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Friday, September 29, 2006
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News (in case you haven't heard)....
I quit my job today. I've been keeping this under wraps, but I have accepted a position with Dove Consulting, which is located at Park Plaza, in Boston (near the Arlington T stop). Dove is a consulting company (duh), mainly involved in financial services. They are a division of Hitachi Consulting, and it's where Corinne works. Interviewing and trying to figure out if this is the right move for me have been part of what has been stressing me out for the last three months. I'm incredibly scared, but also excited. I think that I can't go wrong with a new opportunity, and I hope it's everything I want it to be. If it's not, maybe consulting is not the right industry for me. :-)
So there you have it. I start October 23rd. I'm going to have to get up earlier, take the T (which I'm looking forward to) and wear nicer clothes. I'll also be downtown, which I think is going to be fun, and something I've wanted in a job since I moved here.
Quitting was one of the harder things I have ever done. It seems lately that everything is hard. I hate being an adult.
Tomorrow - Red Sox game, and maybe taking Kristen to pick up her dress!
- Lizzardie, at 12:02 AM
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Monday, September 25, 2006
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Ahh, Monday again. The weeks are going by fast these days, and I just haven't had enough time to get enough done. But I'm trying.
Work continues to be busy. I am hoping that I will have a weekend without work this weekend (particularly because it's Kristen's Bachelorette party, and I'd like to have a fantastic time without worrying about work), and then I have to be free the following weekend for the wedding, but then things will be packed until November.
Speaking of the wedding, not only did I finish the shawl last night (just a few touch up things and blocking), but I found shoes! I thought shoes would be easier than they were - I was out with Jeff and Kristen, and we went to DSW (no turquoise shoes there, at least no good ones), Aldo in Downtown Crossing (nope), Macy's (no turquoise shoes and the beautiful brown shoes were not available in my size), Aldo in the Pru (the turquoise shoes were not in my size), Bandolino, Jasmine Sole and finally Nine West where I found these shoes, and they are a perfect match in color AND my size. Kristen and Susan are making my jewelry, I'm carrying my Coach purse, and now all I have to do is buy a wedding present (but it's been decided what I'll buy) and figure out details for the weekend in Maine. Attending a wedding is hard, being a bridesmaid is harder (which I'm technically not) - I can't imagine what it's like to actually PLAN a wedding. Yeesh.
The rest of the weekend was pretty good. Saturday morning I went to the Phantom Gourmet Food Festival, where the food was yummy and I got to see a lobster roll eating contest (with someone famous Japanese food eating guy - he ate 41 lobster rolls in 10 minutes). I was a little upset that some places ran out of food so early (we left the festival at around 1:30, and at least 2 places were out of something - all you're doing is serving food!). I also had a bit of a disaster with my ticket - I kept telling myself I was going to forget the ticket, and made a point to put my ticket envelope in my purse (at the time, it had the festival ticket and my Ani DiFranco tickets in there, and Corinne was giving me my Pat tickets, so I wanted the whole envelope). I left the house, went to get money, got coffee at Starbucks and got onto the T. I was at Harvard Square when I realized I didn't have the envelope! I was so sure I had put it in my purse that I thought it must have fallen out... but it was on my dining room table. So a momentary panic attack and I wound up being late (by the way, if you ever do go to the festival, go early - it's not quite as crowded and the food will all be there).
After the festival, I helped Herb move into his new apartment, along with his mom, Jeff and Josh, and then Herb took us out to Christopher's for dinner to say thank you. I love Christopher's (I had French onion soup and the ravioli special), but our waiter annoyed me when he brought me the wrong beer and gave me attitude about it. Oh well.
Sunday morning I went for dim sum with Jeff, Kristen, Kim and Patrick. Then all of the shopping, then over to Jeff and Kristen's for dinner (tomato, fresh mozarella and basil sandwiches and some sort of yummy veggie casserole, as well as blueberry beer with Maine blueberries in it) and to watch the Pats game. I also got to see Susan for the first time in forever.
