It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas

I am one of those people who feels as soon as Thanksgiving is over at 11:59pm, Christmas season begins. I am NOT however, one of those idiots who gets into a fighting match over a talking toy at 5am. There is not a deal good enough for me to get in that mess. I prefer to sleep and enjoy waking up the next day and being somewhat lazy. Lazy enough that I can dawdle and enjoy my morning cup of coffee, but active enough to decorate for Christmas.

Rob helped bring down the tree and the 7 boxes of Christmas stuff we have. I think we have so much because we both really get into the holiday. I have a lot more ornaments than Rob, however he has more house decor. This works out pretty well because there hasn't been any fights about what goes where. It was a bonus that he has a tree topper. I have had my tree for 3 years and never had one. Santa looks pretty happy up there, must be the view.

I am glad that we both feel that the Christmas tree should be a reflection of us and not something out of a magazine. You know the kind, with all the bulbs, ribbons, and lights matching, stripped of any personality. Those are good for shopping malls, not our home.

I tried some new things with Christmas bulbs this year. I bought them last year knowing they were filler and with Rob's ornament this year they weren't needed. I got creative and put them in other places.

So I say, let the season begin! I need a glass of eggnog. YUM!

Happy Thanksgiving!

We were trying to figure out what to do for Thanksgiving this year. We had offered to make Thanksgiving to Rob's classmates, but no one took the offer, so we were left with the two of us. I had been talking with my co-worker, Sarah about it and she said, "Well if you two haven't made any plans, why not come to my house for Thanksgiving?" Sweet!

Rob made his pumpkin bars and I brought sweet potato casserole. Both were big hits. We got to meet Sarah's family and friends who were all very nice and fun to be around. We played our first game of corn hole. We had beginners luck to win the first game and then were beat twice. Oh well, it was fun and it was gorgeous out!

I love Thanksgiving because it's a time for people to get together. Family, friends, who ever is nearby. The feeling of just being together and celebrating is something I look forward to each year. Each year since I left college has been different, which makes them all memorable. I have Thanksgivings at home, with friends families, at friends houses, and even hosted for international students who have never experienced Thanksgiving.

I am thankful for meeting someone is generous to share the holiday with me and Rob. We had a great time and have lots of leftovers to keep us going for a while. :)

Holiday Good Deed

Today I volunteered to sort food for needy families this Thanksgiving. I really didn't know what this was going to entail, but I wanted to help all the same. I know there are people out there who could use my help in whatever form I am able to give it. Not only did I bring in a bag full of food myself, I brought my time and my two hands.

A group from Lockheed showed up at 11:30 and started in. A lot of the food had been grouped already, but needed to be put into boxes. You loaded the boxes based on what size family they were marked for. 1-2, 3-4, and 5+. The food was sorted out in groups and by tables. You grabbed a shopping cart and got in line. There are three things I have learned from this.

One - The variety of food that people donate that is actually needed. I would have never thought to bring breakfast foods or coffee, but those are needed too.

Two - The amount of families that need help. This year over 1400 families in Cobb County were seeking assistance for their Thanksgiving meal.

Three - People donated a LOT of beans!! When you get them all together and you need to put so many of each in a box it's like trying to play match maker! Beans everywhere! Black beans, kidney bean, baked beans (plus the variety - spiced, dark, original, etc), pinto beans, butter beans, pork and beans, black eyed peas, wax beans, and let's not forget green beans! French cut, kitchen cut, Italian style, no salt added green beans! BEANS EVERYWHERE!!

Overall it was an experience that I would be willing to do again in the following years. It also makes you realize how many people really benefit from these things. Buying extra cans of vegetables, some stuffing and potatoes didn't break my bank and I know it went to someone else that really needed it. It was the best two and a half hours of my day today. Rain and all.

Gmail Wins Again

Gmail is my all time favorite email system. And it's won even more points tonight. I can now apply a theme to my inbox. As you may have guessed I set mine to a beach theme. What's really cool though is it changes with the time of day you are checking your email. Right now the sun is down and the colors are all different. Come morning though, it will be different. It's based on where you live so it is accurate on time. How neat!

I <3 Gmail.

Cats

Sparky loves his new bed. It's true what they say about the third time being a charm. It's the third bed I have purchased for him and I think he finally likes this one. Hooray!

Happiness is having cute kitties to distract you from the ugly world outside.

Date Night

Rob decided a few weeks ago that he was going to take me on a real date to go to dinner and to see his favorite play, Arcadia. The GT drama club was putting it on over a series of weekends. So I picked a date and he made the rest of the plans. Pretty sweet deal for me. :)

He picked a Thai food place called Spoon, for dinner. The perk was it was within walking distance of the school. The downside was it was cooler than we anticipated for walking. Oh well. We got there without trouble, although we did see two cars turn down the wrong way of a median. That was exciting.

We got to the restaurant, were seated, and had just ordered appetizers when the power went out. It flickered back on for only a moment and was out again. Thank goodness for candles at the tables! The power was not coming back on (the whole street was out) and we started discussing alternatives in case they could not provide dinner. But the staff jumped into action and were just amazing! They gave us Basil Rolls on the house because they weren't able to readily provide our pot stickers. Then they came around and took our order in the dark and we ended up with a true candle light dinner! They figured out a good enough lighting situation with flashlights in the kitchen to enable them to cook. They brought out all sorts of tea lights and put them around. Right as we were finishing, the power came back on. They kept apologizing for the power outage and we were like, no no, we had a blast. :)

We made it over to the drama theater in time to pick up our tickets. Quite possibly too early, but that's ok. We are always early. When we walked in the door, we were assulted by a slew of greetings from different people around the room. Then the man behind the candy counter says, "Ok, so I am not trying to hit on you, but you get a free concession. I was instructed by a friend to buy the next girl who walked through the door anything they want from the snack bar. He left a dollar for it." It was like being the 100th customer. I took the M&Ms and thanked the mysterious person who purchased my candy and the guy behind the counter. I soon met the person who bought my candy and thanked him as well. He ended up sitting next to us during the play. Very socialable person.

