reads my blog. So, here's a shout out, you know who you are.

In other news, I stayed asleep most of the day, even when I was awake, I felt like I was asleep. I also have only run once this week. I need to run tomorrow morning. No one knows how far I'll make it.

Also, I can't start using my Nike+ because, *ahem* Amanda says I can't use velcro to adhere the thing to my shoe. I'm sure she'll tell me why later. Actually, I can't wait to find out.

I thought I was being clean

I was going to start this new things of being clean, like specifically my kitchen, which is my problem area. I just cleaned it up. I usually turn on the dishwasher before bed so it doesn't bother me. But then I just looked over at my table and realized that's going to need to be included in the "problem area" list for continual maintenance. It's amazing the things I have time for when I'm not working two jobs and an internship and school.

Maybe I'll go clean the table off and then go to bed.

Wednesday our last day on the floor

It was our last day on the floor. I'm still in my orange shirt, apparently in mourning. I t was a good day. Oddly enough, I was not the one who got emotional. Not what I would have expected.

I ran this morning Did you know the iPod Nanos have a stopwatch in them. It's useful for running intervals. I did 4 half mile "sprints" one at 4:24, two at 4:35, and one at 5:25. That was the last one and I was tired. Obviously. But it's nice to know exaclty what idid and how far I went. It helps me set goals and train better. At least I hope it will.

Also, while poking around the internet I found some pages you might be interested in reading:
1. Antidepressents could complicate pregnancy is a little story from the local paper which seemed relevant because a ridiculous number of people in my life are pregnant right now.
2. There's a nice piece on the class divide between MySpace and FaceBook at Freakonomics, one of my favorite websites.
3. This one is for nerds and computer people. A piece about software used by different presidential campaigns on their websites. It's interesting to think about who uses what software and how that plays into their politics. No mac people huh?
4. Jantar Mantar is just a sight with some really neat pictures, totally safe for work, I promise.

I am so sad...

I spent a big part of the day cleaning the youth science center and packing stuff away from the last two years. I really love my job. I'm excited about the next one but I'm sad to be loosing this one.

In other news, I was, ahem, biologically inconvenienced on Sunday night, to the point I had to take nyquil and go to sleep because there was nothing else to be done about the situation. Yesterday I was a zombie and today I showed up at 10:00 for a 9:30 meeting. Woops.

I'm thinking about running tomorrow. I haven't legitimately run in about a week, although I did some sprints in Chicago and did the elliptical today. I learned the other day that's not really a day off for my legs. I haven't really found an exercise I like that is a day off for my legs except swimming, and it's been a while with the swimming. I think I have to wait 'till it gets cold again and it's all I can do to get up and run half the time. Swimming always looks like a better option under those conditions.

Also, who else can't wait for the new Harry Potters. Yes, both of them. The book and the movie.

From The Sunday Seven

Name seven of the most under-appreciated jobs in your community.


1. Garbage man. Let me just say "thank you". That's one of those services that just works and I'm oh so happy about that.
2. Stay at home Mom / Dad / Aunt / Grandma / whatever you got. It's definitely not an easy or appreciated job.
3. Social workers. 'Nuff said.
4. Construction crews. I wouldn't really say "under-appreciated" I would more say "much maligned" and possibly heckled too much by drivers who are stopped in construction traffic. Last summer all the construction was in Minneapolis in various neighborhoods on the cities south side. This summer the construction has moved to the freeways, and how exciting it has been. Many of the freeways are getting attention including 35E and 694 at "the weave", 94 and 394 where they meet, 35W (again on the south side of Minneapolis). Those are the big ones I know about. What'd I miss?
5. Insurance salesman. I'm not sure if they're legitimately under appreciated or just no one wants to deal with them.
6. Bus drivers, largely under appreciated by anyone who's never had to take the bus. Bus riders may or may not appreciate the driver.
7. Janitors. Your jobs are important and I need you to keep doing them.

Hello little blog

It's been a while since I've had reliable internet access and so have been unable to post. Sorry. I was at the Conference for Spirituality and Social Work. Again. It's like summer camp as my Mom says.

It was at a tiny University (hard for me to believe it's really that small) in a gorgeous suburb of Chicago. I ran around the neighborhood a couple of times, embarrassingly short distances both times. I'm not entirely sure how I'm going to get up and run tomorrow. Although it's a biologically inconvenient time to be running so I may not go very far anyway. I did do a couple of sprints.

I'm still eager to try out the new Nike+ for running. I haven't yet because I haven't been able to find a time to secure the little doohickey onto my shoe. I need like a little sack that I can just attach to my shoe laces. Surely someone must sell one of those. Maybe I'll look for one when I go in search of new running shoes. I still love Brooks the best.

