Kudos To You!!

#51

Great shopping epi!!!!

#52

Some of you may have noticed my absence from The Syndicate here lately. This is due to the fact that a month and a half ago, I was promoted from shift leader to Co-Manager Trainee. The last five weeks have been a whirlwind of training for a couple weeks, then being transferred to another store to run it for four weeks. I am currently in the last week of my CMT phase of running a store. The next step from CMT is usually going on to be a Co-Manager somewhere else under an experienced Store Manager. Today my District Manager came to talk to me about my placement once I am through here next week. I thought I knew what Store Manager I would be placed with since she had been campaigning my DM to let her have me as her Co since before I was even promoted. He proceeded to tell me that three of my former managers have all been trying to convince him to give me to them, but none of them were going to get me because I was going to be skipping the Co-Manager level and going straight into running my own store! So yeah, this has been a pretty fantastic day! As of next Thursday I am going from being a Co-Manager Trainee to being a Store Manager!

#53

Huge! Congrats!

How are you going to celebrate?

#54

Alex took me out for dinner.

This weekend we are going to visit my mom and go to a Halloween party an old friend of mine is throwing. Do those things count?

#55

Yay~!

#56

Spacedaisy wrote:Alex took me out for dinner. This weekend we are going to visit my mom and go to a Halloween party an old friend of mine is throwing. Do those things count?

Heck yes, they count!

What are you going to be for Halloween? I was a lion and James was Spike from Buffy (you may have already seen the pics on farcebook). It's my fave.

Wooooo good news!

#57

I saw the pics, they were great! I am going to be Arthur Dent, easy costume and I adore Hitchhiker's Guide!

#58

T-minus roughly an hour till I have vacation guests!!!!! I'm sooooo very excited!!!!!

#59

We will need photographic evidence of this rendezvous.

#60

Yes, do that please. Give everyone hugs from us!

#61

bea wrote:T-minus roughly an hour till I have vacation guests!!!!! I'm sooooo very excited!!!!!

Yes!!! It was so much fun! It went way too quickly though, unfortunately.

#62

Do we get a write up? Sooo curious what all you did there!

#63

Mongoose wrote:Do we get a write up? Sooo curious what all you did there!

Definitely!

I will try to do this ASAP. I still need to get the pictures up too! And check with bea on that front because she took pictures as well. Working on PhD application stuff this weekend, so I've been trying to knock that out as much as possible.

#64

So the vacation was pretty relaxing overall, spending time with bea and her husband-to-be (Dirk) was a lot of fun!

We went to the Desert Botanical Garden, which was really neat, especially for a city boy from the Midwest who had never seen a catcus before, and we also went and played some putt putt golf at Castles and Coasters (which also has an arcade and some rides). The day before we came back (Wednesday), we ventured to Tombstone, AZ, which was about a bit over a three hour drive. That was so much fun!! The sightseeing there was great; the town is historic, for sure -- the museums were cool, there was a gunfight reenactment (of the famous OK Corral shooting), and we ate at a saloon for lunch/dinner and it was a blast! There was even a stereotypicalish cowboy/local eating in there when we were there and he was hilarious and very nice. We stopped by the Boothill Graveyard while heading out of town that evening.

On the way back though, bea's car broke down, and we had to wait over an hour for the tow truck driver, who ended up being a douchebag, so then we walked a bit over a mile to a Walmart in Benson and stayed there until we could try to get someone to pick us up and bring us back to Tombstone so Annie and I could make our 7:00AM flight. We made it! But hardly had any sleep that night. Once we actually heard from Annie's aunt and uncle and knew they were coming to get us after Dirk contacted, the night turned from annoying to actually quite some fun, as we got some last minute bonding time and played some Euchre (in the store, lol, it was great!) and chatted some more before the farewell.

Besides those events, we mainly conversed, watched some TV (and the movie Tombstone the night before leaving, of course, especially since I hadn't seen it, somehow), and ate and hung out. Definitely a very worthwhile and enjoyable vacation. It went by way too quickly. I miss the weather too! Phoenix is absolutely perfect this time of year.

I will post pictures soon, I promise!

#65

MovingPictures07 wrote:So the vacation was pretty relaxing overall, spending time with bea and her husband-to-be (Dirk) was a lot of fun!

