Comments (15)

By kilax, May 30, 2008 5:45 am

Are you doing anything to cut back on expenses during this “economic recession”?

There is this daily feature in the newspaper about how people are saving money during these “hard times of recession.” They’re eating out less, quitting smoking, taking public transit, blah blah blah.

Has anyone directly noticed the effects of the increase in fuel and food, etc., and is actively planning a way to cut back on spending?

We have started saving bowling coupons, and only going bowling when it is cheap or when we have a coupon. At most places, it is at least $4 a game! We have coupons for $1 a game, so that helps. Heh.

But otherwise, we have not changed much of our habits, yet. We both tend to… buy things when we want them. We’ll wait on some big items, and we research the things we are going to buy, but we usually don’t hesitate. Maybe that will change. And maybe we’ll start eating out less.

Comments (16)

By kilax, May 29, 2008 5:42 am

You’re driving on a highway in the Chicagoland area, and another driver cuts you off. What do you do?

1. Ignore it and slow down.
2. Honk your horn and slow down.
3. Slow down and get into another lane
4. Tailgate them until they get off the highway.
5. Zip over into the next lane, get really close to the side of their car, and ride there for awhile while giving them the evil eye, then take off.
6. Speed around them really fast, then get in front of them and slam on your breaks.

Did I miss any options?

Comments (6)

By kilax, May 28, 2008 5:54 am

You know what’s really hard for me to do?

Stay completely enthusiastic on a project from start to finish.

In college we were given semester-long architecture projects. For my very first project, I devoted ALL of my free time to working on it. EVEN time I should have spent sleeping. I was averaging four hours of sleep a night or less when I finished it. When I did sleep, I was dreaming about cutting pieces of wood, and drawing floor plans. No surprise that, when I was done, I immediately got the flu, and was too sick to study for my other finals (oh well).

The next semester was similar – still not getting much sleep, still spending most of my time in the studio, still trying to pick glue off of my fingers in the shower… but this time, I had a wedding to go to 2 days before the review… so I had to work extra hard to get everything done in time. It was kind of nice to attend the review after having a normal night’s rest!

Slowly, with each of the following six semesters, I got more and more burnt out on spending all of my time working on the same project. I still thought about it all the time, and was passionate about its design, but I just didn’t have it in me anymore to be so energetic about it from start to finish.

So I would start off a project all excited, then be thinking “meh, whatever” by the end. This was especially true my semester in Rome, and my entire fifth year.

This is a really bad characteristic. It doesn’t mean I start a lot of things and don’t get them done, it just means I start a lot of things and don’t finish them quite as I’d like to because I’m so burnt out. And out of time. And under pressure to get them done.

I’ve really been fighting that in my job. So far I’ve been successful, but sometimes you get to the point where you just want to say “I give up” or “I don’t care anymore.”

Or… is it just me?

Comments (14)

By kilax, May 27, 2008 5:41 am

On Friday I met with a college classmate of mine for lunch.

Good god, what is wrong with me? I literally work TWO blocks away from this guy. I really enjoy his company and consider him a friend. And I hadn’t seen him for maybe… 5 months?!?! No one is that busy.

Anyway. He was updating me on our classmates’ whereabouts when he told me one of our classmates is looking for a job in Chicago, but having a hard time getting interviews and responses.

Before I even thought about it, I blurted out, “She should send a resume to my firm. We are looking for people right now.”

Then, I had a really, really weird feeling in my stomach.

Working with a former classmate shouldn’t be that strange, right? You spent at least four years of school with them, and chances are, have worked with them before. And you wouldn’t recommend a person you don’t like send a resume to your firm (I didn’t), so it should all be fun and games!

But I think I’m a bit territorial. And settled. And comfortable. It would be SO WEIRD to have someone I know from college waltz into my office and sit across from me.

It might be fun. But it might be weird. Those are just the thoughts that went through my head.

It’s highly unlikely anything will happen anyway…

Comments (4)

By kilax, May 26, 2008 11:19 pm

Wouldn’t it be nice if all of our weekends were three-day weekends?

Steven and I had enough time this weekend to cross a lot of things off of our “to-do” list and still go bowling twice, see Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (boo, too much Lucas) watch four new movies at home, take a walk, relax… you get the idea.

We normally have at least one weekend day that is so full of errands and activities that we feel more exhausted than when we get home after working nine hours. And we normally have plans for our three-day weekends. It was nice to take one and just catch up with things around the house and have fun. I wish all of our weekends could be like this.

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“Today’s Idiom” is on a break until Steven and I have time to work in our vocab book again!

Comments (10)

By kilax, May 24, 2008 8:06 am

It’s been awhile since I’ve done a Data’s World comic. (See previous versions on the “Photos” page – 1, 2 and 3.)