And tonight I'm going over to Kim's for sushi. I love seeing my friends, but my apartment is a mess and I think my roommate is about to murder me in my sleep (things aren't really going well on that front these days). Not sure what I can do, though. :-/
My feet and legs hurt from the moving of boxes up to the third floor and then all of the walking around the city yesterday. Ow.
- Lizzardie, at 12:10 PM
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Tuesday, September 19, 2006
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That, my friends, was some of the many stages of writing a report. Procrastination, directed optimism and utter frustration. But I finished the report at 10:50pm this evening (I got into work a little before 10am, and if you count eating, the procrastination and the drive home, I'd say it's a little under 12 hours of work), drank half a bottle of wine (okay, I started while writing the report), did some knittnig (will this shawl never end) and watched some TV (it's official, as I suspected, I am addicted to Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip after only one episode). Now that I have that hazy feeling that only half a bottle of wine can give you, I'm going to go to bed and wake up... an hour later than usual. Just because I can.
- Lizzardie, at 1:41 AM
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Monday, September 18, 2006
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This is the third night in a row that I have turned down friends when invited to do something (drinks in Davis Square Saturday night, Patriots game viewing with pizza and wings yesterday, Vietnamese food in Harvard Square tonight). I hate my life.
- Lizzardie, at 8:39 PM
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Ooohh, here's some positive news I forgot about - I bought a ton of CDs today and yesterday! I got a combination of old stuff to fill in holes in my music collection - The Cars, Bob Dylan, Jeff Buckley, Johnny Cash, Tom Petty, Bob Dylan, Bon Jovi, Simon & Garfunkel - and some newer stuff just because - The Fray (I have a few songs on my iPod and have been listening to them over and over again since I finally watched the video/promo for Grey's Anatomy), KT Tunstall, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Tool. I may also pick up a few more CDs in the next few days, and it'll be awhile before they are all delivered, but I'm excited. :-) Buying CDs and yarn will not help pay off the credit cards but at least I'm provided with hours of entertainment.
- Lizzardie, at 4:17 PM
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I'm still totally stressed, and I'm not sure when this is going to let up. I've had a lot of job work lately, and it's interfering with all the other stuff I need to get done (because, hello, it's still September and we're not supposed to be this busy right now). I was able to get a little bit of break this weekend, though. Friday night was the Santana concert, and despite my reservations about going because I was tired and it was far away, I had a great time. Jeff Beck opened, and that was phenomenal. I don't think I have ever seen an opening act come out for an encore before, but he did. I don't know his songs very well, which is unfortunate, because he is a great guitar player, but the encore was definitely "Somewhere Over the Rainbow." :-) And Santana was great, too. I know his songs a little bit better, so that was nice. I did leave after "Black Magic Woman," during "Oye Como Va" - I hate leaving a concert early, but Corinne and Ron were leaving, and the idea of staying by myself in an unknown place for the end of the concert, just to spend an hour and a half getting out of the parking lot (followed by the hour drive home) was just not appealing. Besides, we only paid $17 for the tickets (and that includes all of the Ticketmaster fees), so I feel I got my money's worth. Must now buy some Jeff Beck CDs. :-)
Saturday I did some work. And then I went out to dinner for Patrick's birthday. Kim had organized a surprise birthday dinner at Changsho, which was fun and tasty as usual. Plus I got to see Eryk and Rosanne, along with Patrick and Kim of course. We went to JP Licks for ice cream afterwards - I got a rum raisin milkshake frappe, which was not as tasty as I would have hoped, though it did have actual dark rum in it. And then more work, although this work was finishing the playlists I had been working on for way too long (it's a good thing I got a ton of free music as part of this deal). And at least there was wine.
Sunday, after getting up at noon, I did work for pretty much the rest of the day, until 1am. I did take breaks here and there, did some food shopping and cooking (Tabbouleh, which came out tasty but looks watery and unappetizing - next time I need to drain the cucumbers and tomatoes, I think, and braised boneless pork chops with fennel and capers, courtesy of the episode of Everyday Italian I watched on Saturday). I had wanted to go see this Gershwin to Gillespie (or is it the other way around?) exhibit at the National Heritage Museum (exhibit closed yesterday) but there was too much work. I wish I hadn't forgotten about it until this weekend.
