Technology.

I am, in no way, calling myself Sleeping Beauty. But seriously, what would women do without straighteners? Or blow-dryers for that matter?

Hilarious.

what.the.fuck.

For some reason I am interested in this case, as much as I was the one of Madeline McCain. But at some point, shouldn't they STOP accusing the mother, or the family, and look elsewhere? They are turning this case into another Jon Benet Ramsey and its pissing. me. off. 

http://www.cnn.com/2008/CRIME/09/22/caylee.protesters.ap/index.html?iref=mpstoryview

Party for One

My first business trip has begun, and ended. THANK GOD. I had all these thoughts of fancy businss suits and beautiful men and tasty food and impeccable hotel rooms with a mini-bar -- oh, how I was wrong. Well, not on all of it. Sure, some people wore expensive looking suits with colorful ties. And, there were a couple of pretty people to look at, but all over the age of 40, of course. Now, as for the tasty food and comfy hotel rooms - those were a treat. 

I've never gotten over the concept of how much money there is floating around this world - I really don't know if i ever will. It seems outrageous to me that my salary is - literally- next to nothing. However, the second I embark on a 'business trip', everything is expensed. EVERYTHING. Martini lunches at Hooters, five-star dinners at steakhouses, bottles and bottles of wine. These people LOVE to eat. I don't mind it at all, don't get me wrong. It was more than amazing - but, I realized a few things: 

A meal is more than a meal - it is the company you share it with. I'd learned this before when I travelled abroad in Spain. At my Senoras house, sitting down to a four course meal every night was a way of life - but it wasn't to eat. It was to get together, to share our days, to share our thoughts. Its where we had some of the best bonding. We sort of lose that in the U.S., amongst all the fast-food places. 

Most of the people I ate a meal with on this business trip were interesting; some of them had great things to say, great advice to give. One guy inparticular - Joel - I got to share almost all of my meals with. He and I travelled together in my car, and so in addition the meals, we had alot of time to get to know each other. He was very COOL--  as much a business associate my dad's age can be. He talked to me about moving in with his wife after knowing her only two weeks, about why he could never work for my boss but thinks its the best thing ever for me, and smoking pot.  Another guy was raised in Indiana, and had only come to the convention to get away from the chaos in his hometown, resulting from Hurricane Ike's rainwaters that flooded his street and his entire house. Losing almost everything in the house he had grown up in, he had come to the convention knowing that it would better occupy his time than sitting in a rowboat in his street, looking helplessly at his house, would do him.

These people, along with many others, are so great because they introduce you to an outside world, while simultaneously giving you a rare chance to truly appreciate the people in yours. 

Sure, swanky hotels are really great, and 50-dollar bottles of wine are truly delicious, but what is any of it if you can't share it with the people you love? 

Just another business trip. 

Business Trips are SO not the new Road Trip.

I go on my first business trip tomorrow. My. First. Business. Trip. I like saying it, it sounds professional. I don't feel that professional, and I don't feel that mature. When I get my things ready for work - my computer, my note cards, my planner, and put on my work clothes, and partake in discussions about 300,000 pieces of equipment, I feel like I'm six years old again and playing house. Today, I had to call my boyfriend - who, by the way, I am head over heels in love with - and ask him what sandbags were used for in relation to the floods in the midwest right now. Yet a few weeks ago, I had to turn away a sale at work because they didn't know (or care) that aerosole fumes can get through a HEPA filter, creating a hazardous - VERY hazardous - environment for their products and employees. I was trusted to just know that information.

At some point in my life - probably when I was enthralled in BSC books (the very then-famous baby-sitters club books)- that I came up with a very idealistic of how things were supposed to be. When I could buy my own lunch in high school, that was SO very uber cool and how high school kids should be. And when I got my license, it was so very cool of me to be the one with the car at the football games. And when I got to college, it was even more cool to be the first one with a fake ID. So what happens after college? It'd be even more cool of me to have the fantasy job. Company card, company computer, company cell phone. Oh, and a paycheck. Well, I have all of that - ANDIGETTOWORKFROMHOME. Every time I say it, and even write it, I'm impressed with myself. A huge part of me, however, is thinking - how the HELL did that happen. In my idealistic future, a college graduate with a super cool job was supposed to be way more mature than myself. A college graduate with a super cool job shouldn't have a million little insecurities and flaws like I do. They should have it together - ALL of it. And the truth is, there are only a few sure things in my life. Those, being that:

1. I will, everyday, spend at least 10 minutes looking for my keys.

2. That I will check gmail at least once every hour.

and,

3. That I have an amazing family, friends, and boyfriend, who, coincidentally, make a fabulous support system.

Lucky me. But, I do still find it weird that the-girl-talking-about-biohazardous chemicals-and-how-to-connect-the-hmi-to-the-zebra-printer is the same girl at the club on a saturday night throwing back cherry bombs. What would my colleagues think.

On a slightly happier note: one more sure thing is that I now know what sandbags are used for in floods -- to block the rain. a sort of levy, if you will.

Thanks, Jon.

the cable guy.

A little history first. I interned for a company my senior year of college, and after a skillfully planned proctastion period, realized that my college loans weren't going to pay themselves off. Oh, and neither were my parents.

So, I needed to get a job.

Seeing as how I had already committed to a higher-than-any-college-grad-without-a-job rent, I was stuck. I quickly gathered all of my shit into one giant organized mess, and presented to my boss that he set me up with a home office in Chicago. I work better on my own time, anyways.

You can look at a home office as those for underachievers, sure. As I've only been working a week, I can't attest that its not. However, the benefits for both the employers AND the employees, are, according to my presentation, VERY beneficial. More productivity, less sick time. No work clothes, no dressing up. Cell phone, computer, company card. And, what apparently is the most important - I don't have to take off work for the cable guys to come. If you've ever dealt with the cable guys, you can understand why this is, above all, very important.

Enjoy the blog, that I know you are secretly reading in your office cubicles. :)