Tomorrow =

+

real quick Pilkington-esque rant

'Blog' is a word that I used to hate. I don't like words that are made up to fit weird unpopular niches. Turns out blogging is pretty popular. But really: Web Log - is it really that much harder to say?

Webinar is a terrible word that I hope doesn't catch on in the non-corporate world. (Main Street, if you will.)

I also don't like when people call a tissue a Kleenex, but I won't call a sterile plastic bandage anything but a Band-Aid. That's a double-standard. Cotton swab sticks? Heck no. That's a Q-tip, my friend.

Verbage and Verbiage are not the same word, one isn't a word and the other probably doesn't mean what you think it does.

What words do you hate?

I'll turn this a little more positive (and a little bit more like Inside the Actor's Studio):

Words I love:

Pumpernickel, Hooplah, Hoity-toity (sp? hyphen?), Moxie, Untimely

What words do you love?

Here's a Blog I wrote.

I wrote this on Janaina's blog a few months ago. I'm writing another entry now - I'll put a link here when it's done.

Thursday, February 12, 2009
GUEST BLOGGER...Slow and Steady...
Guest Blogger: Laura Kingstorf

I have a new found respect for fitness classes. On Tuesday, it will officially be a month that I have faithfully attended not one but two classes a week. I realize that is only 4 classes each, but I usually have a lot of one-night-stands with classes (ie. that time I tried yoga last summer). But this year I've been sticking to a plan, and finding the routine to be extremely comforting.

I'm a part-time triathlete in the summer months and biking is my weakest event. I realized that I need to start building a base early in the year, but with a constant 6 inches of snow/ice on the ground and 4 foot snow banks around every turn, I thought I'd try a spinning class at the Y. My initial plan, actually, was to go swimming at least 3 mornings per week, and spin or run 2-3 times per week after work. Then I stepped back and realized that is how I usually proceed when the fitness bug bites. I get into an elaborate plan with work-out logs, diet journals, and double sessions for a week or two. The next two weeks are a recovery period, usually involuntary due to an exhaustion-induced illness, and by that point the fitness bug has since flown away and I'm eating a Guinness ice cream float. This time I went to one spinning class on Tuesday after work about a month ago. I took it slow and got to talk to the instructor, Geno, afterwards. Since that day, I've been going back every week. Admittedly, I haven't run on the treadmill in a few weeks, and haven't gone swimming since 2008, but I'm also not completely worn out. I plan on adding one swim or run a week starting next week and then building up my aerobic activities slowly (ZUMBA?!).

The second class I've been faithful to is a combination of Yoga and Pilates and it takes place 3 floors down from my desk as I type this. I've been working in the same office building for 2 years and never set foot in the practically complementary fitness center that we have on the first floor. I finally responded to the mass e-mail begging people to join and was greeted with such a warm response. There are 4 fitness classes offered each week as well as unlimited use of the treadmills and freeweights, said the fitness coordinator, and she invited me to try a class out for free. What?! It's not Bally's by any means, but the membership level I chose breaks down to $2 per week. Not too shabby. I've been attending yoga-lates class every Friday at noon for the past month. It's an amazing stress reducer and since I had to pay for all of the classes ahead of time I always have incentive to stick with it. Seeing naked ladies that I work with in the locker room will take some getting used to.

**4/8 Update (that rhymes):
Still Spinning
Still Yoga-ing
Bi-Monthly Zumba-ing (when my schedule permits)
I joined a swimming club at the Y - it's awesome but pricey, so I think only one 3 month session is in the cards for right now. I learned a lot of new workouts though.
Starting a food diary... stay tuned.

Maeby.

Vote for Maeby!

Maeby is Dominique's dog. Vote. Thanks. Bye.

just because I sit next to the machine...

New Blogger?

She's a lot like the old blogger - only older.

After editing some of the grammatical errors in my older posts, I'm back.

I've decided that I'm important enough to broadcast my thoughts over a not-so-large audience (again.)

While I still have daily adventures with Abe, I won't be reinventing that blog just yet.

Wow - imagine if I knew how to produce a podcast... then how annoying would I be?

New Blogger?

Looks a lot like the old Blogger, just a little bit slower - but I'll take it.

My body is sore from the gym - I lifted on Wednesday morning, and I feel like I've been beat up. Stairs, in particular, have been extremely tricky this week.

