What is this world coming to?

So Nathan emailed me this the other day. This is a picture of a "toy" for ages 3+ called "My Treadmill." Nathan found this while doing some research on educational toys for a project for school. This is totally real. No kidding. Nathan's email said, "Really? Are we entering a world of weight conscience pre-schoolers? Next thing they well come out with My Liposuction." This gave me a good laugh. Here's the link just in case you want to get one. ;)

http://www.lbtoys.com/product-details.asp?productID=8024

In Loving Memory...of Rusty

So yesterday morning I missed a call from my mom, and she left a voicemail asking me to call her right away. I knew something was up from the sound in her voice. I knew someone had died. So I bolstered up some strength and courage and called her back. Then she told me that our family dog, Rusty, died Friday night. I won't go into the sad, gruesome details, but it was heart wrenching to hear my mom tell me about it. We had a good cry on the phone. I came home and broke the news to Nathan. We have known for about a year Rusty's time was limited since we found out he had cancer and it was too far spread to do anything about it. So his passing wasn't totally surprising, but it was still hard to hear. Nathan and I are sad that when we go home for Chrismas Rusty won't be there to greet us. He knew Nathan's footsteps and always got so excited when Nathan walked in the room. I will miss watching the two of them wrestle on the kitchen rug and play in the backyard. Rusty, we love you and you will be missed.

Got Gas?

Many of you may have heard about the current gas shortage in GA and other southern states. It's our living nightmare. The lines at the gas stations are so long, it takes an average of 1 hour to wait in line, often more. I got really lucky this last week and found a gas station near work with gas and a somewhat small line--only 20 minutes. Woohoo! I felt so lucky. Today I'm on a half tank after being very careful all weekend about not driving too much. Half tank means time to start thinking about looking for gas. There are lots of cars along the freeway in the breakdown lane because they're out of gas. This morning on the way to church, a 7 mile drive, I counted five cars. It is crazy. I have heard of a town a little northeast of here where they have plenty of gas. There is talk here of the "horde mentality" that seems to be what many in Atlanta and the close suburbs have adopted as their new code of ethics. These are the people that fill up just about every other day, no matter their fuel level, and also take several gas cans with them to the gas station and "covertly" fill up with the extra gas, looking out only for themselves, not thinking at all about those behind them in line waiting for gas. If they would all only take exactly what they need, the shortage may not be so bad. So here I am on a half tank, and think that maybe I can make it a few more days....here's hoping!

Humid fun

We had fun a few weeks ago attending the first GA Tech football game with some of Nathan's classmates. One of them took this picture for us since we forgot our camera, so we had no idea how it turned out. Yeah, that's my goofy husband. I'll claim him.

It was SO hot and humid that night. We were sweating right along with the football players. That's why we're so shiny. It was a fun time with friends from school. And the Yellow Jackets won! Woohoo!

Mad skills

According to Napoleon Dynamite the opposite sex is only interested in you if you have mad skills. "You know, like nun-chuck skills, bow hunting skills...girls only want boyfriends who have great skills." So I thought I'd better learn a new skill--fly fishing. I already mentioned this in my previous post somewhat. A few weeks ago I signed up for a 6-hour fly fishing class. So yesterday morning I got up all by myself at 5 a.m. and drove an hour north to a fly fishing class. You all know how much I just LOVE mornings (not!), and love them even more when I only got 5 hours of sleep the night before and it happens to be a Saturday--the only day of the week I get to sleep until I wake up on my own. I was not a happy camper.
So I drive out to the middle of nowhere, GA to a cabin next to a lake and sit in a class and learn about a lot of stuff that has to do with fly fishing...rods, reels, lines, leaders, tippets, knots, bugs that fish like to eat, the different stages of these bugs lives, where fish like to be in the water, the physiology of a fish, equipment...ok you get the picture. Some of it was interesting, like the entemology (bugs), but some of it I will probably rely on Nathan for (choosing the right size line, leader, etc.).
The most exciting part was the last 2 hours we spent practicing casting out on the lake. It was so much fun! I really truly enjoyed it. I was amazed how you can really just feel when you get it right--the way the line loops, and the rod does the work. It was so cool. Apparently women usually have an easier time picking up casting. I fit into that statistic. I'm no pro at it--not all of my casts are perfect, and I only know the basic cast and how to roll cast. But hey, I was excited that after 6 hours of fly fishing school I came home and could talk the talk to my beaming husband. I showed him my "textbook" and he saw a page with a really hard but essential knot and asked if they taught us that one. Yessiree bob! So he got out some fishing line and watched as I expertly tied the knot right then and there. He was so excited (grinning from ear to ear) and said, "Wow, Babe!" and gave me a big smooch. I can't wait to go out on the Chattahoochee River and practice my "mad skills." In the mean time, all I have to show for it is a really bad sunburn on my neck down to my shirt line, and on my casting arm because silly me forgot the sunscreen. But maybe sometime in the not too distant future I'll have pictures and fishing stories to share. Woohoo!

