what a strange day...

Today two odd things happened.
First of all, I fell out of my chair while I was sitting at my desk, working on an article. Hit my head pretty hard on something (the floor, I think). Maybe the rest of my day was just a delusional dream like The Wizard of Oz?
Secondly, I received a letter. It goes something like this: "An examination of our records indicates that this check issued to the above owner (me) has not been cashed...The law requires us to submit this property to the State Treasurer's Office. The State Treasurer will hold this property forever or until the owner claims it."
(I really enjoy the "forever" bit. They really sound so secure in their immutability, don't they?)
It appears that the Limited Corporation has owed $114.78 since 2001. I used to work for them, and quit abruptly because it was a completely soul-sucking environment supervised by an evil witch whose main purposes in life were a) to fatten up small children and eat them for her dinner, and b) to try to get me to spend all my earnings on Limited clothing. Also I was 19 and not so much into the whole concept of "working." Guess I forgot about that last paycheck...
So now I have some "surprise money"! What should I spend it on? I was thinking about some new RAM for my computer.
Also, I can't find my Justin Timberlake CD.

I'd also like to clear something up. I had an extremely happy childhood. I'm sorry to have bummed everybody out after my last comment about Ecto Cooler. I do think Ecto Cooler is pretty cool, and I wish they'd bring it back, along with Crystal Pepsi. I probably wouldn't drink either of them on a regular basis, but it would cheer me up to see them on the shelves of the grocery store.

Does anyone want to have a mixed cd exchange? Susan and I are exchanging, and it would be really fun to exchange with everyone else! We could have "themes," perhaps constructed around seasons or holidays. Yes, I am a huge nerd.

I'm like Clark Kent

So yesterday I'm at work, right? And this new guy comes in. He's going to work at the computer right next to me. "Hi, I'm Susan nice to meet you, blah blah, blah" He seems pretty nice but I'm not going to lie- I'm a little bummed I can't listen to my ipod while I work (seems rude) and I can't be spending time surfing the web.

Anyway. He seems nice enough, and I guess interacting with another person a little and at least trying to look on-task isn't such a bad thing.

So I come in today and he comes in and introduces himself. Like he has no idea who I am. So we shake hands and I introduce myself again and he's like, "Oh, it's nice to meet you."
Dude. I met you yesterday. I just let it go because I'm a little confused and before I know it it's too late to be like, "Yeah, hi, we met yesterday."
I'm thinking that since I wore my glasses yesterday, but not today he didn't recognize me. (Seriously? Do I look that different?)

How akward for him when he figures out that Wednesday Susan is the same person as Thursday Susan....
Unless he doesn't.

I figure I have a little less than a week to get the details of a double life ironed out. Mwhahaha.

Writers block

Well, it's not really writers block, it's more like revisor's block. I'm sitting at work and I really do not want to go back and work this piece I wrote about a month ago. I've tried to start like 3 times and I just don't want to. Ugh. I've been working on this on and off since September and I'm a little sick of the 15 studies is based on and just the piece in general. Ugh, ugh ugh. Good thing they're paying my $15 an hour for this. :-P Oh, and it's like ten degrees outside, in case you were wondering.

President's Day

With an hour to spare this President's day, I thought I'd share this quotation I found on a blog I read fairly regularly:

"Yet, after all, though the problems are new, though the tasks set before us differ from the tasks set before our fathers who founded and preserved this Republic, the spirit in which these tasks must be undertaken and these problems faced, if our duty is to be well done, remains essentially unchanged. We know that self-government is difficult. We know that no people needs such high traits of character as that people which seeks to govern its affairs aright through the freely expressed will of the freemen who compose it. But we have faith that we shall not prove false to the memories of the men of the mighty past. They did their work, they left us the splendid heritage we now enjoy. We in our turn have an assured confidence that we shall be able to leave this heritage unwasted and enlarged to our children and our children's children. To do so we must show, not merely in great crises, but in the everyday affairs of life, the qualities of practical intelligence, of courage, of hardihood, and endurance, and above all the power of devotion to a lofty ideal, which made great the men who founded this Republic in the days of Washington, which made great the men who preserved this Republic in the days of Abraham Lincoln."

