Alberto. The poor guy with a forbidden crush and a doomed stalker name. He will live in infamy in our circle forever... so Shannon, Jen, and I had dinner together last night so that I could try to make up for ditching out on them Friday after inviting them to have dinner with me...and then an hour later telling them nevermind, I'm flying to Minneapolis. Woops. After dinner though, we discussed boys, the lack of boys, and how we could help Shannon meet Pete Peterson. Which inevitably led to Jen and I albertoing him on the internet. It's crazy the things you can find on google nowadays... after some rather creepy sleuthing, we found his home church and his dad, who is the pastor (and does a surprising number of funerals!). We also found out he has an Aunt Una, only because we found his grandpa's obituary (who died in 2002) and it had a listing of surviving relatives. So really, we found nothing useful and basically just walked away being creepier than we were before. So is life.
Being in Shannon's house made me want to buy that house all over again. She has done a beautiful job decorating it, it looks amazing now.... and although I know I am the worst decorator and cannot visualize those things, I want a canvas that I can play with too rather than the lame apartment that I can't do anything with. (I say lame, but I must say that free heat in subzero winters is definitely not lame. That's the only part of that I take back.) I need to pray more about it.
On another note, news is really depressing. I check it regularly now, and it's either someone died/was killed, someone got mauled by a white tiger, someone is hated by everyone because they're different, controversy death controversy. It's very tiring.
I also just read that a zoo in New Zealand that houses endangered animals is getting in trouble for having crowded and unsanitary conditions for the animals, so their solution is to put down 40 large cats. Yes, we'll save the endangered animals, but only until it becomes an inconvenience for us and would require us to spend more money to change something. Then we'll just put them down....
Wednesday, May 27, 2009
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
47 States
As a sidenote, I believe I am now down to 3 states left to visit in the US! Minnesota had been on my list of states I had not yet visited (actually done something in besides drive through or pass through the airport). I am now down to New York, Pennsylvania, and Hawaii.
Continents are still at 3 visited with N. America, Europe, and Asia. Australia is next year!
Continents are still at 3 visited with N. America, Europe, and Asia. Australia is next year!
Hospitality
hos-pi-tal-i-ty [hos-pi-tal-i-tee]
–noun, plural -ties.
1. the friendly reception and treatment of guests or strangers.
2. the quality or disposition of receiving and treating guests and strangers in a warm, friendly, generous way.
There's a lot of talk about hospitality, what it is, how to do it, how America sucks at it compared to the rest of the world. Personally, it is definitely something I struggle with, though I think I fake it well sometimes. Just because I'm faking it doesn't mean I'm necessarily being sincere though. Example. When I fly, I prefer window seats partly because I have a habit of falling asleep on planes, and when I fall asleep, I can't sit up straight, I fall over and lean on something, so it's nice to have the window to lean on rather than making the person next to me feel very awkward; but also partly because I like the feeling of the window cubbie where I have my own world and can lean away from the person next to me and feel like I have my own space, where you definitely can't do that in the middle seat, and in the aisle seat, you end up getting plowed into by the drink cart. I go out of my way to check on window seats, I book my flights online and pick the seats myself, then check in online to ensure that I have a window seat. It's not a huge deal, but when I can get it, I take it. Flying to Minneapolis this weekend was no exception.
While flying back from Minneapolis, I had set my seats so that I was in the back of the plane where it was likely I'd have my own row and had window seats on both flights through Chicago. However, when I boarded the flight from Chicago home, there was a lady sitting in my seat. I pulled out my ticket stub to prove that she had to move and asked her if she was in the right seat. She explained that she and her daugher had been split and told me that I could sit in her seat, an aisle seat next to another lady. I stood and stared at her for a minute because she didn't really give me a choice or try to find another way around it, she had decided for me, which I don't handle well. I then smiled politely and agreed and took the other seat. But I was screaming at her with my thoughts, I was very angry because now I had to give up MY window seat without being given the choice to sit next to a lady that kept brushing against me and didn't wear her seatbelt. It really bothered me much more than it should have, but I had a little storm spinning in my head because of this discourtesy brought upon me. I had to force myself to focus on Jesus and realize that this was just an opportunity to serve others and stop letting myself be #1. I was surprised at how difficult it was to do this in my head. I think it's one thing to do hospitable acts for people and play the game, but it's a completely different thing to really mean it, which is where I'm lacking and need to work on. It was an insightful 5 minutes into my soul on that plane.
