Hey You Guys!

Just as Sloth refers to his gang as "you guys", so too, do I also refer to my co-workers living in this state as such. The rate at which I refer to them as such is a little alarming, however completely automatic. I don't even think about it before the words leave my mouth.

I believe if I were to psycho analyze myself, I would find that it's a sub conscience response to NOT wanting to be associated with the extreme stereotypes found here. That may sound unfair, but it's true. If I think of myself as a visitor, I don't count. I do not whimper at the sight of snow, I am not a bible thumper, and I do not enjoy fried.... everything.

It also doesn't dawn on me that people can be upset by that phrase until they remark upon it as in, "you guys???". The question tends to be phrased in such a way that it makes it sound like, "What team are you playing for anyway?" I know I live here now, but I also know that's not how it's going to be forever. For the people who are happy to call this home, awesome for you. I just haven't found a place I want to call home yet. So yeah, for the time being, I play on this team, but I feel the need to remind everyone, I am up for trades.

Easy as 1-2-3, ABC

Last night I went out to a place in Atlanta called The Atlanta Brewing Company or ABC for short. I went with some people from work to just chill for a bit. The basic idea is that you are visiting a local brewery to sample their products and in the end, purchase them on your own at some store. Fair enough.

I paid $7 and got a pint glass to be filled as many times as I wanted over the two hours this event is hosted. They give you bottle caps as chips, but honestly, they don't seem to care if you have them or not. If you can work your way through more than 6 glasses of beer in two hours, then props to you. I hope you brought a DD. All in all though, $7 isn't bad at all for all you are drinking and you get to take the glass home with you. Bonus.

I would say if you want to do something different, it's definitely a good way to try out some new beers at a low risk. It gets crowded so go early. You won't find me there every Friday night, but it could happen again. :)

Why I Paint My Toenails In The Winter

I know a lot of guys don't understand why girls feel the need to paint their toenails in the winter. I have my own reasons which I thought I should share to enlighten others.

The first I would have to say is that I own outrageous nail polish colors. Everything from purple, to lots of sparkle, orange, green glow in the dark, and all shades of blue. Yeah so what? Well in the summer, I wear a lot of shoes where you see what color I painted them. Most of the time those colors are not appropriate for the outfit I am wearing or setting I am in (ie - work). However, in the winter, no one really sees them, but I can look down on my bright blue toes and smile.

The other reason is that I do expose the toes in public settings twice a week at least for yoga and water aerobics. Two places where they don't give two hoots about what color they are, but I would prefer it if my toenails weren't naked.

So, however bizarre that sounds, I do enjoy painting them and I don't care if no one sees them. It's a girl thing. :)

Why Mike P is a Jerkface

Originally, I was going to write about something else, but I feel this topic has taken priority. Now generally I like Mike. He's pretty cool about most things. But lately, he has been a jerkface. I say this because Mike P owns an XBox360.

As of late he has been like a drug dealer pushing on both myself and Rob that Rob should somehow mysteriously come to own an XBox360. I don't know where he expects this to come from, but I have my ideas.

I think in order to clear his name of being a jerkface, he should take his hiring bonus and grant Rob his wish of owning his very own XBox360 since Mike P and his jerkfaceness will be taking away Rob's only connection to the game system when he leaves this summer. I just don't understand what kind of friend leaves a guy hanging like that. I guess we can send Mike the bill for his rehab.

My Long Awaited Present

As some of you may know, I have been waiting on a Christmas present for some time now. Rob took a wood class last semester and his last project he planned to be my Christmas present. I was allowed to help pick the sort of furniture I wanted it to be and he was going to deign it. From then on, I had no idea what he was up to. Well this is the end result and I think it's pretty freaken fantastic. I know he put a lot of time, energy, and love into it. Now I have a one of a kind piece from Dragonsmith Creations. :) Thank you Rob.

Dory wanted to play Vanna White. :)

To Resolve or Not?

Most people feel it's a sort of traditional thing to make New Year's resolutions. I think this is a great idea. It's the best peer pressure gig out there. Come on, everybody's doing it. And all of them sound like they would be answers to a Miss America pageant. "I am going to resolve to be a better person and promote world peace". So, when you carefully craft your New Year's resolution, you should keep a few things in mind.

One - Do not even try the, "I am going to exercise more, eat better, etc". People get on that bandwagon from the guilt of holiday eating, spend $$$ on equipment and gym memberships, then about mid February everyone has a break down and eats about 200 Snickers bars.

Two - It shouldn't be ambiguous. If it is, then you can pretty much claim that anything was a successful resolution. Example, "I am going to volunteer more" could mean, I am going to pick up trash on a trail once during the year or it could mean you are helping kids every week with homework. If you are going to "cheat" then don't bother making any.

Three - Make it sound as awesome as possible. For example one of mine is, "I'm going to become a musician (again)." I actually own a guitar that I have tried to play once or twice, but it hasn't stuck yet. I have also played the clarinet for many years and would like to play again. So the breakdown of becoming a musician (refer to #2) is to learn how to play one song on the guitar and buy some reeds in order to play the clarinet again.

New Years Resolutions are not for everyone and everyone should not feel compelled to have one, but if you do, put a little effort into it and hooray for wishing to improve something!!

Vacation Juggling Act

Ahh... vacation. Is there nothing better than time away from work, school, etc? I submit there is not. However, vacations around the holidays can be tricky to plan. For most people it means going home and spending time with family and friends. For me, it's planning the travel route to ensure spending time with family and friends.

When I go home, I still have go out and visit with people because not everyone shows up to a particular household. Christmas Eve is at my Aunt house, Christmas day is at grandparents house and my brothers house. Then I have friends from high school that are usually in the area, so there is meeting up with them and hanging out. Of course don't forget the obscure relatives that you also have to say hello to. After all is said and done there are about a dozen different places to stop in a visit at home.

This year I added on to my normal Christmas circuit by visiting Rob's family in CT for a few days after Christmas. It was a little scary to meet them all, but they turned out to be quite nice and fun to be around. We stayed put while we were there which was nice. After visiting there we traveled back to NY. This time I picked up and handsome travel companion. He came and visited my family. So there was more bouncing around town to meet the various important members.

After a weekend of that we got on the road to head towards DC. We rang in the New Year with friends and are going to veg for a day before picking up and making that last leg back to Hotlanta. There will be no race back with the Penrocks who are undoubtedly on the road as I type. I am really looking forward to the weekend. :)