Off to Chicago

Will be quiet for a days, heading up north for work and hope to see at least one of the Chicago cousins! Back in town on Wednesday - Ciao!

Sister's Birthday and HGTV comes to town!

Well not really HGTV, however much much better - the fabulous ETK! And see what she did to Sister's place. If only the puppies could be bartenders!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SISTER!!!!

So nice to celebrate our third anniversary as twins! It's tough being 29 forever. You finally updated your blog too. Enjoy your weekend with ETK.

When Chocolate Meets Bread

I was looking for something informative on NPR.org (sometimes I so fit the stereotype), saw this headline and had to check it out.

Back in the chilly north

At least it's not the frozen tundra of Lambeau field, however it's cold. Totally recommend watching football from this place with a mojito or 5 to quote Sister.

It was a good relaxing time, probably too quick a trip. It was great to hang with Sister and Lady W (Sister gave HAW a new name). Read "Eat, Pray, Love" and can't believe I waited so long. Perfect read for where I'm at right now. Will probably reread since I read normally read fast and I couldn't put it down. Lady W picked up a copy at the airport. Key West was a great place to just hang out, people watch, eat and of course drink. Plus we walked everywhere. There were some travel dramas, however it all worked out in the end.

Haven't said much about Dallas, however interesting place. Had a fabulous drinks and dinner with a colleague from work and his wife. I always knew he was kind, however he was so extremely generous. He picked me and Sister up from the airport, drove us around a little, dropped us at hotel. Then he went to do church stuff came back with his wife and took us out to dinner at this huge place! Next day was easy, watched some football and attended Sister's thing and met some good people. Next morning had a town car take us to the airport and to fly home for a few days. Sister and I definitly like the town car, frankly we really shouldn't have to fly coach anymore either, however I guess we must endure a little discomfort.

Ciao for now!

Been Quiet

So in between trips this week, short one in Cbus, haven't had time to post. Dallas was fun trip, have cute video of one of my favorite dogs "cleaning" the dishes (Mrs. A's little Max) that I need to figure out how to post.

Work drama has me really upset. I've probably been holding back for too long and can't anymore. Basically mgmt wants me stay, yet doing things that make me feel less valued. I know I'm being vague and mgmt hasn't fully explained all the options. I'm confident that they don't realize how they are setting things would make me have this reaction. If I leave, there will be significant issues for them to address. At least it's a large firm and there are opportunities, unfortunately I've let recent events erode my confidence. I've stayed too long in my particular group and it's probably time to move on.

Looking forward to long weekend in Key West with Sister and HAW. I may need to just sit somewhere and pull a Holly Hunter in Broadcast News.

Just One of Dem Days

I know it's Sister's job to use song titles/lyrics for post titles. ETK has a great rant about being female and not being able to do what you want. She's pissed and justifiably so. To modify another song title, sometimes it ain't easy being a girl.

I do have things to rant about and believe me I will. Something about yesterday and then this morning P!nk's video "Dear Mr. President" came on the tv, which just fit the mood. She's in the hall of fame of writing great rants and this is a great one:

"What kind of father would take his own daughter's rights away?
And what kind of father might hate his own daughter if she were gay?
I can only imagine what the first lady has to say
You've come a long way from whiskey and cocaine."

So I was thinking of some of my fave songs for venting, not complete however a selection in no particular order:

• "Not Ready to Make Nice" Dixie Chicks
• "You Had Me" Joss Stone
• "Enough Cryin " Mary J Blige
• "B.M.F.A" Martha Wainwright
• "Just Like A Pill" P!nk
• "You Oughta Know" Alanis Morrissette
• "I Want to Be Evil" Eartha Kitt
• "Only Happy When It Rains" Garbage
• "Just a Girl" No Doubt
• "Bitch" Meredith Brooks

"We Just Didn't Make The Plays"

Since I mentionned the game below, need to comment briefly on the result. The mood in Cbus is subdued yet not surprised. Quote above is from a senior right tackle. General consensus is too much time off, need better schedule and QB, luckily team is still rebuilding mode, only losing 3 seniors. One dogmatic fan even said "I can't complain, 3 years out of 6 contending in a national championship games?". Of course the record against U of M helps. It doesn't help seeing Les Miles response.... not what the Sweater Vest would do.

