Tomorrow night, I am supposed to go camping. The trip is planned from tomorrow night to Sunday afternoon. We will be backpacking in the Hill Country.
I was pretty excited about it until a couple of days ago. In Texas, winters are usually fairly mild in December. I've spent many Christmases in my hometown in shorts (barring that one year we actually got snow). So I wasn't too concerned about a camping trip in December.
But then this week, the news started reporting of the possibility of snow. I blew it off at first, but apparently there's a 70% chance that we're getting fucking snow tomorrow. If I DIDN'T have to go camping, I'd be thrilled. What a perfect reason to stay home, right? (Because I REFUSE to drive anywhere in snow. Ain't happening. And since all my coworkers have seen my car, they will believe me when I say it is safer for me not to drive in snow).
I am going camping with a Program team member, a bunch of high school kids, and some of their parents. He is the leader of this group of high school students...kind of like Boy Scouts, except it's Co-Ed. He asked me to do this back in the summer, and I said sure. It sounded pretty fun. And up until three days ago, I was pretty pumped. Then the news of the snow came in, and I was like, shit. Who wants to camp out in snow, for the first time? I asked if we were still going if it snowed. "Yes!" he said. "We're only not going if the roads are icy and unsafe to travel on."
I've been scouring weather reports and now it's kind of hard to tell what the weather will be like tomorrow. One report says that the snow will stop by mid-afternoon, while another says that there will be a freeze tomorrow night. We're not supposed to get to the site until 9:30, so I definitely don't want to be on the roads around then. The good thing is that parents are responsible for driving everyone (I'm not even allowed to drive, thank goodness). So I'm sure that if there was some concern, we're all adults and would be able to make a rational decision.
I guess the only thing left to do is wait and see. Since I don't want to go camping in freezing temperatures, cross your fingers for me that we get a deep freeze here in Central Texas tomorrow and that we postpone the trip for warmer temperatures.
The good Pete reminded me that I haven't done my annual Thanksgiving break roundup. So, here it is, in abbreviated form.
Tuesday - I drove home and chilled with my family. That evening, my aunt, uncle, and cousins stopped by to visit since they were in town. It was my first time meeting my baby cousin Eliana, and she was just as adorable as she was in the pictures. I love babies.
Wednesday - Went on a run on the treadmill, which tells you how desperate I was for a run.My friends came into town. That night, Pat dropped me off at the Martini Bar so I could meet up with Tap, Conrad, and Clint. I very rarely get to enjoy a drink out since I'm always driving myself, so it was nice to be able to relax and have a few. We just hung out for awhile listening to the local band playing there (good) and the DJ (bad, very bad). Then we started playing pool, which was my first time ever. Haha.
Thursday - Thanksgiving! I actually made my pumpkin pie before my dad started his turkey. This is probably for the first time ever as I usually procrastinate on the pie, leading to my dad getting on my case for procrastinating and rushing the pie. Everyone declared that this was the best pie ever, so I guess I did something right. I stayed in and watched movies with my dad, as Pat went out with his friends and my mom fell asleep.
Friday - Tap invited us over for a fantastic Thanksgiving feast that his parents made. We then went to the mall, where I was able to get some good deals. Later that night we went to play pool, and capped it off with late night Whataburger.
Saturday - My dad and I went on a good run, which I needed to clear my head and lift my spirits from something that was bothering me. We decorated the tree at night. For some reason, one of my parents had randomly stuffed the ornament box with old papers and photos. I found old pictures of me, including one from 8th grade that should never see the light of day again, as well as the journal for English class I wrote at 16.
It always sucks returning from a break, because I have to get used to how quiet my apartment is. It takes a bit to get my mind back into work mode, too. I'm getting sick too, which also is not fun. I hope it clears up before Friday night, as I'm supposed to go on a backpacking trip this weekend. If I feel better, I will go and buy some warm clothes for the trip.
I'm going to go relax. Hope y'all had a wonderful Thanksgiving.
In my younger years (i.e.all my life until college), I was a sugar fiend. Sugar was simply part of my daily staple. I was in big trouble if I purchased a bag of Starburst Jelly Beans. I could usually wipe a 16-oz bag in a 24-hour period. And genetics, combined with my workout schedule, blessed me with a good metabolism.
But I've noticed lately that my metabolism has slowed waaaaay down. I can no longer eat unhealthy food without any consequences. Besides seeing my splurges pop up as extra cushioness on my tummy, I just feel...worse when I eat it I used to buy BACs on Thursday at work (Big-Ass Cookies) but I had to stop since they made me feel gross later.
I've been eating healthily lately, without having my usual dessert at night (save for pieces of chocolate). I noticed a big difference in giving up the nightly ice cream or cookies. But yesterday, I just felt like SPLURGING. And unfortunately, I binged when it came to the splurging. I bought a bag of the jellybeans and some cookies. I ate a bunch of the jelly beans/cookies last night. Then today, at the work Thanksgiving luncheon, I splurged on a bunch of different desserts (tart, apple pie, peanut butter fudge, some pumpkin crumble cake). Liz, who is thin and very petite, is known for having a large appetite. But she pointed at me when others started egging her on to eat more. "That's the eater," she said, "place your bets on her."
When I came home, I was still craving sugar, so I ate jelly beans. LONG STORY SHORT: a couple of years ago, I would have been ok, but I feel GROSS right now, and I blame it on the jelly beans. I wasn't feeling bad until after I ate them. My body cannot handle eating that many jelly beans anymore. I still haven't eaten them all yet, which tells you something. I think my days of consuming mass quantities of sugar in one day has drawn to a close. And tomorrow I'm supposedly running a 5k...I don't know how that's going to work out.