The trip was a lot of fun, I enjoyed spending time with my grandpa, dad, and brother, especially since I had nothing to do in Midland (well, except the dinner I had asked Shannon and Jen if they wanted to do, which I then ditched out on). The problem is, although I like Midland, everytime I leave I never want to come back. I started considering all of the other places I could live that I'd probably enjoy better at the current moment. However, as far as my career goes, my best option is to stay with Dow through at least 3 years because in order to be considered an "experienced" engineer, you have to have 2-3 years under your belt, which is what I'd need for almost any other job currently; plus, my retirement plan doesn't vest until I've been with the company for 3 years. So it looks like I'll be here at least another year.
I'm also pretty sure at this point that I'm signing a lease for another 6 months at my apartment. After weighing pros and cons about a million times, it ends up being pretty even at the end and I'm not gaining that much more by having a house. Plus, I prayed for almost a week that if God didn't want me to have the house, that my loan would be declined. It ended up being declined on a technicality; Michigan is a "declining market" state and you have to put 10% down, which I didn't initially plan to put, so they told me that if I upped that, I was approved. So I could get around it if I so chose... but I kinda wonder if I'm not supposed to take that as an answer to my prayer and just be obedient, despite the fact that I completely fell in love with the house. But I'm feeling some peace about it after the weekend of letting it settle in. There will be other houses, and God has bigger plans than my little house that I want as my own so badly.
This just means I need to work harder on showing hospitality from my little apartment that has no room for more than a few guests... maybe it's time that I invest in better furniture to accomodate people.....Na, I'll just wait for Kelsey's grandma's table to be moved in =)
–noun, plural -ties.
1. the friendly reception and treatment of guests or strangers.
2. the quality or disposition of receiving and treating guests and strangers in a warm, friendly, generous way.
There's a lot of talk about hospitality, what it is, how to do it, how America sucks at it compared to the rest of the world. Personally, it is definitely something I struggle with, though I think I fake it well sometimes. Just because I'm faking it doesn't mean I'm necessarily being sincere though. Example. When I fly, I prefer window seats partly because I have a habit of falling asleep on planes, and when I fall asleep, I can't sit up straight, I fall over and lean on something, so it's nice to have the window to lean on rather than making the person next to me feel very awkward; but also partly because I like the feeling of the window cubbie where I have my own world and can lean away from the person next to me and feel like I have my own space, where you definitely can't do that in the middle seat, and in the aisle seat, you end up getting plowed into by the drink cart. I go out of my way to check on window seats, I book my flights online and pick the seats myself, then check in online to ensure that I have a window seat. It's not a huge deal, but when I can get it, I take it. Flying to Minneapolis this weekend was no exception.
While flying back from Minneapolis, I had set my seats so that I was in the back of the plane where it was likely I'd have my own row and had window seats on both flights through Chicago. However, when I boarded the flight from Chicago home, there was a lady sitting in my seat. I pulled out my ticket stub to prove that she had to move and asked her if she was in the right seat. She explained that she and her daugher had been split and told me that I could sit in her seat, an aisle seat next to another lady. I stood and stared at her for a minute because she didn't really give me a choice or try to find another way around it, she had decided for me, which I don't handle well. I then smiled politely and agreed and took the other seat. But I was screaming at her with my thoughts, I was very angry because now I had to give up MY window seat without being given the choice to sit next to a lady that kept brushing against me and didn't wear her seatbelt. It really bothered me much more than it should have, but I had a little storm spinning in my head because of this discourtesy brought upon me. I had to force myself to focus on Jesus and realize that this was just an opportunity to serve others and stop letting myself be #1. I was surprised at how difficult it was to do this in my head. I think it's one thing to do hospitable acts for people and play the game, but it's a completely different thing to really mean it, which is where I'm lacking and need to work on. It was an insightful 5 minutes into my soul on that plane.
The trip was a lot of fun, I enjoyed spending time with my grandpa, dad, and brother, especially since I had nothing to do in Midland (well, except the dinner I had asked Shannon and Jen if they wanted to do, which I then ditched out on). The problem is, although I like Midland, everytime I leave I never want to come back. I started considering all of the other places I could live that I'd probably enjoy better at the current moment. However, as far as my career goes, my best option is to stay with Dow through at least 3 years because in order to be considered an "experienced" engineer, you have to have 2-3 years under your belt, which is what I'd need for almost any other job currently; plus, my retirement plan doesn't vest until I've been with the company for 3 years. So it looks like I'll be here at least another year.