We went to the Desert Botanical Garden, which was really neat, especially for a city boy from the Midwest who had never seen a catcus before, and we also went and played some putt putt golf at Castles and Coasters (which also has an arcade and some rides). The day before we came back (Wednesday), we ventured to Tombstone, AZ, which was about a bit over a three hour drive. That was so much fun!! The sightseeing there was great; the town is historic, for sure -- the museums were cool, there was a gunfight reenactment (of the famous OK Corral shooting), and we ate at a saloon for lunch/dinner and it was a blast! There was even a stereotypicalish cowboy/local eating in there when we were there and he was hilarious and very nice. We stopped by the Boothill Graveyard while heading out of town that evening.

On the way back though, bea's car broke down, and we had to wait over an hour for the tow truck driver, who ended up being a douchebag, so then we walked a bit over a mile to a Walmart in Benson and stayed there until we could try to get someone to pick us up and bring us back to Tombstone so Annie and I could make our 7:00AM flight. We made it! But hardly had any sleep that night. Once we actually heard from Annie's aunt and uncle and knew they were coming to get us after Dirk contacted, the night turned from annoying to actually quite some fun, as we got some last minute bonding time and played some Euchre (in the store, lol, it was great!) and chatted some more before the farewell.

Besides those events, we mainly conversed, watched some TV (and the movie Tombstone the night before leaving, of course, especially since I hadn't seen it, somehow), and ate and hung out. Definitely a very worthwhile and enjoyable vacation. It went by way too quickly. I miss the weather too! Phoenix is absolutely perfect this time of year.

I will post pictures soon, I promise!

Yay!!! Sockface didn't tell the cactus story!!!!

Really, Daisy and Socky were the BEST guests ever. I missed them the very next day. It's funny how easily a person can fall into a routine. Diggz and I were talking after they left and we both agreed how wonderful it was to spend time with a couple and you know, actually *do* things together as a couple. (He has friends that are married, but the rare times we do get to hang out with them, it's mostly at their house and the kids are always in tow. Don't get me wrong, I *adore* those kids, but it's nice to do grown up couple things with a real live grown up couple.) I LOVED having the time off from work to entertain them, even when entertaining them meant no more than finding the next thing to watch on TV or making some food. In truth, I LOVED cooking for them.

I have pictures too - including some really awesome sockface cameo pictures from the gardens

I will try to get them up and online as soon as possible as well. Through some miracle scheduling changes and favor pulling I managed to go from working 7 days this week with an open/close and several turn arounds to actually having 2 days off, no turn arounds and only the o/c left. I'm pretty happy with that tbh. So, maybe on one of the days off I can get some picts uploaded for everyone.

Diggz and I were also talking about how our favorite memories of the trip were also, ironically, the time in Wal-Mart. Benson, AZ Wal-Mart has HANDS DOWN the best customer service I've ever seen anywhere. (As we drove back down there Friday morning - the customer service was still awesome so apparently it doesn't matter what time of day you are there, that Wal-Mart rocks.) Diggz is still very sad he didn't get any video of my "happy dance" when I was playing with the motorized kittah toy, and he says his favorite time was learning to play Euchre. (YEA!!!!!!!! I GOTS ME A PARTNER!!!!!

Can't WAIT to talk the other couple friends into learning to play it. Euchre, dinner and drinks is WAY better than football, dinner and drinks, IMO.)

So, the car update is that I have no car update yet. I'm not really worried, it's apparently hunting season, so the garage is running short handed because they keep trading off weekends to go hunting. I honestly didn't expect to hear anything about the status of my car till at least Monday. There was talk about towing the car (like renting a hitch from U-Haul and bringing the broken car back to Phoenix ) but the cost was just too much to justify moving it from where it was. When we got down there and actually talked to the owner we both felt much more comfortable with leaving it with him.

The funny thing about the very early morning drive back to Benson was that I was kinda sweetly rewarded. Daisy can attest to the fact that I kept telling Diggz that night that first thing in the morning, we needed to call the garage peeps and tell them that our car broke down, we parked it here, we WILL be back for it. He kept thinking I was crazy. I was worried about whether my car would be there by Friday because I lived in small towns. I know how small towns work. A car shows up in the middle of the night and doesn't move. After about a day you call the impound peeps and they take care of it.