I got a new Get Fuzzy day-by-day calendar from my sister for Christmas and I read the same comic strip over and over each day. It's more fun than it sounds.

A girl I work with got me a red Swingline stapler for Christmas, today I used the label maker to put some Office Space quotes on it - very productive day so far.

I have watched You, Me and Dupree twice in the last week. I really like it - Owen Wilson has me in a comedy trance as soon as he says anything. I think I am blinded by his funny and I wouldn't notice if the rest of the movie around him is terrible. Ben Stiller doesn't hypnotize me as much, that's why I'm afraid to see Night at the Museum. Owen's part doesn't appear to be big enough to steal the whole show.

I'm trying that whole 'no soda at work thing' again this year as a resolution. I think I made it 3 weeks or so last year - it's hard! In related news: the raspberry iced tea at Blimpie's is sweeter than soda, and probably just as bad, if not worse for me.

I've got one foot out the door at work, and my mind is not here at all... which is making my days long, boring, frustrating, and useless. Ugh - I can't wait to move! I haven't officially gotten any job offers yet in NH though - so it is a scary time. I hope to be out of this place by the end of the month. I have been saying that since November :(

bah...

I just got my first christmas present from a planner I work for - it is shitty red candles surrounded in fake pine and holly branches coated in glittery plastic that is supposed to look like snow or ice or some shit. (That's right - I said shit twice, that's how bad.) I wish I hadn't already bought a grab-bag gift for the office party because I would have loved to wrap this puppy back up for some other sucker. A puppy. THAT would have been a good gift.

Hi Josh

Josh linked me - so I thought I'd stop and say hello.

hello.

I ran the 1/2 Marathon - 2 hours and 7 minutes, what? Very exciting. My original goal was to run it right around 2 hours, then -like everything I attempt- I pretty much dropped my rigid training program after 2 weeks. It took me an hour and 45 minutes to run 10 miles the week before the race. That seems ridiculously long, but most of that time was spent rolling my ankle (twice) and limping home bloodily after a fairly nasty fall on the trails. I ran 3 miles the week of the race in 30 minutes which is nothing to brag about. I was planning on running 5 or 6, but my shins had a terrible uprising and I succumed to ice. Long story short(er) my sister and I ran it together and kicked butt. We walked through every water stop which didn't really hurt our time all that much, and accidentally ran one mile under 8:30. The crowds were blasting "We Will Rock You" and the theme from Rocky, how could we not? Post race: my right foot is fairly messed up, and my weird occasional limpy walking is now making my back and hips sore. I'm going to the doctor tonight, Mom.

The week before the marathon my sweet ass free Intrepid started to overheat and was deemed "unsafe for highway driving" forcing me to invest in a new automobile. I went to Cupples Cars in the beautiful Lakes Region of New Hampshire (www.cupplescars.com, 1-800-Cupples) and came home in a kickass 2004 Jetta wagon. It's pretty much new (under 25k miles) and awesome.

I'm working diligently on getting work in New Hampshire by the 1st of the year - (which is only 33 days from now, consider the fire lit under my tuchas).

I got to see Josh and Dominique not once, but TWICE this weekend, that was great. And, if you know me well - you'll know that last Thanksgiving was perhaps the worst holiday in holiday history for my family (which, if you knew the comparison, is sadly impressive) but this year - holy crap! So. Much. Fun. It was just me, my parents and my sister (her husband just started working at a gym, so who gets to work the day after Thanksgiving? The new guy.) My mom made yummy paella and apple pie. No turkey here. We played Scrabble and Scene It late into the rainy night with Sangria and mulled wine a-plenty.

HeadOn - Apply Directly to the Forehead

I have had a headache for the past 2 days and it is making me pretty pessimistic:

-I don't want it to be sunny, it hurts my head.
-I don't want to get out of bed: walking, talking, opening my eyes all hurt my head too.
-I found myself angry that there was no traffic this morning, because that meant that there were people taking a 4-day weekend for Columbus Day. I left late but got to work on time, but extra bitter.

Blah - I'm taking more IBUprofen now, but I think my body is immune to it's effects.

Nacho Space

"LNC Policy Violation

Access Denied and Logged
Access to the requested website has been denied by Information Security. This site is categorized as a prohibited site - defined by LNC's Security Policy. For questions please contact the Information Security contact listed below"

Bah - the company I work for has clearly caught on to my many hours a day wasting time and resources on the internet and has blocked MySpace and Facebook from me on the same day! Back to Blogger I go...