-Theodore Roosevelt, from his Inagural Speech, 1905.


Sorry to get all high-minded.

Who you gonna call?!

I was watching Ghostbusters on T.V. today, which I loved when I was a kid. It's still pretty funny, I think, in a lot of ways. There are some funny lines, but the absurdities of the whole situation is even funnier. Like that car - what a riot!

Anyway, it got me thinking about some other stuff when I was little. Like Ecto Cooler. Remember the Hi-C drink that came in a cardboard box? It was green I think... it didn't really taste like anything else (as opposed to orange, which is sort of derived from oranges). What the hell was that shit?

Thoughts, comments, explanations?

playing catch-up

Hey everyone! How's it going? Or snowing? It's definitely not snowing here...sunny, in the 80s, light breeze...I'm sitting in my room looking out at the sailboats on the canal. :-)
I meant to tell you a few really cool things the other day in my aborted post, but unfortunately I don't remember what they were.
Do any of you like salmon? I made this really great baked salmon dish the other night, and it would be the perfect entree for a dinner party. I want to make it for all of you!
I went to a party last night after I got home from work; it was a birthday party for a friend of my housemates. I am trying to be more social so that I can meet some more people down here in Sarasota, but I'm usually too tired after I get home from waiting tables at midnight or so. Anyway, I went out last night, but most of the people at this party were on drugs, and no one talked to me. There were bee-keeper suits involved, and lots of people were wearing them and rolling around on the ground. Very odd. So...I didn't make any friends last night. Oh well.
In fantastic shopping news (this may interest some of you more than others): I bought a pair of $150 Italian leather knee-high boots for $20 at Dillards! Hooray!
My dad is coming to Sarasota today for a presentation by the anthropolgy department of New College (not to present, just to watch). So we're going to go out to "brunch" (it's 1pm, but I'm still considering that brunch because I want breakfast food) at this really cute French restaraunt downtown called C'est la Vie. The prices are similar to those we encountered on St. Martaan at that little café where they charged us something like $50 for a bottle of water, but they have really excellent crepes, so it's worth it!
Ok, I miss you all tons. If anyone knows where I can meet some friends who don't use hallucinogens on a regular basis, let me know!

anger at technology

I'm so upset! I just wrote a pretty long post, and the computer ate it! Grrrr...

School

Yay for blog revival!

Ok, this can only take about 10 minutes. I have class soon. For some reason I have had the urge lately to fill everyone in on my classes. This may not be that interesting for anyone, but on the bright side as I said before, it can only take me ten minutes to write, so it should only take you two or three to read (and yes I pulled that ratio out of nowhere).

Class #1: Legal and Ethical Issues in Child Advocacy
I love the professor that teaches this class. I took her class on the effects of trauma last semester. Basically I'm interested in the issues around abuse and parental fitness. I think think there are all sorts of reasons for teachers and other educators involved with children/families to have some understanding of legal issues as they relate to children.

Class #2: Social Inequality and Schools
Very small discussion group (10 people) mainly about sociological theory and the role of schools and the ways they increase and decrease social inequality.

Class #3: The Problems Kids Have
Great class taught by a child psychiatrist about psychological problems and child development. His intent is to sort teach about these problems and treatment to non-clinicians because really there aren't enough mental health professionals to go around anymore so mental/adjustment problems are increasingly being dealt with at school and other community settings.

Class #4: Universal Design for Learning
Universal design means designing things so that everyone can use it. So a building that have stairs and elevators would be an example of universal design. Universal design in education means that the media is accessible for all learners both in that they can access the information and that they are able to learn from in. We get to learn about the neurological basis for learning problems (ie dyslexia) and about the strengths and weaknesses so that we can learn to use media in ways so that different types of learners can understand what we're trying to teach.

So that's my semester. Off to Class #2.....