When we got there, Diggz was all about getting "everything" out of the car. (honestly - the stuff he got out was worth less than the car stuff - jumper cables etc - that he left in, but it made him feel better to do it so I just went along with the flow. He was right in rescuing Howley - Howley got forgotten during all the hubub and that in hindsight makes me sad as Dairmey was my score card guardian during the last game of Euchre I played - it would have been fitting to have had Howley there with us that night)

So, we get "everything" out of the car and walk up to the garage, the owner meets us at the spot where the doors open up (you know where the douchey tow-truck driver tried to dump the car?) and he's all "I saw you taking stuff out of that car, it's yours then?" We are all, "Yea, we broke down outside of Tombstone [insert long story here]." He says, "My partner noticed the car yesterday and we didn't recognize it and it didn't move for a day. We were wondering what was up with it." (I look at diggz all pointed like and say "see - they would have impounded that soon if we hadn't shown up!!!) He asks how we found the place and we give him the rundown about how AAA said the closest AAA approved place was 17 miles and how the tow truck driver was a dick (the garage owner agreed with us. We told the owner where tow truck driver wanted to dump the car and how we pushed it to a better place and he was all "yea, that guy sounds like a jerk.")

He got excited and said "AAA recommended us? And I said - we were never given a name of the shop, we just did some clever math with some technology and hoped we put it in the right spot. He gave us each cards so we could use them in the future (apparently they have an off hours answering system for emergencies and they tow as well. If we *knew* we could have had THEM come tow the car.... Then he noticed where we were from and he was all "you'll never be back here." - I called NOT true and I also said that I would pass it on to every friend I have. If you ever find yourself stranded between Tombstone, AZ and Benson, AZ - OAKLEY'S GARAGE ROCKS OUR SOCKS OFF!!!! ture stry.

(that said, I still don't know what's wrong or how much it'll cost. Awesome place to be in a month before the wedding.... I remain confident that the home boy will take good care of us. As he heard my story of what went wrong he said "let's hope it's not the timing belt" - when the mechanic isn't hoping for the most expensive problem, I tend to think they are ok.)

#66

Bea, I am so glad to hear they seem like a good repair shop that you can trust. And I have to agree that my favorite time in the trip ended up being when we were stranded in Walmart playing Euchre. It was a stressful evening, especially for you guys I'm sure, but it ended up being really memorable for Alex and I. Truly, I am so grateful for your hospitality and it was so wonderful to just relax. After six weeks of acclimating to running a store, I really needed that time when everything did not have to be super planned, and we could just be chill with friends. Oh, actually I think the time we spent at your fitting was probably tied for my favorite time. you looked so beautiful! I only had a tiny picture to judge from when you were picking the dress out, so i had my reservations, but honestly that picture of you did not do it justice. You really looked wonderful in it. And I know you will look even more stunning on your wedding day! Thank you for letting me be part of it in that way.

And now, since Alex forgot to tell the cactus story, I get the honors of doing so!

We were at the Desert Botanical Gardens, which was quite lovely btw, and we enjoyed the butterfly house and the plant life and the awesome glass sculptures that currently are on display there. So as we are heading to the gift shop at the end, Bea lagged behind to take some more pictures. All of a sudden we hear from somewhere within a maze like area of tall cacti, "Oh oh! Need help!" And let me say, it was the cutest little cry for help I have ever heard. So Alex immediately turns and dashes back into the maze type area. I came around the corner to find him bent over staring at Bea's butt. I wish I had the camera at that moment, but alas I did not. Apparently she was backing up trying to take a picture and brushed against a cactus and a piece broke off of it and lodged itself in her rear. When she attempted to turn and look at it, the prickles seemed to work their way farther into her flesh with each movement, and when she tried to reach back and pull it out she could not see to find a prickle free spot in order to pull it out without stabbing her fingers! Poor Bea! It was quite amusing though.

#67

New Car update:

So, the guy called me yesterday. Apparently, the engine froze up and is shot. He says that there was no oil in the oil part at all and that's what caused the lock up. IDK if there was a slow leak that I never noticed or if I just can't go one day w/o getting the oil changed, because it really feels like I just did that like a month ago. I'm honestly not sure what the cause was there. I could have missed my change by date. I've been working so much and I've been lazor focused on all things wedding related that it could have easily slipped my mind. It would cost roughly 3 grand to fix and at that price I could easily buy a used car w/o a rebuilt engine here locally.

