I'm PSYCHIC!!

Yes! College Football season has finally started! Yesterday, I scheduled to have a Mary Kay Pedicure party for some of my friends. I knew it was the first weekend, but thought since a) Notre Dame didn't play and b) everyone usually plays warm up games (Penn State was playing Coastal Carolina for example. Their mascot is the Chanticleers...I didn't know what that was, but the announcer felt the need to say Chanticleer as every other word. It's a Rooster)

I'm watching the Michigan game with Amanda T, who brought pizza. YEAH! (Not to be confused with Amanda L who ditched us...loser). Utah is safely ahead by like 15 or so for a long time. I turned to Amanda and said "you know what's going to happen here, don't you? Michigan is going to make it a tight game and then people are going to start to come, and I'm going to have to turn off the TV and be a good hostess." Sure enough, Michigan comes back, two point game, ding dong, the doorbell rings. Luckily my anti-Michigan friend Betsy comes and as soon as I open the door she says "do you know what happened in the Michigan game?" so of course, I have to be cordial to my guest and turn the TV on. 6 seconds left...too bad Michigan. :-(

On an additional note, if I was Lou Holtz, I'd be talking some serious trash to Mark May. (oh, you think Pittsburgh is in the top 25. Bowling Green must be in the top 10 then, right? They're not? Well, then they must be in some power conference right? Mid-American? Did you see my boy take care of Virginia Tech?)

Deep Thoughts from the Membership Department

This past week we had an overnight staff meeting at camp. Our management does stupid things like this every once in a while. I think they have this rosey picture of us all sitting around a campfire, singing songs, eating smores and sharing best practices. These things usually end in debauchery and a staff wide memo. Before moving to the actually subject of this post, I must first mention the biggest waste of time of the whole ordeal. The introductions. We were supposed to stand up, say our name, our position, what we actually do, and two successes we've had over the past year. "Please take only about a minute." They had allotted about 25 minutes for introductions. There were probably over 60 people at the staff meeting...you do the math. It took about an hour and a half for introductions.

On the second day of our wonderful staff outing we played "membership jeopardy." My team won...of course...and I got a little purple purse with some things in it. One of the things was this little book. (at this point, I planned on posting a picture of the book, but I just discovered that my camera is broken...which pisses me off, since I'm currently slightly short of funds). The book says "Thoughts" on the cover. Upon seeing this (and after almost two miserable days of staff camp), my coworker Hope sarcastically said "I've got a couple of thoughts I'd like to add." And so the "thoughts" book was born. I made the mistake of leaving it with Charlene for her to add her thoughts on the 2 and a half hour ride home. I ended up with "Random Thoughts from the Ride Home" Numbered 1 - 55. I'd like to share some of my favorites.

1. Meetings are gay, you are gay, everything is gay.
5. PT cruiser - you're a loser
13. Traffic at 2:15 pm on Rt 815
21. Think Kate is behind us?? (Kate is our coworker)
24. Stef got text about poop in Hershey pool.
26. Gave to guy flagging at construction ---> (ok, now I must describe. The page opposite this comment has "call to get a date with Jsto and then little pull off tabs...like fliers in college...with my name and cell number on them.)
28. Wonder if I can fill this whole book?
29. Let's try.
30. Traffic is stopped. Maybe I get out and give Kate this book at mile marker 122.7
32. Took a break to blow nose.
41. Watching for deer.
48. Kate is putting on her makeup (it was actually chap stick)
50. Thought about cleaning shoulder of road while stuck in traffic.
54. Adult superstore -- exit 24

There is also a really cute Life is Good inspired drawing. Which I normally would've taken a picture of but since my camera is all kinds of messed up, I guess I won't.

The Controversial Shoes

Yesterday, Amanda L. and I (there's two Amandas, so I hafta differentiate and she's no longer my coworker so I can't use that) went shopping at the Tannersville outlets which may have been a little far away, but was definitely worth it. Amongst other cute yet slightly ridiculous things that I bought were a pair of purple Pumas on clearance at the Puma outlet.

I have only since found out that this model is called Zany Cat, which I think is hysterical and would like to somehow try to work into conversation, but I'm debating how exactly to use it. Anyway, these shoes have sparked serious debate at my office as to whether they are work appropriate. We are not allowed to wear sneakers. There are portions of the shoes that seem very sneakery and other parts that seem very flat-like, so we'll call them snats, but I'm waiting to see if I get called into someone's office in order to discuss my choice of footwear. Judge for yourself (click this link for other views of the shoe).

A Series of Unfortunate Events

In a weird twist to the car accident story, I've found out that the man that hit me apparently died the Monday after he rear ended me. I got a call from a different insurance guy last week and he said "I'm going to ask you some questions that you may have answered before and then I'll explain why." He asks me all sorts of stuff about what the man said and did and then said "The gentleman that hit you died Monday...we believe it to be unrelated to the accident." phew...that's a relief... "he had other issues." Um...ok. His obituary just said he died peacefully at the hospital. I already checked.

