Overthinking

In my daily perusal of the New York Times online, I came across a most interesting op-ed column that suggests the whole New Years Eve self reflection thing is a bit self-destructive. In fact, the article really says that we shouldn't think too hard about ourselves ever. While this might be going a bit too far, I found myself agreeing with the assertion. I am always so much happier when I take action, decide to do something or be something than I am when I sit around thinking about what I should do, who I am, how to live my life better etc.

The column quotes Aristotle who said, "We become just by the practice of just actions, self-controlled by exercising self-control, and courageous by performing acts of courage." This quote reminds me of the presentation I attended in Albuquerque where the woman said that according to studies happy people are risk takers and all you have to do to become a risk taker is take a risk. That advice is part of what made me decide that moving to DC was a good idea and I feel more courageous because we did it.

For my whole life since at least fourth grade, I have spend some time on the final day of the year to reflect on the past year and write resolutions for the new one. I will probably do this again this year, but with a little less gravitas. No reason to overthink it, apparently...

Desperation for Attention

Apparently, the student who said he was visited by the Department of Homeland Security after requesting a Mao book, was making it all up. This is disturbing and it seems as though he did it merely for attention. So, my anger from last week at the government was misplaced, and that's a relief, really. Like one of the student's professors said, it is safe to check out library books. Thank goodness.

But, I would like to point out that pre-Bush, had I heard a story like that, I would have immediately known it was made up. It might have even been laughable. But in today's environment, it was so far from far-fetched that I didn't bat an eye as to it's credibility. Hmm.

Meanwhile...

Christmas has come and gone. I am one of approximately six people worldwide (yes, I know that's an exaggeration) who had to go to work in an office today. I know all the retail people are slaving away at cash registers, but office workers, by and large, are just crawling out of bed. On my walk to the metro this morning, I felt like a crazy person because DC had become a ghost town. I passed approximately 2 people between my door and the metro station. Normally, I probably walk by at least 100 people each morning. The guard in the booth at the entrance to the building has the day off and everything is eerily quiet. I get the day after New Years off and will sleep in with reckless abandon as revenge for having to work on this dreaded day.

Amazing Abuse of Power

It was only a matter of time after moving to DC before I started my relentless political blogging again... here we go.

A co-worker sent me a link to this article today about a student who received a visit from the friendly Department of Homeland Security because he requested a book by Mao through a university inter-library loan system. This is so wrong on so many levels, I don't even know where to begin.

I find it deeply disturbing that even materials in an academic context are reason for suspicion by the federal government. I also find it disturbing that the government might know what books I have been checking out and that now I have to think, when going to the library, about whether or not the titles I'm checking out will be on a watch list. There goes that good old American feeling of freedom. With all the news lately about the president and the authorized spying on private citizens without warrants, I feel like I am living under a government that's moving away from democracy and our Bill of Rights and toward dictatorship.

Jealousy

The other day, Neil and I were at one of our favorite restaurants and we came across a foreign language social group. A bunch of people were milling around with name tags speaking different languages. Their name tags specified the language they were there to practice and we watched as they paired off, stopped speaking English and got down to business. Really, it was pretty cool -- a great idea. But I couldn't help but to think they were all really nerdy. Now I wonder if that was, in fact, the case, or if I'm just jealous that they all speak a second language and I don't.

Wow

I can't believe he took responsibility! I don't like him any better, but this is still a good thing he's done. When was the last time 43 admitted he was wrong???

Snow

It is really amazing how, in a world filled with so many unpleasant things, on some mornings, we wake up and everything is covered in sparkling white crystals. This morning, I got to make fresh tracks in the snow as I walked across the mammoth suburban parking lot I cross each morning. Normally, I think about what a waste of space the big chunk of asphalt is. Today I thought about how awesome the snow was and how satisfying it was as it crunched under my shoes.

Welcome to the Coke side of life...

That is the new slogan for Coca Cola. I am sure their commercials are amazing and inspirational and will make me feel the need to drink their cola to be cool, but what a lame tagline. Couldn't they come up with anything better?

It's supposed to snow here in DC tonight and have sleet and icy rain tomorrow. They are even talking about possibly not opening the office in the morning, which would be great. My mom and dad arrive this afternoon (before the storm is set to hit). There's something I really love about having family around when it's cold and snowy outside.

Last night, Neil and I cleaned our apartment and it was nice because a) we now have a clean clean apartment and 2) it took about 1/3 the amount of time it used to take us to clean our house. I kept wandering around wondering what we'd forgotten to do, but then, we had extra time and got to drink some wine and talk about Neil's lunch at the White House. That's right, he went into the heart of enemy territory and had lunch with a White House staffer that ran the campaign in NM in 2004. I'm currently reading Full Disclosure, and the White House Mess is mentioned quite frequently, so I am fascinated by the whole thing. I'm a tad jealous Neil got to go, but I can wait until there's a less evil administration in office.

Things

1.) I still have no idea why people from all over the world are viewing my April 2005 archives. I will admit that it was a good month for blogging, but who are these people? If any of you read this, please please comment and tell me what's so interesting there. I removed the naked man painting...Is it the worst haircut contest winner?

2.) My parents are coming to visit this weekend. We're going to a Red Wings game and to the lighting of the Capitol Christmas Tree (which happens to be from New Mexico this year). I am sure my mom and I will also find some way to squeeze in some shopping. Anyways, we're all ready for them now that Rachel and Brian tested out our air mattress.

3.) This past weekend an Indian food restaurant opened beneath our apartment. We've been watching them build it for weeks. The restaurant is on street level and we live on the sixth floor, but on opening night, our whole apartment smelled like Indian food. I like Indian food, I like how it smells, but not on my clothes and in my bed. Really, it's a smell that is only good when you're hungry. I think they fixed the problem, but won't be sure until they cook again tomorrow at their opening night. Apparently last Saturday was just practice. I was packing our boxes in my head when I first started smelling it, but the people on floors lower than us were REALLY up in arms and ventilation system modifications were made. So my fingers are crossed that I won't be plunged into a spicy smelly existence come Wednesday.

4.) Also this past weekend, after a trip to Eastern Market, I recognized a person passing me on the street and discovered that it was Kate Mayer, my old friend from elementary school in Santa Fe. In fact, she was valedictorian at her high school senior year and made history for giving a speech about all the problems with public education in NM. They banned student speeches after that. It was great to see her and on a broader level, to see a familiar face in my new city. As it turns out, Kate works in a building right next to our apartment building.

5.) And finally, last Friday, Neil and I attended a formal holiday party for Northwestern alumni living in DC. I put on my black strapless cocktail dress, Neil his Italian suit and we went to a hotel near our apartment (Hotel Washington) where we were directed to a ball room all decorated in purple balloons and purple banners. It was a little more school spirit than I had experienced in a while and a little more awkward cocktail conversation,too. But we had a great time. We saw a few people we knew from school that we didn't know were living here. Perhaps most importantly, we ran into Nadia, our friend who was a couple years behind us in school and dated one of Neil's roommates. We had completely lost touch with her and it was great to catch up and, for me, to find another girl friend to hang out with in D.C. So here's to awkward alumni functions.

It is absolutely freezing here and there's even some snow on the ground. Here we go... East Coast Winter...

Number 5,212 that I love my iPod

I love my iPod because if I wear the headphones on my walk to and from the metro in the mornings and evenings, I can't hear the occasional crazy homeless person who screams at all the people who walk by. When I do hear these people swearing and yelling at me, my adrenaline kicks in, my heart races and I feel sad as well as scared. With the iPod, I know they're yelling, but I can listen to Death Cab for Cutie instead and keep walking.

House Guests Are Fun
Just because we downsized from our 3-bedroom house to a 1-bedroom apartment, didn't mean we'd be stopping our grand tradition of house guests. Last week, Rachel came to an Anthropology conference and stayed with us for most of the week and on Saturday, her husband Brian drove from NC to pick her up and hang out with us for the weekend. We had so much fun! All my fears about being overcrowded were unfounded and it was really great to have some really good friends visit. We went to the new bar/bowling alley in our neighborhood, attended an open house at a way-too-fancy hair salon and got free drinks and hair stuff, ate pie at Kramer's Books, walked through a flood of Andre Boticelli fans in the metro, ate sushi, went to Eastern Market, toured the Museum of the American Indian...etc. It was a great week and weekend.

Who are you people?

Ok. So normally I get about 15-20 hits on my blog a day, over the last couple of weeks I have noticed that I'm getting hundreds of hits a day and they are all starting on the page from the April archives where I have pictures from my trip to Italy. One of them, which I have removed, was of a painting in the entry of a house that showed a man without clothes. It was a little more graphic than I can explain here because I am not interested in hundreds of people going to this page daily any time soon.

Anyways, the people viewing my pictures from Italy were from all over the world (Egypt, Serbia, France, Italy, Russia, Denmark, Sweden, Finland etc.) All I can imagine is that my blog is the subject of someone's e-mail forward? In any case, while I am all for blog traffic, it's a little creepy that so many people I do not know have been browsing my vacation photos. The other thought that crossed my mind was, "What if they are all making fun of me?" (I think this question mainly came up because I am paranoid and a little narcissistic.) Whatever the case, that many people going to a page buried in the archives cannot be good. I'm hoping the removal of the photo will make them all go away so that my family and friends and occasional random strangers are the only ones frequenting this blog.

