Socks - Not the White House Cat

I am on a quest. One woman's search for black dress socks that don't suck a whole lot. I have purchased various kinds of black socks, some expensive, some not, and lots of different brands. All but one pair have failed to impress me. That is the one pair of socks I bought at Ann Taylor Loft and they no longer carry socks. Figures.... What I am looking for is a pair of socks that meet the following criteria.

1. They stay up. There is nothing I hate more than the feeling of socks falling down as I walk. It just irks me.

2. The don't get holes in them in less than a year. Perhaps this is asking too much from dress socks, but I put my toe through a pair last week and I can tell you, it's not very stylish.

3. This one is a carry over from two, but getting thread bare in the toes and heals. Also not very cool since I don't wear shoes in my desk area. Yes I know, I should, but frankly, I am much more comfortable with them off.

If anyone has a place the would recommend I buy them from, I am all ears. I bought some from Target, whatever various brands they had, Banana Republic, Ann Taylor Loft, and Old Navy. The Gap has good socks, but once they get all black, the elastic they normally put in place is replaced by some inferior elastic bound to fall down.

Quest marches on!

Parking

Todays topic - Parking. I went to Costco today to get a few things that would require a cart to haul it to my car. To my knowledge I have yet to acquire super human strength so there you have it, stuck with conventional methods. In choosing my parking spot, I alway go for the spot near but not next to the shopping cart return if I know I am getting things that will require me to use one. This seems logical to me. Then I can just load the car, walk 10 feet to return the cart and back to the car and away I go. Oddly enough, I don't think many people use this method for choosing where to park. Works for me since that will leave me with lots to choose from!

Another good method is going for along the store front instead of out from it. Those parking spaces are normally left alone because the people who want the spot near the door try for right in front of the store. If they don't find one close, they usually just park at the first available one down that aisle. I wonder if it's some weird psychological choice. Bare with me for an extremely dorky engineering moment, but I bet that the way people park looks like a normal distribution from above. Whoa, that was almost a bit much even for me.

Now some people are the kind of people that pull down an aisle only to get about 15 yards in because they are waiting for someone to finish loading their car and pull out so they can have the spot that's only a little ways from the entrance. I don't understand why people do this. In the time spent waiting for the spot to become available you probably could have parked and walked to your destination. What's another few feet? Most of the time the next available spot is only a few more down.

Now this excludes holiday shopping or at times when there is little to no parking available. Fine, troll along and get what you can get, however I am talking the everyday things. Are people really that lazy? I do enjoy a good parking spot, but if it's not present when I want to park, then fine, next one in the area will do. I figure I probably don't get enough exercise as it is. Does anyone else have weird methods for parking or I am alone in my dorkness on this? Which by the way I am totally willing to accept.

My Sister Rocks

I was thinking about what I should write a blog about today and it dawned on me while I was looking at the "shrine" I have made at my desk at work of all the cool stuff my sister has done over the past year. I am not talking about your average Joe Schmoe sheet cake, but fancy stuff.

It was kicked off by her amazing talent with her gingerbread house. It wasn't just any gingerbread house, it was a 40" tall Lighthouse with cottage. Although this picture doesn't show it, she did a cutaway room on the back of the cottage where there was a dining room, fireplace, and oriental rug. She entered the competition and took first place as grand prize winner and as peoples choice award. The picture below with her in it gives you perspective on how big it really is and yes, it really lights up.

Since that win, she has been doing a number of neat looking cakes in her kitchen. The first one that popped out was one that looked like something you could get at the fast food joint, but better! Everything on this display is edible, including the fry boat.

Next came the beer bottle. This particular cake is about 2 feet long. Reminded me of my days at the brewery. I can tell you, the cake tastes nothing like beer. ;)

In between it all, she also does weddings. This is what a typical spread of hers looks like. Don't worry, I have her tagged to do mine when that time comes. It's going to be delicious!

And the latest out of her kitchen this last week was a pirates ship. A 3-D pirates ship. I think it looks pretty awesome myself. I can barely draw one much less make it out of cake.

My sister is a very talented individual. I'd like to think I have picked up a thing or two from her over the years. :) She's a pretty good teacher too.

Trash Trail

So this morning I was up and out early to do some much needed grocery shopping. Before I left, I cleaned out the fridge and made a point to fill the trash and toss it on the way out. Normally I remember in those 5 minutes of leaving the house that I have trash that I need to toss before going out of the complex. This morning was not one of those mornings. I did remember by the third light I got to because it started to smell. I turned around and tossed it out.

There are a number of ways I have seen people carry their trash to the compactor here. Some people just carry it, some put in on the trunk, top of the car, or on top of the hood. Most mornings when I leave for work, there is at least one person who has put their trash somewhere ON their car and forgets about it, then drives off down our road. I assume once they hit about 20mph, it flies off. Then welcome obstacle course of whatever they had in that bag.

