I've always been somewhat of a grammar nerd. I loved doing my vocabulary and spelling homework in school. And there was this one time when I was in 8th grade, that I corrected my uncle's friend. He kept saying "ain't" and it was beginning to drive me nuts. So while we were all outside in front of his house, I looked at him dead in the eye and said, "Ain't isn't a word. It's improper English." Suffice it to say, my uncle took my side and told his friend, "You just got schooled by an 8th grader." And then proceeded to laugh at him.
To this day, I'm still that person. I hate it when people can't spell things correctly. It drives me nuts. Not to mention that the other day while I was downtown, an apartment complex on a very busy street actually hung a banner saying "Quite apartments! Inquire within!" Um. Quite? Really? No way I'd rent at a place where they can't spell quiet. That's like English 101. I bet my nine-year-old brother even knows what the difference between the words are. And why didn't they make the printer correct this error?
Stuff like that boggles my mind.
But I do have a confession to make.
While I may apart of the grammar police, I do not have the best pronunciation skills. Like, sure, I was voted best public speaker in 8th grade, and speak clearly and concisely, but when it comes to actually pronouncing words, I tend to make up my own.
Example 1: When I was at my friend's house for a sleepover, we got to talking about the Greek festival. Besides thinking of baklava, I remembered this. Normal people pronounce this "span-ah-co-pa-tah" but in my world, I say it like this: "spank-o-pedia."
Example 2: When I was in high school, I applied for this local scholarship from the Boettcher Foundation. The entire time I heard of this, I always thought to myself, it's called "Bo-cheddar," you know, like the cheese. Turns out it's called "Bech-ur." Clearly I was way off.
Example 3: There might have been this one time when I was with my family eating out at a restaurant and we had a really hot waiter. And I might have been flustered, and instead of saying I wanted the "guiltless chicken sandwich," I might have said "gutless."
I think I've embarrassed myself enough. Anyone else have this problem?
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
Friday, March 26, 2010
Life is fragile
Where have I been?
I'll tell you where I've been.
At the hospital. On and off since Wednesday.
I wasn't the one taken to the ER room. My mom was. She was poked and prodded, IVed up, cried, laughed, and sorta of slept. Oh, and she got like four units of O positive blood.
The hospital is not a happy place. Although our nurse Sarah was a delight. She was positive and caring and just overall had very nice bedside manners.
But it's pretty depressing to be in the hospital. The unknown is scary. Not mention that unless you're in the baby wing, there's really not a lot of people that are healthy. In fact, I bet a lot of people are dying.
Thankfully my mom is at home now, where I've been caring for her because no one else in my family is around. There's a lot of decisions that have to be made in the coming days, but I am thankful for my life.
Life is fragile.
I'll tell you where I've been.
At the hospital. On and off since Wednesday.
I wasn't the one taken to the ER room. My mom was. She was poked and prodded, IVed up, cried, laughed, and sorta of slept. Oh, and she got like four units of O positive blood.
The hospital is not a happy place. Although our nurse Sarah was a delight. She was positive and caring and just overall had very nice bedside manners.
But it's pretty depressing to be in the hospital. The unknown is scary. Not mention that unless you're in the baby wing, there's really not a lot of people that are healthy. In fact, I bet a lot of people are dying.
Thankfully my mom is at home now, where I've been caring for her because no one else in my family is around. There's a lot of decisions that have to be made in the coming days, but I am thankful for my life.
Life is fragile.
Monday, March 22, 2010
Free Pastries & Ice Cream Tomorrow...
Tomorrow's gonna be a good day when you can get free ice cream through Ben & Jerry's Cone Day, and a free pastry in the morning at Starbucks with a purchase of a beverage. Enjoy!
Today's post brought to you by the letter "M"
***Work is taking over my life today, so enjoy this guest post by my bff--M.***
Sooo, when Wonderful invited me to guest post the other day, I doubt that this was what she had in mind, but what I want to talk about this week are the people I’ve run across this week that need to be smacked.
1st – Lady who was in front of my sister and I at the entrance of Benny’s – a great Mexican food place in Denver. This place is pretty much always busy and you kinda just have to live with the fact that there might be a little bit of a line leading up to the counter where you talk to someone who seats you. That’s fine. What is not fine is when there is a drunken woman who is talking to somebody about their bill and the fact that they just love this place, and the servers are so great, and blah dee freakin blah blah blah. For like 5 minutes. Seriously lady! Go tell the bartender or your server or somebody who cares! Or put it on a comment card. Don’t tell the seating people. Even the people at the desk were starting to look twitchy by the end of it, because while its nice to get compliments, um, their line was getting long. The medium sized group of frat boys that came in behind my sister and I might have had something to do with it to. I dunno. But seriously. I really wanted to smack a bitch.
