so i have talked to the new owners of the company, shamrock. i will be paid with benefits thru the end of november no matter how long they need me. which is fine. i can live with that. i've been thinking about taking off the rest of december and starting fresh in january. so anyway,

it looks as though chatterfish are making steps to being a better band. they had a show last weekend and they were played on pittsburgh indie radio. manoni got into a snowbaord movie and used chatterfish as their soundtrack. they all went to the premier last nite in harrisburg. so things are looking up.

i actually can't wait til i'm done here...

so i finally got in touch with maureen shallcross at the strand after a few rounds of phone tag. she obviously was not impressed by my resume. she said she was looking for someone with more experience particularly in a cultural institution. but she liked my enthusiasm. yeah yeah. huge rejection number 1. that's okay though. i was devastated at first but i'm over it. i knew it would have been my experience in question and that's exactly what it was.

so katie emailed me another job op last thursday. i will pursue that as strongly as i did the strand. i feel more confident in my resume now so i feel a little better about send my resume.

joe's birthday was this week. josh for once was able to come out and help celebrate. we spent saturday on MD with jules who wanted to go to ikea and we stopped at sunny's surplus to find a military shirt to match john lennon's. we tried to stop at outback steakhouse but the wait was too long. so we headed back to the cove for oktoberfest food.

first of all, hello! what the heck is up with the platters at the cove? they are so huge i swear they are meant for sumo wrestlers. legend has it that you get free dessert if you are ever able to finish those things. i got 3 steaks of pork on my plate and a huge pile of veg and spazle. unbelievable!

josh comes by to go out to the bars. we hit tailgaters first but it's too crowded and then we decide to go to the quick 6. aaron and alisha join us for a while and then we're off to the tre-mar. and then we stop by aaron's house for a while. josh had never seen the house so we got our 3rd or 4th grand tour. soon it was about 2 in the morn and we head out. but we had to stop at the cove again for a quick drink. we made it in time for eric to let us in before close and had a shot and went home.

the next day, we slept in til noon and joe got to open his present. he was psyched he got a car stereo, he's wanted one for a while now. i can imagine not having any background music while driving and that's annoying. so he was happy about the stereo. only he had a little trouble hooking it up. i think he'll employ josh's trusty hand to help him get thing installed. so anyway, we head off the ginmiya to meet up with his family for a little dinner. mind you, the grandparents didn't come. grandpa won't eat anything but meat and potatoes and grandma will have a fit if she knew we ate raw fish.

so we finally got the boat!!! we employed the help of will to help us eat the sushi and sashimi for two that comes in a cool ass wooden boat. it was a highlight. and then we went over to the grandparents for dessert. pumpkin pie was scrumptious and it was actually one of the times it wasn't stressful to be around grandma.

it cheered joe up quite a bit everytime it's his birthday. he gets presents and he always gets told his own baby stories every year and they always proclaim how wonderful and perfect he is. who wouldn't love that?

so i finally mailed my resume to the strand. i've been scutinizing my resume for days and i finally think i am happy enough with it to mail it out. hopefully it's good enough to get me a job....

so since that last time i wrote, i finally got myself some glasses. now i can see! i think they are nice. well, they ought to be for the price i paid...and they make me look smart so i have nothing to complain. not only that but i got myself to see the chiropractor. and now i am getting all fixed.

well, i'm gonna check out some cd clubs and see how i can get myself back up to speed with my cd collection.

ok i predict that it will be (oh yes, it will be) soon. any day now, things will happen for me. tonite i'm going to the chiropractor hopefully to start fixing up my back. and hopefully it will put me in better humor...

anyway, back to my mac and cheese.

oh yeah?

yeah!!!

i'm trying my darndest to get the hell out of here. but it doesn't seem to yield fruit yet. i've got katie following up with the lady at the strand. hopefully that comes thru. i'm sort of banking on it right now. i know i shouldn't put all my eggs in one basket but it's all i've got right now.

anyhoo, carey and mike hoffman's farewell party is tonite. it is all lonely downstairs. there is no one left here at the company and it's rather pathetic. do they allow companies like this to run?

uh oh, the witch is around. gotta go.

man i hate computers

oh man, what is up with this?

right so carey resigned and that leaves me, hannes, teresa, barb, cesar, and sean left. i certainly hope i will be next to leave. i've set a deadline for myself. if i'm not let go by the 15th, i will quit. the problem is, i really really would like a job before i do that. no worries though. i think i can ask katie to help me out.

anyway, i've had a jam packed weekend. on saturday, i went to see the mobile skatepark series and i actually stood 2 feet away from bucky lasek. he's so ordinary, it's ridiculous how people flock to him. on sunday, i hung out with mom and jules. i ended up buying some new gear (which i'm in dire need of anyway) but i was hoping not to spend any money. and then joe and i went to aaron and alisha's for a bbq and slumber party. then we woke up and came home for a little before we headed off the the market for crabs.