It happens so often I wonder if it's the same person or if everyone in our complex has a day like I did today and just plain forgets. But for all the complexes I have lived in (and those that have moved know, it's been quite a few) I have NEVER witnessed this before. It's a phenomenon that I can't quite grasp. I don't know if it's this complex, the fact that people don't put it in their car, or something about being in GA, but it stinks.

Softball Winning Streak

It's been a while since I posted something to do with softball. We are still playing. The last two games have been played in 100+ degree heat. Not the best weather for playing, but it's not rain. That postponed the season by an additional two weeks in a row. The softball season end date is now the last weekend in September before playoffs.

We have finished the "regular season" which is where we play all 12 teams. The "league season" has now begun. It should be no surprise to you that my team is in the bottom of the three leagues. The plus side is we are at the top of the bottom league which gives us something to strive for. We have one team that we are having a hard time beating, but overall we don't care that much. We are still mostly concerned with happy hour after the game.

Even after all my fumbles, my team still lets me play. Last week I managed to pull a nice out by throwing to first. But that was after I let two balls past me at second, one with lifting my foot up as it came toward me.

Overall, I have learned a lot this season, but it's hard to say if I will want to play again. It takes a lot of freaken commitment to do this. We started April 11th and it won't finish till sometime late September early October. Yeah it's only once a week, but for 6 months it's a lot.

OOOO Shinny!

That's right, I finally got my nice shinny new computer! In fact, I am writing this blog entry with it. :) It's all nice and new and fantastic! I so far have found that I like it a lot. It's a little snug getting it into the bag I have for it, but I am sure that will get easier with time.

So since I have this new beast, there are some things to note about new computers.

1. All your old stuff isn't on them. This can be a plus and a minus at the same time. Plus - Free hard drive space. Minus - Having to load it all up again. Even IM, iTunes, WoW, camera stuff, etc. Kind of a pain.

2. It's actually legal software. Something new for me.

3. It's better than what I had. Also good and bad. Good because I spent the money on it so it better be a step up from what I had, but bad in that I don't want to use that "old" thing anymore. Yuck!

4. It's portable! Well, this is only true if you got a laptop. I can't wait until I get so lazy I can't sit at my desk to work and I have to bring it to bed, and fall asleep with it. It's going to rock!

But all in all, for day one of ownership, I am pretty happy. I found the volume button, figured out how to get the internet to work, and managed to download Firefox. Yay! Now if I can only figure out what triggers the sleep vs. off mode. :P

Project Board Update

I am on step closer to project tracking! I have completed my project board so I now have a place to keep the rest of my projects. I have a number of things that will be going on there such as, Halloween costume, Christmas gifts, and the usual household stuff. I haven't figured out just where to hang it yet, but I am sure it will find a home soon.

Day at the Lake

Yesterday I was invited to go to the lake with some friends of mine from work. I got up really early, like work time early, on my day off to go with them. But it's the first true Friday off in almost two months and it's a day on a boat in the middle of this ridiculous heat way in Atlanta. It was an hour and a half ride from here to the lake which didn't seem to bad with a car full of five people. We ended up at Carters Lake, one the boat owners frequent because of it's lack of people. Something I appreciate.

We got to the lake around 11am and met another couple waiting for us. We piled into the boat and out we went. At the first stop we all hopped into the water. How warm it was! Almost like bath water, but some cool pockets down lower. Really refreshing to dip into.

The first sport up was wake boarding, which all but two people tried. I am proud to say I did manage to get up on the thing, but got I so excited and fell back down. Meh, not really my sport, but I would try it again anyway. The next sport was knee boarding. Now there's something I can get into! I bopped right across the wakes and caught some air, but not too much. I had a blast.

We had lunch and snacks, the boat had a pretty fabulous sound system you could listen to music as you played in the water. We were out there for almost 8 hours. Overall it's been one of the best days since I have moved here. Relaxing, water, fun, what a good combo! Of course today I hurt in places I didn't know existed, but it was totally worth it. :)

Wired and Fired

About a week and a half ago Rob, myself, and a couple from Rob's grad program went to a unique place called Wired and Fired. I believe the men were there for support while Laura and I were there because this sort of thing appeals to us a lot. Not to say the other two didn't get into it, just they weren't, "What do I choose? I want to paint one of everything!"

So what is Wired and Fired? It's a place you pick out pottery, grab a chair and some paint and create you own unique piece to take home a few days later. It's a pretty neat idea and not a bad idea for gifts, girls night, or whatever. They let you bring in your own drinks and food and let you have at it. I think that's nice. It creates a really casual atmosphere.

So what did I choose to paint? After quite a long time and much debating, I settled on a fairy box. What a detailed project. The other three got much simpler things to paint. Next time I am getting a mug or plate. I did have to come back for a second time, but it's a great stress reducer and fun to do, so I thought it was worth it.

Well, I was called to go pick up this piece that I had spent so much time on. When I got there yesterday, they told me it was the best Fairy Box they had seen in quite a while which I thought was a nice compliment. However when they went to grab it, it wasn't there. In fact they were unable to locate it anywhere. Needless to say I was told they needed to check with some other people to see if they had taken home my project by accident (would have been the employees fault, not the customers). This made me very upset. After the terrible week I had just got done having, I topped it off on Sunday with smashing one of two fancy crystal wine glasses I had and then this. They said the would give me store credit if they are unable to locate it, but do I really even want it? I don't want to sit there and paint the same thing I did last time and I don't feel confident they won't loose whatever I do end up picking. They can't pay me back for the 5 hours I spent traveling and painting, and creativity. All around I feel like it's a pretty raw deal and there isn't anything I can do about it.

Things have to get better right? Oie...

Update: After looking and calling around, they have determined that my piece is no where to be found. Since they said it was the best one they have seen in a while, I am going to go on the assumption that it was so awesome it turned into a have to have item. I rock and that's all there is to it. Also the guy sounded really sorry, which helped. And he is giving me a $50 credit towards the store. No more fairy boxes, maybe that mug or vase...

Girls Night

What a fun night it can be. I never really understood why people would attend these or I guess I should say that I never really grasped the concept of having them. Well since moving to GA there have been a number of them that I have been invited to and quite a few I have participated in. These particular girls nights are we low key people who just want to have a good time. We don't go crazy drinking, hit up strip clubs (although always an option here in the ATL apparently), or trying to pick up guys in bars.

That being said, we did spend the night before St. Patrick's Day in a bar, however no one was really looking for a date, half are married, a quarter are dating, and the others ere quite turned off from the males present. No doubt a smart choice for them. But we have also done pizza and bowling, dinner and a movie, dinner and a play, etc. Simple things that woman like to do. Tonight is dinner and a movie (chick flick too) and it's going to be a lot of fun.

The girls that go aren't catty. I don't see them enough for them to seem that way to me even if they are. They are good, fun people. I guess my perception of girls nights were tainted by movies and preconceived notions. Most of the woman at these things don't go out with many people other than their husbands or boyfriends except for these girls nights. I thought that was odd, surely they must go out, everyone does. Turns out a large majority are looking for friendly people to hang out with just like me. For some reason this totally surprised me, but it's been nice to know I am not alone. In fact it's something to bond over. I appreciate girls nights now because I get to go have fun with random people who are there for the same reasons I am, unload about daily life, share jokes, and enjoy ourselves. We keep it to once a month and change it up. I haven't seen an invite for any repeat events yet which is always refreshing. I finally seem to be embracing the girl thing; wearing pink and purple and going out with the girls. It's a start!

To the males reading, no pillows fights have ensued and I am fairly certain it won't happen. Sorry, but I felt I should be upfront about these things.

Does Someone Have a Case of the Mondays?

Ever feel like the entire week was one giant Monday? Perhaps I like using pictures from Office Space a little too much, but I think it fits. No one in my office asks me this questions thank god, but it could start at any moment. My week truly has felt like on giant Monday. It's just the amount of work I have been given recently, the people, the hours, the everything.

I have taken over an awful project from a leadership development person (aka - future leader in company) and it's been nothing but a nightmare. The work is just a mess. In trying to work with this mess I get to work with some new people. These people have attitude problems and think that I am their new scape goat or someone to just pass off rudeness to. I got so much attitude from this person I thought to myself, what just happened here? I asked a simple request and you would have thought I was asking for a parting of the seas. Oie. I have so much work going on I am forgetting to do some updates to it all. It's not that I don't care, I just have no room in my head to remember it all anymore.

On top of it all I have had some pains in my shoulder that could be a number of factors, most of which being I carry stress there. Ya know, in case it wants to go for a ride or something later. I also think that I have been sleeping funny because of my beat up pillow.

I just keep telling myself it will get better. Like today I found my misplaced conference call card with my host code on it. It was right where I left it last week when I used it, in the department conference room. Also, when I ordered food on Wednesday, the guy on the phone was so polite it made me smile. So those are the moments I am going to focus on. I just need to loose more stuff so I can find it later and be excited about it because ordering food is expensive. Tasty, but expensive. :P

PS - The second I hit publish my cat tried to sit in my lap by bounding into it, missed and punctured my leg. I swear - one giant Monday.