I took the new computer with me on the trip. I was glad I had it. My mom and I watched "Music and Lyrics" which is a total chick flick but is kind of cute nonetheless. It's definitely not cool enough for a guy to really want to sit through (very few chick flicks are that good). But it's nice to watch Hugh Grant shake his money maker for 90 minutes.

I also had a nice discussion with some professors who teach a spirituality in social work class about why they have to talk about field with their students in this class. I'm alarmed that professors really have no idea what students are going through in field. (Clients ask you to pray with them?)

I'm just trying to get into the swing of things now. I need some groceries. I'm trying to persuade myself to go down to Kowalski's and get a few things to hold me over until I can do a legitimate shopping trip. I also need to do laundry. I mean I need to do laundry. Hopefully that will get done tonight too.

The end of the series

As you may have gathered from my previous post, I have found gainful employment. How excited am I?

The phone call came at the end of the day, after much freaking out about buying a new computer without having gainful employment. I sort of felt like it would all work out for the best, which is why I bought the thing. (Plus it's a good looking computer. Too bad I can't use the photo booth to take its picture.)

I don't start until July 9th. I'm toying with the idea of a "Liz Starts a New Job" series because that will be the next significantly big thing going on in my life. New jobs are always fun, and sometimes hard for me. It usually takes me a while to feel like I fit in and have the hang of things. Once I've been in jobs for a while I really like them because I feel like I know the answers to all the questions and can help new people when they come along, kind of like I do at the Science Museum.

I'm also having anxiety about not being as good as the other people there, not being as good at my job I mean. There's a lot of information to keep track of with people, a lot of things that I don't want to miss. (No pressure.)

Right now I'm trying to get everything from the old computer onto the new one. I just want to say that it's really nice to be doing this while the old computer is still functional. I remember having to restore eight bazillion things from CDs and that is less than pleasant, especially with a slow CD drive. I'm importing pictures, playing on the internet and updating my iTunes album art all at the same time. I love technology.

Liz Gets Herself a Job

Great Success

in an effort to not pack or clean

In an effort to not pack or clean for the next little while, I'm hanging out on the internet. Here's what I just found: Expectation of Privacy Extended to Email. I just had to laugh. Even if I think my email will never be private, it's nice to know somebody thinks it should be.

On a side note, that's the federal court my Dad practices in front of sometimes (or at least he used to) and the court my Uncle worked for his entire life. (Not as an attorney or judge. He was an administrator in the offices.)

The Sunday Seven

THIS WEEK'S QUESTION:
Name seven television shows you’re ready to see new episodes of.

We'll ignore the Cincinnati grammar of the question for now...
1. Studio 60 On the Sunset Strip - even though there's only two episodes left.
2. Brothers and Sisters, my new favorite show which will have to carry the torch once Studio 60 ends its run.
3. Hmmm....
4. Maybe this is why I should get cable again.
5. Does the Harry Potter book count?
6. What about the Harry Potter movie?
7. No? That's all I got...

Finally, a holiday I can get behind

So, I think it's no secret that I'm a little bit addicted to RSS feeds. One of my favorites is the Freakonomics Blog. They've started doing a new thing, called "What is Today..." where they list different days, like international anthropology day or similar things (yeah, I made that one up). Well, today is International Panic Day which, to be clear, is not what I need right now.

The Friday Five

This one looked fun because it's all about music.
1. Do you download music not from the popular genres of Top 40, pop, rock, rap, dance, R&B, or country?
I really like Folk, Jazz and Blues too. Amos Lee, Madeleine Peyroux, Corrine Bailey Rae, and Gomez are some of my favorites. I think I'm about to discover a new artist called Gran Bel Fisher as well. (Thank you Studio 60.)

2. Are there any musicians for whom you've downloaded a significant amount of their material yet own few or none of their albums?
Yes. Black Eyed Peas, Natalie Merchant, Norah Jones, and Fall Out Boy all come to mind.

3. Have you ever enjoyed a downloaded album so much that you went and bought the physical album?
No, but I've liked them so much I've burned a CD of it.

4. How many different ways of playing music do you own (such as radio, stereo system, computer, Walkman/Discman, mp3 player, mp3-ready phone, etc.)?
I counted six without my car.