Oh, I cannot stand when people are condescending!
I understand that I'm a total noob when it comes to engineering, but when it comes to doing my job, I am fairly decent at my work. And besides, my age, gender, and relative lack of experience should not matter. I deserve respect!
I just got off the phone with someone who works in a governmental capacity. We've been trying to set a meeting with him for a week now and he's been ignoring my attempts at contact. Ever the persistent one, I gave him a call today and politely requested that we set a meeting with him. He then launched into an explanation of why a meeting was not needed, very slowly and carefully, as if I were a six-year-old.
OOOOOOOOOOOOO that is one really good way to piss me off. So, adopting his condescending tone, I explained exactly why we DID need a meeting. Maybe I should have stayed more professional but I was pissed! I tried unsuccessfully for the next couple of minutes to get him into a meeting. He said if my project managers wanted to talk about it, they could call him (!!!!!) "Can we just stop by, informally?" I asked. Man, I know I was being annoying, but at this point, I didn't care. This guy was a prick and I didn't care anymore about being nice. "They can stop by, but I may not be in," he said. "They will have to make an appointment if they want to see me." "Ok then," I said, "let's make an appointment then." "This issue is non-negotiable," he said. He does not want a meeting to discuss our side of the story.
I thanked him for his time and after we hung up, I felt frustrated. I moved up fairly fast within my project and have responsibilities a lot of EITs my age don't have. I guess I got used to being treated a certain way (i.e. respect) and when someone treats me like I just got out of school, it's frustrating. I suppose I could have handled the situation better, but man, he definitely instigated it. I let my project manager know what happened. Maybe she will have more luck than I did (she's pretty fierce, I imagine that she will).
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I was just thinking about how I rarely blog anymore. It seemed like all those years when I had nothing to do, I had a lot to say...but now that I do more and have more fun, I have less of a reason to blog about it. Weird, right?
Let's see, some highlights from the past week (or two).
Pat and I went to the AC/DC concert on the 6th. It was soooo good you guys. One of the best concerts for sure. I was so worried that Brian Johnson's voice would be shot, but when I heard him sing the first song, I knew we were in good shape. Here's how great the concert was - Pat and I were at the VERY TOP ROW and we still had a great time. Angus Young was very funny and did this little striptease thing. Those guys are in their 50s and 60s but they still were thrusting their hips around, LOL. They did all their big hits, like "Back in Black," "Thunderstruck," "Shoot to Thrill," etc. They encored with "Highway to Hell" and "For Those About to Rock." Great, great show.
It was funny, before the show, my brother and I went out to eat pizza and I left my number for the cute waiter, LOL. I left it on the receipt. Classy, right? It was the first time I'd ever done anything like that. Of course he never called (which I expected anyway), but that's not the point...the point is I did it!
My boss, after my good performance review, asked me to assist with recruiting. I have an interviewee coming in next Monday that I'm sponsoring. I'm responsible for setting up everything and making sure his day-long interview goes well. It's weird to think that two years ago, I was the one coming in and my boss was my sponsor. Crazy how so much changes in two years!
Yesterday I went on a free trip to NASA as part of that mentor/mentee program I am helping out with. It was great! It was a long trip - it takes about 4 hours to get there with the slow Charter bus, so we didn't have time to do all the cool stuff. BUT I got to see great things, and for a free ticket, I'm not complaining at all :) We took the tram tour, which took us to the mission control room (SOOO COOL), mock-up vehicle facility, and Rocket Park. It was really neat seeing the Saturn V rocket because that thing is HUMONGOUS. Not even kidding. I had a blast and I hope my little mentee did too.
I've been so lazy today...I need to head out for a run and do some work. Now getting motivated for that all is the question...
P.S. This is my new Facebook profile picture. Isn't it marvelous?
P.P.S. I am pretty obsessed with "Bad Romance," and I don't want to say how many times I listened to the song.
So I don't know how many of y'all know this, but I've been taking thyroid medication for the past four years. If I have my diagnosis correctly, I have thyroid nodules and am in danger of developing Hashimoto's Disease down the road. I have other family members who have thyroid problems, but out of the three of us, I take the smallest dosage.
I'm sorry for the lack of interesting updates. Let's see, what has happened since I last blogged? There was the annual Halloween dance that I attended last Thursday. That was fun...but not as fun as last year, because only the people who paid for a $45 4-week Thriller choreography course could perform the Thriller dance this year. I think that is pretty crappy, because besides the expense, the whole fun of the performance last year was learning it, half-forgetting the moves, and then having everything turn into a clusterfuck at the end. Oh well. I still had a good time though. I went as a mainstream punk princess. I wore a Green Day shirt, tights, black boots, gloves with the fingertips cut off, and BLUE HAIR. Looky:
Dear Dumbass,
This weekend was probably the best one I've had in a long time. My good friend Tap just bought a house, and invited us all to a housewarming to break in the house. I had the hardest time picking out a gift, but I finally got a spice rack as a serious gift. I wanted to get something really tacky for Tap's yard as a gag gift, like a flamingo or yard gnome. My friend Shashank and I found this at Target and chipped in to get it, because it was so perfect:
Once everyone was awake and we cleaned up, we were wondering what to do. I'd never been to the Alamo or the Riverwalk (I know, I've lived in this state for 15 years. But I haven't done a lot of the touristy things). So even though my friends had already been there multiple times, we went to check it out. (It was funny, on the way there, we passed that exit that I missed several years back when driving through with my dad.) I was not disappointed by the Alamo at all. I thought it was really cool. It is very small though, right smack in the middle of downtown San Antonio.
If you had to be trapped in a TV show for a month, which show would you choose?
I think the answer to this is obvious.