2nd – My dad. Freakin’ man is over 50, and while his youthful exuberance (read: ADHD) has its positives sometimes, mostly its just annoying. And the fact that he can’t do his own taxes at this point and is getting my mom (who by the way, divorced him like 10 years ago) and my sister to do them for him. And thinks he needs to micromanage. Um. If you wanted control, dad, shoulda just manned up in the first place and got ‘er done. Smack.
3rd – Frickin’ engineers. Okay. I am a geek. I know many geeks. I date a geek. I love geeks. I would love to know all the things they know. I’d love to even understand a little bit all of the things some of them know! But omg. I would like to line up every engineer I know (and I have relatives, friends, and co-workers who are engineers, so this would be a line to rival the one at benny’s the other day) and get a good running start and go down the line and do some smackage because they are so picky. And lately I have been the target of the pickiness of more than a few of them. Just cause they're smart in one area, they think they know damn near everything. Sorry – no. And engineer co-worker-who-shall-remain-
4th – I'd like to smack everyone in Washington D.C. right now.
Wednesday, March 17, 2010
I'm Irish...
Today is St. Patrick's Day.
I forgot. Work has been kicking my butt all week, thus the lack of posting here. But, I did find some green shamrock beads that an old coworker gave me to wear today so I won't get pinched.
Even though I'm Irish, I hate cabbage, and corned beef. GROOOOOOSNESS. I realize that's not a real word, but it is in my world. But I am a potato person.
Anyways, I have no real plans tonight, because I'm feeling like i'm 25 going on 77 right now. Someone should drink some green beer for me tonight.
How's your week going? Are you celebrating St. Patty's Day tonight? Or are you old like me?
I forgot. Work has been kicking my butt all week, thus the lack of posting here. But, I did find some green shamrock beads that an old coworker gave me to wear today so I won't get pinched.
Even though I'm Irish, I hate cabbage, and corned beef. GROOOOOOSNESS. I realize that's not a real word, but it is in my world. But I am a potato person.
Anyways, I have no real plans tonight, because I'm feeling like i'm 25 going on 77 right now. Someone should drink some green beer for me tonight.
How's your week going? Are you celebrating St. Patty's Day tonight? Or are you old like me?
Friday, March 12, 2010
Travel Fridays
I've decided since I love talking about traveling so much, that I'm going to start something called Travel Fridays, where I post interesting links, questions, or stories about my own experiences about travel or something I've read online.
So, for my first official Travel Fridays post, I want to ask you guys this....What's your worst travel related story? It could be that time you missed your connecting flight, had a baby kick the back of your seat the entire flight, or took the wrong plane.
Before I answer this question, allow me to give you a bit of my background. Prior to 2008, I hadn't really been out of the country. Sure, I had been to Cabo San Lucas, where I almost drowned in the ocean, and to Canada, where I had my picture taken next to a street sign that's the same as my name. And of course, I've traveled all over the U.S. But going international is entirely different.
It all started with my bff LC. She was going to Paris with her sister that year, and wanted to get other people to go. I ended up talking M into going, and we were all set. I WAS GOING TO PARIS. Ya, know to FRANCE, the world of cheeses and fashion and sexy French men! I was beyond excited, but still nervous.
We all decided that we should just bring carry on bags with us, so we could avoid losing our luggage, so I promptly filled my suitcase with clothes, and all that other stuff. But I also had two guide books in there, because clearly I'm a dork and had to visit certain places recommended in the guide, because I researched all day. M and I even made an Excel spreadsheet on which places we wanted to go, complete with prices of admission, hours of operation, how to get there, and other details.
We had everything with us, got to the airport on time. Our itinerary was Denver to Cincinnati, where we had a layover, and then on to JFK Airport in NYC. We flew Delta from Denver to Cincinnati and landed on time. Prior to deboarding, the staff assured everyone that who was going to NYC, could leave their stuff on the plane. They just asked you put a placecard on your seat, so they knew someone was sitting there. M and I figured that we should do that, since we didn't want to lug around our suitcases unless we absolutely had to. M had her backpack, and I think had I had my purse, which had my passport and stuff in it, but that was it.
