Even though I don't think that my lack of entries this week have raised anyone's ire, I still feel like I should apologize. My time management seems to have gone out the window lately, and I had planned to give a list of excuses, but that's lame.
Instead, I will give you some good news! My car was finished this week, so I am once again driving my own very special little Toyota. It was so wonderful to pull into the lot and see my very own car waiting for me with all its cracks and dents repaired. Perhaps it is a bit lame that I was so excited, but I won't deny it.
Other than that, life has been pretty normal. I have a group presentation due for my Management class this week that includes a Power Point presentation. Let me just say that I find Power Point presentations equally useless on both presenter and presentee ends of the spectrum. I would rather watch golf on TV than be in the same room as a Power Point show. Unfortunately, my course grade is dependent on this presentation, so my options are limited. As it is a group project, my teammates are also dependent on my participation, so I cannot in good conscience avoid participation.
On a happier note, this weekend is one of meetings with good and long-time friends. Tonight I met my favorite blog-reading newlyweds (and marathon runners), Rox and Bill for dinner. We shared stories, quoted South Park (at least Bill and I did) and ate good food. I really hope that they weren't locked out of their B & B due to our extended conversation!
If you know me outside of this blog and spent any time with me this week, you probably noticed that I have been a little bit crabby/tense/psychotic. While part of this can definitely be chalked up to PMS, I am afraid that I might be in the midst of a mid-semester break-down.
In my former educational experiences (especially high school) I was a bit particular about my grades and GPA. College mellowed me out a bit, but my unexpected good performance so far in grad school has set my personal expectations a bit too high.
After laying awake for many nights troubled over all the impending doom hanging over my head, I finally remembered something that my summer class professor told us: grades don't matter to future employers. Apparently, for most places looking to hire MLIS grads, the most important part of the qualification is that you have a degree and that it is from an accredited institution. Getting a grade lower than an "A" will not disqualify you as an applicant!!!
In order to make this work for me, I have adopted a mantra that my dad likes to use that he learned from Bill Murray's character in the movie "Meatballs." IT JUST DOESN'T MATTER! When I am stressed out about beating the grading curve, I will repeat this phrase (out loud or in my head). It will become my mantra. I will use it to remind myself that once this course is done, I will never have to repeat it and can move on to classes that are really interesting to me.
OK, now it is quite late and I still have some online searching to do, but if you happen to see or speak to me in the next 7-8 weeks, be sure to remind me of my new slogan. I'm sure I will appreciate it.
Showing posts with label friends. Show all posts
Showing posts with label friends. Show all posts
Saturday, October 16, 2010
Monday, October 11, 2010
I'll have the chipper chicken!
I have just completed a most awesome and lazy Monday off of work thanks to Columbus Day. Tomorrow I must return, but hopefully I will hear some good news about my car and the day will go quickly. I still have a bunch of reading and prep work to do for class this week, but I thrive on chaos. Right?
As I sat here tonight checking Facebook and emails, I suddenly realized that the past few weeks have been full of exciting news for people in my life. Engagements, pregnancies, anniversaries, etc. One of my best friends even announced that she and her husband are relocating to Missouri because of his job promotion. While I am super excited for this opportunity and what exciting things are in store for them, the selfish part of me is a little bummed to have them move away. Thankfully, her hubby's job is with an airline, which means that it should be relatively easy (and cheap) for her to come home to visit somewhat often.
For me, this weekend was all about vegging out and catching up on my rest, which is great. For my father, it meant going out to the family farm and checking the status of the roof on the farmhouse which was supposed to be completed over a week ago (they have yet to start). During his brief visit, he spent time with my grandfather (of microwaved water fame) and as usual, hilarity ensued.
Before I get into the story itself, I should probably make a confession. As you may or may not know, I have a tendency to recall random and sometimes useless facts. By no means do I mean to say that I'm some sort of genius. I simply mean that one of my personality "quirks" is to break off into tangential explanations when asked simple questions or conversing on a specific topic.
Until recently, I believed that this was unique to me, at least in my family. However, one day while having one of these moments of tangential thought, it suddenly occurred to me that this habit was quite definitely inherited from my paternal grandfather. In fact, I would go so far as to say that he is better at it than me. After all, he has had 84 years of practice.
Now that I have made this connection, I shall make another. My grandpa likes to read, and he makes good use of his local library. He tends to prefer non-fiction, but I have no quarrel with that. Recently, his obsession has been with bootleggers who operated during Prohibition in his MN county of residence. My dad has strangely taken a bit of an interest as well, or maybe he has just had to listen to my grandpa too much and has been brainwashed.
Anyway, on this weekend's visit, my dad discovered that my grandpa had checked out a new book. Brace yourselves, it's pretty amazing. It is "Poultry of the World" by Loyl Stromberg. At first I found this quite humorous. To make the jump from rural MN bootleggers to international poultry seemed a bit far-fetched, even for me. Then I did my research.
Not only did I locate this book on Amazon.com, but I discovered that it is not cheap to acquire. To buy it NEW from Amazon would cost $144.24!!! This kindled my interest further, so I Googled the author, Loyl Stromberg.