I'm also pretty sure at this point that I'm signing a lease for another 6 months at my apartment. After weighing pros and cons about a million times, it ends up being pretty even at the end and I'm not gaining that much more by having a house. Plus, I prayed for almost a week that if God didn't want me to have the house, that my loan would be declined. It ended up being declined on a technicality; Michigan is a "declining market" state and you have to put 10% down, which I didn't initially plan to put, so they told me that if I upped that, I was approved. So I could get around it if I so chose... but I kinda wonder if I'm not supposed to take that as an answer to my prayer and just be obedient, despite the fact that I completely fell in love with the house. But I'm feeling some peace about it after the weekend of letting it settle in. There will be other houses, and God has bigger plans than my little house that I want as my own so badly.
This just means I need to work harder on showing hospitality from my little apartment that has no room for more than a few guests... maybe it's time that I invest in better furniture to accomodate people.....Na, I'll just wait for Kelsey's grandma's table to be moved in =)
Friday, April 24, 2009
I'm sick, I whine.
I hate being sick. I hate being sick for quite a number of reasons, but since moving to Michigan and getting sick on a regular basis, I must say that my number one reason I hate being sick is...having to take care of myself alone. I never feel more alone than I do when I'm sick. The least fun thing in the world is to wake up in the middle of the night with a fever while basically hyperventilating because I'm having a hard time breathing through my messed up throat and have to figure it all out myself. And though it seems like it would be nice to be lounging around at home watching tv and reading all day, it is actually pretty awful since I have no voice so I can't talk on the phone, and work keeps calling me regardless because there are things that need to be done that can't be bothered by me being incapacitated. I currently have a mix of bronchitis and a sinus infection, which is actually the sickest I've been since moving to Michigan. I went to the doctor and she prescribed me some expensive meds, which are helping thank goodness. We also talked about the fact that I've gotten sick here a lot more than I ever did in Colorado, and she basically told me that I probably have allergies that don't get along with Michigan, and if I don't start naturally getting better and stop getting sick as often, I may need to be allergy tested and start getting allergy shots regularly, or find a better place to live heh. Seems like Michigan is really trying its hardest to get rid of me. This means I don't get to go to the Pistons playoff game tonight. But that's ok because instead I get to sit here all by myself and entertain Loki for the weekend. Oh and I can't drive because of the Codeine in the medicine. So I'm living off of whatever I can find in the cupboards...which is not much since I'm at grocery shopping time.
Mmm yummy baked beans and tomato paste...
Mmm yummy baked beans and tomato paste...
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
We're Going Housing...
My dad laughs at me. Why does he laugh at me? Because I like making spreadsheets. For everything. Why do I like making spreadsheets so? Because it's my thing. And they're just about useful for any scenario you need to analyze. Such as figuring out a downpayment for a house, and how much you could save by having "investors" loan you enough to cover a 20% downpayment versus paying a 10% downpayment by yourself. Why do I keep asking myself questions? Because yes, I am a quintessential nerd.
I've been throwing around the idea of buying a house the last couple of weeks. My reasoning is that I am happy with Dow and want to stay with the company, and with my career aspirations, I need production experience, and the best place for me to be getting production experience currently is...Midland. Which puts me here for about another 3 years. Which I've started coming to terms with instead of dreading. And with all of the incentives out there this year for first-time buyers ($8000 tax credit from fed, $7500 interest-free loan, <5% fixed interest rates, and basically the crash of the entire housing market...), it is just a bit too logical of an option to not consider. I'm giving myself until May before I actually contact a realtor, but I've already started looking at finances and houses that are actually on the market around here currently. The biggest downsides of owning a home: I have to maintain it, I have to take care of it, I have to fix it. No one to fix the furnace if it breaks (without spending lots of money at least), no one to shovel for me or mow my currently non-existent lawn. And if I don't have a roommate, no one in the same building besides Loki and I (and Loki is a scaredy cat!). So it's still up for debate currently...
