writers
An article I'd saved and found last night prompted me to write about this....The Orange County Register, The New York Times, or The Los Angeles Times... which do you prefer? At work, I have the OC Register delivered though the contents are quite similar to the NY or LA Times. The opinion section is usually the most interesting to me because the articles are supposed to be insightful and offer intriguing perspectives that entice a person to be imaginative beyond the scope of their daily thoughts. Lately, articles do not seem to offer anything of substance. However, while at the airport in Sydney, I bought The Daily Telegraph, and I came upon an article related to the "uproar" Prince Harry caused when he wore a Nazi swastika to a party entitled, "Youth ignorant to the horrors of the Holocaust." Written by Neil Wilson, the words he offered were insightful and challenging. I shall leave off with what I consider an astute statement by Neil Wilson, "All humanity are victims of the Holocaust because it confronted -and still confronts- us with the horrific debasement possible when man assumes the powers of God."
GMAT
GMAT countdown: 9 daysStudy Days Remaining: 8This weekend I was sidelined from studying and I am having a difficult time readjusting and finding my stride again. You'd think it'd be easy considering my test is so close. I've been unable to focus on studying due to a variety of reasons, or perhaps, excuses. Somehow, I feel it's different than when preparing for an exam. I know exactly what I'm preparing for. With the GMAT, I know the end goal is to get into grad school, but I feel like I'm still entering into a test that you can't exactly prepare for. There are, of course, little secrets and shortcuts that I should be familiar with but other than that, what else? BLEH. On a side note, Dateline did a report on a study that showed the more sleep deprived you are, the more you crave breads, pastas, basically all carbs, and sweets. Isn't that nuts?
now it's, the trouble with AIM
a lot has happened in a week. the trouble of AIM... i realize that i did state before the wonders of AIM but in light of recent events, i am honor bound to recall my previous blog and state that while IM offers a convenient way of keeping in touch, there are also a great many inadequacies with IM. well, in my mind, an email or letter is a way to open the doors of communication. apparently it isn't always acceptable or it's considered rude. but if you wouldn't respond to an email, verbally or otherwise, wouldn't you think not to IM either? IM leaves a person to their own vices, allows him/her to interpret the message received, placing tone and inflection where he/she deems "appropriate." if two people are close enough friends then there is no worry because the interpretation of the message is usually on target. if not, be careful what and when you IM. what is forgiveness? do you need to tell a person who has wronged you that you forgive him/her or can you forgive that person in your heart and move on? if the person you should forgive doesn't believe or remember he/she has done anything wrong then is it pointless to forgive? how do you know when you've forgiven someone completely? GMAT countdown: 10 days
sad day
the nhl finally announced that the season is canceled. the drop dead date was imminent. i think we all knew it when the all-star game was canceled. how sad. i mean, seriously, everyone says hockey is supposed to be one of the most accessible games to fans. this whole salary cap dispute really makes hockey seem like one of those other high priced sports. hockey used to just be about the game and now it seems all about the money. back in the hay day, players didn't get money, they played for the love of the game. hockey fans are disheartened by all that is going on. get it together nhl, both players and administration alike, and keep the fans happy. they are the reason you exist!!
moving
moving is done and we couldn't have done it so quickly without our awesome friends helping us out!! thank you to paul, dan, iya, lisa, joe, glenn, jay, cicely, and jason. we are mostly unpacked except for the kitchen things. i guess i'll put that away tonight. i've never had everything moved & unpacked in the same day before. it is really great! instead of taking a month to unpack, it only took a day! one of the highlights of moving was when chris found a cheapo jump rope in his room. joe was trying to jump rope but he couldn't get it going at first. a few of us try it out and we have no trouble. joe tried again and it was seriously one of the most hilarious things i've ever witnessed. he was jumping really really high instead of little hops. i'm not laughing at joe... just with him? :) to fully understand, you'd have to be there.the only bad thing about this last weekend was that i got very little sleep. i'm the sort of person that needs 8-10 hours a night to wake up feeling rested. friday night i went to sleep at 1:30 and woke up at 6:30. saturday i went to sleep at 3 and woke up at 7. sunday i went to sleep at 12 and woke up at 4. this is not a good thing. i was functioning on caffeine sunday and monday. i had a crazy day at work yesterday. busy on my feet from 5:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. i didn't get home until 6:30. ran some errands with chad. we got a kitchen table from ikea but no chairs. chairs are crazy expensive!!! some of them really sucked too. we'll just get chairs later. at 10:30 i went jogging with paul. chad ended up biking alongside us which was more annoying than anything because he kept saying how i wasn't running fast enough. well, hello? biking at a super leisurely pace while smoking does not constitute exercising so he shouldn't be berating me! thank God my boss told me not to come in until 9:30 this morning. i got to sleep in so i got a full 8 hours of much needed sleep.
lent
it's difficult to believe that Lent is already upon us. i feel like it was just yesterday.
i have decided to...
~give up eating out again (it's like my nemesis although i bring it upon myself)
~give up caffeine
~give up blatant sugar (cookies, ice cream, candy, etc.)