Ten Years!

Yesterday I found someone I hadn't talked to in almost ten years. I had been wondering about him on and off and had looked online a few times, but nobody I knew knew where he was or what happened to him. Yesterday, I got an e-mail from him and I was elated. I had no idea that reconnecting with him would make me so happy. My whole life I have had this need to keep my friends close. I like to know where people are, what they're up to, how to call them if I want to chat and I hate losing people. So finding Patrick was a really wonderful thing and knowing a little bit about what he's been up to all this time makes me feel a tad more complete.

Multitasking

My friend Rachel and I just decided that the word "multitasking" is really a way of saying "getting absolutely nothing done."

Packed

In the spirit of being exciting city people, we have a packed weekend coming up. Rachel and Brian are visiting. Tomorrow night we're going to the new bar/bowling alley that is opening down the street. Friday is the formal Northwestern alumni holiday party, Saturday is hang out with Rachel and Brian day. I'm really looking forward to all the fun.

Adventure Test

My friend Britten sent me the following quote today and it confirms that moving to D.C. was, in fact, an adventure. I had been saying it was all along, but now it's official:

"The test of an adventure is that when you're in the middle of it, you say to yourself, 'Oh, now I've got myself into an awful mess; I wish I were sitting quietly at home.' And the sign that something's wrong with you is when you sit quietly at home wishing you were out having lots of adventure."

--Thornton Wilder

I am happy to say, that I have not yet returned to my apartment after work and thought about how I wish I was out having adventures. Every day is still an adventure. Now the problem is (and I think this is what Mr. Wilder was getting at)that eventually what's adventurous right now will become something ordinary and I will long for adventure again. And once I come up with a new way to have an adventure, I will, at some point along the way, wish to be back in my cozy apartment in D.C. But this is just the nature of change, really. We resist change just as we crave it. I suppose the challenge is finding ways to continually create adventures for ourselves.

Aahhh

There's nothing like a four-day weekend to make going back to work on Monday dreadful. In spite of the pain of waking before the sun was fully up this morning, I really enjoyed the Thanksgiving vacation. We went to our friends Ben and Robyn's apartment for Thanksgiving dinner and it was delicious and fun. Also, it was much better than making some Thanksgiving sides at home and just having Neil and myself to eat them... that was the alternate plan until we got invited to Ben and Robyn's.

Earlier that day we got to spend time with our friends Topher and Lotus who were in town visiting Topher's dad. It was great to see them, even if it was a brief visit.

The Friday after Thanksgiving was the best day ever. I say this because my husband actually suggested we got to the mall where I got a much needed new coat, and then willingly went to two movies in a row. I can't think of many better activities than attending two movies in a row and I hadn't done it since college because Neil isn't a movie freak like me. Also, normally, trips to the mall are not Neil's idea, but mine and then I feel like I'm torturing him the entire time. In any case, Friday was perfect.

Saturday was also a lot of fun. We had lunch at the Native American Museum because they have authentic Native American Cuisine including Navajo Tacos (although they call them Indian Tacos) with green chile! I am a big fan of Navajo tacos which basically consist of fry bread covered in beans, tomato, lettuce, cheese, onions and green chile. At the museum, however, they have a buffalo chili on top which includes beans and then the rest of the ingredients. I was wary of the chili since I don't eat much red meat and especially not buffalo, but it was really good and I felt like I was at home (almost). After lunch, we walked to the Washington Monument to find out about going to the top, then we walked around the White House (or the large perimeter that surrounds the White House) When were at the closest point, the police cleared everyone out and closed the street. We waited for a while to see what was going on but the only clue we got was that one officer asked the crowd of gawkers if anyone had left a CVS shopping bag behind. So maybe it was a suspicious shopping bag? It was strange, there were at least three men with long photo lenses in the crowd taking pictures, but who knows what they were of. Neil and I got too cold so we left. It was curious to say the least.

After that we went to the zoo where we saw both adult pandas, but not the baby. We also saw a hippo up close (a first for me) and some other animals, but Neil was freezing so we left the zoo and went home.

On Sunday, we went to the top of the Washington Monument (cool, but not amazing), locked ourselves out of our apartment (thank goodness the front desk guy has a key), and took a four-hour nap (nope, I am not kidding).

All in all, it was a great weekend and it helped us to feel a little more like DC is home.

Observations upon being in DC for approximately three weeks

1. On F street near Chinatown, there is a green official-looking street sign right below the F Street NW sign that says Fun Street in a fun font. Neil and I sometimes skip while crossing Fun Street in order to induce fun.

2. On one of the longest escalators ever coming up from the Dupont Circle metro, a sign says "Hold Handrail on Escalator" or something like that. So I put my hand on the rail and stood on the escalator only to notice my hand moving forward faster than the rest of me. I though I was imagining it until I was almost touching the butt of the woman in front of me.

3. Every morning, I have a 15-20 minute walk from the metro stop in Maryland to the building where I work. I get to walk by generic suburban strip malls and then through a giant parking lot. It's not a glamorous route. To make matters worse, every morning I walk by a Starbucks that I can't actually get to because along the sidewalk is an iron fence. The fence is low and if I were wearing jeans and sneakers, I could surely hop it, but in work clothes, I'd be crazy to try. To walk around the fence takes an extra 7 minutes because it wraps along the sidewalk and then curves with the driveway. I would plan ahead and leave home early if it guaranteed coffee, only, once I get to Starbucks and around the fence, there's often a line so long that I have to leave without getting any coffee. Of course, the glass on the doors is always in a glare when I'm on the outside of the fence trying to determine if I should make an attempt. Most mornings, I take a big sniff of the caffeinated air outside the Starbucks and walk along the fence drafting letters in my head to the fence owners about putting in a gate.

Moving in, Moving on

We arrived at our new apartment building in the morning on a Friday. I had scheduled the move in at least a month prior, and yet, they didn't have us scheduled. So, we had to beg them to let us into the loading dock. Eventually they did and our movers showed up and took all of our things out of the truck, up the elevator and into our apartment. Overall, it was really smooth. A hamper handle got broken along with something else, but I don't even remember what. None of our things were dirty or otherwise damaged. So, perhaps, driving our stuff across the country in a Penske truck (like turtles, our whole house on our back) paid off.

Unfortunately, our landlord had not cleaned the apartment prior to our arrival as promised and it was gross, but within two days, we had a cleaning crew come in and clean and the landlord paid. We went to Ikea with the truck and bought small furniture to facilitate storage. We built the furniture (two bar stools, one wooden chair, one desk, one cabinet for the bathroom, one glass cabinet for art, one wooden shelf unit for a closet and one metal shelf unit for the pantry) and unpacked everything by Sunday evening. If we didn't know already, this experience was proof that both Neil and I are very anal. All of the other people we talked to about the move looked at us like we were insane when we said we'd broken down the final box on Sunday afternoon. But regardless of possible insanity, we felt great once we were all moved in. (I mean even the art was hung on the walls...)

Our apartment, even if it's half the size of our house in Albuquerque, is awesome. We somehow have enough space and it doesn't even feel crowded. Add to that the fact that we get lots of natural light and the dogs seem to like it a lot. Also, we have a great gym and a roof deck with pool, and a party room with a pool table and a movie theatre and so on. We really like where we live. The neighborhood, Chinatown/Penn Quarter, is awesome. We're about five blocks from Ford's Theatre and the house where Lincoln died (I am a big Lincoln fan) We're blocks from the Smithsonians and even closer to the National Archives where we can visit the Constitution and Declaration of Independence whenever we feel like it. We have a big multiplex theatre nearby as well as several live theatres. There's an Ann Taylor Loft and an Urban Outfitters (two chains that do not yet exist in NM)just down the street. It's really exciting.

We're still exploring the neighborhood and making new discoveries. Last night we ate at Wok 'N Roll, a Chinese and Japanese restaurant in the historic Mary Surratt boarding house where John Wilkes Booth and his co-conspirators are said to have hatched the plan to assassinate Lincoln. Our building adjoins to another condo complex called the Clara Barton because it's built above the original house where Clara Barton set up her office for missing soldiers. They're restoring it right now and soon it'll be a museum. Being surrounded by so much history is really fascinating.

At home, in New Mexico, the history was different. I was immersed in different stories. Pueblo revolts, conquistadors, the Apache trail of tears. Growing up, I thought of the New Mexico history as my own. But, I also thought of U.S. history as my own. In 5th grade, I made my parents take me to D.C. so I could see everything -- the Star Spangled Banner, Ford's Theatre, Mount Vernon, the Constitution...And now I live here, a new place with its own history -- a history that I identify with, too.

New Life

I am back and I have a new life!