Changing to the topic to a classy guy, Joe Gibbs stepped down as Redskins coach. It was surprising since he's the kind that will hold with his contract, yet after such a tough year and grandchild with leukemia, it's understandable. I don't always get to see Redskins, however they were the pro team my aunt & uncle support and encouraged me to support, particularly after time in DC. Not sure place which has more crazed/loyal fans- Redskins or Ohio State? So if I have to choose one NFL team to support it would be them. Of course I would love to see Brett Favre beat the Patriots in the Superbowl.

Facebook vs MySpace, OSU vs LSU

Some of my favorite peeps have sent emails in response to the blog, I didn't check the settings correctly, you can now post/respond without having a google id. There are so many options for keeping in touch and hard to choose. I'd appreciate any thoughts. I like how this blog is setup though I've heard suggestions about using myspace and facebook. Not sure about those cause I don't care for using my real name, particularly since I work for a publicly traded company, have to be careful.

It was great to hear from the west coast, the fabulous Miss K sent me a note. Reminded me I need to schedule a trip to the SF/Oakland area. Thanks for the cheers! She mentionned Linkedin, another option.

CC suggested Facebook, Sister was using MySpace, however she doesn't really post except for GaTech football topics and some good tunes.

Anyhoo, time to watch some football! It's a weird 60 degrees here and finally time for the BCS Championship. Had a nice call from my sweet aunt that's a Florida fan, she said she would normally root for the SEC team, however she'll root for TOSU this time. Fear the Sweater Vest, Go Bucks!

Production Rider

Sister and I are seriously considering implementing something similar for future visits to the 'rents.

http://www.mcsweeneys.net/2008/1/2kershner.html

Resolutions for 2008

I normally don't make specific resolutions, however with work I've been working on being more efficient and the biggest help is setting specific goals. Also maybe it's my age or something in the air lately. Sister is sort of exploring it through her music series, ETK has a great list going in her post. CC (my asian american sister) is also contemplating some changes.

There are two major categories I've identified:

1. Determine What Do I Want?

2. Make Some Decisions!

I know it's sounds vague at first so I'll be breaking it down. Obviously I'm not happy with the status quo and that won't change unless I figure out what I want when it comes to home, family relations and work. This is going to be a work in progress, possibly it will always be, I need to develop the ability to figure it out and review it regularly.

As for the decisions, I do have some deadlines coming up - where do I want to live? I signed a shorter lease this year and by May will need to move apartments. I know I don't want to live in this particular location anymore, possibly even leave Cbus. There is the potential to relocate for work, nice part of working for a very large corporation. I'm also considering living in a smaller space, particularly in Cbus. I don't get many out of town visitors and it would limit my ability to keep too much stuff. I would like to be in a more urban/ neighborhood setting, not walking distance to a strip mall.

Right now the work possibilities include: Chicago, Dallas, Houston and possibly Phoenix. There are other locations I could consider too, however these seem the most likely. For the moment I ruled out NYC, just cause the cost would be too dramatic. There is a strong possibility of work going through an acquisition or merger that could increase the list. I'm open to suggestions, my criteria is a decent airport with non-stops to locations in Florida, Texas, DC and place with some culture and where being single is not unusual. I can't go smaller than Cbus.

More to come...

In Search Of

Also the other possible title of this blog. I'm always in search for the perfect word, phrase, purse, bra, martini, job, song, book, vacation, I could go on. There is no particular order for that and of course nothing stays perfect forever. (Though Hendricks gin has it's moments)

I started it

After requests from sister (CLM aka Humdrum) and her pal ETK and cousins. I finally started this. Won't promise much, however I do feel the need to write so hopefully it will be interesting to some.