~make and follow a budget ('cause hey, i ain't rich)
i got in my "last" stuff today though... ate with chris at wahoos for lunch and then had two very sugary donuts from Oh Those Donuts in Costa Mesa. chris pointed out that it's been 2 months since we've had lunch but then one month either one or both of us was out of town so that doesn't count. no matter, it was just nice to hangout even though i'm sure i talked his ear off.
the old lady's insurance adjuster left me a message about a letter of comparative negligence, meaning, the old lady obviously changed her story and made it seem like neither of us was at fault. wrong! i spoke with my adjuster and she said to call AAA back and not accept the comparative negligence because if you look at the damage on the vehicles, there is no way the story is what she said. the damage on my car is on the far left bumper while hers is in the middle of her bumper. if AAA does not accept full liability they will only pay a percentage of the cost to fix it which sucks. the damage is probably less than $500 so i would have to pay out of pocket since it's less than my deductible. i'd also have to ask a favor of whomever to get a ride to and from work the day it's repaired because my insurance doesn't allow rental cars on claims less than the amount of the deductible, nevermind the fact that i've been paying for that "extra" option of $30 a day for a rental car. the hassles of any accident, no matter how minor, are completely ridiculous.
no offense to "older" people
but if old or "older" people cannot hear honking while in their car, they should not be driving. allow me to explain. i was backing out of a parking spot in the lot on alton/jeffrey in front of tall mouse. i was getting ready to shift to drive when i noticed the reverse lights on a car behind me turn on. i honked but the car continued to back up so i leaned on my horn and still, the car backed up... directly into my car. i heard my poor bumper crush in and then i heard it pop out, good old honda. still there is a little dent and it seems like it's cracking. anyway, the car pulled back into its spot and an older lady gets out and says, "oh my, i'm so sorry, i didn't see you." so i respond with "i was honking" only to hear her say, "you'd be surprised what my car blocks out." um... if you can't hear my horn then how do you hear sirens? if you can't hear sirens, let alone my horn, should you be driving?? THEN, she pulls out walking canes... not one but TWO! i get her information and notice there are no witnesses and am thinking, i'm totally screwed. so i scribble a little note that states "i acknowledge that i backed up and hit a honda accord coupe, owner, dana carroll on feb. 4, 2005 at 2:10 p.m." and she signed it. i'm hoping that saves my butt when it comes to the adjusters figuring out whose fault the accident is. if not it's her word against mine. sucks. we ended up going to AAA on Jamboree b/c that's who she's insured by but turns out they don't have a claims department there but she wanted a "professional" opinion on the damage. hello!! you can see the dent, you can see where the "Acura" from her license plate is embedded on my bumper. while we're waiting for someone she tells me that she's been with AAA for 50 years, practically since she could drive. as a tidbit of info she adds that back in the day, AAA didn't insure women until they were 25. that means she's at least 75!!!
been applying for jobs everywhere. i'm even applying to GAP. who thought i'd try a return to retail. not me! the one in HB will actually be hiring at the end of this month.
on the way to a dinner thing on saturday i vented to my mum on the phone instead of waiting until tuesday to vent to joe when we both should be studying. the dinner was for a friend who will be leaving for hawaii because of job relocation. that was sad because he's a cool guy. kinda funny thing happened there. just to give a little background, kay was saying how she was doing pretty well in terms of spilling on herself. somehow some type of food or drink ends up in her lap. it's toward the end of the night, almost when i'm about to leave for steamers for glenn's birthday thing, which ended up not happening, and the next thing i know, kay's screaming "oops!" and i end up with a full glass of diet coke in my lap. what's funny was that instead of grabbing napkins to try and help she buries her face in her hands and tries to hide against her boyfriend. everyone else was screaming, "don't hide, help her!" she finally helped but it's funny that was her reaction. i, of course, ended up looking like i had peed in my pants.
well, pretty uneventful weekend otherwise. i sat at home superbowl sunday, not much of a football fan. was supposed to go running but jovan never called back. then cicely called in the morning asking where everyone was. apparently nobody was there so i tell her if she wants to come down we can run in HB. we didn't because it started sprinkling. i was gonna go to the gym but didn't. i ended up sitting on the couch eating all day. but the food was oh so good. this is turning out to be a long blog and i need to sleep.
what kind of crap is this?
remind me never to complain about something as mundane as not fitting in a pair of pants. my parents' doctor has had a horrific couple of years. his daughter died in an automobile accident when a drunk driver hit her car. then he took his son to a specialist when he suspected the son was allergic to yellowjackets and the specialist told him that the son was fine. later the son gets stung by a yellowjacket right between the eyes and is now brain dead because he didn't get an anaphylactic shot quickly enough. turns out he is allergic.
jeez
i don't understand why people on the phone have to be such meanie pants especially when you're trying to find out information on how a process works. if i knew, i wouldn't be calling, would i? if you're answering the phone, part of your job is to answer questions, NICELY. so don't make me feel stupid by taking on a condescending tone and being snippy just because you might not like your job.
wakka wakka
i don't understand why people are on AIM on their cell phone. if a person needed to get in touch with you then he/she would call so then what's the point of AIM when you have your cell phone with you?
was in an "argument" about maturity last night. mr. ninofranco vs. ms. carroll. he believes that because he handles 30+ kids 5 days a week that he can handle a great deal of responsibility. i believe that because i am the controller/hr person/grant writer for both a non-profit and for-profit business i can handle a great deal of responsibility. then i told him that because he is a guy and a mere 25 years of age that it is the equivalent to the maturity of a 22 year old while i am a girl and 26 years of age so i have the equivalent maturity of at least a 28 year old. that last bit may not have much relevance to this argument, and most people will probably side with mr. ninofranco; however, i am inclined to believe that our responsibilities are vastly different thus making us mature in different aspects of life... mine just being better than his. HA!
well, i studied last night and received confirmation that the GMAT math section isn't as easy as one would suppose. thanks joe! a bit productive evening. i went to the gym, studied, and even read a little (when i should have been studying more but hey, my concentration was shot).
i called trader joe's. they've put a hold on all new applications until they know where they're at for scheduling and won't know anything for a couple of weeks. BOOOOOOOOOOOOOO.
today is another busy day here at the factory. workin hard like a little minion.