First of all, the gala dinner at my old job on my second to last day of work was awesome. I still don't know the totals for what we raised, but I think it was at least $26,000 if not a little more. People showed up all dressed up and the food was awesome and the entertainment was great. Before I left the next day, my boss told her that one of the long-time credit union movement people told her it was the best credit union event in the history of the state, which made me feel really great. In addition, I am just thrilled to have raised so much money for the hospital.

So after the great event, I had one more day of work. I actually cried when I left the office for the last time. It was surprising to me... I knew I was sad, but I didn't realize how sad. Apparently I set all the women off crying too, and it continued on well after I left. Ugh. That night, we had invited friends to meet us at Q Bar (a cool bar popular with the political crowd and the media) between 9 and 11 to say goodbye. We got there at 9 and nobody was there so we felt like losers, but shortly thereafter, a ton of people showed up. Everyone from our city council member friend and his wife to a state legislator, to people from Neil's work and our personal friends. It was really nice to see everyone one last time and it felt good that they all took the time to show up. I did a bad job of inviting people from my work (i.e. forgot to send a mass e-mail) and felt dumb about that, but at least I had the opportunity to say goodbye to all of them the previous week.

The weekend was spent packing and saying goodbye to my family. We went to The Melting Pot for my early birthday that Sunday night, which was a lot of fun and one of the first times we were all together in a long time when we've laughed and felt comfortable. I am grateful for that for sure.

The next morning, the movers were an hour and a half late, but then did an awesome job loading or 16-foot truck. It was almost completely full and our house was empty and we locked the doors, loaded the dogs into the cab and drove away.

The first night we stayed in Oklahoma City with Sophia, a friend we met thought Neil's work in El Paso who is working at a TV station in OKC. It was great to see her and she was sooo nice and let me take a bath in her big tub. Our dogs were the worst behaved that night and barked on and off throughout the night which made me feel soooooo guilty. Sophia was really nice about it, I still have a feeling we should send some flowers.

The next night we stayed in Memphis with our friend Mary from college who we hadn't seen in five years. On the way there, once we were officially in "the South" I actually saw a confederate flag hanging on the side of the freeway. That was a completely weird experience. We also saw the Clinton Library in Little Rock (but didn't go in). Mary lives in a really nice house in Memphis and we got to go to dinner with her and her boyfriend, Michael, who was really nice. Then we stayed in her guest room and the dogs were quiet and the bed was so comfortable. I wished we could have spent more time catching up, but we had to leave early for our longest day of driving the next morning.

Our final night was spent in Chapel Hill, NC where Rachel and Brian live. We were overdue to visit them and check out their new home and meet their new dog, so it was great to be there. The following day, we hung out for the morning and got to see some of Rachel's favorite places and take a tour of the UNC campus. I was struck by how beautiful North Carolina is and what a cool community there seems to be in Chapel Hill. Also, Rachel took me to the coolest art store that sells toys that are art. They all look like Japanamation characters, but come from all over the world. (I did a terrible job describing that)

That day we drove to D.C. and stayed in a hotel and got ready to move in the following morning. Overall, we drove about 2,200 miles in four days. It was a good road trip, but there wasn't enough time to see what we were driving past. In spite of enjoying our time on the road, I'm glad I don't have to drive back anytime soon.

Stay tuned for -- The Move In...

It's been a while...

I'm back. Maybe only briefly, but here I am. Sorry for the silence lately. Here I am with only 2.5 days left of work, a whole house to finish packing and a new life waiting for me on the other side of the country. It's been possibly the most stressful few months of my life, but I am hoping it all pays off soon.

We start our cross-country drive (in a moving truck) on Monday and are due to arrive at our new apartment at 9:30 a.m. Friday. On the way, we're staying with friends in Oklahoma City, Memphis and Chapel Hill. It should be fun. I actually think that as soon as we get our belongings packed into the truck and drive away from our house, I will be able to take a deep breath and begin to enjoy myself.

Right now, however, I'm thinking about the gala dinner taking place tomorrow that I'm the co-chair of. We're set to raise about $26,000 for the local children's hospital in one night which feels pretty good. I just hope everything goes well tomorrow night. It is scary being responsible for such a big event. Plus, all the attendees paid quite a bit to attend so they need to enjoy themselves. Needless to say, I am nervous.

Anyways, I promise there will be more inspiring blog posts soon.... hang in there...don't give up on me yet

Clean Carpet

Right now a man is in my house cleaning my carpet. He has already removed a giant stain that has been there for a month or so and came from my overzealous use of stain remover. (how ironic, I know) He has also made the room considerably less smelly. It got smelly this weekend when the dogs got sick and couldn't get to their dog door and went to the bathroom all over the living room. This event is the reason I had to call the carpet cleaning people and will be paying them $150 in a little while once they're done extracting all the urine from the carpet. Lovely.

Cleaning the carpet was the last thing I really wanted to do right now. I planed to do it when we were moved out -- you know, to leave it in good condition for whoever we sell or rent it to. But, I suppose you don't really get to plan these things.

We're in the middle of two weekends of house guests which is fun, but exhausting. Oh, and that whole thing about how we're MOVING IN TWO WEEKS!!!! But at least we'll have clean carpet...

Losing It?

I think it is entirely possible that I am losing my mind. It's a slow process.. but it's happening. I am trying to do so many things at once and tie up so many loose ends that my mind is becoming a loose end. I have been typing things I don't mean to type (for example, I wrote "let me know" instead of "I'll let you know") I've been forgetting to do things, spacing out mid-sentence and am basically a frazzled basket case.

Sleep has been pretty much impossible this week. So I am sure that's not helping matters at all. There's nothing like the combo of stress and lack of sleep to make one feel a bit dumber than usual.

Hired and not Homeless

I have a job! I have an apartment! I can finally move on to blogging about more interesting topics!

I was in D.C. for five days with my mom and on the second day (first full day) I got hired to be a PR and Marketing Director at an awesome nonprofit in Maryland (a 30 minute metro ride from where I will be living). After accepting the job offer, my mom and I went back for a second look at an apartment we first saw Thursday evening and I decided to rent it. It's a one-bedroom in a great building in the Penn Quarter neighborhood. The building has a roof deck and a rooftop pool and a movie theatre for residents to screen DVDs and a community room with a pool table. It's awesome. So, in one day my two big big worries were taken care of. (insert big sigh or relief here.)

The rest of the trip was spent shopping and it was fun and exhausting. I had a really good time just hanging out with my mom without the stress of either of our jobs weighing on us.

I am sure there is more stress in my future.. (how to get rid of a bunch of our stuff so we fit into our apartment, how to retrain the dogs for apartment living, how to unload our stuff once we get to D.C., adjusting to a new job and new life...) The list goes on... but I am really excited about all of it, even if it will be a pain in the butt. Adventure here I come...

Possibilities

Ooh ooh... I have a really exciting new job possibility! No details will be disclosed yet, but more crossed fingers and good wishes are in order.

Also, I have new hair (and I think I am pleased with it), my ugly yellow chair is getting a makeover and will soon be dark blue, and the dresser has been partially stripped of its 50-year-old varnish. All makeovers are well underway!

We went to the NM State Fair twice this weekend and I ate Tom Thumb dounughts, a chocolate-covered banana and some good pizza. I also saw baby pygmy goats and lots of cute bunnies along with other animals. We went in the exhibit hall and watched a bunch of demonstrations for mops and choppers and a sushi-maker -- always entertaining. And mostly, we reveled in the tradition and the folksiness and felt happy about New Mexico. This is one event we will really miss next year.

Happy Monday everyone!

Oh bla di...

It would be an understatement to say that this has been a rough week. The combination of not yet having a job, not having a place to live, not knowing how we're moving our stuff across the country, not knowing whether or not we're selling our cars and our house, not getting enough sleep and being extremely stressed out at work (I am one of two people responsible for getting 300 people to plunk down $125 to come to a gala dinner and for getting a bunch of businesses to just give us money in exchange for their name in the program and on a sign.) has had me in a sad mood.

Then, on Tuesday, Neil and I realized that we most likely can't move Boo Boo, our four-year-old bunny, to Washington D.C. with us. Rabbits don't do well with moving and especially not our rabbit. When we moved from El Paso to Albuquerque (a 4 hour drive) she freaked out and barely moved and didn't eat or drink for several days. And so, I placed a call to a local rabbit rescue (a much safer way to adopt her out than putting an ad in the paper or something.) I started crying while talking to the lady on the phone, but thankfully, she was really nice and sympathetic instead of making me feel like a bad person. The decision isn't 100% made yet, but it's very likely that we'll not be taking her with us and while I think it's probably the best thing to do, I still feel terrible about it.

Add to all this the fact that I really really really want to work for my favorite tea company and I got pretty far in the interviews and was feeling positive about my chances of being hired and really excited about doing the job. I loved the people I'd be working with. I loved the office. I loved the attitude of the company in general, the team spirit that was apparent, everything seemed perfect...but now I have been waiting for three weeks to hear back from them about whether or not I have been hired. They did tell me that I'd hear this week or next, so maybe next week I will have reason to celebrate? Of course, visions of the super-job-candidate are dancing in my head. My paranoid thinking goes something like this: "What if they found someone who has already been a marketing person for a beverage company and he or she wore a better outfit to the interview than I did and was more charismatic and looked older than me and has already been offered the job, but is thinking about it and I'm just waiting around in case he or she doesn't accept." This probably isn't the case and I realize that trying to imagine what is going on inside their offices is couterproductive and pointless... but here I am imagining.