i bought 2 dozen for 25 bucks and pigged out with jules. then it was off to the anderson's for labor day picnic. and then when we got home we stopped out at tailgaters for a few drinks with josh and nate. and now finally, we're home. joe is reading his books right now while i comment on my weekend.

i think i'll do joe a favor by signing up chatterfish for their own blog. nothing wrong with a little self promotion....

am i the only one that eats hard boiled egg in their salad? i don't understand why that is weird.

anyway, it's good to hear when people got your back. y'know what i mean? i'm going to use kathy as a reference as i continue my job search. and it's really good to know that i am appreciated in some realm of my life. this company is soo bad, there should've been a law suit a long time ago. the practices here are so primitive. and we try to come off like a well organized package. it's such a joke.

this weekend i think i'm going to the mobile skatepark series in white marsh. the day i wanna go seems like a big skater day anyway. and i'd love to see something cool for once. i'm beginning to feel like a total yuppie, i need something that will bring me back down to earth. i just can't stand corporate life. grrrrr!

i'm thinking about starting a new blog for joe. this way he can keep a log of everything that happens in chatterfish and it will sort of be like a webpage for the band. i'm starting to feel a great creative wave coming thru me. i just keep thinking of ideas that could make my life much more interesting and fun. and i think being a part of this main street york thing will help out a great deal. i certainly hope anyway. anyway, i'm going to poke around online and see if i can dig up sommore chatterfish stuff. good to keep a scrapbook of these things y'know.

so i went to the yuppie networking thing and it wasn't so bad. it turns out that katie bell knows everybody in york. so she's my connection to anything and everythig that i want. on the other side of the coin though, kathy said that since erik is leaving, versient doesn't want to hire anyone new. so she offered a job in both a/p and a/r. yeah right!!!! i just get so scared just thinking about the work load, let alone doing it. the raise that she offered doesn't do anything for me. i'd still rather stick a pen in my neck.

so today, she said that billing will hold off until we get an LOI and find out if it's even necessary to move stuff down for billing yet. i mean, who knows, if we get bought by another company, everything will be moot anyway. we'll just have to see.

tonight is the party for jeff and erik. which is fine, i'll buy erik a drink. but i have to leave shortly after!!! someone kick me out of there when it gets around 6.00 pm. i told joe that we'd go out for sushi. i'll just tell everyone that my mom is coming by my apartment and that i have to clean it up a little. but 6.00 is the deadline. must be out by then. ok?

i must must must force myself to go to this yuppie networking thing tomorrow. it is a must or else my career will continue to be the pits. i really don't wanna do this but i have to in the name of getting the hell out of versient. everyone says it won't be too bad and that i might meet some people i actually like. gag!!!!!

so here i am at work at 6.00 pm like a loser. i'm just waiting for this report to finish running before i can go. i hate the stupid hourglass that taunts you while you wait and wait. it's all a conspiracy. i wouldn't normally care. this all could wait til tomorrow. but since i'm off tomorrow, all hell would break loose if something went wrong. so i'm gonna stay late and finish this stupid thing.

sean, barb, cesar and i went out for kabobs at lunch time. we actually didn't talk about work for once. we actually discussed (gulp) religion. it was a good conversation though. it didn't get ugly like some other discussions i've been in involving religion. i always think religion is an interesting subject to converse about. and yet so touchy. no one wants to go there unless it's already the topic. y'know?

so anyhoo. tomorrow i'm taking julie to get her wisdom teeth extracted. and then i'm gonna get my eyes checked and hopefully choose a pair of frames. and then stop by main street york inc to see about volunteering. i wish i could get in sommore health appointments, but it'll have to be some other day. i need to use my health insurance while i still have it though...

i love that my own boss plays hookey. on friday, kathy "called in sick" with food poisoning. hey good one kathy! it was a quiet week last week and i believe we're expecting another one. i think we're down to about 8 people in this office, i swear.

what is up with this weather everybody? it's been so nice, you'd never guess that we weren't in so. cal. this weekend, we went to joe's company picnic and went to bethlehem for his grandparents' anniversary. nothing too fancy. the weekend was in top form.

i want to mention that joe and i went to ginmiya yesterday for sushi dinner. and i have to comment that the hot and sour soup there rocks harder than your mom.

have i menioned that the company i work for is on the brink of going under? today, citifinancial is threatening to repossess our computer equipment. oh man. i hope i don't miss that when i happens. all kinds of people are on our backs. i'm just waiting for it all to hit the fan.