Very little knitting got done. I really need to finish the shawl for the wedding, which I thought I had started in plenty of time. I also need to push a little bit more on the Christmas knitting, because I know it will come up faster than I think. On the plus side, Kim loved the scarf I made her (or at least she said she did). I really liked the pattern, as well, so it was a quick knit. Plus I used yarn I already had. Usually when I make things for people, I pick out the yarn especially for them. But I didn't have time to do that for Kim, and just happened to remember that I had this yarn in my stash. It ended up being a great match, because she said it's her favorite color! I'll try and remember to post the pictures on Flickr sometime tonight.
I need to get back to work now. At least I have my iPod back, so I can listen to music.
- Lizzardie, at 1:18 PM
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Thursday, September 14, 2006
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So tired. So very very tired. At least today is over. Now I just have to get through tomorrow (at this point, I don't even want to go to the Santana concert, but I will), and then the weekend. And maybe then I get to come up for air.
I skipped poker last night. I had to go into the bar briefly, and I'm happy to report that I did NOT succomb to their attempts to convince me to play (even when Herb handed me chips). I really wanted to, though, and I'm sad to have missed it, because I make it a point to go every week. Ahh well, hopefully that will be the only time, and I really did have more to get done and not enough time. There's always next week.
- Lizzardie, at 8:32 PM
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Monday, September 11, 2006
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The weekend was nice, even if I didn't get some of the things done that I wanted to (oil change, coins, cleaning my room). I guess those will have to happen next weekend. :-)
Friday night I played poker at The Neighborhood. I love a good money poker game, even if I did come in behind for the night. We played two tournaments with a $20 buy-in - I came in third for the first one, giving me my money back, and was out first in the second one, because I was too drunk to play poker by that point. :-) The Neighborhood is an awesome place in Union Square - I've only eaten there once but really should go more often. On nice days they seat people outside, under this trellis that has grapes growing on it (wine-making grapes was the answer I got to "what kind of grapes are they"), something I did not realize the one time I ate there. The owners are also wonderful people, as I have found is true of a lot of the places in Union Square.
I drank more than I should have Friday night. In fact, I drank more than I REALIZED. I hate when that happens. I also hate that the meters in Union Square start at 8:00am, and not 9:00am, as I had thought (who assumes meters start at 8:00am anyway?), so I wound up with a ticket when I went back to retrieve my car. :-( It was a fun night, but I wish I hadn't gotten so sick (sick enough to think it might have been more than the drinking that did me in), because Saturday was pretty much wasted.
By 6:00pm, I was feeling... okay... which was good, because I met up with Helen, who was in town, along with Corinne, Ron, Herb, Scott and Julie for dinner at Christopher's (food really REALLY helped). Afterwards, we went bowling in Davis Square, so that Helen could try the candlepin variation that is so popular here in New England. While we were there, we ran into my roommate and her boyfriend, and they were put at the lane right next to us, which was a crazy coincidence (they were meeting Herb's roommate and his girlfriend who also works with Herb, so it added to the connections). A little while later, Helen ran into someone she knows, and she doesn't even live around here. It seems that Boston (and Somerville, too) is quite a small place, not unlike how Cornell felt (despite large numbers of people, though on different scales).