In good news, last weekend's trip to Colorado with Ryan and Shay was fantastic. We stayed at the Stanley Hotel, the place that Steven King wrote The Shining. We hiked in Rocky Mountain National Park, we saw awesome street performers in Boulder, We went to an amazing Dave Matthews concert at Red Rocks and we got to see Josh at a Rockies game before driving home Sunday night. It was really a perfect weekend. We had a great time with our friends and it was a nice way to celebrate our third anniversary (a little late.) Maybe coming home from all that fun also led to a bit of a let down and put me in a funk this week? Who knows.

Whatever the case, I'm feeling more optimistic today. Tonight we're going to the state fair. Tomorrow, I'm getting a chair re-upholstered and am re-finishing a dresser. And Sunday, I get to have my hair cut and highlighted. There's nothing like some makeovers (me and the furniture) to get back on the right track.

For those of you waiting on CDs... give me another week. I need to design a good label for them.

Mix CD

In the late 90's I was in the habit of making a mix tape every summer and sending a copy to all of my friends. This was no small undertaking. It involved hours of pressing record and then remembering to flip the tape over and press record again. I also designed elaborate covers for each mix and then spent time at Kinkos and money on color copies. Additionally, I wrote something short about each song -- when to listen to it, who helped me discover it, what it made me think of, etc. For our wedding, Neil and I made a mix for our guests as a favor, but since we got married in 2002, we made a Mix CD instead of a Mix Tape. While a little easier, we still spent hours designing the label and then gluing together our own paper CD cases.

I have been planning to make a CD and mail it to my friends again for some time. In addition to the regular list (Find a job, find a place to live, pack up worldly possessions, etc. etc.) It has been my goal to make this CD before moving in October. And so, this evening, I am proud to report that the song list has been finalized and we are only days (possibly a week or two) away from the big launch of the 2005 Jodi Mix CD. Hopefully I still have good enough taste in music that this hasn't been a total waste of time.

Anyways, I decided that I will mail five lucky blog readers a copy of the CD too. So, if I don't actually know you and you read my blog and would like a copy of the CD, e-mail me via the link on my sidebar and give me your mailing address and sometime before late October, you too will receive some mail from me. (If I do know you and you suspect I don't have your address, please supply it also.)

I'm off to write little descriptions of all the songs. (Nope, I'm not kidding.)

Unexpected Musical Bliss

Tonight, I attended my first house concert. Apparently, all over the country, people invite musicians to perform in their homes and then open their homes up to the public so that musicians have venues and music-lovers can see their favorite artists in intimate settings. The suggested donation for tonight's concert was $15 and all of the money went directly to the band. Additionally, there were free refreshments from fruit and cheese (donated by Whole Foods) to Angelica's Chocolate bunt Cake (donated by Angelica herself).

The band I saw is called The Bills. Originally, they were named The Bill Hilly Band, but since shortened the name to The Bills. There are five band members from Canada, none of whom are named Bill. I think the music is best classified as Folk. But even if you're not a folk music fan, I would recommend listening to the Bills and, by all means, if you have the chance, go see them in concert. Tonight's show was awesome. Not only was the music surprisingly compelling, but the musicians were so into what they were doing and were enjoying themselves so much that it made the show that much more amazing. (Additionally, it should be noted that they say the word "about" like Canadians and that makes them that much more endearing.)

I have been meaning to write about the experience of listening to live music since I went to the Coldplay concert two weeks ago. Then after the Dave Matthews concert last week, I had even more to say about the wonder of concert attendance... the joy of holding a just-purchased concert ticket...the weeks of anticipation while waiting to attend the show...the pure joy that one feels only when all you're doing is experiencing a song - when the music is too loud to allow you to think of anything else and the performance is so moving that you don't want to. I had intended to write quite a bit more about all of this, but as life is wont to do, it's been keeping me busy. Now, it's well past my bed time and, sadly, I have two loads of unfolded laundry on my bed preventing me from sleeping for at least another half hour while I fold everything...

Moral: 1. Go listen to The Bills or download their album on iTunes.
2. Live music is great, amazing, wonderful...when I am listening to music, I
feel more alive, or remember that I am alive which is a really fantastic
and necessary feeling.

Katrina

Watching the news coverage of the hurricane makes me cry -- but I can't stop watching. All of my problems, needs etc. seem beyond trivial when I see little children standing on top of cars in a city that has become a river screaming "Help us! Please help us!"

I am so glad to see people on a broad scale finally criticizing the president for his inaction and inadequate action. We may never know how many more people might have lived had the rescue efforts begun in earnest on Tuesday instead of Thursday night...

I am watching the Concert for Hurricane Relief on NBC right now. It's very moving to see celebrities use their fame for good. I wonder if in any other countries, when disaster strikes, they hold a concert? I remember watching a similar fundraising tribute after Sept. 11th...

I realize this post is only a string of thoughts...It's just all so disturbing, sad, devastating.....I wish I could do more to help...

Disaster

This morning on the way to work, my favorite morning show DJs were making a plea for people to stop by a grocery store called Raley's and donate money for the hurricane victims in New Orleans and Biloxi and the rest of that region. I had about $30 on me and without even thinking I pulled over and put all of it into one of the radio station milk jugs slated to go to the Red Cross. I don't have time to fully express my sadness at the devastation right now, but suffice it to say that I wish I could do much much more. Disasters like this really put all of the trivial things into perspective. I am immensely grateful to have my family and pets and know everyone is safe and I am certainly guilty of taking all that I have for granted. Seeing other peoples' lives and livelyhoods swept away the way they have been is very sobering.

Yes, I sound like everyone else who has been moved by this disaster... but sometimes it is ok to reiterate the cliche.

Neil and I have been married three years today. I feel very lucky to have him in my life and to be celebrating three years of marriage.

More to report, including possible very exciting job news and a treatise on the power of live music...

Entonces...

Last week, I spent the entire work week serving as a tour guide for a group of people from Leon, Mexico who work for a similar trade association and came here to sign a partnership agreement with my association. There were five men and one woman in the group, along with a translator from the international organization facilitating this partnership. In spite of having a translator present, I ended up being on my own with the group or a part of the group much of the time and had to rely on my limited Spanish (which allows me to understand a lot but not say much) and two of the men's limited English for communication.

The week was really exhausting overall. Trying to listen and communicate in Spanish is about 50 times more difficult than lazily communicating in my own language. In addition, the language barrier made it difficult to make sure everyone was enjoying themselves etc. However, I think I have had few weeks at work that have been more rewarding than last week. When my coworker and I dropped our new friends off at the airport Friday afternoon we both felt really sad. We got hugs and kisses from everyone and a couple of them even busted out with their first sentence of English to say, "Jodi, thank you very much." That was particularly touching because I know how embarrassed I felt speaking in Spanish and could only imagine that my new friends felt the same about talking to me in English.

I went home that night missing my new friends and I began to wonder if perhaps the absence of language allows people to reveal more of themselves. I realize this new theory of mine seems counterintuitive, but maybe it's not. For the most part, language couldn't get in the way last week and so I could see my new friends for who they are. We had gestures, a few words and that's it so we just existed in each others' company much of the time. Or we spoke in full sentences in our own language and talked right past each other but somehow we understood each other.

Anyways, I am really grateful that I got to meet Angel, Javier, Josee, Thomas, Oscar and Cora Emma. My life has been enriched by the connections we made last week.

Dadgum

Last week I went to Austin for the annual conference attended by the other 35 people across the country who have the same job as me. Each year the conference is in a different location. Over the past three years I got to go to Seattle, Washington, D.C. and Austin. The first year I was so thrilled to hear about other people having the same struggles and successes in their jobs that I didn't think about much else. I made a couple friends and felt this great sense of camaraderie and went back to work newly energized.

The second year, I was really excited to see the friends I had made the previous year. I went sightseeing in D.C. and learned from my peers and went home.

This year, as I have one foot out of my job and possibly out of the credit union movement, I realized a few other things. First of all, I realized how much I like my job and the movement as a whole, how amazing my peers are and how smart they are.

I also realized how incredibly cool it is to gather people from every state in the country (or at least about 30 of the 50 states). When else can I hang out with a friend from South Carolina who uses the word "dadgum" in conversation and opens doors for women, a friend from Oregon who shares nearly all of my liberal sensibilities and has an awesome sense of style, a friend from Minnesota who has a cute Midwestern accent and drinks beer like nobody else I know, a friend from Florida who wears higher heels than I've ever seen and makes me laugh without fail, a friend from Missouri who had a job interview in a limousine with a crazy classmate...and the list goes on. I would probably not be friends with more than one or two of these people if we didn't have our jobs in common, and yet, I feel so enriched to have been able to spend a week for the past three summers with them. Hopefully this is adequately cheesy and sentimental??