You may recall that Data loves these little squishy balls. We give him one at a time, and he carries it all around the house with him. Everywhere he goes, his ball is there too – in the kitchen when he’s eating, in the bed when he’s sleeping, on the stair when he’s lounging, in the bathroom when he’s, well… you know.

The thing is, he goes through one a day. He chews them all up and destroys them. We play fetch with him with it for awhile, then when we go to bed, he goes to town on his toy ball, and we find pieces of it all over the stairs the next day.

I decided to order some balls in bulk, since he loves them so much, and they seem to make him so happy. Since he normally just chews on it and makes a big mess and doesn’t eat it… I figured it’s not a big deal.

Oh irony of ironies, yesterday, the same day his package arrives, I come home to find green barf all over the place. Nice. Timing.

So… he won’t be playing with these alone. Or maybe at all.

Comments (10)

By kilax, May 23, 2008 5:51 am

Which celebrity would you pick to be our next president?

Natalie Portman!

Are you at all surprised?

I think she’s compassionate, rational, smart, and attractive (heh, heh).

Oh wait. She’s not 35, and wasn’t born in the US (but her mom was from the US, so maybe that’s okay?).

She’s the only celebrity whose political views I know, so I am going to have to rely on your suggestions…

Comments (9)

By kilax, May 22, 2008 12:35 pm

Emergency midday lunch break post!

I saw this graph on icanhascheezburger this morning while I was checking blogs and brushing my teeth… and was still giggling about it when I got to work.

I just had a chance to look at the actual site – Graph Jam – during my lunch break – H-I-L-A-R-I-O-U-S! How did I not know about this site?! Why don’t you people tell me about these things?! I immediately added it to my reader.

The subtitle for the site is “Pop Culture for People in Cubicles.” The site contains funny graphs about… pop culture. That is it. I have a feeling Steven will love it. He loves making graphs and charts in excel. Sometimes, I think he loves excel more than me.

Here are a few of my favorite graphs:

Comments (14)

By kilax, May 22, 2008 5:34 am

Steven called me yesterday at work to tease me. “I have a surprise for you.”

“Oh! What is it?”

“You have to wait until you get home tonight.”

“You turd.”

I love surprises. I looked forward to it all day. I was having a crappy day. I got home and my surprise was… a bag of bath goodies from Lush, the “fresh handmade cosmetics” store. YAY!!! Steven got me bath bombs and bath bars, for soaking in nice, long, hot baths. Which is just what I need to relax, because I have been such a cranky you-know-what lately. Especially to him. (Maybe that was the inspiration?)

What a sweetie. I’m still smiling.

Of course, this reminded me of another story. It’s story-time kids! Sick of it yet? Please tell me if I am repeating previous stories.

Last year I was flying to Denmark from O’Hare airport, and Steven decided to come have dinner with me before my flight took off. He did the same thing; called and said, “I have a surprise for you.”

I excitedly told a few of my classmates, “My fiance has a surprise for me! I wonder what it is!”

So the first thing I said to Steven when we sat down at the dinner table was “What’s my surprise? Where is it?!”

He opened up his briefcase and handed me…

… a calendar. From Chipotle. With pictures of burritos for each month.

Seriously.

I was so mean! I said “THIS is it?”

“Yeah,” was his reply. “We both love burritos so much, I bought one for each of us.”

I still feel bad for having such a mean reaction. Because it was a really sweet and thoughtful gift (that I used ALL year long), just not what I was expecting.

My friends asked me what Steven gave me when I got back from dinner. I pulled it out of my bag and handed it to them.

“Sweet! Where can I get one of these?!” Their reaction was genuine.

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Today’s Idiom: thumb’s down – signal of rejection (Roman emperors could condemn a gladiator who fought poorly by turning their thumbs down)

Steven gave my gutter ball a thumb’s down. Unfortunately, I didn’t do any better in the second frame.

Comments (12)

By kilax, May 21, 2008 5:41 am

When did I become too shy to be naked around my husband?

Maybe somewhere between our September 1 wedding and the 20+ pounds I have put on?

Yeah, that’s gotta be it.

I’m usually not shy when it comes to my body. I’m not going around flashing people, but I’m also not covering up every square inch of bare skin. While I was getting changed into my wedding gown, the flower lady arrived, and I had a conversation with her wearing nothing but a bra and slip. Ha ha.

When I try on clothes in a dressing room with my mom, I don’t even cover myself up. When I’m home alone, I walk around mostly nude. You get the idea.

Oh well.

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Today’s Idiom: to let sleeping dogs lie – to let well enough alone, to avoid stirring up old hostilities

Even though she tired to put meat into my food again, I decided to let sleeping dogs lie. I know there’s no point in arguing about it.