Fashion Tip: Comb Overs Are Out!

I think there are very few people that would disagree with me here. While stating this , it kind of begs the question, when were they ever in? This entry just may show I need to take some sensitivity training. I give my apologies up front.

Topics for my blog come from many places. This one came from work. Today I had a training class for Critical Path Methods (get excited) and the instructor had one. I am sorry, but it's really distracting in a class that's not keeping your attention anyway. Especially when after hours of talking, it's moved across your head. All I could think is why do you have this?

I imagine it starts small and innocent enough. Little bit of thin hair, move stuff over. I understand that and if I were faced with that problem, I probably would too. My guess is once you start, it's then hard to realize when you should stop. I think they should invent mirrors to gauge when it's gone far enough and then they should spit out a pair of scissors and autonomous hands and chop it right off. Because ultimately, when you get to that point everyone else you meet thinks the same thing.

I think being bald and proud of it beats any really wacky wind phobia hairdo that no one is buying. I mean you might be able to pull off a decent comb over, but it's not likely and ultimately, it's probably not going to last.

Just my thoughts. Again I should stress I probably do need some serious sensitivity training. I will get right on that...

Hello, this message is for Sue...

Voice mail is a great invention. You get to leave a little blurp saying, "hey, this is *enter your name here*, leave a message!" You can get creative with it or just state your name and let the phone company make your message for you. If someone can't reach you, they can tell what they were calling about in the first place, thus eliminating the constant calling until they get a hold of you. Genius!

Given that, how many of you have every seen a number come across caller id and said, "who in the world?" and then let it run to voice mail? My personal motto is if it's important, they'll leave a message. Lately, I have been getting calls from a number in New York. They have left a variety of medical related messages for someone named Sue and some guy. This annoys me for a few reasons. One - They aren't listening to my name when they call and get my blurp. Two - They must notice their patients aren't getting these messages.

I put their number into yellowpages.com to see who exactly was calling and then called them to inform them that my number is not their patients number and they should check the area code. Unfortunately that was left on a machine. So who knows? The very same thing could be happening in their office.

A number of people have told me they get random calls just like the ones I have received and messages for some person they have number heard of. These are to voice mails that state their name in that persons voice. Are people not listening when they call? I have gotten that before and said, whoops, wrong number. To my knowledge I have never left a wrong message.

In my case, you would think they would be listening to the name on the voice mail to ensure they are reaching their patients and not sharing their medical info with complete strangers. Oh well, for the time being I get to hear about high blood pressure and appointments. Hooray!

My Desk Decor

I am either really stretching for topics for my blog OR I am sharing. Sharing is caring!! I was drinking my glass of wine and looking up at what I have on my walls around my desk. For the most part, I would say it's pretty normal stuff. But I feel the need to tell you about it. Lucky you.

Directly above my monitor on my wall, is quite possibly the most expensive thing in my house, depending how you look at it. It's my college diploma in it's nice frame my parents got me as part of my graduation gift. At the time I thought it was a little bit much, but now I really appreciate having it all framed properly and hanging on the wall. I worked hard for it and therefore I want it to be proudly displayed.

Next to it is a framed invitation about my graduation that someone gave me. I think the two go nicely together. On the other side is what I would consider an unofficial part of my degree. What I mean by that is it wasn't required to graduate, but I feel is equally important. It's the Order of the Engineer certificate. In a nutshell it means I am an ethical, honest engineer who will not take shortcuts for any kind of gain and will speak up when needed (umm... check).

On the adjacent wall are three frames that sum up a freaken awesome first job. Two of them are signed frames by my co-workers with pictures and certificates in them. The third is my Hero of the Week award for being a super awesome employee. Lastly I have one of my dean's list certificates framed and on the wall.

On the actual desk itself I have smatterings of papers. Some are bills, some are notes, receipts, etc. I have a pen holder with a bouquet of fake flowers attached to a pen sticking out of it. A touch lamp with dolphins on it that my cats seem to turn on and off more than I do. I have a Tigger stapler kind of out of the way because my cats chew on it otherwise. (I have weird cats) I also have a hand blown glass elephant, a small statue of Ganesh from Nalin when he went home to India, a sleeping cherub on a cloud from Italy from a high school friend, and a Tigger holder for photographs. Electronic junk is also occupying the space.

I try to have on of those "picture perfect" desks but I think I have given up on actually achieving it. Mostly because I actually USE my desk for most everything. I actually read the entire Boxcar Children story here tonight. My desk has personality with whatever shape is takes day to day. I like it that way.

I hope you were paying attention, there will be an end of year quiz on aimless thoughts I compiled in this blog over the year. Taking notes is advised. Commenting with you get bonus points and cheating is just rude. :P

The Boxcar Children

For some reason over the past month this book has come up a few times. Just random conversations about books you read when you were younger. This was always a favorite of mine and it's probably because the book read like they were playing "fort" or "house" all day in an old boxcar. To a nine year old, that's awesome.

On a recent visit to the library to help find some books for Rob's mother while she's in town, I stumbled across it. Rob checked it out for me. :) It was like a little kid getting candy in a store. So exciting! I am hoping that once I finish reading it, I will get that same happiness like I did when I read it when I was younger.

Here's hoping no bubbles will burst. :)

*UPDATE* - It was just the same book I had remembered. Hooray! Now onward to The Fourth Bear!

Snowshoe Mountain, WV

Last weekend I went on an adventure. I traveled into the mountains of West Virginia with some of my co-workers for a skiing trip. They were kind enough to invite me along on this last minute deal. Let me tell you, it was a blast.

I have never been to this place before so that was exciting in and of itself. The roads getting there were pretty interesting. And by interesting, I mean winding as hell. We had to stop more than once for a fresh air break. We don't want to know what kind of stain tossed cookies leaves on the seat.

We got there Friday around noon and were suited up in no time for an afternoon of fun. This resort is set up a little differently than most with the parking lot at the top of the mountain rather than the bottom. Due to this lovely set up, it's extremely windy up there.


I survived the first half of the first day. When everyone else went out for night skiing, I remained behind because I was just too tired. No worries though. I got the place to myself for some personal downtime. Neat.


Saturday we were out and back at it. That's when I noticed my boots had been set to the soft setting the day before. Nice, no wonder my calves hurt. I managed to stay out on the slopes for about 6 hours this time and called it quits a little earlier than most. Dan's friend Jamie and I went to the lodge and had some hot cocoa. Sweet.

Later that night, we thought it would be a good idea to go visit the hot tub. Awesome. We got up to the top of the mountain where it's located and basically ran to it. Once there we got down to our suits and found the guys in the outdoor hot tub. No worries, I have been in one before. So we took off running for it in the 30mph winds and hopped right in. It was a little too late by the time the guys said, "It's not that hot." It felt good for the first few minutes, but then it felt like bath water. Then we felt cold water. Ummmm.... Turns out they were flushing their system. There was standing room only in the sauna and the other hot tub was packed. I high tailed it to the hot showers inside with Ashleigh. That would be the first of our stupidest things we did.

The second comes on the day we are leaving. We decided we want to snap some photos on the mountain. There is a beautiful scenic background to have in the pictures. So we pull off the road to get them. No lie, the wind is whipping around at about 60mph. They actually closed the mountain due to the high winds shortly after they opened. I think Ashleigh's hair speaks for the conditions just perfectly. :P

Overall, the trip was a lot of fun. Sure I would have rather been out west, but this was more affordable and to a place I haven't been yet. The snow was so-so, and the lift lines were pretty ridiculous at times, but I still had a great time. :) It's my ski trip for the year and I am completely happy with it. They are talking about taking a trip to Breckenridge over our ridiculous Christmas break this year. Ooooo... :)

Into Hokie Territory

This past weekend I went on a ski trip with some friends from work. I will tell you all about that later, but for this entry I wanted to talk about the trip there. They are both VT alumni. They are very proud of their school. Unlike most VT people I have met, they are normal, nice, and some of the most down to earth people I have met. Well, they know I am dating Rob who went to UVA and that I have taken to cheering for that school, so there is the ribbing of each other's schools, but all in good fun.

Since our final destination was in WV, we needed a place to stay over that would put us close to the mountain but not on it. They came to get me and waited until we were in the car and traveling down the road before informing me that the plan for the evening was to go to VT to stay with friends of theirs. BAH!! I was kidnapped! Drug right into the enemies territory and subjected to the torture of listening to VT this and that.

It started with a tour of campus. I have to admit, the buildings there are pretty. I am a sucker for brick/stone work. (Hello, Brick City anyone?) We ended up viewing it at night though, so I probably didn't get it in all it's glory. We went to PK's to grab pizza which smelled delicious from the street. We lost the Tijuana toss (coin flip to see if you pay or get the pizza free), but that's ok, it was worth it. We left there and traveled down a few buildings and popped into the Hokie House. Small trivia fact for you. They have flags from all of the colleges in the ACC conference EXCEPT UVA. Jerkfaces. Until I asked, neither of them had ever noticed.

We did a final drive around the campus and they showed me the building "where it all happened". I wasn't about to ask because I figure they get that enough. In the middle of their drill field they erected a memorial with stones symbolizing each life lost during that tragic incident. In this photo, they are the small dots of light in front of "The Sand Castle".

I survived the trip to VT and now that I have done my recon work, I know EXACTLY what I am rooting against. :P

Monday Night Kick Boxing

If you have been following along at home, you know by now that I recently joined a gym. It's been almost a month now since I joined. In that time I have tried to get a taste of the classes they have to offer. So far I have made it to four different classes. No repeats yet.

The first was Cycle class. Now I thought I was in decent shape before, however I was not prepared for this hell. I am not kidding when I say, five minutes into this class I thought I was going to pass out. You basically run on the bike off the seat the whole time. Sarah doesn't run normally, never mind the bike. I managed to survive while sitting for the hour and ten minutes the class went on for. My butt hurt at the end which I considered a small price to pay to for the ability to walk.

The next class I tried was yoga. Most of you probably also know I take a separate yoga class from the gym. After taking this class, it will stay that way. It was ok, but it was just totally different. My class on Sunday - 10 people, class there - 50-60 people. Studio - mellow, calm; Gym - louder, sense of being rushed. It didn't really push me either. It's nice to go if I just want to supplement, but it will not replace.

I had been taking a water aerobics class on Wednesdays with some girls from work before joining the gym. Those same girls joined with me and we decided to try the aqua fit class. I would do this one again. I was sweating while in the pool and felt like I did some good work. The instructor doesn't know how to fill down time while we are doing the exercises so she repeats things like, "kick" about 100 times. I can tune it out. I hope.

Last night, I tried their kick boxing class. I haven't taken one since college, but I liked it then, so I wanted to be sure to try the class there. It kicked my butt from the very beginning, but I never felt like, "I can't do this" like I felt with the cycle class. I was drenched in sweat by the end, but the class flew by and I hurt today in the good way. I felt so good after class that I am looking forward to next Monday's already. I now have a date night at the gym. Me, kick boxing, Mondays, Heidi too, gotta love it. :)

Did this read a little like Goldilocks and The Three Bears? Kind of felt like it when I was typing. Oh well, point was made. I hope.