But I am serious, sometimes it is our differences that bring us together and since we all tend to be surrounded by people at least slightly similar to ourselves, I really love having the opportunity to notice and appreciate those differences in others.

The Quest For Employment

I continue to look for a job. So far I've had four phone interviews, one rejection and one reference check (that I know of). I have sent out at least 25 resumes and applied for at least 15 positions. I've also printed at least 80 job listings and stacked them up by my computer at home -- you know, just so I can make myself feel completely overwhelmed...

In any case, there is one really exciting possible job and, for the moment, I'm putting nearly all my eggs in one basket and hoping this one works out. I know, I am slightly insane. Can't say too much about it because I'd hate to jinx it...

Please send good job vibes, D.C. job listings and monetary donations my way. I am accepting all three.

Concert Fiend

In the next three weeks, I will be going to three live concerts. This week it's Coldplay (I got free tickets, parking passes and VIP passes from a printer my office does business with.) The next two weeks I'm seeing Dave Matthews. That's right, I am in the Dave Matthews Band fan club and have been since it started in 1999. I am not ashamed. I'm proud. However, this will be the first time I've crammed two Dave Matthews Band concerts within two weeks. I suppose it's a test of my fandom...either I will love it, or I will be sick of it. We'll see.

In Conclusion

I just saw the WORST commercial I've seen recently. It is the one for Wendy's about the ranch tooth. Who gets paid to produce stuff like that? Ohdeargodineedtogopokemyeyesout.

Happy Happy

Oooh...Happy Birthday Sean!!!
And happy birthday to my dad last Saturday.

Frenetic

Have you ever had one of those days/weeks/months where you can't slow your heart rate or make your mind go quiet regardless of where you are or what you're doing? You know, you're in a meeting and you can't stop running the To Do list through your mind long enough to pay attention to what's being said. You're stuck in traffic and instead of being glad for the small break in your day, you come close to hyperventilation...This is what has been happening to me lately.

Last weekend was Josh and Katie's wedding in Breckenridge, CO. Neil and I drove with my mom and dad in what was the first family road trip in years. It was surprising and comforting how easily we fell back into our old road trip rhythms. My parents, perfectly in-synch with each other about roadside stops and souvenir shopping expeditions. We made a wrong turn on the way there, but it didn't even matter that much because we got to go over a beautiful pass and see the Continental Divide (twice) and spend a little more time together. Neil fit in seamlessly and, while we missed having my little brother along for the ride, it was really a lot of fun. The wedding itself was really nice too. I have no idea why I cry at weddings, or why anyone else does for that matter. I never cried at a wedding before my own. But on Sept. 1, 2002, I sobbed during my ceremony. They were totally tears of happiness, but remain mystifying to me. In any case, Josh and Katie got me crying too. It is always amazing to celebrate the marriage of an old friend to someone who is absolutely perfect for them and who you can now consider a new friend.

Since we've been back from the wedding, things could not be crazier. Work is completely overwhelming because I am trying to do too many things at once and want to accomplish so much before I leave. Home is overwhelming because when I get here in the evening I don't know if I should be applying for jobs, packing, collecting things to sell at the garage sale or trying to take care of myself. I have about 15 phone calls to return, a bunch of wedding and birthday presents to purchase and mail, at least 12 random errands to run and so many things I want to do. But, I've got two more days of work and then we fly to El Paso on Friday. We return Sunday afternoon giving me a little bit of time to spend with my brother and pack again for my week-long trip to Austin for work. I am sure there are other stresses I am not even mentioning as well...

Today after work I got a short respite from the insanity when I got in my car and turned the music up so loud I couldn't hear myself thinking and I finally forgot to think. Instead, I started to feel like anything is possible, like there is a whole big world waiting to open up in front of me, like I only need to clear a few more hurdles and things will start making sense again...and for now, I just need to cling to this hope.

An aside: In other news, I applied for my favorite job yet this week. cross your fingers for me...

Keep Your Bad Day To Yourself

Have you ever been having a good day, one of those sing-out-loud-to-the-car-stereo kind of days when someone called you up and ruined it for you? This happened to me yesterday evening as I was heading home to be productive and apply for jobs. I had just been to the gym and then to dinner with friends and I was feeling on top of the world. Then my phone rang and it was a family member who yelled at me for something that did not deserve yelling and before I knew it, I'd been home for 40 minutes, I was still in my sweaty gym clothes and my eyes were red and swollen from crying. I was pissed. It was 9:30 already, the crying left me exhausted and it was all I could do to turn on some loud music (OK GO's Get Over It) and take a shower.

So, I am not angry or hurt by the family member who dumped on me anymore, but the experience got me thinking about how easily we can impact the people around us and how if we all thought a little longer before acting, we might be a happier society as a whole. Just a few moments of consideration last night could have changed the course of my night. I might have had the time to apply for one or two jobs, I would have called Patty back as planned and then I would have gone to bed in a good mood. Instead, I woke up with still-swollen eyes from crying. Of course, part of the problem is the fact that I'm an extremely sensitive person. But even if your actions don't result in tears, they can still significantly impact someone's day. I am going to try to be nicer to people, even on my worst days.

Weddings, Concerts and a General Lack of Sleep

Last week, we had four different house guests over a period of six days. One guest was a singer Neil met in college who was in town for a show. Two were wedding guests in town to attend my friend Chris's wedding to his lovely new wife Sarah. The fourth guest was Britten and since she's family, it hardly counts -- but it was still someone sleeping in the guest room. Sheets were washed several times, every night was a late one, and it felt great. I love having old and new friends around. I think Neil shares this feeling, and so we are house guest junkies. Often we invite people to stay with us, even when we're technically too busy.

This past weekend was particularly fun. I got to meet Brooke, who, in addition to being a talented singer/songwriter, is a lot of fun. I got to see Eric and Topher and we went to Chris's wedding where we had a really good time and danced all night. And I got to spend some much-needed time with one of my best and oldest friends Britten. Now it's quiet around the house again, which is nice after a week of chaos. But I like to think that all of our guests leave a little of their good energy behind, making our house feel more like home, for us, and maybe even for the next occupants.

More reasons to love New Mexico.
My favorite photo of the summer. I took this at an arts and crafts fair on the Santa Fe plaza. Who knew that saints could be flawed, or worse, discontinued! 

The Drive


Click Here to Watch

Finally another video. This is just a short video about a drive that I will miss when we move this Fall. Neil thinks this drive is one of the worst, but I love it for the subtlety of the southwest landscape. I know it's not as green as other drives and it's not as hilly, but the sky stretches forever and the mountains touch the horizon and it's New Mexico.

We went to the Santa Fe Opera over the weekend and saw The Barber of Seville, which was amazing. I was afraid I might be bored or too tired to stay awake, but even though the opera is sung in Italian, I still found myself riveted. (the little translator screens helped, of course)

We also saw Charlie and the Chocolate Factory -- awesome. It really exceeded my expectations.

Happy Monday.

Another one of these things

O.K. Stan. You got me. Here goes.

Remove the blog at #1 from the following list.
Bump every one up one place.
Add your blog's name in the #5 spot.
Link to each of the other blogs for the desired cross-pollenation effect.

the girl in camouflage
naughty maverick
musings
Whatever!
j.g.s.


What five things do you miss about your childhood?

I am not tagging anyone for this one, but maybe a couple of you will feel like reminiscing?

1) I miss always having someone cook for me. This sounds a little silly, I realize, but there is something so wonderful about being fed three meals a day plus snacks. The food my parents made ALWAYS tasted better than anything I could make myself, and it was probably healthier than what I might choose for myself. I miss ants on a log and deviled eggs and (don't laugh) Mommy McMuffins (my mom's healthier version of Egg McMuffins from McDonald's).

2) I miss my little brother. I miss living with Dustin and I miss the way he used to look up to me. Now, I am always trying to be cool enough for him! I miss dressing up as monsters together, which involved taking out all of the winter accessories and draping ourselves in them. I miss playing video games with him and just getting to see him every day.

3)I miss endless afternoons on my bike with friends. There was a sense of freedom I got from riding my bike around the neighborhood that was so wonderful and simple. Now I have to board a plane that's taking me to another continent to achieve that same sense of freedom.

4) I miss not having to worry about things like money and debt and not being able to have things I wanted. I was completely sheltered from all of that for most of the time I lived in my parents' house and it was wonderful.

5) I miss the way my family was (parents were) when we were growing up. I miss the way family holidays felt and the togetherness we used to have. It has been gone for a while now and maybe that's just something that once it has dissipated, cannot be recreated... but I miss it. I miss that feeling of closeness and the security and contentment that came with it.

Whewh. Well that was a little bit of a bummer. I probably could have kept going to ten things at least. Maybe next time it will be five things you'd miss if you went back to childhood... Like, independence, confidence, my husband, my freedom, not having to live by my parents' rules etc. etc. Ok. I feel better now.