Delinquent

So I must apologize for being delinquent. Work has been pretty busy lately, and so frankly if I even had the time to post I wouldn't have much exciting to discuss. This is also true for my roommate, who pretty much works 8:30 - 11pm every day, which is why he has yet to post to this (Brian, for those who don't know we are living together). Or at least I presume so. I just got back from Chicago, and we talked for over an hour when I got in. That's the longest we've talked in I don't even know how long. He is actually doing work now (11pm on Friday), so that he doesn't have to go in tomorrow.

Like I said I just got back from Chicago. The last couple of days I had a training/meeting session for my service line. That was a lot of fun and much better than the week before, when I was in Bloomington giving training to a client (a whole nother story (BTW, nother is a real word according to www.m-w.com)). We had official "social events" after training, and then many of us went out to bars after that, which was fun, but made for a long night. Good times though. I met a lot of people, which is good - both people I had talked to before but not met, and new people I didn't even know existed. I also heard of a few interesting projects looking for people. But first...

The project I'm on right now is an internal initiative. It's a website to be used as a reference for system architecture and development. So the content has been interesting to develop and I've learned a lot, but the work itself is just web development... so skills-wise I have been stagnant. That is why I'm looking to get onto another project. I heard of two that I think sound interesting... one is in Atlanta and the other is San Fransisco. SF is far away though, so the flight would be a bitch. The Atlanta project is pretty exciting/ground-breaking stuff (Cheryl: it's a Fortune 100 company implementing an enterprise-wide SOA... we are pretty sure its currently the biggest SOA implementation in the world), but the problem is tat I can't get off my current project until they get a replacement for me. And of course, I could end up in D.C. I am leaning towards wanting to not be in D.C., but I'm not really sure. I go back and forth, as there are pluses and minuses to both.

Ok, so I read this and I realized that not everyone knows exactly what I'm doing. I'm a group called Custom Solutions Architecture; we design and lead development on large, custom business software solutions. It probably makes me sound like a dork, but I find that sort of stuff really interesting, so I am happy with the group. I am just itching to get out on a 'real' project.

Tomorrow I am off to Williamsburg, to visit Mary Beth for the weekend. Then I am here for the week (although a very small chance I will have to go to Dallas for a couple of days), then I have a big training session for two weeks. You should hear from me again after that ;-)

I live in an interesting place

Walking to the grocery store I walk down my street about 2 blocks and then I cross a relatively busy street. There's a crosswalk there, but no one pays any attention to it. It's a little annoying when I'm standing there with a weeks worth of groceries. When I first moved here there was a a sign in the middle of the crosswalk alerting drivers to the fact that Massachusetts state law requires motorists to stop for pedestrians in the crosswalk. The sign is hard to describe, except to say that it was kind of a weeble people approach to traffic signs. It just sort of sat there in the middle of the street. Eventually though it got so dinged up from getting hit by oncoming traffic that they moved it to the sidewalk and then took it away entirely. So I guess we're on our own then.

One day I was walking to Harvard Sq to get on the T. I passed a bus stop on my way. The bus driver was just getting off the bus. Which might seem weird, but bus drivers here are often seen outside of the bus hanging out, having a smoke. I'd notice this just about every morning at stop closer to my apartment, but never this one in Harvard Sq. Anyway, this bus driver was pulling his jacket closed. "It's cold out here! You guys go ahead and get on, it's freezing out. I'm just going to go get some ice cream." So the kind of confused passengers got on the bus, (still running, door open) and the bus driver walked (not in any particular hurry) to buy some ice cream.

Performance Anxiety?

Ok, I've been checking this thing like every day and there's nothing. Diddly squat.

I know I am not the only one who has been opening up the blog seeing that nothing has been posted since January 24th. Maybe you have not been posting for the same reason I have not. You open it up and no one has said anything in two weeks and suddenly there's a lot of pressure there. Am I going to be the one to revive the blog? When my friends open up this page they'll see that there's a new entry...will my post live up to the hype?

Well, I'm going to let you down with this post in hopes that it will pave the way for bigger and better things to come. I'm supposed to be at a meeting at 4 (if anyone fixed the time on this post, you would see that it is 4:02 now, but really more like 4:05 when I finish). I will post tonight (8ish, I'm thinking) with more of my haps. See, I'm building my post up even more...I'm not scared, are you?