so i got home from vacation and one of our bass died. i was sad but joe wasn't.go figure. i was really expecting that the compnay would have folded during the time i was out but lo and behold, its still here.damn, that's persistance.

well, i got a fierce tan like i wanted. and sat on the beach all week--no worries. did i mention that i puked from drunkenness?
joe and i went to the mooring for dinner because they had a dinner special where 2 people eat with a bottle of wine for less than 20 bucks. so we went there and while we waited for a table we had 2 for 1 margaritas at the bar. and let me clarify that they bartender gave us the entire cocktail shaker. so we each had 4 margaritas and wine. so i was all frontin' like i was just buzzed. but on the ride home i felt motion sick. the second we pulled up to the driveway i opened the car door and puked. gross!!

this weekend is patty's party and i can't wait to see all the ex-employees again. it'll be so much fun. i really like this group of people.

i got my license renewed this morning. man, i'm so disappointed that it's so obvious that i gained a lot of weight in recent months. it really makes me want to do something about it. even my parents are wondering what the hell happened.how embarrassing!

woo woo, i fenagled julie into housesitting next week. all she had to do was water the plants and feed the fish. i mean, it's not like i asked her to rearranged my furniture......

jules! don't rearrange my furniture while i'm gone!

in return, i'm letting her borrow my new 80's compilation CD. i got it for my birthday from rachel and now jules wants to use it for her paper on 80's music. she's defining 80's music to 3 things: synth, brit, MTV. that's funny she's gonna be listening to frankie goes to hollywood for educational purposes.

ok, my blogs are still not showing up on the site but i'll still blog anyway. maybe it'll be fixed soon.

i'm in total cram mode today. i wanna get everything i have to do done by the end of the day today so i can go home on time and hit the beach. i just ran into the biggest annoyance ever. getting stuck on something right before vacation. i don't wanna deal with it--you know how it is. but i have to in order to get what i need done so no one gets on my back.i'm taking a lunch break right now in hopes that i'll return to my desk with refreshed cranial activity.

ok, i don't know what the deal is. but i can't see any of my posts since last week. what's the deal?

who's idea was it to make ramen noodles so damn salty? here's a tip: i put lettuce (iceberg, romaine, whatever) in my ramen noodles after i cook them. somehow it cuts down on the saltiness.

alright. it's countdown time. saturday i head to the beach. so in 2 days, i'm maxin' and relaxin'. or shakin' and bakin'. whichever. i spent monday, tuesday and wednesday in lowell again. hopefully that will be the last time. i flew back yesterday and visited some co-workers as well as some ex-coworkers. and then headed home. i had been dreaming of sleeping in my own bed since monday when i came down with a mini cold. it's no use to be sick and not being able to sleep in your own bed. i just hope i'll be better by the time i get to the beach.

two days in the hunt valley office and i have to catch up on things i've missed and also get ahead one week so that i'm not swamped when i get back. i don't think that'll be possible, but i'd love to try

i miss my cat when i'm away and yesterday he snuggled up with me when i got home. i wish i could take him to the beach with us but he wouldn't like the sand and the heat i don't think. plus, he won't appreciate the 5 hour ride in the car. i don't think joe and i will either if we had to listen to him cry all the way.

oh man, i'm so anxious to get on with vacation. it'll be so nice to get out of versient for a while. get some perspective. y'know?

2 days in a row that i stayed up late. wednesday for my birthday party luau and yesterday at the brass monkey watching lame-o bands. i think chatterfish was the only over 21-ers there. that or the other guys were straight edge. hahaha. i told joe to plug the bar/bartender knowing that everyone was under 21. he didn't get any free drinks out of it though. natch. did i mention that this place is as big as my apartment? that place is so small. joe was all kinds of tired this morning. he got home at about 2.30 in the morn and had to get up for work at 8.00. man, it sucks for him.

next week will hopefully be my last week in lowell. i actually kinda like it there but i'll be glad to be done training. that week after that is vacation time at the beach. i really enjoy vacation-y things like going away. it makes me feel better about not having summer vacations anymore.

i guess i'm suppose to plug my boyfriend's band (i mean it's the least i can do).
the band: chatterfish.
the gig: brass monkey saloon in fells point.
the details: tonite, be there or be a poser.

i mean, i'll be there. what other reason is there?