The Dangers of Blogging

So, as I am wont to do, I was reading CNN.com today and came across an article titled: Bloggers Learn The Price of Telling Too Much. The article is interesting and doesn't really mention anything I hadn't thought of before. It warns not to say anything scandalous about work or about your wild personal life. I have always thought about this when blogging, but not too many scandalous things happen at work and I have a pretty hum-drum personal life when it comes to scandal. So, regardless, I am probably safe from the kind of damage some blogs are doing to college students or disgruntled employees. However, I do wonder if there is anything on my blog that would make somebody not want to hire me, or that a person could find offensive and/or scandalous.

Of course, I am thinking in terms of employment because I'm currently searching for a job. I do tend to express my political views on here on occasion, especially during campaign season, but I suppose if an employer doesn't want to hire me because of my politics, I wouldn't want to work there anyways. I have a blog so that I can a keep in touch with friends, b)have a place where I have to keep writing and can express myself and c)have a place to post videos (even though I haven't done so in a while.) So I think it would be slightly tragic to start censoring myself just because I don't want to really expose any of myself on the internet. It's a delicate line to walk. If I have a really bad day at work, can I blog about it? If I'm in a fight with a friend or parent, is it inappropriate to mention it here? What if I go out drinking with girlfriends once or twice a year -- is retelling the tale of our night out something that will later come back and haunt me? I like to think I did all of those come-back-and-haunt-you things a long time ago, so long ago that I will not be haunted. But who knows what I will regret in five or 10 years from now?

If any of you can think of a particularly scandal-ridden or humiliating post that's on this blog somewhere, please do let me know so I can clean up my act.

Speaking of...

ten years. I am responsible for planning my 10 year high school reunion next summer. Have I mentioned this here before? My friend Julia and I volunteered upon our graduation to be the class alumni liaisons and are charged with reunion planning. Of course, when I said I would be the alumni liaison, I imagined that in 10 years, I would be a completely different person, totally grown up, rich and successful and planning a reunion would be no big thing. I am successful, but I'm still not really that grown up and I'm not rich by any stretch of the imagination, yet here I am with a 10-year reunion in my lap. What complicates matters is that we're moving in October and I will be (cross your fingers) starting a new job in a new city and be presumably very busy for the foreseeable future, so I probably need to get this whole event planned before I leave the state. Does anyone know anything about planning a 10-year reunion for a class of 33 (or was it 35) people? I am completely at a loss. Also, how on earth did I get this old?

Hunting

I honestly believe that there are few tasks worse than searching for employment. Each new job application is like getting ready for a blind date (not that I've ever had one... but I imagine that's what it's like.) You get yourself (or your resume and cover letter) all dolled up, all the while knowing that it's highly likely you will either be rejected or that you will be completely unattracted to the guy (job). You even learn as much about the guy (job) as possible so that you can tailor your outfit (cover letter) and makeup (resume) to suit what you imagine he likes. You hear about his background (read the job description) and try to squeeze yourself into a version of you that will be appealing to him (the resume screener). "It says here he is a deep sea diver... and I have been snorkeling a couple of times."

Oh my goodness it is exhausting. But the application process continues. I actually have found several jobs that I would really like to have, which is a great sign. Tonight, it's time to write a few more cover letters.

Why I Love New Mexico

Overheard conversation tonight at the Isotopes game while Orbit (the team's mascot) was dancing.

Man: "It's a girl, no?"

Woman: "No, it's a guy."

Man: "Yeah, I think it's a girl"

(Orbit shakes his butt.)

Woman: "If it was a girl, it would be named Orbita."

You Can Call Me Huckleberry

This story is a little overdue... but I had a very strange experience at my work's convention that I've been meaning to relate. One of the things we do at my office is run a website for kids and part of the site allows kids to submit jokes to be published on the site (at our discretion.) So, at the convention, a man walked up to me and informed me that he had submitted a joke. He said he loves the website, plays the games on it, and sent in a joke under the name Huckleberry... I did my best fake laugh and tried to end the conversation, but he continued to tell me that while his name was Fernando or something like that, he really wanted to change it to Huckleberry. My co-worker, Rebecca, and I nearly burst out laughing until we realized he was completely serious. So, I said something about how it's easy to legally change your name and he could do it any time he wanted. My new friend went on to explain how sad his mother would be because he was named after his deceased grandfather... (All the time he was talking to me he was staring at me a little too closely and a little too intently for me to feel comfortable.)And then... he looked me right in the eye in that cheesy-wannabe-romantic-but-actually-just-creepy fashion that some men are so skilled at and said, "But you can call me Huckleberry."

Wow. I have no idea how I ended the conversation. I believe I turned bright red and tried to hide under the table. Aren't people so amazing?

The Big Enchilada

Earlier this week, I got an e-mail from my friend Hervey telling me that his daughter and son-in-law just had their third and final child and that she was born early and was really big -- 13lbs 12 oz. The e-mail came with a photo of the newborn on the scale and a funny word document showing all three babies and their birth weights and nicknames. Baby number one was named the Whopper because she weighed 11 pounds 8 ounces and baby number 2 was Whopper Jr. because she only weighed 10 pounds 8 ounces. The final baby, Laney, was nicknamed the Big Enchilada. I laughed, felt happy for my friends and their new family member, and went about my week.

Then, today on the way to work I heard the morning show people on the radio talking about the Big Enchilada. I flipped channels and found two other morning shows talking about the big baby. Some people were calling in and being mean... but they didn't know what they were talking about. When I got to work, I looked on CNN.com and here's what I found. Laney is famous!

I really got a kick out of the article and the two video clips. My friends Robin and Paul have unusually large babies... and Laney Buzzell is getting her 15 minutes of fame a little early. Congratulations to the Buzzell family. (and just for the record, I tried to call the radio station to defend you, but I couldn't get through)

Lots of Things

I promised to cover so many topics last week when I was feeling incredibly inspired and immensely tired. I'll try to get to them all here... but they may be a bit abbreviated.

So last week was the annual convention that is put on by my place of employment for all of our members. It was the second convention I've attended while working here because I was at an out-of-town conference during the first convention. I had just told my boss earlier that week about the upcoming move and was beginning to feel that sense of freedom that comes with the knowledge you are about to change everything in your life. But then, during the convention, I began to realize that I know people finally and I know what to say when I talk to them because I actually really know my industry. I knew what to do, I could solve problems, I could make small talk, I could even engage strangers in semi-meaningful conversation because, after about two and a half years, I have become a big fish. I know that is a really tired cliche, but I know no better way to explain it. I am finally at the top of my game here in this job and it's time to move on. I was feeling sad about this last week, but, while it's still a little sad, I think it's better to leave when you're on top than to wait for the big decline. But it was still a really good feeling to feel so confident during the convention -- even when I had to speak in public. I just hope that my next job will be as fabulous as this one has been.

While at the convention I had another, slightly less important, realization and that is that there is something I absolutely love about country folk. By country folk, I mean people who live in rural areas and in this case, I'm talking about people who live in rural or small town New Mexico. Maybe it's the slight twang to their speech, or their lack of pretense and formality -- the fact that when you meet them, you feel as if you're already best friends... there's something familiar in their handshake, or the way they wink at you (and it's never ever a slimy wink). Everything they say is meant in earnest and you can't find better senses of humor. Yes, yes, I know I am generalizing, but there is something to what I'm saying. One of the people from less populated Southern New Mexico who attended the convention checked in early and then left to go get "cleaned up" before the evening reception. As he walked away, he turned back to me and said, "Four bells then?" with a slight southern accent. I think it took me a good 30 seconds to realize that he was asking if he was supposed to be back at 4 o'clock. Finally, I got it and nodded yes. For the rest of the afternoon I kept smiling to myself and thinking, "Four bells." Later that evening, another friend who is originally from small-town Texas walked over to a coworker who had a large plate of food and said, "Man, you're really grubbin' up tonight." I love that expression and must find a way to work it into conversation soon.

In other news, I was so relieved to learn that the little boy who was lost in the woods in Utah was found alive yesterday. Finally a positive end to a distressing story. But why did his parents have to tell the world that he's socially immature, sheesh, it's hard enough on the kid to be in the spotlight for all this, but now everyone knows that he's immature too?

I am slightly ashamed to admit that I watched the Jennifer Willbanks interview last night. But I'm allowed to be a little interested in her since she surfaced right here in my city. I have to say that while I do feel a little sorry for the woman, she's clearly really screwed up, I don't think she and her bizarre fiancee were telling the whole truth. I really and sincerely wish that society would forget about her and let her go through her self discovery in private. Enough attention has been given to her already. All the media is only bound to make her more screwed up. Yuck.

And finally, my office is growing tadpoles. One of my coworkers mentioned having hundreds of them in her pond and then before I knew it, we had all decided to take them on as a project and my coworker brought in a tank and the coworker with the pond brought in a batch of about 30 tadpoles and as of this afternoon, they are inhabiting my office. I am the official tadpole babysitter while the real tadpole caregiver is on vacation. So I get to stare at strange swimming blobs for two and a half weeks... they're kind of cool, but I'm worried, what if they grow legs? How do I change the water without killing them? This is a lot of responsibility. I have to feed them pond scum every day and when they start growing legs they will need to eat meat if we don't want them to cannibalize themselves. I don't know if I get paid enough for this... Besides, what kind of workplace grows tadpoles as a staff project?