Sunday... was absolutely wonderful. I had a fabulous time with my friends this weekend, and going out both Friday and Saturday in the same weekend always reassures me that I do indeed have a life. But there is A LOT to be said about a day by myself where I don't have to talk to anyone, don't have to get dressed and can do whatever I want all alone. In two weeks I had had a whole two nights where I was home, and even those came about only because of last minute cancellations. Now, I was on vacation and there was the fraternity crisis, so that certainly factored in. But things were getting ridiculous enough that yesterday was very much needed. I got some sleep both Saturday and Sunday nights, I did a ton of laundry, I cooked a meal and did some cleaning, I knit, I watched TV, and I worked on some projects that I had been neglecting. And I don't think I said one word, out loud or via IM, until my roommate called me around 10:00pm (apparently something sketchy was going on outside the apartment, but I didn't notice). I feel so much more refreshed today, and am ready for another chaotic week. :-)
I never mentioned the Red Sox game from last week, I realize. I unfortunately go there late, causing Corinne and Kathy to have to wait, and Elenka to be sitting by herself for 2 innings (stupid door lock), but once we arrived it was a great time. Very low-scoring game, which was intense, but in the end the Red Sox pulled off the win (and took a series, thank goodness) against the White Sox (good sox won against bad sox, as Kathy would say). I did wear a Red Sox t-shirt with my new Cubs hat, just as I promised (Corinne didn't realize why until halfway through the game). I didn't even mind when it started raining - turns out a baseball cap projects your head from rain! This was the first year that I was able to go to a Red Sox game, and I went to 4, where the Red Sox were 4-0. That makes me happy, and I have had several people tell me that I need to go to more games, but I don't think my luck is that good. :-)
Next weekend will have to be the coins and the oil change (and cleaning my room and I think jewelry making and other things I'm sure I'm not remembering right now, *sigh*).
- Lizzardie, at 12:51 PM
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Friday, September 08, 2006
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Flickr
I love Flickr. I'm not really sure why, I just do. I like the way it organizes pictures, I like that it lets me make notes and allows visitors to make comments. I think it's user-friendly, and viewing pictures other people put up on Flickr is very easy. It's not bulky, so even large pictures load quickly, which I do not find true of other photo-sharing sites. I can view the picture in its original size, which is great for printing or saving, if the photo isn't from my camera.
My only complaint with Flickr has been the bandwith limit. All of the pictures I take with my camera are high resolution, so I go through the limit very quickly. But I've been considering for awhile the idea of buying a pro account, since it's only $25 for the year. Chris did this recently, and he has nothing but good things to say, so I'm very likely to do that in the future.
Plus, Flickr got even better for me yesterday. I've known for awhile that Flickr offers printing services, but for the most part I've never taken advantage of this for my digital pictures (though I've wanted to for a long time). I sent out a thank you card to my grandparents, though, for the books my grandmother sent for my birthday, and I wanted to include some pictures (can't email pictures to them like I can to my parents, if I have any desire for that). I knew I could get 10 free prints, so I figured I would give Flickr a try for this. I must say, I'm very happy with the results. First of all, you can either have the pictures delivered by mail or pick them up at Target. Well, there is a Target just down the street from my work, so I was all over this option. I submitted the request at 4:30pm yesterday, and they were ready in an hour. And the prints came out great, so I'm definitely looking forward to using this again. To have the prints delivered, it's $.15/4x6 print, plus a shipping fee ($2.29 for the first 25 prints and up from there). To get the prints from Target, it's $.20/4x6 print, but no shipping fee. So my math calculations say that Target is cheaper, plus much faster, and not too much of an inconvenience.
The idea of upgrading to a pro account is now really appealing, because then I can upload a bunch of pictures I've always meant to have printed, including lots of pictures from college that I always wanted to put into an album or make a scrapbook out of.
- Lizzardie, at 12:14 PM
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Thursday, September 07, 2006
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More service-relating things....
Since I moved into my apartment last June, I have been saving all of the coins I receive when making cash purchases (I had been saving before that, but it really isn't effective when you have to take the quarters out to do laundry). Now, I don't really like using cash, because I can't keep track of my purchases as well as if I use a credit or debit card, and sometimes I have need of change for a parking meter or a T token. So the saving has gone slowly, but I think it's at the point where it's over $50 (being the math nerd that I am, I occasionally count the "silver" coins, which are separate from the pennies).
Last year, after Hurricane Katrina, I decided I wanted to donate my change, when it reached a suitable amount, to the American Red Cross. The way I see it, since all it does is sit in a jar in my apartment, and it's hard to spend large amounts of coins, it's not really money for me, and so a charitable donation is the perfect thing to do with it. I'm a little lazy, though, and the idea of converting it to a usable form of currency (through a CoinStar machine, most likely, which takes 8.9 cents on the dollar), depositing that money, and then writing a check or donating online seemed like a lot of work. Plus it's not something I think about all the time, except when putting more money into the jar.