Speaking of moving and houses though, it seems like everyone else is moving OUT. Jeanette and Dylan both announced within a week that they have put their houses on the market so that they could move as quickly as the market would let them. Dylan even had his house staged and everything (which meant that he now has lots of flowers and fake plants taking over his house). This means I am currently also holding his cats hostage on top of Mona, putting my current number of cats up to 5. Wait, did that math not add up? That's because I'm also watching 2 cats for other friends, however they live in the same apartment building, so I just walk down and take care of those ones... I think I would have to move out of my apartment if there were 5 cats living in there, too much!
Oh, and I'm going to a Pistons playoff game on Friday. Apparently they're going to lose, which I could care less about..it'll just be a fun experience =) And thanks to Dow perks, the tickets were only $10 each, so I really don't have to care how the game goes!
I've been throwing around the idea of buying a house the last couple of weeks. My reasoning is that I am happy with Dow and want to stay with the company, and with my career aspirations, I need production experience, and the best place for me to be getting production experience currently is...Midland. Which puts me here for about another 3 years. Which I've started coming to terms with instead of dreading. And with all of the incentives out there this year for first-time buyers ($8000 tax credit from fed, $7500 interest-free loan, <5% fixed interest rates, and basically the crash of the entire housing market...), it is just a bit too logical of an option to not consider. I'm giving myself until May before I actually contact a realtor, but I've already started looking at finances and houses that are actually on the market around here currently. The biggest downsides of owning a home: I have to maintain it, I have to take care of it, I have to fix it. No one to fix the furnace if it breaks (without spending lots of money at least), no one to shovel for me or mow my currently non-existent lawn. And if I don't have a roommate, no one in the same building besides Loki and I (and Loki is a scaredy cat!). So it's still up for debate currently...
Speaking of moving and houses though, it seems like everyone else is moving OUT. Jeanette and Dylan both announced within a week that they have put their houses on the market so that they could move as quickly as the market would let them. Dylan even had his house staged and everything (which meant that he now has lots of flowers and fake plants taking over his house). This means I am currently also holding his cats hostage on top of Mona, putting my current number of cats up to 5. Wait, did that math not add up? That's because I'm also watching 2 cats for other friends, however they live in the same apartment building, so I just walk down and take care of those ones... I think I would have to move out of my apartment if there were 5 cats living in there, too much!
Oh, and I'm going to a Pistons playoff game on Friday. Apparently they're going to lose, which I could care less about..it'll just be a fun experience =) And thanks to Dow perks, the tickets were only $10 each, so I really don't have to care how the game goes!
Tuesday, April 14, 2009
To Thai or not to Thai
My love of Thai food and my body's complete hate of anything that even looks like it might be remotely spicy is coming to a head once again. I am eating yummy yummy leftover curry from my dad and I's Thai escapades in Detroit this past weekend, and although I asked for very very little spice, my mouth is burning and I'm close to tears. It is SO gooood! I cannot resist the burningly scrumptious food. My dad left his behind, and although he claims that it had absolutely no spice whatsoever, he can also eat some of the hottest spices in the world (apparently you learn that trick after living in Thailand for 5 years in high school...he did at least). I'm going to eat his food regardless, and hope it doesn't kill me, or at least my mouth.
Oh yummy Thai food, why do you entice me and burn me so?!
Oh yummy Thai food, why do you entice me and burn me so?!
Tuesday, April 7, 2009
Easter weekend
Everyone is gone this week for a strange phenomenon they call "Spring Break". I know not what this holiday is any longer, so I sit in my office with nothing to do during lunch but blog my life. What did people do by themselves during lunch before there were computers?? Those were sad times, I can only imagine...
Luckily, this week is only a 3 day week for me since Friday is Good Friday and Thursday is my Friday off. Yes, that is correct, do not question it. My dad is flying in on Thursday to spend Easter with me...or rather, he won a Red Wings package and is flying out for that, and I badgered him until he agreed to spend Easter with me also rather than flying out early Sunday morning. The Red Wings package includes sweet seats to the game, dinner for two at their exclusive hoity toity restaurant at the stadium, a signed puck by one of the Swedes, and a ride on the Zamboni, which my dad quickly passed off to me. All week, friends have been encouraging me to practice my awkward Zamboni wave and loudly contemplating how uncomfortable I will look as we circle back around the rink for the 10th time and everyone stares. Oh joy of all joys! I'm not going to complain, it's all free. I'm considering wearing Avalanche gear, just to make sure I blend in better...
We're also going to the opening game in Detroit for the Tigers on Friday. Apparently, opening games are all that and a bag of chips because every single ticket was sold out for Friday's game, yet Saturday and Sunday only have about half the tickets sold...and they're not even giving us a lousy promotional item! This meant that I had to scour StubHub for tickets, which were looking to cost approximately $100 for you're-not-good-enough-for-a-seat Standing Room Only. I watched ticket prices for about 5 days before I realized yesterday that tickets were starting to disappear fast and I had better suck it up and pay the $300+ bucks for 2 mediocre seats before they went up even higher. I found some seats that I was begrudgingly about to buy...in fact, I had entered all of my credit card information and was ready to press the button when I figured, what the hey, we'll look one more time at this other section (because I suffer from paranoia, which means I check things obsessively, *just in case!!*). Somehow, to my amazement, two tickets had popped up for $50 each for center Upper Deck 7th row. Now let me tell you kids, this was the cheapest set of tickets I've yet seen for the game, not even the auction block tickets were that low. I nearly fell out of my chair, but held on tightly to the keyboard only by sheer will in order to pray that these were real and not a figment of my imagination and buy them as quickly as humanly possible. And I got them. I then printed them off quickly to ensure that they did not evaporate before my eyes like I knew they should. I then started considering putting them back on StubHub and reselling them since every seat around them was selling for $125 each, but I chose not to anger the Baseball angels that saved me from a horrifyingly expensive ticket. Long story short, don't go to Opening Day, what a waste. The Tigers aren't even good!! No wonder Michigan is tanking.
We are also going to church Sunday morning, followed by Easter brunch, which I sure hope is somewhere good... I just haven't found any place yet. That is my next task following the organizing of my apartment, which is going quite well despite the increased mess I have made by pulling everything out of the place I had kept it. I have high hopes...now if only work would stop getting in the way...
Luckily, this week is only a 3 day week for me since Friday is Good Friday and Thursday is my Friday off. Yes, that is correct, do not question it. My dad is flying in on Thursday to spend Easter with me...or rather, he won a Red Wings package and is flying out for that, and I badgered him until he agreed to spend Easter with me also rather than flying out early Sunday morning. The Red Wings package includes sweet seats to the game, dinner for two at their exclusive hoity toity restaurant at the stadium, a signed puck by one of the Swedes, and a ride on the Zamboni, which my dad quickly passed off to me. All week, friends have been encouraging me to practice my awkward Zamboni wave and loudly contemplating how uncomfortable I will look as we circle back around the rink for the 10th time and everyone stares. Oh joy of all joys! I'm not going to complain, it's all free. I'm considering wearing Avalanche gear, just to make sure I blend in better...
We're also going to the opening game in Detroit for the Tigers on Friday. Apparently, opening games are all that and a bag of chips because every single ticket was sold out for Friday's game, yet Saturday and Sunday only have about half the tickets sold...and they're not even giving us a lousy promotional item! This meant that I had to scour StubHub for tickets, which were looking to cost approximately $100 for you're-not-good-enough-for-a-seat Standing Room Only. I watched ticket prices for about 5 days before I realized yesterday that tickets were starting to disappear fast and I had better suck it up and pay the $300+ bucks for 2 mediocre seats before they went up even higher. I found some seats that I was begrudgingly about to buy...in fact, I had entered all of my credit card information and was ready to press the button when I figured, what the hey, we'll look one more time at this other section (because I suffer from paranoia, which means I check things obsessively, *just in case!!*). Somehow, to my amazement, two tickets had popped up for $50 each for center Upper Deck 7th row. Now let me tell you kids, this was the cheapest set of tickets I've yet seen for the game, not even the auction block tickets were that low. I nearly fell out of my chair, but held on tightly to the keyboard only by sheer will in order to pray that these were real and not a figment of my imagination and buy them as quickly as humanly possible. And I got them. I then printed them off quickly to ensure that they did not evaporate before my eyes like I knew they should. I then started considering putting them back on StubHub and reselling them since every seat around them was selling for $125 each, but I chose not to anger the Baseball angels that saved me from a horrifyingly expensive ticket. Long story short, don't go to Opening Day, what a waste. The Tigers aren't even good!! No wonder Michigan is tanking.
We are also going to church Sunday morning, followed by Easter brunch, which I sure hope is somewhere good... I just haven't found any place yet. That is my next task following the organizing of my apartment, which is going quite well despite the increased mess I have made by pulling everything out of the place I had kept it. I have high hopes...now if only work would stop getting in the way...
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