Below and within.

I like activities. Who doesn't? I enjoy clubs, outings, groups... Basically getting out of my house with others is something I rarely turn down. However, I am never the person to plan such activities. I like pre-existing engagements that I can RSVP to. I don't call people to see if they want to go, I certainly don't plan months ahead of time to reserve space, or organize a team, or hire a DJ. I attend and if necessary, I pay. That's it, that's my effort. Usually -that is all the effort that is needed. "We'd love it if you showed up!" Consider it done. My job is being an assistant. In my free time, if anything - I want people to assist me.

Now - the trouble comes with my friends. I'm friends with the go-getters, the planners, the above-and-beyonders. From the outside this seems good. One would think that I could just be lead blindly to social gatherings by those in charge and do what I do best: participate. Nope. When you are friends with the organizer you are inevitably given a job - some sort of menial task that your "friend" doesn't feel comfortable asking anyone else to do. Usually the request is given under some sort of false pretence that you are "the only one I can trust with this" or "I've seen what you can do, you'll be great!" (The go-getters are always sickeningly encouraging.) This translates to, "I'm really trying to make some new friends here, and if I ask them to write down their own names and addresses, they'll obviously hate me forever. Here's a pen."

Aside from the additional work that has now tainted this purely social, formerly fun activity, the Friend of the Organizer also has more responsibility than any other attendee. By signing up for softball I committed to the same amount of games that everyone else did, under the assumption that if I were hypothetically extremely hungover and unable to walk, stuck in traffic, or plain old not in the mood to show up that it would be ok to not show up. Wrong! Other people can do that. The average attendee of a weekly outing to a local watering hole can just not show up unannounced and be welcomed back the next week without 35 "Why aren't you here? Who can I ask to watch the table when we all go out for a cigarette?" phone calls. The Friend of the Organizer must be present at all instances of said organized event regardless of other - even pre-established - commitments.

Well I quit. I'm done being a founding member, a team manager, or any other pretend title giving the illusion of power. I'm going to stick with activities that I enjoy without any strings attached. The people at the gym never ask me to help pick up towels with them. The bartender never has me get my own ice. People are dependent on me all day at work, so from now on after 5 and on weekends, I am going to be completely dependent on others, or independent with no responsibilities but my own. If that bothers you, you should probably find some more responsible friends, and actually - I wish you would so that I'm not the only one.

Takin' what they're givin'

A woman at my office quit last week. I am now doing much of her job on top of my whole job. It sucks. I can't get to NH fast enough. This work load was dropped on me as a surprise on Friday, hence I have been MIA on the internet. I have to work for one more financial planner now (bringing the grand total up to 7). I didn't mind sitting down with the woman who left (who is awesome by the by) and the new-to-me planner and sorting through open cases. I didn't mind getting a list in my inbox on Monday morning of new-to-me clients and their status with their insurance and accounts, etc. I do greatly mind the two manila folders bursting at the seams of filing that she just "didn't get to" dating back to mid 2004. Super.

The worst part is that she left her employers in a lurch because she didn't like the way she was treated. Instead of them bucking up and figuring out how to process business themselves (as MANY planners here do) and/or learning a lesson they turned around and dumped all of her shit onto other assistants. I'm one of 3 people who is now doing a job.3(repeating). One poor other woman was only doing marketing materials part-time for planners and started 2 months ago. She has NO idea what's going on, but that doesn't concern the "higher ups" at all. Of course not - it is cheaper to have present employees do more work (and not get paid more, mind you) than to hire a new person. The planners I have been working for actually pay less for me now that I've been roped in to help this new guy. It's absolutely terrible, but it makes complete monetary sense, which means this is how it will stay until soemone else (me) leaves.

My only hope is that this will all pay off around Christmas time when I'll get presents from 7 men that I know make good money, hopefully some sort of bonus, and some peace and quiet when they're off galavanting in their Time Shares/vacation homes.

-Other news -

Running is going well, went 6 miles on Sunday. It was much more tolerable than I expected, but my iPod keeps slipping out of my holder thing, which was just annoying, and will get more annoying as the runs get longer.

I'll be running a 5k race this sunday in celebration of it being Half Way to St. Patty's Day, sponsored by an Irish Pub in Manchester, NH.