Today I noticed that the bottom of my purse had almost $5 in change on it, and I was reminded of this pledge I made to myself. So I believe this weekend I will put the plan into action and bring my change to a CoinStar machine. But now that I'm ready to do this, I've actually done some research, and it turns out that I can donate directly to the American Red Cross through the CoinStar machine - it's only one step! There's still a service fee (I will get a tax deductible receipt for the full amount, but I think CoinStar takes some sort of processing fee before giving it to the Red Cross) but it's lower than the 8.9%.
So there you go. This reminds me a little of my Initiate service project, where we had a penny drive for the MS Walk. Once I've donated all of my change for this one, I will start again. Maybe I can choose a different organization each time!
- Lizzardie, at 1:53 PM
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Wednesday, September 06, 2006
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I love TV. Why? I don't know. I think that there's definitely GOOD TV out there. I also think that there is definitely BAD TV out there. And of course, there's TV that's so bad it's good. So I watch a lot of TV. Part of the reason is that it gives me something to look forward to on a nightly basis. When you're at work all day, you want to be able to take your mind off of things once you get home and be able to unwind - cooking dinner, doing dishes, tidying up, paying bills - these things do not give me much (if any) joy or relaxation. TV is a nice break. AND it's a great activity to do while knitting, so I feel much better about how much TV I watch now that I have something else to do while watching TV (and knitting is productive! Yay knitting!).
Needless to say, when I watch a pilot, I usually get sucked into whatever it is. So now I try and pick my pilots carefully, because I can only watch so many shows in a week (and the DVR can only handle recording so many, so 2 shows on at the same time is my limit). Here is my list of pilots I'm going to watch this fall:
- Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip (NBC, premiers at 10:00pm Eastern on September 18th) - Aaron Sorkin! Thomas Schlamme! Bradley Whitford! Matthew Perry! Timothy Busfield! I don't think I need to say anymore.
- Six Degress (ABC, premiers at 10:00pm Eastern on September 21st, right after Grey's Anatomy) - J.J. Abrams. Again, I don't think there's more to say.
- Brothers and Sisters (ABC, premiers at 10:00pm Eastern on September 24th) - I'm intrigued by this show because it sounds like it has a great cast (Sally Field, Calista Flockhart, Balthazar Getty, Patricia Wettig, Ron Rifkin) but there's been some reports that the show is unstable. The pilot apparently originally sucked but since some of it has been redone it's better. I like a good unstable show. Besides, I don't have anything to watch on Sunday nights right now, and I like unwinding with some TV before the work week begins.
- Heroes (NBC, premiers at 9:00pm Eastern on September 25th) - I've heard great things about this show (and Greg Grunberg, yay!). Apparently the characters all have flaws, which is great for character development. I think this is the one I have the most hope for this season.
- The Nine (ABC, premiers at 10:00pm Eastern on October 4th, right after Lost) - This one is supposed to be pretty good, too. There are a few cast members I'm familiar with (Scott Wolf, Kim Raver, Tim Daly) and I like the premise.
All right, so 5 new shows. Part of me hopes that I hate at least one of the shows, and that at least one other fails to get picked up for the whole season. While I don't want another Reunion-like situation (Reunion gets filed under so bad it's good, and when Fox cancelled it last season I was really annoyed), I also already have a ton of shows that I watch now (Prison Break, House, Grey's Anatomy, Lost, Law & Order et. al., The O.C., One Tree Hill, How I Met Your Mother, Gilmore Girls, Scrubs, Monk, Psych, Project Runway) and some that I'm working my way through (or will be working my way through) on DVD and would consider adding to the repertoire (The Shield, Weeds, Veronica Mars).
[Note: Please feel free to mock me for my serious dependency on the made-up lives of TV characters.]
So, now that I've stated pretty much everything I watch and will be watching on TV, does anyone have any thoughts? Are there shows I'm not considering but should be (i.e., what's the best show on television that I'm not watching)? Do you think something I watch is total garbage (I probably agree and that's probably why I watch it)? Any new shows that I should consider (not that I really have time for them)?