As a good library student, I will include a link for his mini-bio: http://www.summagallicana.it/english/loyl_stromberg.htm
After reading this webpage, I discovered many more reasons why this book would appeal to my grandpa. My initial assumption was that as a retired farmer who at one point had raised chickens himself, he had personal interest. Also, my cousins (his grandsons) are raising chickens for egg production at the moment, so perhaps this triggered his curiosity while perusing the library.
Further investigation revealed that the author, Loyl Stromberg, lives (or lived) in Minnesota. In a blog from 2007, it appeared that Loyl was in his 90's and still alive (http://poultrybookstore.blogspot.com/2007/09/loyl-stromberg-now-93-years-old.html). From the mini-bio, it sounds like Loyl may have been a Norwegian. This fact alone was probably enough to interest my grandpa. Heck, for all I know they are buddies from his Hallinglag club. (I'm not going to explain the Hallinglag right now, but I'm sure I will later.)
Why am I sharing this story? Is it because I am bored? Am I afraid that the screaming Vikings fans in my neighbor's house will keep me from getting to sleep? No to both. I am sharing this because I would like to give you an idea of what kind of interests I expect to have when I am 84. It's always good to have time to prepare.
My final piece of useful information from my father's visit came courtesy of my 10 year-old cousin. Apparently, he somehow managed to put his father's truck in the ditch this weekend somewhere by their house (on their farm). He was fine. When asked what happened, he claimed that the truck had become possessed and driven of its own accord into the ditch and then into a tree.
Rather than question the plausibility of this statement or wonder why my 10 year-old cousin was behind the wheel in the first place, I am going to take this explanation and use it for the future if anyone else asks me how my car came to be in the repair shop for two weeks. It was a case of demon possession, pure and simple. Case closed. I wonder if my insurance company would believe it?
As I sat here tonight checking Facebook and emails, I suddenly realized that the past few weeks have been full of exciting news for people in my life. Engagements, pregnancies, anniversaries, etc. One of my best friends even announced that she and her husband are relocating to Missouri because of his job promotion. While I am super excited for this opportunity and what exciting things are in store for them, the selfish part of me is a little bummed to have them move away. Thankfully, her hubby's job is with an airline, which means that it should be relatively easy (and cheap) for her to come home to visit somewhat often.
For me, this weekend was all about vegging out and catching up on my rest, which is great. For my father, it meant going out to the family farm and checking the status of the roof on the farmhouse which was supposed to be completed over a week ago (they have yet to start). During his brief visit, he spent time with my grandfather (of microwaved water fame) and as usual, hilarity ensued.
Before I get into the story itself, I should probably make a confession. As you may or may not know, I have a tendency to recall random and sometimes useless facts. By no means do I mean to say that I'm some sort of genius. I simply mean that one of my personality "quirks" is to break off into tangential explanations when asked simple questions or conversing on a specific topic.
Until recently, I believed that this was unique to me, at least in my family. However, one day while having one of these moments of tangential thought, it suddenly occurred to me that this habit was quite definitely inherited from my paternal grandfather. In fact, I would go so far as to say that he is better at it than me. After all, he has had 84 years of practice.
Now that I have made this connection, I shall make another. My grandpa likes to read, and he makes good use of his local library. He tends to prefer non-fiction, but I have no quarrel with that. Recently, his obsession has been with bootleggers who operated during Prohibition in his MN county of residence. My dad has strangely taken a bit of an interest as well, or maybe he has just had to listen to my grandpa too much and has been brainwashed.
Anyway, on this weekend's visit, my dad discovered that my grandpa had checked out a new book. Brace yourselves, it's pretty amazing. It is "Poultry of the World" by Loyl Stromberg. At first I found this quite humorous. To make the jump from rural MN bootleggers to international poultry seemed a bit far-fetched, even for me. Then I did my research.
Not only did I locate this book on Amazon.com, but I discovered that it is not cheap to acquire. To buy it NEW from Amazon would cost $144.24!!! This kindled my interest further, so I Googled the author, Loyl Stromberg.
As a good library student, I will include a link for his mini-bio: http://www.summagallicana.it/english/loyl_stromberg.htm
After reading this webpage, I discovered many more reasons why this book would appeal to my grandpa. My initial assumption was that as a retired farmer who at one point had raised chickens himself, he had personal interest. Also, my cousins (his grandsons) are raising chickens for egg production at the moment, so perhaps this triggered his curiosity while perusing the library.
Further investigation revealed that the author, Loyl Stromberg, lives (or lived) in Minnesota. In a blog from 2007, it appeared that Loyl was in his 90's and still alive (http://poultrybookstore.blogspot.com/2007/09/loyl-stromberg-now-93-years-old.html). From the mini-bio, it sounds like Loyl may have been a Norwegian. This fact alone was probably enough to interest my grandpa. Heck, for all I know they are buddies from his Hallinglag club. (I'm not going to explain the Hallinglag right now, but I'm sure I will later.)
Why am I sharing this story? Is it because I am bored? Am I afraid that the screaming Vikings fans in my neighbor's house will keep me from getting to sleep? No to both. I am sharing this because I would like to give you an idea of what kind of interests I expect to have when I am 84. It's always good to have time to prepare.
My final piece of useful information from my father's visit came courtesy of my 10 year-old cousin. Apparently, he somehow managed to put his father's truck in the ditch this weekend somewhere by their house (on their farm). He was fine. When asked what happened, he claimed that the truck had become possessed and driven of its own accord into the ditch and then into a tree.
Rather than question the plausibility of this statement or wonder why my 10 year-old cousin was behind the wheel in the first place, I am going to take this explanation and use it for the future if anyone else asks me how my car came to be in the repair shop for two weeks. It was a case of demon possession, pure and simple. Case closed. I wonder if my insurance company would believe it?
Sunday, September 19, 2010
Voulez-Vous Dîner Avec Moi Ce Soir?
I don't know how other people do it, but my friends and I have a pretty identifiable pattern when it comes to making plans of a set nature. Years ago, when our schedules and lives were much more simple, the basic pattern emerged which has remained dominant in our current planning rituals even though we are now much more distant geographically and otherwise.
I am not sure what to call this pattern. It is a bizarre combination of passive-aggressive and laziness. Please note that I am not saying that any one of us is passive-aggressive or lazy, but when the group of us try to plan something as simple as a dinner meeting, it somehow brings out behaviors in everyone that trend towards these attributes.
Personally, I think we are all just so nice that no one wants to impose their will (or restaurant choice) on the whole group for fear of upsetting someone else. Of all my friends, I think I have the reputation of being the bossiest. I am sure my friends would "nice it up" by saying that I am more decisive or a leader-type. Essentially this means that when it comes to making a definite call for the group, I'm usually the one who has to make the final choice and face the wrath or disappointment of anyone who secretly disagrees with me. It's a risk we all have to take at some point. So far I've emerged unscathed.
For illustrative purposes, I have decided to diagram out how this usually plays out. Please note that any similarities to actual people in my drawings is purely coincidence. I promise.
Everything begins with the person with the "big idea." Here is how it starts:
I am not sure what to call this pattern. It is a bizarre combination of passive-aggressive and laziness. Please note that I am not saying that any one of us is passive-aggressive or lazy, but when the group of us try to plan something as simple as a dinner meeting, it somehow brings out behaviors in everyone that trend towards these attributes.
Personally, I think we are all just so nice that no one wants to impose their will (or restaurant choice) on the whole group for fear of upsetting someone else. Of all my friends, I think I have the reputation of being the bossiest. I am sure my friends would "nice it up" by saying that I am more decisive or a leader-type. Essentially this means that when it comes to making a definite call for the group, I'm usually the one who has to make the final choice and face the wrath or disappointment of anyone who secretly disagrees with me. It's a risk we all have to take at some point. So far I've emerged unscathed.
For illustrative purposes, I have decided to diagram out how this usually plays out. Please note that any similarities to actual people in my drawings is purely coincidence. I promise.
Everything begins with the person with the "big idea." Here is how it starts:
After thinking about this for a while, the "big idea" happens:
Immediately, before they have a chance to forget about the "big idea," the initial email is composed to the whole group:
This email is sent and received with great excitement and anticipation:
At this point, the next step is clear to all. Calendars are consulted, day planners are searched and everyone sends back their available dates for the next two months (it can take a long time to plan stuff with my friends).
After the excitement wears off and everyone has sent back their replies, the Inviter compiles the date information and comes up with a final date and time for the dinner meeting. That is it. Just a date and time. Everything else is de facto "to be determined."
Depending on how far out this plan has been made, no more will be mentioned of it for a while. Typically, everyone pretty much goes on as normal with their lives until...
At this point, someone realizes that while we definitely know when we are meeting, we have yet to determine WHERE we are meeting. As this is actually a pretty important detail, another group email is sent to see if there are any requests or preferences among the attendees. Without fail, the unanimous response to this inquiry is:
This is where someone (usually me) is forced into the bossy chair. It is quite certain that everyone secretly has a preference or a sincere hankering for a specific food or type of restaurant, but trying to get them to admit to this will be like trying to convince my grandfather that he doesn't need to microwave his drinking water.
As I have not been gifted with psychic powers, I will be forced to do the research. Typically, this leads me to my preferred method of forcing the group to make the final decision without making them feel like they run the risk of angering the rest of the group with their choice. I make them a short list.
At this point, everyone is usually able to pick a place and feel safe about it. The responses are tallied and thusly, a restaurant is chosen by the group (sort of).
Despite the fact that this process is almost always much much more time consuming than it needs to be, we always end up having a good time anyway. Our dinners conclude by saying that we should do it again soon. There was a time when we actually could do something like this once a month. I'm not sure how long in between meetings we go nowadays, but it's longer than a month. Either way, the end result is always fun and I guess the invitation cycle is all part of the excitement.
P.S. This is the BIG entry I've been writing about for a few weeks now. I'm sorry it took so long, but I am blaming the start of the new semester of school for my tardiness!!!
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