I left my cell phone AND my lunch at home today, and got stuck in traffic behind a four-car pile up on the way to work. Weather said it was going to be cloudy and 72, it is definitley rainy and 60-ish now. LIARS. Boo X 3.

The supermarkets have huge crates full of pumpkins, candy corn is everywhere and the leaves are changing. Yay X 3.

A.L.I.T.

Ouch, my shin splints of indoor track fame are back. Boo! I did squeeze two workouts a little close together (I ran at 7 last night, and then again at 6 this morning) which is probably the biggest issue. I have weight training scheduled for today and then REST tomorrow. This is all very doable... I just have to not lose my interest (again, culinary school?).

I have my training plan posted up in my cubicle at work, and I've been crossing off my workouts in pinky-purple marker. If that doesn't keep me excited, I don't know what will. I'm hoping that people will start asking me about it. No takers yet... I'll try printing it out in a bigger font next time.

Work was hellish yesterday. So terrible that my amazingly cordial, nice, friendly, bend-over-backwards-for-anyone co-assistant, Sheryl snapped, "Aww... Shit runs downhill!" after hanging up on our boss. Eep... :/

All is well now and we're back in the swing of things.

TGTIF.

Give my kids ghetto names like Little Mookie, Big Al, Lorraine (I wish)

I'm back...

I lose interest in the blogging so quickly! Lately whenever I've come across ideas to write about, it's sort of like the kid drowning in the pool... unhappy and mostly bitter. That's not what I want to go back and read about when I'm skimming my archives, so I have just stopped all together. But for now I'm back.

I've just commited to running the Philadelphia Half Marathon with my sister in November. That gives me 11 weeks to get into 13 mile running shape. I'll try to keep This is me updated with that adventure.

Also, within the next 6 months I'll be moving to and getting a new job in New Hampshire. I am very much looking forward to it, but financially I can't do it yet. Goal: early 2007.

I wish I were in school. I found myself looking online for various continuing education, hobby, and even masters programs today. The Back to School vibe is so strong! I wish I had a need for a new pencil case and a Five Star notebook. I'm thinking of getting my MBA eventually. I could do it in NH, but it will be $300 cheaper per course if I wait until they consider me a "resident" (which is another year, at that point I'll certainly have lost my motivation to learn - proof: ask me how I'm doing in culinary school.)

Maybe I will excercise my mind by chipping away at the constantly growing "To Do:" list on my desk.

Your mom says hi.

This girl has no sense of humor.

See you at Harbor Park for Josh's last Tuesday, bitches!

the world is shrinking

Evidence:

1. Dicta's dad works in the building next to my office building. He used to work with my next door neighbor.

2. This guy/burn victim from the Counting Crows concert in Dominique's blog was at Harbor Park last night.

3. I was looking for Anna Farris pictures online and the Google pictures search came up with http://dakoulkid.livejournal.com/ which is by a guy who maybe went to UNH with me, but his brother definitely did and worked with my boyfriend. Of all the Anna Faris fansites, I picked his to steal from.

4. I work with Sue, her daughter works with one of my college roommates at a different college. They're the only two people in their recruiting region.

I'm hoping that I run into some celebrities soon, or all of my degrees of seperation will have gone to waste.

Her mouth is ALWAYS open!

Anna Faris is featured on the last page of Self magazine this month (or last month... my magazines tend to pile up.) The interview makes her seem like a normal/ok person, but I don't think I could be her friend. She gasps a lot.

In the interview she talks about how comedy is a great way for women to express themselves without being sexual. I'm not sure that she's seen any of the movies that she has been in.

She's married to some actor, but I didn't recognize his name. But, I didn't really recognize Anna's name without the picture either.

Posting this led me to a much more interesting entry (see above.) erm, but the better one was not really cohesive without this lame attempt at flauting celebrity in front of dicta's face.

Don't fear the reaper...

Bring on some more cowbell! I know of 3 people who died within the past week, so I'm pretty sure that I'm in the clear. And so are you!

All of them were equally as distant to me, and barely acquaintances which is why I'm not so much distraught as relieved. Why 3 is the magic number, I don't know - but I'll take it. Mostly because it makes me feel better.

In celebration of my life and those of my dear friends, I will be at O'Porto's in Hartford for happy hour and then probably a mandatory irresponsible Thursday trip to Margaritas.

Plagiarism

Honestly - I usually prefer others' ideas over my own: