This journal is semi-friends only. I enjoy making new friends, though - so feel free to add me. If you do, just please comment to let me know. (And if we know each other from somewhere else, let me know in the comment. Sometimes I'm slow to pick up on things like that otherwise. ;))

A little about me/my journal: I frequently go stretches without posting, then suddenly post multiple times a day. I can be very random, and love doing memes -- but I do attempt to limit myself on those. Most of my posts start out public, then I go back at random intervals and f-lock most of them. I fully admit that I'm more than a little weird, but I think it's just part of my charm. ;)

A list of other places I can be found online is on the right side of the journal. I frequent Facebook the most, so feel free to add me over there as well.

Okay. I like having my tweets re-posted here, for posterity sake and for people who aren't on twitter to know I'm actually alive and, and to get an idea of what I'm up to -- if they choose to read of course. But, I also feel guilty that the vast majority of my posts here are only twitter re-posts.

So.. I'm debating creating an opt-in filter for them. That way, if you don't wanna see those twitter posts, you don't have to. If you do, great! You can opt-in and see them. That means... poll time! Haha.

Poll #1425914
Open to: Friends, detailed results viewable to: All

Should I have a filter for my twitter posts?

If I create a twitter filter, do you want to be on it?

I kinda like this whole summer break thing, even though I don't like the rigidity of what days I get to take off. I was on vacation all of last week. That rocked. I'm back at work today and tomorrow, then I'm on vacation again for another week. Whee! Haha. We have to have a "skeleton crew" working the accounting department, so we each have 2 or 3 days during mass break that we have to work. Otherwise, I'd have been off from Jun 29-July 14.

Tomorrow, immediately after work, I head to the airport to run away to Toronto, to visit my bestest friend. YAY! (Side note to self.. you leave TOMORROW! Get your ass in gear about making plans! You can't procrastinate anymore!) I'll be there until the 14th. It looks like both of my flights are going to be pretty empty, so that means I should have an entire row to myself. YAY!

The downside, though, is that I have an ear ache in both ears. I'm so NOT looking forward to getting on a plane with ouchie ears. :( The meds the doc gave me helped briefly, but they stopped this am. And it's too late/I don't have time to get in to the doc again before I leave. Hopefully it isn't too bad? *knock on wood*

This is fairly short, I know. Esp as quiet as I've been around here. :[ But I had better get back to work!

Edit: Don't worry - I won't be offended if anyone doesn't want to be on the twitter filter if I create it (which I'm kind of leaning towards doing). :D After all, I know that if you want to see them, you can easily follow the link on the right to my twitter account to see 'em. I also know that if you already follow me there, you might not want to see them twice, and I also know that some people just don't care for twitter. That's all fine by me. :)

Edit #2:Well, I guess it might all be a moot point anyway. I didn't realise that LoudTwitter had crashed hard and might not come back at all. Meep.

Okay, dear f-list, I need your help! I was on Shane Mack's myspace, watching a new video he has on there. (Sidebar - if you haven't ever heard of Shane Mack (aka Shane McAnally) PLEASE go listen to his music. SO WONDERFUL!) But. I'm watching and all of a sudden, a blonde actress shows up, and I would swear up and down that it's Emma Caulfield!

If anyone wants to watch the video and confirm for me whether or not it is her, I would appreciate it!!



If indeed it is her, she shows up at the 2:00 and 2:45 marks in the video. THANK YOU! :-*

I know, I know, I'm a bad girl. I haven't been using LJ much lately. It gets all my twitter entries, but that's about it. I have a desire to write.. but then I get frustrated and never do. Feel free to smack me, throw things at me, whatever you deem necessary. ;)

Let's see. What's been up in my world? Lots of doctor's appointments, mostly. Literally at least 1 a week, since the first full week of April. Ten (11, but really 10 "real" appointments) doctor/dentist visits total ... so far. I still have more to come before May ends! Some were pre-planned/good visits. Like my 3 appointments to get the Supartz injections in my knees. One was a total waste of time - the gyn appt I already detailed here. Four of them were with my heart doctor, as was the "extra" appointment I mentioned. The remaining two appointments were with the dentist - one a pre-planned cleaning, the other an emergency appointment. Upcoming appointments include follow-ups with the knee doctor and the dentist.

The knee appointments weren't too bad. Three weeks in a row of going in to get an injection in both knees. The shots can take anywhere from a few weeks to a few months to cause noticable improvement, so I'm not expecting much yet. Right now, my knees aren't causing much pain, but they are pretty crackly. The left one especially likes to go snap, crackle, and pop on me. They also feel unsteady, like they could just bend backwards at any moment. I'm hoping this passes pretty quickly, and the injections start to take effect.

The heart doctor - well, as I've mentioned before, I have extra heart beats. Due to being unemployed at the time, I wasn't able to have my annual heart ultrasound done last year. I called up and made an appointment to have the ultrasound - even specifically stated I needed an ultrasound. I go for my appointment to find out that it's only an office visit. Grr. The doctor decided he wanted me to wear a holter monitor again, to see how my PVCs were doing. So I had to go back a week later to have my ultrasound done, and to have the holter wires attached. The ultrasound looked good - the "mild leakiness" of my mitral valve from my first ultrasound 2 years ago has decreased - it's only "trace" leakage now. That's a good thing. The heart walls are slightly thick - mine are at a 1.0, and .9 is typically the high-end of thickness for women. But, that thickness hadn't changed at all in the last two years, so that's also a good thing. After my ultrasound, I had the holter attached, and had to endure 24 hours of unbelievable itchiness from those danged adhesive pads. Thankfully, nothing incredibly insane happened this time while I was wearing the monitor! My "extra" appointment was the next day - I just had to drive up to the doctor's office the next day during lunch to have the wires removed and turn in the holter monitor.

A week later I had to go in to get the results of my holter - this time around I had @ 17,000 extra heart beats. (The first time I had the holter, it was over 14,601 extra beats.) He gave me another type of medication, since the only thing the first one did was make me fall asleep. I was on that medication for @ two weeks, until I had my follow-up appointment on last Thursday. I started w/1 week on a half dosage, and then 1 week on the prescribed dosage. After a week, I was supposed to double that again. (And keep doing that a few times, till I was taking about 4x the dosage on the bottle.) This medication doesn't make me drowsy, but it does make me incredibly dizzy. Dizzy enough that I was starting to be afraid of driving. I mentioned this to him, multiple times during the appointment, but he wants me to just stay on the meds, and try to increase the dosage again. As dizzy as I've been, I don't see this working out well. It was only a minor dizzy on the half dose, but was pretty nasty on the full dose, more vertigo than just disequilibrium. The doctor seemed to dismiss that the dizziness was related to the meds, even though it states right on the prescription bottle "may cause dizziness". I do have Ménière's disease, though, so there IS the tiny possibility of it being a very highly coincidentally timed Ménière's attack. I doubt it, though, since I don't have any of the other symptoms I typically get during an attack. But, to be sure, I've decided to stop the medication for now, and let it work it's way completely out of my system. Once the dizzy spells have ceased, I'll make attempt #2 at taking the meds. If I end up dizzy all over again, then it is definitely related to the meds and we'll have to try a different med, again. I go back to see him in 3 months to follow up on how I'm doing with the meds.

As I stated before, the last 2 appointments were with the dentist. The first one was just my 6-month cleaning, so it was no biggie. I also knew it would set up more appointments, but that didn't happen at the time. On May 2nd, while eating lunch, I took a bite of my Subway sandwich, and the top left cuspid flared with pain. But, the sandwich was extremely cold, and it felt like more than just the one tooth hurt - so I dismissed it as biting into an almost icy cold chunk of meat. That happened once more while I ate, and that was it. No more pain ... for a few days. At work on the 5th, I was snacking on some honey nut Cheerios. I bit down on one, and BOOM! Intense pain flared in that tooth again. While Cheerios are crunchy, they aren't particularily hard, so I knew it was the tooth starting to act up. But it only hurt that once, for just a few minutes. I figured it'd be okay, and I could call the dentist later in the week or something. Wrong. After work, mom & I had pizza for dinner. I took my first bite, and intense pain blossomed in my mouth. The kind of pain that literally has you howling - loudly. After the pain settled, I attempted a second bite (just to test it) and ended up screaming loudly in pain again. I tried to take it, and attempted to eat without using that side of my mouth, but it didn't work well at all.

After leaving a voicemail for my dentist, I ended up running off to Walmart to get some severe pain Orajel. Mom went with me, and found this stuff called Temparin to use as well. (I have holes in both of my upper cuspids, so we figured if I could fill it, I could maybe be in less pain until I could get into the dentist.) It hurt like hades to put the Temparin in because the tooth was so freaking sensitive to any kind of pressure, but once it was in, and combined with the Orajel (and a hydracodone ma gave me), I was able to get the pain under control to where I was even able to eat and drink. The next morning, after the hydracodone wore off, the pain was barely controlled with the Orajel. Lucky for me, though, my dentist was able to get me in before lunch time. Two hours and a root canal later, I was back to work. The tooth had become abscessed, hence all the extreme pain. They didn't do a 100% complete root canal - after drilling out the diseased part of the tooth and injecting it with meds, they decided to leave it open, and they will seal it when I come back in to get the crown. That way, if the infection doesn't go away, they don't have to do a lot more work to get in and work on it. So, I have my temporary crown for now, and go back in another 2 weeks to get the permanent one. I'm going to schedule the appointment for my other cuspid then -- I don't want to risk that getting to the same super pain point before I have the needed root canal on it, too.

So, yes. As I said, that's pretty much been my life the last month & half - doctors and dentists, oh my!

While the thing I'm posting about is actually a behind-the-scenes thing... it relates to last night's post. So, there will be spoilers in this here post! You have been warned.

In case anyone hasn't seen it/heard about it yet.. ( Part of the reason behind the --SPOILER-- on last night's 'House'. )

Story time! First, let's come up with some abbreviations. Hmm. I have several coworkers. My boss, we'll call N. Then, there is D1, D2, L and J. In another department (but sits RIGHT next to ours) is E. Not all of those are in this story, but I just felt like naming them all. ;)

So, yes. Coworker J had a party this weekend, and she had bought a couple of cakes - and neither cake had much eaten from them. So she brought one of the cakes up here to share with the department. There was roughly half the cake left, maybe just a lil bit more. It was a round chocolate cake, 2 layers, w/choco frosting, and a whole mess of strawberries on top.

Since it was morning, no one touched the cake. (I didn't eat any because I'm allergic to strawberries. But if it'd been something I liked... I might have had some.) So, coworker E comes over and helps herself to some cake. A couple hours later, she gets some more. Now, that's no biggie. It's open to everyone, she can have a couple of slices if she wants.

Except... instead of taking the traditional wedge-shape slices you cut a round cake into, E COMPLETELY scooped out the CENTER of the cake. Now, if you don't like frosting, that's all fine and dandy. Cut yourself a proper piece of cake, then either just trash the frosting, or scoop it off and leave it in the side of the cake container for someone who does like frosting. Don't SCOOP OUT THE MIDDLE!!!! Not only did she scoop out the center of the cake - leaving a 2 inch outer circle of TONNES of frosting - but she also ate all the strawberries & strawberry goo that was on top of the cake too.

At one point, a woman from yet another department came by, and she was going to get a slice. She was completely shocked and appalled that someone had hollowed out the cake like that.

The cake was left there over night, and E's helped herself to it again today. This time - she was scooping out JUST the bottom layer of cake from the circle she'd left. Which left behind, just the top layer and the mass quantities of frosting. So, without a bottom - you guessed it, the cake is collapsing in on itself. THEN she started to harass us to eat some of it, so she wasn't the only one eating it. Ummm... even if it'd been a flavor cake I could eat.. I wouldn't touch it now, that it's been completely destroyed. UGH!!!

( Picture of the cake today )

People really amaze me sometimes.

It's been 7 years today since my dad passed away. Sometimes, it feels like it's been a lot longer. Other times - it feels like it was very recent. Lately, it's been feeling very recent. In remembrance, I want to link to a post I made later that year - scans of a letter about my dad that we received in a Christmas card.

I am currently filling out some new patient paperwork for my ob/gyn appointment on Friday. There is a section listed as "Contraception: Which method do you use to prevent pregancy?" One of the choices I can pick from is "Female partner." Now, yes, I know how biology works and all, and that 2 women can't knock each other up. I just wasn't aware that having a female partner was a FORM of contraception -- like something you can pick up at the pharmacy counter. *giggles*

I have a dental appointment tomorrow - just a cleaning. But it'll set up another long series of dental appointments. I have to have work done on both of my upper cuspids, as well as a molar or two. Ugh. Friday, in addition to my gyno appt, I have the first in a series of Euflexxa shots in my knees. I'll have to get those the next 3 weeks in a row. I hope they don't hurt too bad.

I'm .. rambly tonight, but I don't have anything to ramble about. Not really.

Originally published at soundtrack of my life. You can comment here or there.

The greatest man I never knew
Lived just down the hall
And everyday we said hello
But never touched at all
He was in his paper
I was in my room
How was I to know he thought I hung the moon

The greatest man I never knew
Came home late every night
He never had too much to say
Too much was on his mind
I never really knew him
Oh and now it seems so sad
Everything he gave to us took all he had

Then the days turned into years
And the memories to black and white
He grew cold like an old winter wind
Blowing across my life

The greatest words I never heard
I guess I'll never hear
The man I thought would never die
He's been dead almost a year
He was good in business
But there was business left to do
He never said he loved me
Guess he thought I knew

Does anyone on my dear flist have an iPhone? If so, would you be willing to answer a question or two for me?

I'm wanting to know things like -- what plan are you on? What "extra" add-ons do you have/choose to get for the iPhone, and how much does that run you per month? What's your average monthly bill like?

I am desperately in the market for a new phone. And, since I am, I'm semi-debating switching phone carriers as well (Currently with TMobile), and the iPhone is one of the phones I'm semi-considering.

Thanks! :D

Okay. This really doesn't qualify as a spoiler for last night's ep .. but I'm still going to cut-tag it anyway, just to be safe.

( The website that was mentioned... )

I know what else I forgot to write about last night. For the better part of the past year, I've been plagued with this horrible acrid, smoky, burning smell. At first, I'd thought it was something in my room - like maybe my PC was too hot and smelling weird or something. But, no one else smelled the scent but me. After a while, I started smelling it when I was downstairs, or outside, or in my car, etc. So, since the smell is still bothering me, I brought it up to my doctor. I have to admit, I've been a little worried about it, afraid that because of the strange smell and the constant headaches and migraines, that they were going to want to send me in for an MRI (yup, my mind jumps to worst case scenario!). I didn't do well at all with the last brain MRI that I had 3 years ago. There is absolutely no way I'd be able to handle it now. I'd have to be completely 100% knocked out to be able to go into one of those machines without having a complete meltdown, and even then... yeah. One thing I learned before the last MRI - they can't do an Open MRI for the brain. It was something about how with all the electrical impulses of the brain and stuff, it's too difficult to capture on MRI when it's open - too much possibility for interference. Or something. I don't remember the why exactly, but I think it was along those lines. So while I was lucky and able to have my last knee MRI via an open machine, I wouldn't have that choice for a brain scan. Ugh.

But, luck was potentially on my side. When I mentioned all the problems I was having with the headaches and the smell - she said it sounded like it was possibly a sinus infection. So, I'm on antibiotics to see if we can't knock this thing out. I'm on day 5 (out of 10) of the meds, and so far I'm still have the smells. Hopefully they start going away soon, because I really don't want this to be anything worse than a sinus infection! Haha.

( Female issues, revisited )

On Friday, I went to work 30 minutes early specifically so I could leave 30 minutes early. My best friend, Emily, was coming to visit! Her flight landed at 4:24, so I needed to leave early to be sure I made it to the airport in time. Hee.

From the airport, we headed over to one of my favourite bbq joints. (Well, kinda. 99% of the chain is in East Texas. There is 1 location in Arlington. And while it's still delicious... it's just not quite as good as the locations further east. ;) ) So, we headed down there, and get in line ... only to discover they are completely out of brisket. Now, they still had ribs and turkey... but. No. We were in the mood for yummy bbq sandwiches. Which require beef! ;) So, sadly we left (as did a few other people in line) and went to find our dinner somewhere else. After eating, it was time for home to watch some videos and goof off.

Saturday morning, we hit the road travelling all over the Dallas area to do some serious power shopping. I got a couple of cute tops, but Emily's the one who really hit the jackpot at the stores. After a brief stop at home (watching more vids), it was off to dinner. We split a green apple frozen margarita, and ended up wandering around Target later, giggling like crazy. ;)

Sunday started out good. It was Emily's birthday (YAY!) and after lunch with mom, we did even more shopping! We also drove around downtown Dallas, taking in the sights. After watching a few more vids in the afternoon, we decided it was time to head out for dinner. We decided on having dinner at California Pizza Kitchen, then we'd head over to The Melting Pot to have chocolate fondue for dessert.

Going out for dinner is when the day took a painful turn. We get to CPK, find all the outside parking is taken, so we head on to the nearby parking garage. Getting into CPK from the garage was interesting. We went down some back hall, and ended up entering via some back, upstairs entrance. We were very confused, but we finally figured out how to get downstairs (via a very tall staircase, which I descended without incident!) and then we were headed to the front of the store, to the front desk so we could be seated. I was moving at a pretty good clip (at least, pretty darn fast when it comes to me and my arthritic knees!) and then suddenly... I went down. There was a small, 2 step staircase that I didn't see. So I took a step which turned into a big tumble. I twisted my left ankle as I went down, as well as wrenching my left shoulder and both knees. I think I scared the family sitting right at the foot of the stairs.

Of course, the manager and a couple of staff were all there in a heartbeat to make sure I was okay. Because of a mid-fall decision I made that involved me twisting around (and probably hurt my knee more), I ended up landing on the top step, instead of sprawled out on the ground at the foot of the stairs. After sitting for a minute, I used the handrail to pull myself to my feet, and hobbled to a chair the manager had pulled up for me. After sitting there for a couple of minutes, we got a table, and the manager came back a few times to check on me, as well as get my name, address, etc. (I find it very intriguing that, although she took my personal info, she never had me sign a waiver or write out what happened. I mean, I have no plans to try to sue them or anything, but she REALLY should've had me sign a waiver of some sort to protect the restaurant. Just because I'm not the kind of person to sue, doesn't mean someone else wouldn't if it'd happened to them.) My ankle was sore through out dinner, but I've injured myself enough times to guess that the ankle injury probably wouldn't be very severe. After we were done eating, the waiter brought our bill. As I put in my card, I checked the total so I could start figuring the tip - and was surprised that the total was a lot less than it should be. The manager had comped my dinner because of my fall. (And yes, I did tip on the total pre-comp.) While he was running my card, the manager stopped by again, to let me know she'd comped the meal because of my fall, and she also said that they weren't allowed to put up a "Watch Your Step" sign there, even though they'd wanted to. I'm not sure why they can't, but trust me - I would've appreciated the sign! ;)

I/we decided that I wasn't going to allow my injuries to ruin the evening, so we still headed out for fondue! Hee. It was absolutely delicious. I think I could've OD'd on chocolate if there'd been more. We had some ... interesting women sitting at the table behind us. They had a lot of discussion about their boobs, and they actually had a stop watched and timed each other's trips to the ladies room. Ummmm... WTF? They were also incredibly rude and kept talking about their urine and boobs the entire time the waiter was at their table, explaining the oils and cook times and etc for their entrees. I was mortified on his behalf! Haha. Once we were done with dessert, we headed back home (after a stop at the grocery store for ACE bandages) and iced and wrapped my ankle. It had swelled a small bit, but was mostly okay.

All in all, I think we had a lot of fun that evening -- injuries excluded. Hee.

Today, we got up and I quickly learned that although my ankle was 95% okay, my knees were an entirely different story. They are both feeling incredibly weak and shaky as I walk, and are very sore. Getting up out of a chair - or sliding to my feet off the bed - is not an easy feat. I have to psych myself up for before I can push myself up and my knees scream in protest as I stand. It also doesn't help anything that my left shoulder is sore - it makes pushing up out of the chair difficult. We had more shopping to do, though, so I managed to get myself up and going so we could hit Target and then somewhere for lunch. We also took some time (at both ends of our excursion) to stop and feed the ducks at Cottonwood park. There were some absolutely adorable baby ducks that I have to admit - most of my food went to. They were just too cute!!!

We came back home, and Emily had to pack to get ready to head back home. :( I didn't want her to leave, she definitely wasn't here long enough this trip. But I don't think her cat or her work would like it too much if I kept her, so I had to let her go. I managed to hobble into the airport with her, sat while while she checked in, then stood nearby and watched her go through security until I couldn't see her anymore. :(

I was roughly 10 minutes from home when I got a phone call from mom. One of the cats, Gypsy, had managed to swallow a threaded needle. Gypsy is an overweight kitty, but she's been losing a lot of weight over the last 6 months. She's still too heavy, but she's down somewhere between 10-15 lbs. As a result, Gypsy is figuring out that she can now jump onto counters again! Mom had been doing some mending, and left the needle on a desk. Gypsy jumped up and decided she wanted the thread for a snack ... not knowing there was a sharp pointy thing at the end! As soon as I got home, mom was loading Gypsy up into the cat carrier, and we took her up to the animal hospital. Thankfully - the needle had lodged itself into the roof of her mouth and her cheek. I say thankfully because, even though this was a painful thing, it could have been much, much worse. Since it was embedded in her mouth, the vet was able to just sedate her and remove it. If it had gone further down her throat, or into her stomach, we would've been looking at surgery to get it removed. It cost almost $250 just to get it pulled out of her mouth - I can't imagine how much it would've been if she'd needed surgery! We probably could have attempted to remove it ourselves, but I was worried that it might make things worse, or cause too much bleeding or something, and figured we'd be better off letting a professional handle it.

And, as bad of a kitty-parent this is of me to say, I have to admit that I'm glad that it was Gypsy who did it, if any of them had to. Windy is 17 years old, and on a slow decline. It might've proven too stressful for her if she'd been the one to swallow it, and we might've lost her prematurely. And while Mali is the baby of the family, she's also the most high-strung of them all. She was already highly agitated over having Emily here all weekend, something like this might've sent her over the top into extreme panic mode. I would be afraid she'd freak out so badly that she'd make the injury a lot worse. Gypsy is the calmest of the 3 cats, and while she was clearly in pain and unhappy with the situation, she managed to stay pretty quiet during the ride to the hospital and stopped pawing at her mouth once she realised we were attempting to help her. So, while I wish it hadn't happened at all, I'm glad that it was my calm girl, and that she didn't freak out and make everything worse than it ended up being. We know that she's doing okay now -- as soon as she was let out of the cat carrier at home, she headed straight for her food bowl to eat! ;) If she feels up to eating, then she's going to be okay. She's currently snuggled up with my mom in bed, and was purrring happily when I checked on her a little while ago.

I wish I didn't have to go to work tomorrow. I think I jarred my tailbone again in addition to everything else. So, I can't sit down without my tush hurting. I obviously can't stand for long. And I have difficulties laying down - I can't find a comfortable position to lay in, and it hurts to change positions. Ugh. I hope I don't require doc visits for all this.

So, yes. That was my weekend. I had a lot of fun, in spite of the injuries. I wish Emily hadn't had to leave, though. It sucks a lot that my best friend lives so far away, and that I only get to see her a couple of times a year. :( I hope she had a fun birthday down here with me.

Oh Tom, how I adore you. <3

Dear Idiot In The SUV Who Has Almost Hit Me Every Morning This Week:

Please note that when you turn a corner, you are supposed to move mostly past the oncoming lane before turning onto the street. If you, as you do daily, turn the corner as soon as you reach the curb closest to you, then you are going to turn into MY lane, and take off the front end of my car. The ONLY reason you have not done so yet, is because I am paying attention and slam on my brakes roughly 2 car lengths back from my stop sign. I SHOULD be able to pull up closer to the stop sign without fear of getting hit by your idiotic ass.

Trust me -- waiting 2 more seconds before turning will NOT make you late for work. Hitting my car, however, is guaranteed to make both of us late, and will require you/your insurance to pay all of my repair and medical bills.

No Love At All,

The Driver of the BRIGHT YELLOW Car Who Knows You Can See Me Coming Before You Turn.

I have now have a badge and employee handbook; and I filled out W-4s and all kinds of other paperwork, and I am an official employee of the RISD. :D I still don't know exactly how much I'm making, but I have a ballpark minimum figure, and I'll find out the exact dollar amount when I go in again tomorrow to get fingerprinted.

The one thing that made me go O.O is the pay schedule. I get paid just once a month. And, because I'm starting on the first day of a new pay period -- I don't receive my first paycheck until February 27th. Wow. That is a long way away!

Because I'm paraprofessional staff, I do have to take Staff Development classes. Because I'm starting halfway through the school year, I have to have 6 hours of SD completed by April 1. Then, it's 12 hours per school year. That's not too bad at all. I haven't looked up what all is offered yet.

YAY JOB!!

HR called today, and had me go up and fill out a form for my background check. I was supposed to get fingerprinted, but they decided they'll just do that on Thursday.

I am going to say I have the job. Everything implies that I do - it just hasn't been actually said? I go in for orientation on Thursday morning, and was told I start work on Monday -- but I haven't been "formally" offered the job ... and I have no idea what my salary will be. But, since I "start work" on Monday, I think it's pretty safe to assume that I have the job. Hee!

I'm assuming that stuff like salary and what not will be discussed at orientation on Thursday. Since, you know, things like that would be good to know before I start work. Plus, I am assuming that's when I fill out all the paperwork, like my W-4 and whatever else makes the job "official".

Excel is my weakness. I'm not sure exactly when or how it happened, but it became a program I have to have. Not just needing to have the program on my PC, but to a point where I am using Excel at least once a day. And, honestly, I use it quite a lot more than that. On an average day, I am guaranteed to have 4 programs running at all times: Firefox, AIM, MSN, and Excel.

I use Excel for anything and everything. One example: I use it as a tool to aide in planning of vacations. I'll create one tab to make a list of rental car companies, and the prices each one offers, along with any coupon codes, etc, that I might need. I create another tab with different flights, so I can pick which is best. I'll have another for hotels, where I can list locations, prices (with separate columns for price per night, taxes, overall price, and price per person), and I'll have additional columns for comments, where I can log things like if there's an additional fee for parking or internet, or anything else they might decide to charge me for. Once the decisions are made, there will be a tab with all the confirmation numbers and specific details, to print out easily and pack in the carry-on. A separate spreadsheet will help me keep a list of potential places to visit, along with the hours and prices of each attraction. I'll even use a spreadsheet to help me plan what to pack on the trip, breaking things down into a checklist type format - IE. one column for shirts, another for pants, another for undergarments/nightwear/etc, and columns for shoes, or toiletries, or medications. There will be one tab with what needs to be packed, another for what is packed, and even another to break down my clothes by day, to make sure I have the right amount of each type of clothing packed. Yeah. I know, I'm insane. To further prove how crazy I am -- I had a total of 7 separate multi-tabbed spreadsheets when I was planning my birthday trip to Vancouver this year. ;)

And I use it for so much more than just vacation planning. If I need to create a list (for absolutely anything at all), 99% of the time I'm going to do it in Excel. In the summer, when it's almost time for all the TV shows to start back up -- you guessed it, I'll create a spreadsheet for it. Not only will the file have a list all the premiere dates for all the shows I watch, but I also use it to create a weekly grid, so I can visually see what show is on what night at what time -- and figure out what needs to be DVR'd. (This is the list I created this for this fall. Shows have been adjusted since, but that was what I was originally watching.) Hmmm, I really need to work on a new list, since shows are about to start shifting around for the spring, and my midseason shows will be starting up soon. :-[

If I am shopping for something - yup. I'll start a spreadsheet for that, too. That way, I can compare different models or brands, and see what the differences are, easily. And once I decide on the specific item I'm buying, I can use another tab, to list all vendors and their prices, to make sure I get the best cost! I have a sheet for books I want to read, and I have one for jewelry I want to buy. I've got another spreadsheet for jobs I've applied for, along with the contact info, dates I applied, any follow up taken, and any other job-hunt relevant info. I just did a search on my entire PC -- as of right this second, I have 586 excel files on my computer, dating all the way back to February of 2000. (Oh yeah. I rarely trash my old Excel files, either. Ha. :-[ )

So... yeah. I want to get certified as an Excel Specialist. There's still some things I need to learn before I can (like macros), but I think it would be nice. Especially considering my every day dependency on Excel.

I have no idea why I wrote an entire entry confessing the depths of my addiction to Excel, but I did. And since I am attempting to get back into the habit of posting again, I'm posting it. ;) Anyone who actually read all this has my sympathy and appreciation. Haha.

Merry Christmas and/or Happy Holiday of Your Choosing, everyone!!!

( My Christmas Haul )

I bought ma the "Mamma Mia" Two Disc Special Edition dvd. It was all I was allowed to buy her - it was the same way w/her b-day last month. (I probably bought her more than I was supposed to, though, since I got the 2 disc edition, instead of the normal version. ;)) I've been told that once I start working and have a decent income again, THEN I can buy her birthday & Christmas gifts. Haha. Makes sense though. She's just concerned about me making my money last until I have more coming in.

I have an itch to buy a new domain. I shouldn't, really, since I already own at least a dozen. But I can't help it. I just want to buy more!!! Right now it's mostly because I want to put my lyrics blog on it's own domain, instead of a sub-domain. Crazy, I know. But this is me, and crazy is my middle name. ;) I can't decide what would be a good domain name though. I've had an idea or two, but none that seem to "fit". Suggestions are always welcome, of course.

I've also been semi-thinking about a name change here at LJ. I can't decide though. I do like having my name as my username. But at the same time, I want something a little more..., um, a little less... heck, I can't think of the right word. Just something not my name. But, I don't want to lose this username either, in case I ever decided I wanted my name back. Sure, I could just move to a new username, and leave this journal behind ... but this is a permanent account. And I don't want to have to start paying again. I do have another username in mind (and have already registered it), I'm just not positive if I want to switch or not. Not to mention the fact that, to keep this username as well as move to a new journal, it would cost me $45 - since that process requires 3 rename tokens. Ugh. I can't decide.

I have an entry that I started about two weeks ago, but I just can't seem to get myself to finish it. Probably because I know that if I do write it, it will pretty much require me to write another entry - one that I've been avoiding for several years now, one that would give background info & support for the post already started. I know I need to though, putting things down in writing and getting them out of my head always helps (at least a little bit). I just don't want to go back and revisit the past. However, I know that ignoring the a problem from the past doesn't make it go away, and I'll never be able to deal with it unless I face it. I'm just a wuss though, honestly.

The past day or two, I have been on a sudden jewelry hunt. Keep in mind - I'm not a big jewelry person. I was searching for an image for an icon, and one of the pictures was a piece of jewelry. That did it, and I was instantly obsessed. I even have an Excel spreadsheet going, logging images and details on my favorite pieces, so I can come back and compare when I feel like I'm done searching. I started off keeping a text file of the links, but that was getting too cumbersome. Plus, I can add the image in Excel, which I can't in Notepad, and having all the images in one place (instead of numerous links I have to open) will make it a lot easier when I attempt to decide which one I like better.

But, that has lead me to a question for my friends who make their own jewelry. Where can I buy silver chain in a length of my choosing? And/or, where is the best place for me to have a pair of earrings made? See, while searching for jewelry I liked, I have come to the realization that the only way to get the earrings I want is to make them myself. And I'm okay with that -- mostly. ;) The base of what I want is similar to these earrings I own (and that are just like my best friend's earrings <3) however, I want a pair that are on a longer chain, and have a different drop on them. I foresee myself having 2 big problems in making them myself, though. Problem 1) finding the chain. Problem 2) attaching the chain to the earring post, and to the ring to attach the drop. The chain I want/need cannot be any more than 1mm in width (since the chain itself will be threaded through my earlobes, like this) and I don't how I'd be able to work with a chain that miniscule. I don't want to have to pay big bucks to have what I want made, either. One other difficult part will be that I need to get my hands on the chain first, so I can decide exactly how long it does need to be. I want them to be longer than the pair I have, because I want the loops of chain to be a little longer. Although... hmm. I suppose I could attempt to use a piece of thread through the ears to determine the actual length I want. Grrrr. I really want the earrings I have pictured in my mind -- I'm just not sure how I'm going to get them.

Okay. I think I should stop rambling for now. Besides, my eyes hurt now, from attempting to take a (mostly) clear picture of the earring in my ear, all by myself. Ha.

Okay, so, yes. Now that I'm home from dinner and have more time to write -- more info on the job.

It's for an Accounts Payable Specialist, and it's in the school district I live in, and that I attended as a youngster. The office is only 3.5 miles from my house and it only takes me about 10 minutes to get there. It's definitely close enough that I could run home on my lunch break if I needed to. It's also close enough that going in on an inclement weather day (if the district is open) wouldn't be a big issue, since there are no bridges/underpasses/etc between here and there. And, well, being that close, I'd be using a lot less gas, there'd be less wear and tear on my car, and all those other good things. Hee.

( Job Description )

The salary is less than I was making at Comp, but then, with the economy the way it is, I pretty much expected that I'd be making less money when I found something so it's no big deal. It's only about $3,700 less a year, so it's not THAT big of a difference, luckily.

Hmmm. What else? Oh yes! Work schedule. It would be Mon-Thur, 8:00am - 4:30pm, and Fri 8:00am - 4:00pm. That's very close to what my old schedule was, so I like it. Where most corporate offices work approximately 251 days out of a year, this office works only 226 days a year. The office is closed for 1 week for Spring Break, closed 2 weeks during summer break, 3 days off for Thanksgiving, and closed for 2 weeks for Winter Break. I have to admit, I was very pleasantly surprised hearing that part. Since this is the accounting department for the district, and bills still have to be paid even when the schools aren't open, I did not expect them to have any "extra" time off from the normal corporate world. So, yes. VERY pleasant surprise.

I don't know much about benefits, etc, yet. The district website has some of the basics posted, but I won't find out any exact details until I after I meet with HR next year. Like I said, I still don't actually have the job. At this point, all that is certain is that the AP Supervisor (and her boss) have told HR that I am the candidate they want to hire. Once everyone is back from Winter Break, HR will contact me. I know that they will check my references, do a background check, etc., before actually making the job offer. So, there is still a tiny chance that I could not get the position -- but I really don't think there's anything in my background that would stand in the way.

The next two weeks are going to be a weird combo of impatience and excitement, as I wait for the winter break to be over so that we can move forward and I find out if I definitely do get this job!

I GOT A JOB!!!! MAYBE!!!! Hahahah

*bounces*

It's the position I interviewed for yesterday, with the school district. I just got off the phone with the manager from there, and she said they are telling HR that I'm the candidate that they want to hire. So now I just have to go through the whole background check rig-a-ma-role, and all that fun stuff, then the job is mine!! YAY!!! *bounces*

The bad part -- today is the last day of work for the district for the year. So I won't hear anything at all from HR until next year. (They start back up on Jan 5th.) So, while I say I have a job -- I don't, technically. Not until some time during the beginning to middle of January, after HR finishes their end of it all. HEEE!!!

I finally got a call back from one of the temp agencies; the one that called a couple of weeks ago and didn't leave a message. I have a screening interview there tomorrow. Two interviews, actually. I'll be interviewing with the both the temporary hire and direct hire departments.

Then, later this afternoon, I got a call from a local school district. I'm going in on Thursday to interview there, for a position in the Accounts Payable department. The lady I spoke with is the manager of the department, and she sounded nice. I'll be interviewing with her and her boss.

So -- wish me luck, please!

ETA - Oh. And yes. I'm really digging the new show "Leverage". A lot.

Dear Santa... Dear Santa, This year I've been busy! Last month I helped callmedirk hide a body (-173 points). In March I ruled Canada as a cruel and heartless dictator (-700 points). Last Friday I bought porn for obsessedmuch (-10 points). In November I invaded Iraq, broke it, and couldn't glue it back together before Mom got home (-1012 points). In July I set kaymyth's puppy on fire (-66 points). Overall, I've been naughty (-1961 points). For Christmas I deserve a spanking! Sincerely, keiran_c

Write your letter to Santa! Enter your LJ username:

I snagged this one from Kiba
( Past 8 years... )

Just took my final accounting final... and I aced it! Woo hoo!!!

Class:		Final Exam		Overall Grade
Computer Basics		100		100
Business Communication		100		100
Accounting Module 1		98.6		99.2
Accounting Module 2		99		99
Accounting Module 3		100		100
Personal Development		N/A		100

Edited on 11/26 to add my grade for PD.

I'm supposed to be writing a "real" post. But. Well.... what can I say? I love stealing memes. ;) The real post will come later.

( Questions on my Top 50 artists )

My last.fm account is here. Feel free to add me if you haven't already. :D

I got back home yesterday. I didn't want to leave Vancouver. Sure, my knees are still screaming in protest from the trip, but I don't care. Temps in the 60's & 70's beat temps in the 100's any day. ;) Plus, it was so nice there. Sigh. Ugh. Oh well. Now to see if my knees will work long enough to get me to the car so I can go to school. Meh.

I'm currently having some nasty internet issues. Our service has been intermittent since @ 4pm yesterday. And when I say "intermittent", I really mean "down 85% of the time". Ugh. We have a tech coming out tomorrow, hopefully things'll be fixed quick.

But, I wanted to make a real quick entry during this little window of time I am online. I mentioned yesterday that I had an interview to get accepted in the WIA program. I got in! So, now the gov't is going to pay for me to go to school. I enrolled today, and I actually start classes on Thursday!! Yipes. I'm kinda nervous about it.

I'll write a longer entry about all of this later, hopefully tomorrow.

Okay. This afternoon, I have an intake interview for the WIA program. (Workforce Investment Act. Basically, the gov't pays for me to go back to school. hee.) I'll write more about all of that later, after my appointment, but. Reading my horoscope for today made me grin, since the beginning sounds like it could be applied to the WIA program.

Your Horoscope for JUNE 23, 2008

You are making some positive changes and important connections for the better in certain areas of your life right now, Keiran. Honor these transformations and realize the positive impact they are having on your life. At the same time, however, it could be that some of these changes are causing disruptions in your romantic life. There may be power plays going on between you and a person, or group of people close to you. Build your confidence from the inside out and let up on the reins just a bit.

I need to write. I need to write a bunch of things. I haven't done a proper entry in eons. I have plenty of things swirling in my brain that I need to post about, I just haven't been able to get words written. They don't want to cooperate with me at all. I'm likely to ramble like crazy here, so be forewarned.

I know this is, like, 2+ months after the fact — but I had an amazing birthday. I spent it in Toronto with Emily, the actual day was spent at her lake cottage. The first part of the week, my mom came up and we all played tourist, taking her around the city, and down to Niagara Falls. After she left, Emily and I headed to the lake for a couple of days. At the end of the week, we went to the African Lion Safari. That place was wild. I've been to drive-through safari's before, ones where you get to feed the animals. But I have never been to one where you are driving through the same pen as lions and cheetahs, where literally the only thing between you and them is your car! That was freaky, and so cool. The monkeys loved to climb all over people's cars in their area. I've got pictures from that trip up here.

That trip also gave me one of the best birthday moments I can remember. We decided to jump back into the lake late that night, and we were in the water at the exact minute I turned 33. As we were swimming in that cold water under the moonlight, we saw several shooting stars. I think it was a total of 3 shooting stars while we were in the water. This was a few nights before the peak of the Perseid meteor shower, so I wasn't expecting to see anything yet. So, getting to see the first few just made my birthday that much more special.

Back to the present — I got to test drive the Smart Car today. I am so absolutely in love with that thing. It's a lot roomier than it looks from the outside, even plenty of room in the back for luggage. I want one of those so badly, but I don't want another car payment. I'm enjoying not having one, and my car is still running incredibly well, so I'll be happy with what I have for another few years.

Last week I started seeing a psychologist. It's something I've needed to do for years on end, but I always had a million excuses for putting it off. No more though. The lady I met with was very nice, and I think we should get along well enough to make me comfortable for the sessions. Thanks to vacation and several other doctor and dentists appointments, I don't get to go back until the first week of November.

This is going to be a very short week for me at work. I'm only working tomorrow, and most of Tuesday. Wednesday morning, I've got a bunch of doctor's appointments, then it's off to Toronto again. More play time!! Definitely looking forward to getting to see Emily again.

I have tons more that I could ramble about, but I think I'll just stop there. heh.

...... wtf?

I've been meaning to post this for a while, and just keep forgetting. :-[ haha. Oops? Anyway. ( Photo from after the Hugh Dillon show ) I'll try to get more pictures from the Toronto trip up into an album this weekend, and link to 'em later. Although, we know I'm a master procrastinator, so I can't promise it will happen. Hee!!

Hi, I just wanted to say I love you.

And you.

And you.

And you and you and you.

And all of you.

*spreads the love*