Oh, what a night

Awesome, Awesome ceremony! It went great. Byron Brown was our guest speaker. He left after he spoke to catch the Sabres game (Sabres win!) My husband made the channel 2 news because he brought his head phones there to catch the game and channel 2 was there to tape the ceremony (or because Byron was there) .

Quinn had enough by the time we took pictures!

Sigh of relief

The day is finally here. The day when I get to walk across the stage and get my diploma. A day in which I am able to be recognized for all of my accomplishments. Thank you to all who have supported me in this venture. Especially my loving and patient husband who has watched me go through many crazy nights.

Let me share with you what the last 4 years have entailed. Some bad, some good. All of which have happened while getting this degree, which makes tonight such an emotional night. Things that have made me who I am today.

My four year timeline:

January 2002 – I started at Villa as a Graphic Design major.
February 2002 – I started my career here at my current job as a marketing assistant.
April 2002 – my father committed suicide.
July 2002 – I got married.
August 2002 – was moved to the service department as a contract administrator/service assistant.
April 2002 – December 2003 – I settled my father’s affairs as the executor of his estate. Many ups and downs, fights with family members, Loss of my grandfather, etc.
May 2004 – Bought my first home.
June 2004 – Found out I was pregnant
December 2004 – Changed my major to Business Management for many reasons. One, I was pregnant and unsure of life’s direction (yes pregnancy heightens the unsurity) Two, I didn’t care for my director in the program and when she critiqued my work by saying “I don’t like that”, that was the last straw. She was later fired.
March 2005 – Had my son on March 4th.
March 2006 – Finished my last class and wrecked my car.
May 2006 - Graduation and earned the title Account Manager Coordinator

Needless to say it’s been a hell of a ride. I am looking forward to my next journey.

Spit and shake hands?

I had a cold all weekend which made it difficult to have a lot of energy to chase him around. Can you stand it when people compare colds? Why is that? “Did you start with a sore throat, then a runny nose, because that’s how I started too?” or “Did you have the runny nose first then the sore throat because if you did than that wasn’t my cold”. I don’t know where I got it and yes most colds start out the same way. It is funny how everyone dedicates about 5 or 6 minutes in the conversation to the cold comparisons.

You also get yelled at if you have one. “Please stay away from me, I don’t want that” or “Don’t touch anything if you are sick”. “I got this thing from you, I know I did”. People make pretend ‘shields’ with their hands in order not to get it.

I made sure to lick my hands before I made copies….no really, I have my CareOne “Lemon Scented” Instant Hand Sanitizer right by my side.

*Names changed again for protection??!!
**2 more days until graduation
***6 more days until vacation

Side note: if you are from Buffalo, please tell me why do people mis-pronounce cities around this area on purpose? "Cheektovegas" for Cheektowaga and "Rottenchester" for Rochester????? Cantstandya....

And you are????

When you call a doctor’s office, does the receptionist really need to know what your problem is? I say really gross her out and tell her you cut your arm half off or something. This girl I work with had to call the doctor for her daughter. All of a sudden she starts whispering something obviously very private. I started thinking, why did that person who answers the phone need to know that? That’s why you are going to see the doctor because you want to tell them in a private room and get an answer in private.

It is the same when you call a business and ask for someone. Why does the person answering the phone need to know who you are and why you are calling? 9 times out of 10 you are telling that person who you are calling who you are and why you are calling anyways. She isn’t going to relay the message to them, so why does she need to know?

In my opinion we have the nosiest society around. This is why this stuff happens. That is why people rubberneck or stare at you when your kid is crying in the store. People eavesdrop on your conversations on the phone or with someone. We have reality television just to feed our addiction to nosy-ness.

Think of all of the technology that we have now just so we know where people are all of the time. GPS systems, cell phones, computer chips, etc. Why do we desire to know everything? What are we getting out of this?

Jay took the supervisor's test yesterday. He said he will find out the results in a few days. Pray he gets this.

One question that stumped him. 5-22, 6-? ( I believe was how it was written). The answers were something like 14, 41, and a few others. Not sure about that one.

- Note that two of the best inventions are: dishwasher detergent cubes (hopefully one day they will do that with laundry detergent) and pre-made cookie dough. In less than an hour yesterday I had clean, sparkly dishes and a batch of cookies. One of the worst inventions: smelly shampoo. I love Biologe products. Slightly expensive, but doesn't break the bank. It does the job well. I do not buy Biologe for my husband's slightly shaved head. I buy the $1.25 shampoo like, Suave or V05. I couldn't for the life of me find regular shampoo, and I don't think he wants to smell like a strawberry or ocean mist. I bought aloe vera, because you know his 1/2 long hair needs healing.