It was there that everything fell apart. M and I were just sitting around the food court, eating our food, when all of a sudden we hear our names coming over the loudspeaker. We both looked at each other with wide eyes and panicked, and ran to the gate. We gave them our tickets, and were the last people to board the flight. But as we walked onto the plane, we realized, this isn't the same plane. We got to our seats, and immediately started freaking out. There was no placecard, there was no luggage in the overhead bin. There was NOTHING of ours.
We immediately flagged down a flight attendant, and told them in hurried voices, that this wasn't our plane. That we were told we could leave our stuff on the plane. Of course the lady we talked to said in a stern voice, "Oh I've been working for Delta for years. We never, ever, tell people to leave their stuff." But we persisted that we were supposed to be on that flight. "Well, we're about to take off, you can either deplane and go to customer service and talk with them, or you can stay on the flight," she said. But we had no choice. If we had stayed behind, we would have missed our connecting flight that night that left from NYC to London, and onto Paris. Not to mention, that we were supposed to meet up with LC and her sister in NYC to catch that flight.
We took deep breaths, and stayed on the plane. I pretty much wanted to cry, and was clearly upset. M was freaking out too but she was really positive. And we talked with another flight attendant during the flight and told him our story and he tried to make us laugh. "Do you have your passports?" Yes. "Do you have money?" Yes. "Do you have your parent's credit cards?" No. "Well, too bad, you could've gone on a shopping spree!" At the time, I didn't find it funny, but in hindsight, I know he was just trying to bring a smile to our somber faces. And he was right, we did have our necessities.
We made it to NYC on time, and told LC and her sister all about our troubles, and laughed at the fact that our carry on baggage wasn't supposed to be lost. And we called our parents and told them what happened and also put in a claim with Delta. We boarded our flight on British Airways from NYC to London, where we had a short layover, and then onto Paris, and we made it all without any more troubles.
I was still upset when we arrived in Paris because all of my stuff was gone. But after our first full day of sightseeing in Paris, we came back to a message on our hotel room phone from my mom. I used the hotel phone to call home, where I found out M's mom had gotten in touch with Delta's customer service in Paris, and that they found our bags, and that they'd be arriving on the next non-stop flight the next day. I was so happy I cried. And the next day, we did get our stuff.
But they lost our bags again on our way back, because this time we decided not to risk it, and to check in our bags. Plus we had a ton of stuff we bought and didn't want to lose it. Yeah, we must just have bad luck or something, but FedEx delivered them within a week, with everything intact. Well, sort of. M's bag was all wet, but thankfully her expensive leather purse wasn't ruined.
So, for my first official Travel Fridays post, I want to ask you guys this....What's your worst travel related story? It could be that time you missed your connecting flight, had a baby kick the back of your seat the entire flight, or took the wrong plane.
Before I answer this question, allow me to give you a bit of my background. Prior to 2008, I hadn't really been out of the country. Sure, I had been to Cabo San Lucas, where I almost drowned in the ocean, and to Canada, where I had my picture taken next to a street sign that's the same as my name. And of course, I've traveled all over the U.S. But going international is entirely different.
It all started with my bff LC. She was going to Paris with her sister that year, and wanted to get other people to go. I ended up talking M into going, and we were all set. I WAS GOING TO PARIS. Ya, know to FRANCE, the world of cheeses and fashion and sexy French men! I was beyond excited, but still nervous.
We all decided that we should just bring carry on bags with us, so we could avoid losing our luggage, so I promptly filled my suitcase with clothes, and all that other stuff. But I also had two guide books in there, because clearly I'm a dork and had to visit certain places recommended in the guide, because I researched all day. M and I even made an Excel spreadsheet on which places we wanted to go, complete with prices of admission, hours of operation, how to get there, and other details.
We had everything with us, got to the airport on time. Our itinerary was Denver to Cincinnati, where we had a layover, and then on to JFK Airport in NYC. We flew Delta from Denver to Cincinnati and landed on time. Prior to deboarding, the staff assured everyone that who was going to NYC, could leave their stuff on the plane. They just asked you put a placecard on your seat, so they knew someone was sitting there. M and I figured that we should do that, since we didn't want to lug around our suitcases unless we absolutely had to. M had her backpack, and I think had I had my purse, which had my passport and stuff in it, but that was it.