This has now caused a whole big mess though because I guess when they called him Friday after the accident, he was too shaken up to talk about it. The nice insurance people were like "ok, just give us a call Monday when you feel more up to talking." Well, then he died, so I'm basically the only person to give a statement on what happened. They're basically trying to determine whether there was a preexisting medical condition that caused the accident. It's a nightmare for me though because now I have to deal with three different insurance people calling me all the time.

The Polo Match

I have so much to blog about and have had so little motivation to do it. This is typically the conversation that happens in my head. "Hey, I have some time. I should blog about all that stuff that I've been meaning to...but wait Lithuania versus Croatia is on in Olympic water polo, I'll watch that instead." I keep making a list by my computer of things I intend to blog about and the list keeps growing. I have two days off though, so expect to be blog blasted (like e-mailing blasting but with blogging) or maybe not since I still have just as little motivation, but with more time.

A few months ago, we got a call for the MS Society that was holding a charity polo match and they wanted someone to do kids activities and hand out information. I immediately volunteered because I had never been to a polo match (horses not pool...to answer my dad's question) and who knew there was a polo field anywhere near me.

The day started off with terrier races, which was funny because some of the terriers didn't really know they were supposed to be racing, so they just stayed in their little box or went over to where their owner was standing. Then at one point, they tried to put up little jumps for the dogs to go over, but most of the dogs ended up crawling under them.

After that, it was time for the polo match: West Shore Polo Club (that would be the West Shore of the Susquehanna River in PA) vs the Maryland Polo Club. It was very interesting and the announcer did an awesome job of describing what was going on for all of us polo novices. The Maryland Polo Club had some pro polo player from Peru which kinda pissed me off. It was like bringing in a ringer. At halftime they had the stomping of the divots. Just like in Pretty Woman. I don't really get the excitement though cause most people just go out on the field and talk and drink wine (not that I'm opposed to doing either of those), but there is very little divot stomping going on. I left after the 4th chukker (there are 6 chukkers in the game..and it can also be spelled chukka) because I was hot and at that point West Shore was leading by 1, so I'm not really sure who won.

My Brilliant Idea

As many of you know because I've been picking your brains, I'm currently working on a project for my job on 18-29 year olds. Kate (my fellow 18-29 year old coworker) and I were busy reminiscing all day about my purple Lisa Frank plastic lunch box with a unicorn on it, crazy laser beams in the background of our school pictures, the Saved by the Bell episode where Jessie was on drugs ("I'm so excited! I'm so excited! I'm so...so scared!"), and when slap bracelets were banned from school because they were dangerous (not only did I have a slap bracelet, i had a neon pink New Kids on the Block Slap Bracelet.)

Somehow during this conversation we started talking about Oregon Trail. I've decided that Wii needs to produce its own version of Oregon Trail where you can actually shoot the buffalo and bears and stuff. Wouldn't that be cool! Also according to Kate, there was a version called Amazon Trail (apparently after my time) in which you could spear fish. That would be so AWESOME!! ::sigh:: I'm going to go crimp my hair, watch the Goonies and drink some Crystal Pepsi.

You Might Be a Redneck If...

There was a sticker with this joke on it stuck to the gas pump where I was pumping today, and it made me laugh out loud so I thought that made it blog worthy. "You might be a redneck if your last words before losing consciousness ever were 'Hey y'all, watch this.'"

PS Thank you Giant for my 30 cents off per gallon. I never thought that I'd think $3.29 for gas was a great deal!

Congratulations, Amanda and Brandon!

t's about time! I guess we now know that the ring was for you! Drinks are on me next Friday...you know what this means, don't you? DRESS SHOPPING!!

My First Official Car Accident

I don't count when the guy hit my car in the parking lot. Friday afternoon, I was on my way to a program. I was stopped at a red light about a block away from the highway on ramp when the guy behind me just slams into my rear bumper. I'm not sure he even slowed down or used his breaks or anything. I got out, went back and the guy seemed disoriented and incoherent, so rather than deal with that directly I called information to connect me with the police...only they connected me with the Harrisonburg Police which is just slightly different than the Harrisburg Police. After about five minutes of the police officer and I getting frustrated because he can't find what street I'm on. We figure out the mistake and I finally get Harrisburg.
When the police officer arrives, I'm trying to get the guys information, but its not working too well. The guy that hit me also has his windshield wipers on even though it is a bright sunny day and he also has a hospital bracelet as well. Next the guy's entire family shows up, so I kinda just back away, stand near my car and let the policeman deal with them. Since we were right near a red light, I also got to talk to all the people stopped in their cars, which was entertaining. Anyway, everything was cleared up, the police officer told me that I could drive home since I didn't live far, but that I should drive further than that since my muffler was dragging on the ground. I didn't realize at the time, but this would later cause major issues as to whether the vehicle was "drivable" with the insurance company.

I now I have my rental car a Nissan Altima...very nice. The rental lady was impressed that I knew how to use a push button start because I guess a lot of people try sticking their key in somewhere. My car got towed to the body shop, but because it was after business hours I don't know how long it will take to get fixed. The damage is mostly by bumper (where there is actually a hole in it), but the trunk is also damaged and there's a dent on the side somehow too. We'll see. It's actually kind of a blessing that the guy hit me first because he shouldn't have been driving and would've hit something, so glad that was a practically parked car rather than having gotten on the highway and done some real damage.