If you haven't seen any pilot reviews and would like to, I've gotten most of my information from this site.
- Lizzardie, at 4:20 PM
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Tuesday, September 05, 2006
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I have been thinking the last few days about.... life, I guess. In some ways, the summer has been difficult, and I have spent a lot of time trying to figure out what it is I want to do and how I want to get there. I have at times felt very lonely, but usually I try and remember that I have a great network of friends who care about me and who will answer their phones or their email/IMs at any hour of the day. The stress of this past week, though, has made me think that maybe I have lost a little bit of focus. And maybe that is why I have had so much trouble figuring out what direction I'm supposed to be going in.
I'm pretty sure my coworkers think I'm a little crazy for caring so much about my college fraternity. They've seen my frustration at emails and have heard me on the phone with the IRS and even the office of a member of the U.S. House of Representatives (that was kinda cool, by the way). Some of my friends also seem to think I'm a little crazy, including friends from PSP. But in a lot of ways, the ideals of Phi Sigma Pi are a way of life, and affect me on a daily basis. Yet as I got a little older and grew away from the current members of my Chapter, it feels like that has gotten away. Yes, many of the people I see on at least a weekly and almost a daily basis are people I have met through the fraternity. But am I necessarily living the ideals of Scholarship, Leadership and Fellowship? I don't know. But I do know that I want to.
Anyhow, it's something to think about. I do know that I'm trying to make an effort to reconnect with friends, even though it is difficult to stay in touch with so many people that are spread out all over the country (and at times internationally). I'm starting with birthday cards. :-) Also, I want to do something to serve society, because I feel I haven't done enough of that lately. I am thinking that I will knit for charity. Knitting is something that brings comfort and joy to my own life, and I would like to spread the affects of that to others. If there is any interest, I could turn it into a project that others could join me in, either by knitting for charity along with me, or contributing materials. So, if you have any interest, please let me know, but otherwise maybe for now I will carry out the idea myself (at least until I do some research on where to donate knit items to, what to knit, what the timeline is and what my goals are).
Like I said, something to think about. Last week felt like a crisis, and my only hope was to help to educate and inspire people to continue to carry out the ideals of Phi Sigma Pi. I don't think it was such a bad thing if I was a little inspired, too.
- Lizzardie, at 11:57 PM
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I took Thursday and Friday off and gave myself a little mini vacation. More details will follow later, I presume, when I am less tired and less busy, but here is the brief recap. This weekend I:
- Started and ended my vacation with poker and drinks at Sally O'Brien's (okay, so last night's poker game was very informal);
- Spent 18 hours in Ithaca, where I was able to eat at The Nine's, Collegetown Bagels and the State Street Diner, and get drinks at The Chaper House;
- Did my part to ensure the continued existence of Beta Nu Chapter of Phi Sigma Pi;
- Drank a bottle of Barolo with good friends on top of Olin/Kroch Library overlooking the Arts Quad;
- Bought yarn that is produced and handpainted in Upstate New York (from Susan's Spinning Bunny in West Danby, NY, and The Schaefer Yarn Company in Interlaken, NY);
- Bought a ton of food at Wegman's
- Forgot to buy Upstate New York wine;
- Spent Friday afternoon until Monday afternoon in Lake Ariel, Pennsylvania, for a nice Poconos vacation with 16 other friends;
- Spent some of the above time without power, due to several storms;
- Cooked a lot, for a lot of people, including making breakfast (sausage, bacon, hashbrowns and scrambled eggs) on the grill while we had no power;
- Played lots of board games, including Yahtzee, Apples to Apples, Clue and Trivial Pursuit (where the girls beat the guys);
- Saw good friends I hadn't seen in quite some time, including Bolcar, Ian, Vinny and Kat.
I think that pretty much covers the basics. The next couple of weeks are going to be quite hectic, so I'm glad I got to go away for a few days. And now I'm even happier to be home. :-)
- Lizzardie, at 12:11 PM
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