Eeeeewww fish!

Nate and I are trying to find a hobby we both like. He is not interested in the things I like (history and museums and such), so I relented and decided to try to really learn to fly fish. I'm taking a fly fishing class this Saturday. Maybe I shouldn't admit this, but I'm going to anyway. I'm a total pansy. The thought of fly fishing is appealing to me--being out in nature, alone, the serenity, the beauty, just you and the water and the fish. And catching fish is fun. But then there's the other part. The part that totally grosses me out--touching the fish. Getting the hook out of them is cruel, but that's not the part that really bothers me. It's touching the smelly, slimy fish. I know, I know. How silly is that? But it's so icky! When I admitted this to Nate, his response was that he's never considered me to be super outdoorsy. I know I'm no granola babe, but not outdoorsy? I mean, I'm no valley girl either. I LOVE camping (in an actual tent), even like sleeping right out under the stars, love being outside, love many outdoor activities. But I have to admit that when he asked me why I've never shown much interest in fly fishing in the 10 years we've been together, I thought aobut it, and decided it's because I don't like touching the fish. Seriously, that is one of the main reasons I don't like fishing very much. I even had to psyche myself up to put my bare hands in our fish tank this summer to take care of the fish while Nate was gone to Chicago. I know, I know. Nate says we can probably find me some gloves I can wear. Now that I can do. Gloves make me feel invincible. Like when I'm working in the garden--if I have no gloves on, I jump at every little creepy crawly feeling. HATE BUGS and CREEPY CRAWLIES. But with gloves on...I am the bravest little gardner in the world. Gloves would make me feel like the wonder woman of fishing. That's what I need--gloves.

Four, Four, Four, Four

Four, Four, Four, Four...
A) Four places that I go to over and over: Work, home, church, grocery store
B) Four people who e-mail me (regularly): Mom, Mel, Camyll, Cassady
C) Four of my favorite places to eat : Taqueria del Sol (GOOD inexpensive Mexican place here in ATL--finally found one--and it's close to home!); Olive Garden; Cheesecake Factory; Fat Mat's Rib Shack.
D) Four places I would rather be right now : With my husband (he's in DC until Friday night at a job fair); at home in Utah with my Mom while she goes through her surgery/recovery tomorrow; on vacation; having fun with family/friends.
E) Four TV shows I watch over and over: 30 Rock; The Office; The Closer; Kitchen Nightmares

Weirdos having fun

Because Nathan is currently working on a case study for school, I decided to pull my lounge chair out on the balcony of our apartment and enjoy the perfect afternoon weather. I LOVE having a laptop from work so I can sit out here on the computer and not be tied to the desk inside. Plus now when Nathan is on the computer (most of the time) I can have some computer time too without playing tug of war. This is GREAT! A perfect way to spend a warm Sunday afternoon.

I've been catching up on some friends blogs, and found some photos of us playing laser tag a few months ago with a group of friends from church, so I thought I'd post them here. This reminds me of a conversation I had with a girl at work. Our church was having a big bar-b-q/ pig roast yesterday. We were challenged to find someone not of our faith to invite to the event. So I decided to extend the inivitation to this woman I work with because we are pretty good friends. She brought up something the other day about my church, and so I took the opportunity to segway into inviting her to this bar-b-q. She was hesitant, and then said, and I quote, "You Mormons do the wierdest things for fun." I asked what she meant by that, and she said, "Oh, I dont' know. I just remember you talking about things you do for fun, and you do some pretty funny stuff for entertainment." Later on I realized that she may not have known that a pig roast was just a bar-b-q. I'm not sure what she thought. But at the time I thought about

the things we do for fun, and I have to agree that sometimes we go a little outside the box, i.e. a group of adults ranging in age from 22 to 45 going laser tagging on a Friday night and then going back to an aparment and playing Signs for hours on end. I admit that we don't have fun in the "normal" Atlanta way, which is to go out to bars or clubs, hang out and drink. Sounds kind of boring to me. I'd rather go laser tagging.

I am on the far left. Then there's James, an unknown (Steve?), Brian, Lisa in front, Garth and Deanne, and Megan on the end. What a group! Carol (not in these pictures) won the first time, and then we played a second game and the guys must have felt the need to redeem themselves from getting beat by a girl. It was fun comparing scores and seeing who was shot by whom the most.

I can't believe how different Nathan looks now!

This is Nathan in between James Ayers on the left and Brian Campa on the right.

Getting better every day

Just finished working for the night and decided I'd better put a less depressing blog out there. Things at work are improving. I took the team to lunch on Friday (paid by the company of course), and between the talk I had with them there, and the things I've told them I'm planning on implementing and trying to improve, it seems like attitudes are improving. I felt a little like a politician running for office, promising things that I hope in my heart of hearts that I can do, but things that I couldn't promise for sure.