IT'S A BERTDAY!

i guess i should recap all that happened in the last few days what with the holiday and all. so i flew back home on wednesday afternoon hoping that no flights were delayed and i could just go home and relax for a while. and everthing went according to plan. i even decided to go straight home instead of stopping at the office. i figure by the time i get there, i won't have a chance to get anything done so i might as well just go home. and that's what i did.

we decided to stay home instead of going to the beach. we couldn't find any places to stay at the beach and we also figure we could save a little money. so on thursday we had a picnic/barbeque at joe's parents' house. of course that's always fun when grandma is around. she tells stories on end. even the ones you've heard before. we got to play a little bit of the bean bag game and some bocce. i was hoping to bring felony for the picnic but joe said it was too hot for him to be outside.

i can't remember if this all happened on the same day or not but we also hung out with aaron and alisha and their friend clint. we crashed a hippie party and set off some illegal fireworks. in all it was a good day. joe was scared of the hippies. their "self-assurance room" was the tip of the iceberg for him. that was too much. and the hairless cat really turned him off. but aaron put on a good fireworks show and we at least had something to talk about afterwards.

which we did about 30 seconds after we left the party. joe had to make fun of the hippies right away. it was only proper.

another week in lowell. hoping that this week is short cuz i could really use a vacation. the sucky part is that joe and i can't find a place to stay at the beach. we decided we want to go to virginia beach; it'll be quite relaxing. so anyway, i'm lowell again. but i'm going home early on wednesday. and this time if they try to delay my flight, i will be going on a rampage. i won't have it. not only is vacation in the near horizon, but i've got a birthday coming up. i can't believe i'm going to be 24. i feel like a kid stuck in an old yuppie body. i just can't believe that much time has passed. it's incredible...

my flight was delayed again yesterday coming home from manchester. i was really pissed off about it. all i wanted to do was go home. i had enough of massachusetts. i had of enough of crappy tv channels at the hotel. i had enough of no one to hang out with. all i wanted to do was go home. but nooooo....my flight had to be delayed. it totally sucked. not only that but when i came home, peepo wasn't home and the coffee table and kitchen were a mess. when peepo finally came home, he wasn't fit for conversation. that ticked me off.

and now i have to go back to mass on sunday. all i want to do is get home early on wednesday for once. i have off on friday and i just want to start my weekend early. i also hope to get my expense check before then. but that's a long shot.

y'know, i am so sure that everyone does this but i just thought i'd air it out. i take all the toiletries i possibly can from hotels. whatever i don't use, i take. you never know when you're gonna need toiletries. and you might as well take the ones while you can and use them when you need them. y'know?

the girls in the office in lowell are taking me to a baseball game tonite. the office complex gets these tickets and gives them to tenants pretty randomly. this time we got them and we had a lottery to see who were going. i think i was the guest, so they reserved one for me. i don't like baseball, but i guess it will be fun. nothing like drinking and watching nothing happen for an extended amount of time. al-right!

blueberry turnover!

so i went to see the relatives last nite after work. they are all doing well and the kids are getting bigger. it's funny how they all try to feed me all kinds of food every time i walk into the door. anyway, after i got back to the htel, i totally crashed. i thought maybe i would've gotten hungry or bored. but no, i fell asleep. i guess that's what 'meet joe black' on tv does to you.

hoy polloy. i've been sitting at the computer all day trying to apply cash. and now i've got this check that's paying, i swear to you, 200 invoices all at once. to make matters worse, they are all 2 dollar invoices each. what a pain in the butt.

felony came home on saturday. and he's been doing better each day. the vets say we need to keep an eye on him from now on. he's on a special diet for the rest of his life-- $20 for 10 lbs of food. and he eats like a fat boy at the circus. that's ok though cuz it's felony. and he is a special cat.

i had to fly to boston for work last night. it kinda sucks getting stuck in a hotel on a sunday night with bad tv selection. i ended up watching buffy the vampire slayer reruns til i fell asleep.

felony was put in hospital overnite so that he wouldn't get any worse. apparently, he did not get sick from the pond water he likes to drink. but he got a kidney stone or something. he is still in the hospital right now taking antibiotics to help dissolve the stones. otherwise he will need surgery!! this will probably be very costly, but it is for felony. and peepo's car is also in the hospital. that will also be a costly repair. we are hoping to take a 4 day holiday but with this weeks events, we will need to be very inventive.

i'm totally bummed out that england were sent home. but brazil have been ignored all tournament. it is no wonder they have advanced this far.

my cat, felony, is sick. he threw up yesterday morning twice. we felt bad, but we had to lock him in the bathroom during the day in case he threw up again. the old carpet we have is hard to clean. but i let him outside when i got home from work, and he wasn't quite the same since. he walked around very deliberately and cried all the time. and he kept licking his lips and sticking his tongue out. joe said he must have worms from drinking from the bucket on the balcony. he was laying down on his side late last nite and wasn't looking well. before going to the vets this morning, he thew up again and was hanging his head over his water bowl. poor thing!

people! quit your complaining dammit!

the beautiful game. who will win? who will go home in shame?
wonderful surprises are in store for us. england v. brazil would have been an exciting final match to see.
but it's also exciting to see korea advance. and not to mention senegal. boy what a show they have put on.

phlegm.