Full Days

The last two days have been incredibly busy. In fact, I am so exhausted that I should probably be asleep this very moment, but I had to check in with the internet and then, for fear of forgetting some of my blog ideas, I decided to take a shot at posting.

Right now, it is the annual convention for the association that I work for. That means that our members from across the state of New Mexico have gathered in our fair city and we are hosting them. Since the association has a staff of 13, each of us has to do quite a bit of work in order to be prepared for the 300+ attendees. Yesterday, my work included making two posters and having them emergency printed, designing a new flyer, and various other not-so-exciting tasks that kept me working late. This was a tad frustrating because I had someplace really important to be last night: a reading by David Sedaris at my favorite bookstore (which is about to go out of business). I managed to race home, feed the dogs, change into more comfortable but less impressive clothes and make it to the reading in time to get a really good seat.

David Sedaris is absolutely one of my top-favorite writers of all time and this reading could not have come at a better time in terms of my need for inspiration. There's something about Sedaris's casual style and the way in which he writes about everyday occurrences in extraordinary ways. He manages to put into prose the complexity of human thinking and he thinks just like me. Plus, he makes me laugh. Anyways, the reading was great, one essay he read is in this week's New Yorker and it had me laughing hysterically. Go read it.

Anyways, after the fabulous reading (during which David Sedaris was introduced by the mayor and proceeded to proclaim him the "cutest mayor in America") there was a book signing. David made a joke about how he was collecting money in a little black plastic cauldron. He said nobody HAD to give him money, but if we did, he'd like us better. Being somewhat star-struck and very much desiring that this larger-than-life author like me, I gathered all the coins from my purse -- which totaled 85 cents -- and when I finally got up to the table to have my books signed, I plunked the coins in his bucket and made a joke about how he cleaned me out. And so, he signed my book, "To Jodi -- Thanks for the Money. David Sedaris" (Dad, if you're reading this, stop now -- unless Father's Day has already passed.) I also asked him to sign a new book that I purchased for my dad for Father's Day. During the reading he had made a plug for the book which is a collection of stories he chose and then introduced. Basically, he said we should buy if for our dads for Father's Day because dads do not really care what they get and the money from the book goes to a kick-ass literacy center in New York. Plus, he assured us the stories were good. So, I thought, "Hey! Great idea!" Because I have had an insane week or two and did not yet have a gift selected. So I told Mr. Sedaris that I had taken him up on the suggestion to buy my dad the book and asked him to sign it. In my dad's book he wrote, "To Bruce -- With the pleasure of meeting your enchanting daughter. -- David Sedaris."

Now, "Thanks for the money." was kinda funny, I will admit, but he called me enchanting! I realize he probably wrote that because he knew it would make any father feel great to read. But I am going to pretend he wrote it because after exchanging three or four sentences of less-than-stellar dialogue with me he realized that I am not only incredibly cool, but also that I will someday be either a) on book tour with him, b) reading my essays in Carnegie Hall c) accepting the Pulitzer or d) all of the above. David Sedaris thinks I am enchanting... aaahhh...What really happened last night is that I was enchanted.

Well, there is more to tell including a great coincidence, my love for country folk, the definition of "grub up", an explanation of my fascination with border culture, an encounter with an old friend who could be an alien, and why I am sad to be moving away after having a day like today... I will give it all a shot tomorrow. I'm spent.

Unfair

This is so unfair! Why can't I have that kind of luck just once? I can't decide if I should go out and buy lottery tickets now or if I should avoid buying them because all of the luck has been used up.
But I do know that I could really use a windfall any time now.

Cheryl

One of my first friends at college is on the verge of making it big in Hollywood. I am so excited for her. Cheryl is really talented and beautiful and it was very exciting to hear her new songs online. Will I actually own a CD made by one of my friends someday soon? Wow.


Bike Ride

I signed Neil and myself up for a 25-mile bike ride in a week and a half. The ride is in support of New Mexico Aids Services -- a group that I have long been interested in supporting and Neil and I need an excuse to get our butts on our bikes and enjoy the summer. So, we have one weekend to get ready. Ha! I don't mind finishing last, I'm just excited to be riding in my first organized bike ride. Plus, it's not like I was busy enough -- it seemed extremely important to add another event to our already packed schedule.

Lunch
It is nearly four o'clock and I have not eaten lunch yet. My food intake today consisted of an early morning can of Red Bull (probably a mistake), a mid-morning rice cake, a cup of black tea and an airline-sized bag of honey-roasted peanuts. This probably explains why I feel jittery and lightheaded. I am going to go remedy this situation.

Innocent

I tried to pretend I was indifferent. And, in some respects I was. I did not care about the details of the testimony or the lunatic fans outside the courthouse. I didn't check in on the trial on a day to day basis... but when I heard the jury reached a verdict in the Michael Jackson trial this afternoon, I stared at my computer screen for the next hour and pressed the refresh button on several news station homepages. I was sure he was going to be guilty. But then finally, the CNN page changed and showed that he was innocent on all 10 charges and, much to my surprise, I felt really glad for Michael Jackson.

I thought I was ready to see him go off to prison -- so feeling relieved when he was found innocent was shocking to me. I had no idea I had this deep-rooted affinity for the king of pop. Perhaps it's the early memories of dancing to Thriller in my grandparents' garage with cardboard box tombstones. Maybe it's all the times I practiced the moonwalk while singing Beat It. I believe that Michael Jackson is really bizarre and probably needs some help -- but the family that was accusing him was a bunch of extortionists and scam artists. Michael Jackson is innocent and I have a warm place for him in my heart. Go figure...

Crafty

I have always like to do projects. I realize that this might make me sound a little lame, but it's just a fact. I am crafty. Whether its making my friends mixed tapes and designing a cover for them, cutting out hundreds of eyes from magazine pages for a collage, meticulously designing a scrapbook page, or making 200 invitations with embossed rubber stamps on each, I have fun making things. I sign up for bookmaking classes at our local paper store and I am often swept up in the craft craze of the moment. This weekend a visit to a bead store got me back into beading and now I have visions of making lots of money selling my jewelry. The only real problem with my craftiness is that it ebbs and flows. I might be into beading for the next three weeks and then not look at another bead for three years. I have a very short attention span.

One craft-of-the-moment that I cannot do very well is knitting. I have tried. I want to be able to knit. I want to be someone who finds the repetitive motion of fingers on needles relaxing, but instead, I stress about each stitch and I always pull the yarn too tight because I am worried about gaping holes. Because of my uptight nature while knitting, I have yet to finish a scarf. I am a crafty perfectionist.. which has to be the worst kind of crafty person.

Anyways, I am off to go buy some beading supplies to get my business off the ground. I am sure all the celebrities will be sending me their orders soon.

Blech

Ok. So things in my life are actually going really well right now. Old conflicts are slowly getting better, exciting things loom on the horizon. Other exciting things will be happening over the next few months: a visit from Neil's mom, tickets to Cats, tickets to the Opera, a Bar Mitzvah in Portland, a wedding in Albuquerque, a wedding in Colorado, dinner with some new friends, a couple baseball games, a concert at the zoo with my dad, a David Sedaris reading, a conference for work in Austin, an awesome folk art festival and so on. But right now, at this very moment, in spite of the slight cheering up that came from making that list, I am feeling crappy. I worked for about 9 hours yesterday and had a business meeting over lunch today and I have TONS of pressure to complete a bunch of projects in time for my association's convention next week. I ordered some fancy paper and it just got here and it sucks and is not at all cool. Neil is out of town, so I am a bit lonely and I am just all-around stressed. Plus, it's that time of afternoon where all I can think about is getting up from my desk and sprinting out the door to my car. That or taking a nap.

Yesterday, I told my boss that I am moving in October. She was SOOO nice about it. She actually started to tear up and had to get out a tissue. She also said she feels like she's losing a daughter. I had no idea. Anyways, it felt wonderful to get that big secret off my chest and to have her react in such a positive way. Whewh. I haven't told everyone else at work yet, though. My boss wants to wait until our convention is over, which makes some sense, I suppose...

I am still working on a couple videos for my blog. Not sure why I don't have my act together to finish them. I think the main reason is the clicking noises my camera makes. Grr. But look for videos soon.

I hope I emerge from this funk soon. I wish I had a friend around to take an evening walk with tonight...Why do we get in inexplicable funks sometimes?

Interviewed

Well, I did it. I left work this morning and had a phone interview on my cell phone in the car. The reception was great and I think the interview actually went well. The people on the call (there were three) were all incredibly nice and relatively enthusiastic about my resume and skills. (I just wrote "skills" and now images of Napoleon Dynamite are flashing in my mind.)

So, I don't know what will come of the phone call interview, but I am relieved not to have to be nervous about it anymore. I'm also relieved it's the weekend. We're meeting some friends for diem sum tonight and I can't wait. Also, the weekend gives me a reprieve from stressing about telling my boss about the move. If I can just put it off a few more weeks, it would be wonderful.

So, my blog friend Jodi has tagged me with a blog meme -- whatever that is... and I will surrender. Here goes:

The Trio Meme

Three screen-names I have had are:
JGG157
jodigwen
Maybe I am lame, but I don't think I have ever had any other screen-names

Three things I like about myself are:
the way I care about my friends and family
my smile
my sense of humor

Three things I do not like about myself are:
I am the world's most skilled procrastinator.
Sometimes I am lazy even when I don't really want to be lazy
I am never satisfied with my weight.

Three things that scare me are:
Money and the possibility of running out of it.
The Republican Party
The thought of losing someone I care about.

Three of my everyday essentials are:
cell phone
email
my Nalgene bottle full of water

Three things I am wearing right now are:
black strappy sandals
diamond earrings my husband gave me when I graduated from grad school
a silver ring my little brother made me in high school

Three of my favorite songs are:
The Best is Yet To Come -- Frank Sinatra
Love and Luck- Jimmy Buffett
The Best of What's Around -- Dave Matthews Band

Three new things I'd like to try in the next 12 months are:
Get a kick-ass high-paying job in D.C.
Take a hot air balloon ride
Get a spray tan.

Three things I want in a relationship are:
Neil
Neil
Neil

Two truths and a lie are:
I was named in a criminal complaint for robbing my own house.
I had my photo taken with Cindy Crawford.
I have never eaten octopus.

Three things I cannot do without are:
My iPod
Sushi
Friends and Family

Three places I'd like to go on vacation are:
Thailand
Japan
Alaska

Three kids' names are:
Riley (for a boy or a girl)
Sophia or Sophi
Rae (for a girl)

Three things I want to do before I die are:
Write a bestseller
Make a difference
Travel around the world

Three celebrity crushes I have had are:
John Cusak
Dave Matthews
Hugh Grant (it's the accent)

Three people I nominate to complete this exercise are:
Shane
Lindsey
Stan

Insanity

Things are completely insane right now. I applied for my first job in D.C. over the long weekend in preparation for our upcoming move. Today, they called me at work to set up a phone interview. What is interesting about this is that I gave them my home number -- NOT my work number! I have not told my boss that I am moving yet, but it is becoming clear that I will have to soon. I just don't want to be looked at as a short-timer for the next four and a half months. Or, worse, I don't want to be fired. I think it would be seriously not right for them to make me leave my job early, but I can't help but be a little concerned. You never know what people will do when they discover you are leaving.

So, I am excited to have a phone interview for my first attempt at finding a job, but now I have to do the interview from work on Friday morning... or I have to leave work at nine in the morning and do the interview from my car. It is all very awkward and to make things worse, I really like my job right now. I like my boss and my coworkers and I feel very sad that I have to tell them I am leaving. Blech.

In other news, Neil and I discovered that we have only about 6 free weekends between now and when we move in late Oct. This discovery has made me think we should start packing boxes now so that we're not completely unprepared when the time to move comes. I am really excited about our new adventure, but I wish I could snap my fingers and magically end up in the perfect (and low-priced) apartment with all of my things around me and a great job to report to on Monday. Somehow, I suspect it will take a little more work.

To Mourn

Yesterday, on my way back from Santa Fe, I saw a woman decorating one of the roadside crosses along the freeway. This particular cross was in the median and it was huge. The woman had pulled her minivan into the median and she was carefully adding plastic flowers and beads to the cross. She was all dressed up and 30 miles from anywhere. She was so deliberate in her actions and even watching her for a few seconds, I could feel her mourning. That got me thinking...how do we mourn? How do I mourn?

I have only visited a grave once and it was the grave of a grandfather I never met. I have lost people, but their graves are either across the country or nonexistent -- but I wish I could visit them. I wish I could be near my grandpa once in a while, that I had a place to go when I wanted to talk to him. But that would mean moving to Michigan, or visiting once in a while. Yet, every time I drive by the hospital where he died, which is at least once a week, I think about him and how much I miss him. Is the hospital my roadside cross?

My first boyfriend, Carl, had his ashes scattered on different mountains all over the world. There is a meadow in the Santa Fe mountains that friends have named after him, but I've never been there. Sometimes I dream about Carl though, and when I wake up, I feel like we've been having a conversation, which is really a wonderful feeling.

When I was younger, I used to think that grave yards and roadside crosses were only sad. But now I think they are both sad and beautiful. We always miss our loved ones and the way we honor them after they are gone are so human, so touching and so necessary.

Even Sicker

So as if last week's death cold wasn't enough, right as I was getting better I was struck down with a really fun flu that involved a lot of middle-of-the night puking and left me six pounds lighter. I swear, I am not usually sickly. Am I being punished? The good news -- I am feeling much better. I still don't have an appetite, but hopefully that will come soon so I can regain my lost weight and then go back to work losing it at the gym.

Meanwhile, I am sure my co-workers are having serious questions about me since I have used three sick days in the last two weeks and left early on two other days. Oy. I am sure I am more paranoid than necessary, but I hate using sick days and using this many is unprecedented.

Not much else to report seeing how I have been in bed and asleep for the majority of the last 48 hours. On Sunday -- one of two days of relative health -- I saw the new Star Wars with my dad. My Star Wars fandom mostly ended when I was little and got tired of playing with my action figures. I did go to Episode I and it was so lame that I skipped Episode II, but Episode III was good. I now know the answers to all of the lingering questions I had, and I got to watch some exciting action sequences.

More videos will be posted soon, as soon as I can leave the house.

Sick

Aaak. I am so annoyed! I'm sick and it's like 80 degrees and sunny out. We were supposed to drive to El Paso this weekend to meet Christina and Bobby's new baby -- Jacob. But there's no way I'm giving the baby this cold. So there goes the plan for the weekend. I left work early yesterday with a fever and proceeded to spend all afternoon sleeping. Today I got up at 1 and finally took a shower. This seems a little weird for a plain old cold.. but that seems to be what I have now that the fever is gone. Ahh what fun.

Meanwhile, I have a bazillion things to get done at work and home and I've barely ventured from the couch for the past 24 hours.

Baah. I just heard an ice cream truck go by in my neighborhood! It is so inappropriate to be ill in the spring and summer.

In other news, my dad told me yesterday that since we were in Italy last month, my brother has taken up smoking. This makes me really mad. What an idiot he is! I also feel like a jerk for being so mad. I don't get mad at friends who smoke. I have smoked in the past (but never to the point of addiction..) But because he is my little brother and I have this crazy protective instinct when it comes to him, I am upset about this latest development. I started worrying about whether or not he will attract the right girls, will be able to be as fit as he has been in the past and whether I'll be able to stand being in a room with him if he's all stinky and smoker-like. So, I made a video about the smoking (which is, perhaps, less articulate than this blog post) and you can watch it and hear my whiny sick voice and see how neurotic I am about my brother.

Here's hoping my cold goes away fast and my brother quits smoking and some little magic elf has been at work doing my work for me for the past day and a half.

Dustin Smokes



Click to watch


I apologize for my sick voice... also, I am aware that I need a real camera instead of my digital camera. Does anyone know about the clicking noises my camera is making?

Doggie Dinner



Click to watch

My dogs have some strange eating customs... yes, we have tried feeding them out of separate bowls -- no go.

Music: The Meters -- "They All Asked For You"

Click here to watch

Finally, after many months of watching other people's video blogs, I have made my first video and figured out how to post it on my blog... or is it now a vlog? Thank you to Michael Verdi and Ryanne Hodson for the site Free Vlog which walked me through all the steps.

So, the video is from my trip to Italy in March. Be kind since this is the first time I ever tried editing video... I am sure I will improve with more practice.

The song is "Another Traveling Song" from Bright Eyes.

The video was shot in (in order) St. Peter's Basilica, on top of St. Peters, a piazza in Rome, the Trevi Fountain, a political press conference in Salerno and the coloseum in Pompei (that's my little brother waving his arms around).

Fascinating Spam

I got some really interesting spam today in my work e-mail. It's from someone named Neateye and the subject line says "Gouranga". Inside, the message reads:

Call out Gouranga be happy!!!
Gouranga Gouranga Gouranga ....
That which brings the highest happiness!!

This seems to me a fairly harmless piece of spam. It is not filled with expletives or sexual references (as far as I can tell). Also, a big bonus, it doesn't have a virus attached to it. And, what the heck, it's telling me to be happy.

So, I looked it up and apparently, Gouranga is a word of great significance to the Hare Krishnas. So, the spam was religious spam. But, it was still more pleasant than the ads for penis pumps.

Apparently, there is a Gouranga problem in Europe...and that's pretty funny to me. Funny for a few reasons... one, it's sort of like the Jesus graffiti/bumper stickers/clothing etc. you find all over the U.S. -- you know, people using their freedom of religion but also cramming their religion down my throat...and two the Gouranga thing is sort of bringing people together across the world -- in a weird way. We're all getting these e-mails, or seeing the signs and wondering what the heck that weird word means. Here's a good explanation.

In any case, I will take a cheerful religious spam any day over the more disgusting spam I normally receive. And now, I know one more thing about the world, so thanks Hare Krishna spammers for providing a distraction this afternoon.