We had a good weekend--running lots of errands, eating out at our favorite place for Mexican food here in Atlanta, and watching football games. Yesterday Nathan and I substituted in the nursery at church. There were 12 kids under the age of 3. It was CHAOS!!!! One little boy was crying almost the entire time, which set others off at various intervals. But despite the craziness, we enjoyed it. Thank goodness we're not in there every Sunday, but once in awhile is fun. We had fun driving home talking about all the cute little things the kids had done. Yeah, we're sooooooooooo baby hungry.

Yesterday afternoon I prepared a bunch of things for the church activity I'm in charge of this Thursday night for the women at our church, and then....I RELAXED!!!! I had this nagging little voice in the back of my head saying that I should get online and respond to all of the emails I've received in the last two weeks from family and friends, but I decided to take it easy after working so much last week, and having much the same week this week. Thank goodness it's a job I like. And I LOVE my office! So much better than the cubicle.

Things are better in my little world.

The no good very bad day

A few of you have commented that it looks like all we do is have fun. Lest you be deceived, here is a glimpse into a big chuck of the rest of my life. Usually I talk to Nathan about my work nightmares, and I know I have to be careful what I post here in case anyone from work ever found this blog, but at least I can vent a little. And if you find this part of my life boring, then just skip this blog.

So I got a promotion at work last week, which I should be able to be excited about, but there is no immediate raise, just a lot of extra work. Yeah, just what I needed, I know. But I couldn't pass up the opportunity. My boss left for another position within the company, and I was offered part of his job (only part because they can't hire another Analyst right now, and so they split the job between two of us). I am excited about it nonetheless since I have been working really hard over the past year to get this.

Today was the day it was announced to the rest of the group, and it did not go over well. You see, I'm the new kid on the block. My one year anniversary at work is in a few days. All the others have at least 6 months to 3 years on me (yeah, not an impressive amount, but they have seniority nonetheless). All my co-workers or peer-level workers are at least 4 years older than me. So not only am I the newest, I'm also the youngest. Oh, did I mention that I'm white? Yeah, that really pissed me off. Wait no, how was it said to me exactly? "White and uneducated." Yeah, that's it. What the?! Hey now, I've worked my tail off (I have no tail, so I must have worked it off) over the last year, and done all the necessary networking and rubbing shoulders with bigwigs and such. Oh, and I've totally outshined all my co-workers as far as workload, performance, etc. So tell me again why I don't deserve this?

So at the end of the conference call with our new boss, my co-workers just got up and walked out. No congratulations. No comments about being crazy for doing this for no additional pay. Nothing. And then they avoided me all day--the people I usually talk to every day and go to lunch with and such. It was really crappy. On top of that I have a huge amount of work to get done this week and none of that is going smoothly either. Roadblocks--merely roadblocks.

Tomorrow better be better. I'm going to go out of my mind if it's like this every day. But on the bright side...I got a laptop to bring home so I can work from home (as soon as I can get the VPN access I'll be great). No more late nights alone at the office, which I'm especially glad for now that it's getting darker in the evenings again. I also got to start moving into the corner office with.....drumroll please.....WINDOWS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Yes, it deserves that many exclamation points. After living in cubeland for the last year and never seeing the outside world, I am estatic at getting an office with windows. So hooray for that! :) That makes it all worth it.

Let's go to the zoo!

Nathan was moping around the house yesterday morning as I tried and tried to get my work laptop to connect to my work network. Never could get it to work--bulrg. Guess I'll have to call the helpdesk. But later--much later. So what did we do instead? We drove down to the ATL airport to buy tickets for Thanksgiving (hooray we're going to Miami to visit Mel and Stephen), and for Christmas (hooray we get to be there for a LONG time since they had no other flights for our "coupons"). I was determined not to get jipped out of more of my hard-earned money. So off we went to the airport. After 2 hours standing at the ticket counter with a very frustrated but nonetheless helpful and courteous (thank goodness for that) Delta representative, we walked away with tickets to visit our family and friends at a pretty good price. Finally--that is over and I can revel in the fact that we get to go on these trips.

So after that, Nathan declared Labor Day to be National Unfun Day. What, you don't think standing in line at the airport on your day off is fun??? Ok--me neither. So we decided to go to the zoo since it was on the way home and we had tickets we'd already purchased awhile back. It was the perfect day weather wise, but I have to admit that the zoo just isn't the same without kids. But I did get to see a panda bear in person for the first time. The adult panda had just given birth to a new baby panda only 2 days before, so she was not out, but the younger pandas were, and this one was really enjoying his bamboo lunch.

The other highlight of the zoo were the new lion cubs that were just released for exhibit 2 days prior. They were so fun to watch we were there for about 10 minutes. They acted just like puppies do. The momma was getting annoyed at them a few times, and the poppa could have cared less.

Oh, and how could I forget! At the very last I was ready to go, but Nathan insisted on visiting the petting zoo and getting his picture taken with this poor, annoyed goat. It really was annoyed. You can't see it very well in the picture, but it had this look on its face of pure annoyance. Most patient goat I've ever seen--not that I'm a goat expert.