5. Do you still have and/or play a favorite vinyl album, cassette tape, or 8-track tape?
At my parents house yes. It's Elton John's "Sleeping With the Past"

Lunch With Kelly

I had a nice lunch today with Kelly. In honor of going in to work on my one day off this week I took a long lunch. I also spent an inordinate amount of time with iMovie. I'm not totally a fan. The pictures I put in to make a slide show turned out really grainy. They're really high quality pictures too so I'm not sure what's up. Any apple technicians out there?

I'm also dangerously close to purchasing my own apple. I'm thinking the MacBook unless the iMac is updated in the next few days (which I'm not anticipating).

How exciting

I just did a Pedometer reading of how far I ran. It's really more like 6 miles. How wild is that?

wild exercise

I am amazed. I was driving by Lake Nokomis at 9:45pm and say a boatload of walkers, runners and bikers. I think it's cool that so many of you are exercising so late at night. How exciting.

I personally ran 5 miles early this morning. I had an incident that makes me know that the bathrooms at Lake Nokomis are forever off limits.

Liz Gets Herself a Job Part 9

I had a second interview today for the job I really want. I think it went well. I really liked the people I met and it's a really welcoming place. I was so nervous before hand I thought I was going to throw up. Now when I think about the calling me I still think I'm going to throw up. It's been a long time since my body has had a physical reaction like this to things. This physical reaction is not the same as a panic attack for those of you who are curious. It's just really intense. I'm not a fan.

I was at work with the kids and had to change and leave in the middle of the day and then come back. I decided it would be cool for them to see that process, of getting all dressed up and everything. Plus it kept me from going crazy before the interview.

I decided that after the interview I was going to buy a computer, either way. I'm seriously considering the MacBook unless I hear that the iMacs are about to get the long awaited redesign.

The Wednesday Mind Hump

1. Have you ever cut or burned yourself while cooking?
I don't think my blog is long enough to list all the times I've done that. Although, I think this time takes the cake.

2. Have you ever put in a wrong ingredient in a dish (sugar instead of salt, for example)?
One time I tried to make this herb dip with absolutely the wrong herbs. I needed like mint and basil or something and instead I used whatever herbs you'd use with a turkey. It was bad. Although I think the feta had a lot to do with that too. The feta was supposed to be in there. I'm just not a fan.

3. Have you ever dropped, or otherwise ruined, a dish just before serving it? Bonus points if you had a large number of people waiting to eat it.
Usually this involves trying to poor my spaghetti noodles into the strainer and they wind up in the sink. I just can't eat them after they've been in the sink. I've also burned stuff. One time I undercooked salmon and forced someone to eat it (maybe Kelly and Amanda) by insisting that "it's good that way".

4. In case you aren't a cook - Have you ever had a restaurant make a klutzy move that affected your meal? Tell us about it!
Tonight they forgot to put the strawberries on my cheesecake. I'm still bitter.

Update on the bug

Remember when I found a bug in Firefox? I got an update a couple days ago. Someone else found the same bug. How cool is that?

The Sunday Seven

This one looked fun. Name seven favorite items on a Chinese buffet:
1. Egg drop soup - yum
2. Cream cheese filled wontons - double yum
3. The chicken dish with the mushrooms
4. Spring rolls
5. Anything with fried tofu
6. Egg drop soup again
7. Are there any wontons left?

I've missed you, little blog

It occurs to me I haven't taken the best care of my blog. I'd say life has been crazy except I don't see any signs of that letting up. Maybe if I could still take care of my blog I'd feel like life was less crazy, and create the illusion of normalcy.

I ran this morning. Let's back that up. I woke up late this morning. And it's hot here. Really too hot to make running outside sound good. Especially later in the morning, like the time I woke up. So I ran on the track at the Y. I believe I've blogged at length about how not many people really use that track to run distances. It's largely true by the way. I ran 3.5 miles today in (sort of) sprint intervals. I ran half-mile sprints with third-mile breaks of light jogging. By the fourth sprint, I was nearly dead. The last two laps of jogging, well I was so tired I lost count (yes, from one to two) and so may have only run one of them. Woops.

The Saturday 8

1. do you have an exercise routine currently?
Yes. I try to run 3 days a week and go to the Y 3 days a week. At the Y I like the eliptical, the bikes, and the rowing machine.

2. what's the most amount of money per month that you would pay for a gym?
I dunno. I like the YWCA, so if I have a high gym fee I try to remember I'm buying a lot of the other wonderful things they do there as well, and that's a good investment in my community.

3. have you ever been unable to exercise, for instance, due to an injury, lack of funds or time, etc.?
Yup. Remember back this fall when I fell and had to stop running for a while? It blew.

4. have you ever had a friend or family member that exercised TOO much, to the point that they were anorexic (or very, very close)?
Nope.