It was there that everything fell apart. M and I were just sitting around the food court, eating our food, when all of a sudden we hear our names coming over the loudspeaker. We both looked at each other with wide eyes and panicked, and ran to the gate. We gave them our tickets, and were the last people to board the flight. But as we walked onto the plane, we realized, this isn't the same plane. We got to our seats, and immediately started freaking out. There was no placecard, there was no luggage in the overhead bin. There was NOTHING of ours.
We immediately flagged down a flight attendant, and told them in hurried voices, that this wasn't our plane. That we were told we could leave our stuff on the plane. Of course the lady we talked to said in a stern voice, "Oh I've been working for Delta for years. We never, ever, tell people to leave their stuff." But we persisted that we were supposed to be on that flight. "Well, we're about to take off, you can either deplane and go to customer service and talk with them, or you can stay on the flight," she said. But we had no choice. If we had stayed behind, we would have missed our connecting flight that night that left from NYC to London, and onto Paris. Not to mention, that we were supposed to meet up with LC and her sister in NYC to catch that flight.
We took deep breaths, and stayed on the plane. I pretty much wanted to cry, and was clearly upset. M was freaking out too but she was really positive. And we talked with another flight attendant during the flight and told him our story and he tried to make us laugh. "Do you have your passports?" Yes. "Do you have money?" Yes. "Do you have your parent's credit cards?" No. "Well, too bad, you could've gone on a shopping spree!" At the time, I didn't find it funny, but in hindsight, I know he was just trying to bring a smile to our somber faces. And he was right, we did have our necessities.
We made it to NYC on time, and told LC and her sister all about our troubles, and laughed at the fact that our carry on baggage wasn't supposed to be lost. And we called our parents and told them what happened and also put in a claim with Delta. We boarded our flight on British Airways from NYC to London, where we had a short layover, and then onto Paris, and we made it all without any more troubles.
I was still upset when we arrived in Paris because all of my stuff was gone. But after our first full day of sightseeing in Paris, we came back to a message on our hotel room phone from my mom. I used the hotel phone to call home, where I found out M's mom had gotten in touch with Delta's customer service in Paris, and that they found our bags, and that they'd be arriving on the next non-stop flight the next day. I was so happy I cried. And the next day, we did get our stuff.
But they lost our bags again on our way back, because this time we decided not to risk it, and to check in our bags. Plus we had a ton of stuff we bought and didn't want to lose it. Yeah, we must just have bad luck or something, but FedEx delivered them within a week, with everything intact. Well, sort of. M's bag was all wet, but thankfully her expensive leather purse wasn't ruined.
Thursday, March 11, 2010
TMI Thursday: I have to pee
***Alright, folks, you know the rules. Join us all in humiliating the crap out of yourself every Thursday by sharing some completely tasteless, wholly unclassy, “how many readers can I estrange THIS week??” TMI story about your life. Or hell, about someone else’s!***
Me talking to my BFF via gchat.
me: i drank too much water so i need to walk before i eat lunch now. but i also have to pee and someone's in the bathroom for like everrr and i'm like jeeeez
get out already
haha
LC: lolu only have one toilet?
me: well, the other one has this raised seat for floozy but u can move it
and i was in there
and moved it
and then saw there was pee drops on the seat and decided it wasn't worth it
so i put it back
groooosness
i could use the public restrooms by us but that's still kinda gross too
ohhh i could walk to the library and use their bathroom
that might work
i feel like going to the library anyways to get some books
LC: that is soooooooooooooo
pee on the seat
me: yeah it was so gross
and it was like fresh pee
it wasn't like dried on
LC: public restrooms are bad too, esp library ones, at least by us, cuz the homeless use them
YUCK
well if it makes u feel better, 1 out of 3 times i go in the bathroom the whiff of poop hits me
me: yuckkkkk
well the library ones are usually nice, cuz u have to walk all the way to the back to use them
where as the other ones by me are really by the homeless and hippies
so i never use them
LC: ew
LC: are u kidding
me: but idk, the person who was in there might be doing damage to the bathroom right now so i might not wanna wait anyways
LC: so gross haha
me: seriously
LC: it's the same thing when u wait at a restaurant forever
me: i swear either someone has been in there for 5 min or else they forgot to stop the fan
LC: then u def. don't want to go in tehre
ohhh
me: yeah
LC: u could knock on the door
me: ehhhh
it'd probably make things easier if i was going out to lunch, then i could use a bathroom there
but i'm not.