The play itself was very good. I had no idea what it was about, but I enjoyed it. The GT Drama club has very talented actors and actresses in it's midst. The last live show I saw was the opera, but before that was in high school. I really do enjoy it. :) It was a fun story and a lot of laughs. We are looking forward to maybe catching another show before Rob graduates. Hey, for student admission prices, we can afford that!

All in all it was a really fabulous night with a few odd, but fun perks that were totally unexpected. A perfect date for sure!

Writing Woes

I am taking a class right now called Communication for Engineers. Sounds like an oxy-moron doesn't it? These past two months I have spent working on all the busy work assignments they gave out. Now there are two graded assignments left; my paper and a final exam.

My paper is about greening the global supply chain. Sounds fancy right? Well I sure hope it is when all is said and done. I don't enjoy writing papers at all. Especially on topics that I have had to research and then produce 20 pages of coherent English on it. (Notice I am writing a blog post about the paper instead of doing the paper?) I spent 20 minutes figuring out just how to get my table of contents to work for me. The problem was trying to get one section in roman numerals and a new section to start with regular numbers. I knew Word could do it, but since I am not familiar with the tool, I felt like beating my head against a wall. Of course, Rob offered his expertise after I had it figured out. Oh well.

In grade school English was consistently my worst subject. Today not much as changed aside from having much instruction on how to do it properly. I think after every class I did a data dump and dismissed it as something that I wouldn't need. It occurs to me now that might not have been the best idea I ever had.

Some people are naturally good at things. I am naturally good at math. I enjoy it. It's probably why I am an engineer. I get excited about statistics. Paper writing is for other people. I didn't even enjoy writing lab reports. And yet here I am, about to pull out some masterpiece from thin air. This ought to be good.

Let's Hear From Our Callers

Oh let's not.

The morning ride into work can be tricky for the radio since it's only takes 15 minutes. Not a whole lot of time especially with the commercial breaks they take. If I time it right, I can get weather, news, traffic, and a song in. However, if timed poorly, I get to listen to people who call in.

This morning's topic was, "Tell us about something you do that is really for kids." This also annoyed me because of what triggered them to ask this question. There is ALWAYS a story. Half the time I think they make them up. "I got a friend who is...." Sure you do. The DJ (who is presumably older ~45) bought Call of Duty 5 to play on his Xbox yesterday after it came out. He was thinking, it's the first day, I should be on the same level as all the other players and he was miffed because some players were already at level 15. He just attributed this to the fact that they are kids. Clearly, not in my generation. As I type this Rob is downstairs presumably killing something in Gears of War 2. He is almost 30 and a regular gamer. Hardly a kid, although at heart is another story. I personally think this DJ was bitter because he was not a very good player and was probably being picked on by a 12 year old.

Back to my point. So what I want to know is what prompts a person to take time out of their morning to call in and say, "Yeah, I am still childish because I...." 1 - Who has the time?? 2 - Do you really think I care? 3 - Why would you basically say, "Yup, according to you I am a tool because I..."?

Anytime they start getting people on there I turn to radio off. I don't want to hear it. It's the same thing for prank calls. I HATE prank calls. I don't find them funny. I think it's mostly because you are making someone angry on the other end of the phone to benefit you. Plain English - you are being an ass.

Silence really can be golden. :)

/end rant

Let the Holiday Shopping Begin!

Yes I know. It's only November 9. I think the stores have gotten bolder as the years go by about how soon to put up the Christmas deals. At this point I think it's just expected to run right after Halloween. I think if it gets any earlier people might get uppity, but for now it's ok.

I went Christmas shopping today. It wasn't that I had planned on starting this early. It's just that I got coupons in the mail. If you are willing to give me a $5 off coupon to use in a store I normally shop in anyway, why not? It spreads out the spending a bit and at the same time, you are getting a deal.

Also with the economy the way it is, I am curious to see how the holiday shopping pans out for businesses. I personally plan on doing things the way I did last year. I don't loose my head over the holidays and am generally on the look out for good deals, so I think it won't be a problem to do it again this year. We shall see I guess.

Here's to some holiday cheer!

Who Likes Short Shorts?

Last weekend we took a trip to DC for the annual B&B Party. It was full of visits, fun, and well, partying. We had a good time and enjoyed ourselves a lot. Since I don't have a lot of free time these days, I am not going to write much. Pictures usually tell a better story than I could anyway. :)

Mr. Diehl likes short shorts! Congratulations the third prize winners, Juno and Bleeker.

Second prize goes to Charlie for being a can of sardines. Pretty creative!

And first prize goes to Aqua Team Hunger Force! They made these costumes. I thought they bought them they looked so good. Congratulations Traci, Cassie, and Jessica!

Rob as Raziel. This is a video game character from Legacy of Kain. Lots of black hair spray and blue paint can make you look like an undead vampire mutant too! :)

And finally, my costume, Las Vegas show girl. I think I did a pretty good job. And for the record, sewing sequins is less fun that sewing leaves. The only thing I am bummed about is you can see my shoes in the picture. They were hot! :)