5. have you ever exercised too much, to the point where it was unhealthy?
I don't think so, well not in the anorexia sense. I learned earlier this year that it's unhealthy to run every day and never cross train. I'm hopeful that I've started to rectify that situation with going to the Y.

6. have you ever had a negative experience at a gym (with other patrons, equipment, trainer) or with the gym themselves (billing, closings, etc.)?
I do surprising well at my gym. You'd think something there would have sparked a panic attack.

7. one form of exercise that seems bizarre to me is spinning as i cannot understand sitting on a stationary bike for an hour with some little skinny bitch screaming at you from HER stationary bike. what form of exercise do you not 'get' or would never try because it seems too weird to you?
I had a friend who liked the spin classes. They're really popular at the Y. I think American Football and American wrestling ala WWE are the two I get the least. The thing is, especially for wrestling, but really for both sports, a certain level of athleticism is required. And then it's put to poor use.

8. if you had two free, dedicated hours each day to do something athletic that would NOT take away from work, friends, or family time, and the unlimited funds to do it, what type of exercise would you do daily? lipo, by the way, does not count... ;)
If I could do it every day I'd run. I don't because it's not healthy to do it every day and in Minnesota it's not realistic to expect to be able to run all year.

3X Thursday

1. Do you pay much attention to your body? Do you know when you are doing too much of something, not getting enough of something, etc? How do you know/not know?
I do pay attention to my body. I'm having a rough week this week because I haven't exercised much this week. I know when something is up because I feel bad or I get panic attacks (two so far this week, which is a lot), or I get really tired.

2. Have you ever had a health issue that you couldn't solve yourself (other than a sinus infection or something like that)? If so, what steps did you take to resolve it? Did you resolve it?
Yes, I went crazy. No, seriously, I had a really bad reaction to some medicine. They tell you about how the meds can trigger depression, but they don't say anything about anxiety. So I went a little nuts. It wasn't until literally months after i got of the medicine that someone told me I probably have OCD. Someone, I might add, who'd had that information for most of my life and didn't bring it up. I'm still a bit mad about that. I'm learning to forgive though.

3. Have you ever had to hop from doctor to doctor to doctor to get a diagnosis? If so, how did you handle it? What are your thoughts about having to hop from doctor to doctor to get a diagnosis?
No. I'm sure if it wasn't life threatening and one doctor told me he didn't know I'd just sttop there, such is my distaste for doctors.

Where's Kelly?

I'm just saying..

Kelly, if you're out there, I miss reading your blog. I found a really funny page on the internet today and it made me think of you.

Amanda, I miss you too but I've given up hope on you blogging.

Randomness because it looks fun:

1. a movie that made you laugh
Office Space.
2. a book that made you cry
Where the Red Fern Grows is the current boo-hoo winner. I try not to read devastatingly sad books.
3. a best friend
Oh, now this is where feelings get hurt. I'll go with a best friend I don't get to see very often, my cousin Mark.
4. a favorite childhood memory
Playing catch with Mark and John in their back yard.
5. your favorite animal
Bats. (duh)
6. your favorite food
Uncle Tom's Spaghetti
7. an item of clothing you can't do without
right now, Amanda's jeans.
8. something you collect
I liked to collect key chains for a while, but I haven't been so good about that lately. I take a lot of pictures. Does that count?
9. your favorite store to shop in
Ikea? For now I like Banana Republic because I got the most flattering shirt ever from them. Any place where I have Kelly beucase she can find things that look nice on me.
10. your favorite flower
Lilies of the Valley

Liz Gets Herself a Job Part 8

I was invited to return for a second interview at the agency where I'd really like to work. It's next Wednesday, like in 10 days Wednesday. I don't know if I can hold it that long.

Monday Music Mambo

List five songs you would enjoy on "repeat"

"Walk Through The World" by Marc Cohn. I always think that'd be a fun song to play at my wedding.
"Supply and Demand" by Amos Lee is the most played song in my iTunes library.
"Hum Hallelujah" by Fall Out Boy is a song I've recently discovered but love.
"Moondance" by Van Morrison is just one of the hottest songs ever.
"Sunday Morning" by Maroon 5. I ♥ this song.

Turns out I can run

I ran today. And I ran. And I ran some more. I ran 6.4 miles this morning. That's wild. Last week I biked around a while and discovered Lake Hiawatha. This morning I thought I'd run around Lake Nokomis and then run around Lake Hiawatha. It seemed like the thing to do at the time. Although I can't turn me neck now. I think that's because I slept on it funny. That's not related to the running thing.