boo
LC: boo indeed
me: it's def not helping that i'm sitting here haha
there's a nice hotel across the street from us but idk if they have bathrooms in the lobby
there's a nice hotel across the street from us but idk if they have bathrooms in the lobby
LC: yeah...maybe u could ask as a last resort
me: yeah maybe
ay ay ay i need to figure this out haha
LC: hahaha
me: HAHAHAHAHAHAHAH
so, i went to open the door, and turns out NO ONE WAS IN THERE THIS ENTIRE TIME
we're all idiots
hahahahaha
so i snuck in there
and i did turn off the fan in case someone really needs to use it so they don't think someone is in there
hahahaha
me: hahahahahah
LC: that's great
LC: for tmi thursday... it's hilarious
me: so funny right
LC: u should post this convo in ur blog
me: hahahahahahaha
i should!
when?
Friday, March 5, 2010
Come on and fly with me, let's fly, let's fly away...
Yessssss, it's finally Friday, it's finally the weekend!!!
Since it's such a fun day, I have a fun question to ask you.
If you could go anywhere for a day, where would you go and why?
Personally, I'd want to go to Philly, just because I want a really philly cheesesteak with whiz. (TWSS.)
Have a good weekend!
Since it's such a fun day, I have a fun question to ask you.
If you could go anywhere for a day, where would you go and why?
Personally, I'd want to go to Philly, just because I want a really philly cheesesteak with whiz. (TWSS.)
Have a good weekend!
Thursday, March 4, 2010
Do you love or hate social media?
I recently took the Pew Research's "How Millennial Are You?" quiz, and scored in the 70s. The survey asked a handful of questions, based on texting, how many hours of tv you watch, internet usage, video games, and if you read the newspaper. I had other friends that scored in the 20s, and some in the 30s.
Taking this quiz made me think about social media. You know what I'm talking about--the Facebook, the Twitter, the Tumblr, the Digg, the Myspace...and the list goes on and on and on. I consider myself to be somewhat in the middle with the social media game. In my office, I am like the Queen Bee of social media, mainly because my coworkers don't get how to use it, much less how to save attachments from e-mails, but that's another story for another day.
In my group of friends, I am pretty much the connected one. I have some friends on LinkedIn, and definitely most everyone I know is on Facebook. But I also know some people in their 20s that want nothing to do with Twitter. Those people are the same people that don't have internet on their phones* and aren't regular e-mail checkers.
But while I love my Twittering, and blogging, and Facebooking, I also don't become obsessed with it. I mean, sure it's part of my job to do it, and I like the community that's created with social media. I like that people can read my thoughts and respond to them, and I can feel like my voice is being heard. But in the big scheme of things, I don't consider myself a social media lover per se. When I get on Twitter and start to see all these tweets about social media conferences, and what's the future of the web, etc etc., I lose interest. I become bored, and willingly mark those tweets as read and erase them. I don't have the passion for social media that some people my age do. But I at least have the smarts to try it all out so I can at least know what's going on out there.
What about you? Are you a social media lover or a hater?
*I don't have internet on my phone either but that's mainly because I think it'd be a waste of my time and it's easier to check stuff on a real computer, not to mention I don't want to pay for a data plan.
Taking this quiz made me think about social media. You know what I'm talking about--the Facebook, the Twitter, the Tumblr, the Digg, the Myspace...and the list goes on and on and on. I consider myself to be somewhat in the middle with the social media game. In my office, I am like the Queen Bee of social media, mainly because my coworkers don't get how to use it, much less how to save attachments from e-mails, but that's another story for another day.
In my group of friends, I am pretty much the connected one. I have some friends on LinkedIn, and definitely most everyone I know is on Facebook. But I also know some people in their 20s that want nothing to do with Twitter. Those people are the same people that don't have internet on their phones* and aren't regular e-mail checkers.
But while I love my Twittering, and blogging, and Facebooking, I also don't become obsessed with it. I mean, sure it's part of my job to do it, and I like the community that's created with social media. I like that people can read my thoughts and respond to them, and I can feel like my voice is being heard. But in the big scheme of things, I don't consider myself a social media lover per se. When I get on Twitter and start to see all these tweets about social media conferences, and what's the future of the web, etc etc., I lose interest. I become bored, and willingly mark those tweets as read and erase them. I don't have the passion for social media that some people my age do. But I at least have the smarts to try it all out so I can at least know what's going on out there.
What about you? Are you a social media lover or a hater?
*I don't have internet on my phone either but that's mainly because I think it'd be a waste of my time and it's easier to check stuff on a real computer, not to mention I don't want to pay for a data plan.
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