- Things are great with the car.

- Quinn learned how to sing "EIEIO" from the song "Ole McDonald had a Farm" which sounds like "EIO", but he's right on cue.

- From attending a stagette on Friday night, I learned that "The Pickle" or otherwise known as "Nicholas Pickolas" needs to be shot.

That's it...see you on hump day...

My Karma is beautiful....

Thank you Karma. Car is running great and is on the road. Things with the DMV worked out better the second time around.

Jay was approached at work today to take a test for a supervisor's position on Monday. I'm so proud!

Karma is definately on our side this week!

countdown: 12 more days until graduation and 14 days until vacation!!!

Things that ticked me off today.

"Can you amend this?" please just say change. It's ok Mr. Thesaurus

Someone sent me to the DMV at Northtown Plaza. Closed. My fault for not checking which ones were still left. Thank you Erie County.

Dollar Tree Loiterers. I was in a hurry.

My new car....

Almost. I have to do all of the paperwork. It is a 2003 Chevy Malibu, 27000 miles. Not to shabby.

Weekend Coverage

Got to Chautauqua about noon Saturday. Lounged, like I said I would or as best as I could chasing the baby around. Boys went out fishing for 4 hours, and caught 6 perch. Mom fried it up, and let me tell you it was delicious. I wasn't too crazy about the idea of "lake fish", but I over came my fear and gave it a try. I still cooked a back up hot dog just in case. I didn't finish the hot dog.

Played a little scatagories and had some wine. Remember, Cheetos do not jump/bounce.

Quinn got to go on the new boat on Sunday, but really hated the life jacket.

What are you watching tonight???

This (David Blaine)? or This (Buffalo Sabres)?

Cinco de Mayo

Many reasons to like May 5th - Cinco de Mayo, it's friday, Sabres start the 2nd round tonight (I am naturally a fan, but really get on the bandwagon during this time) and 26th years ago today my little brother was born. Happy birthday little bro!

Going to the cottage at Lake Chatauqua for the weekend to celebrate! Quinn says wa-wa now, so he'll get plenty of practice saying that all weekend! Papa got a brand new boat, so we have to break that in.

What a way to spend the weekend! On the boat, a little fishing, a little loungin, and a cooler full of beer!!!

As I was leaving for lunch today, I passed by a burial ceremony in the cemetary across the street from work. The entire party was holding a white balloon. I didn't stick around, but I'd imagine that they would probably be letting them go in honor of the person that passed.

It got me to remembering when I was in 3rd grade and we let balloons go with our names and addresses attached to them in hopes of a pen pal responding to the finding of your balloon. I received a letter from that balloon from a girl named Fay with a picture enclosed of her doing her homework at the kitchen table. I never did write back. Oops sorry Fay.

That was 20 years ago. Wonder what Fay is up to now.

Due to the concerns of the environmentalists and the increase of computer use, balloon pen pal seeking has fallen by the wayside. I don't know which is worse. Birds eating balloons (do they really eat them?) or kids winding up talking to crazy people.

Go get a balloon, type your name on the end, and let it go. If you talk to Fay tell her I said hi.

For me, a writing a paper with a word limit or a page limit has always been a struggle. I always find that I am pressured into writing too much and I find myself rambling instead of making a point, just to meet the quota. I understand the limit in a research paper, because they want to make sure you do enough research, but in an opinion paper? Come on. How much can someone seriously ramble with out repeating them selves?

I had to do this paper for school in order to graduate. It was my Outcomes Assesment Paper. I had to find an article from a Business magazine of my choice and write how it reflected on my journey at Villa and all the things that I learned there. I had to compare it to the material learned in some of my classes and what I thought would be a solution to the dilemma stated in the article.

This paper was supposed to be 3 pages long. I clearly made my point in 2 (single spaced), but I suppose in order to meet the quota, I'll B.S. a little more toward the end. I have an imac at home, which is where I first typed it, but the rest of the world is on a PC and I had to print it, then scan it, in order to change it into word and then email it. Word made my paper into 3 pages.

Back to the point. I believe that if there hadn't of been a limit, I would have been able to turn in my two page report without feeling the pressure of 3. Talk about reaching for the words to say without making it sound like complete nonsense.