So, we're not going to fix the car. This was my decision but I'm really quite sad about that. I was more than a little sentimentally attached to that car. I SO don't want to even post about it on facebook. Too many of my facebook friends made that car possible. The hard part is trying not to be upset about the situation or even more upset with myself. I am trying very hard to put on the cheery face and look for the sliver linings but this is EXACTLY the sort of dumbass thing I'm prone to do then beat myself up forever for being so stupid as to do. I'd be lying if I said I don't hear the voice in my head every time we have to even talk about the car, but I'm trying with all my might to ignore it and focus on what I can currently control.

We're putting all talk of buying a new car on hold till after the wedding. The good news here is that while it's very convenient for me to have a car, we still have diggz's car. And I really only used my car to go to and from work, to run errands for work and to go grocery shopping. That honestly and truly is it. The trip I took to Tombstone was the longest I've driven it in a year when a year ago we went to Tuscon for a beer festival. I really don't drive my car that often and when we do things together, 99.9 percent of the time, he drives his car. (Hey! Guess who doesn't have to drive all over Phoenix getting or selling product anymore! One more thing I'm no longer responsible for! woot!)

Thus far we were pretty lucky in that our schedules matched up enough that he was able to take me to and fro work as needed. Tomorrow and Friday, that changes as he opens and I close and he's not scheduled out till after I'm supposed to be at work. I took it upon myself to enlist the help of someone else to help me figure out how much the bus would cost to take it down to work (there's a stop right outside my apt and one across the street from my work) and which buss I needed to take and when the best time for me to catch it would be so that I could make it to work on time. I (through the odd dollar tip here and there over the past couple days) had enough cash saved to cover the cost both trips.

When Diggz picks me up tonight, he hands me a 30 day buss pass he bought for me. I'm taking this as yet one more sign that we are meant to be together. We both worked toward the same goal, from different ends to meet in the middle and we never even talked to each other about it. I can conceivably take the buss to and from work for every shift except getting home from close shifts. (They do eventually quit running for the night.) He will always be home at the end of close shifts regardless of when he works. So, my transportation issue is solved till after the wedding.

We both sorta informally agreed to table the car talk for now and focus on wedding things. He also very astutely pointed out how much we were able to scrimp and save for the wedding in such a short amount of time. We just keep scrimping and saving and we should have the money to buy me a decent used car within a few months of the wedding. I can live with that.

I did manage to get some picts from the botanical garden uploaded. I'm going to try to start a thread for picts of the trip here soon.

#68

ok - I lied - I think this was easier - It should be public anyway....

Here's the first set of pictures:

http://s28.photobucket.com/user/Beatrice828/story/13609#

#69

bea wrote:ok - I lied - I think this was easier - It should be public anyway....

Here's the first set of pictures:

http://s28.photobucket.com/user/Beatrice828/story/13609#

Is there a way to click on them and view them bigger? Some of those plants look absolutely nuts!!

#70

Mongoose wrote:
bea wrote:ok - I lied - I think this was easier - It should be public anyway....

Here's the first set of pictures:

http://s28.photobucket.com/user/Beatrice828/story/13609#
Is there a way to click on them and view them bigger? Some of those plants look absolutely nuts!!

I'm not seeing one but I'm probably missing something. Every time I use photo bucket, it's changed somehow. *sigh*

#71

So... I'm back from vacationing in Orlando and St. Pete. It was awesome. Truly.

More elaboration to follow when I'm not tired and have the time to do so.

#72

MovingPictures07 wrote:So... I'm back from vacationing in Orlando and St. Pete. It was awesome. Truly.

More elaboration to follow when I'm not tired and have the time to do so.

Yay!

#73

Okay, for those of you who actually ARE interested, I promise to get to my recap of the vacation if not tonight, then definitely tomorrow.

Also, I just found out I will be teaching Intermediate Accounting I up at my alma mater for this coming Spring '14 semester!!! I am so stoked. It means I'm going to be REALLY busy between a busy audit season (I'm scheduled for 7+ audits between now and April 15th), a busy tax season, and now teaching, but... still totally stoked. :yay:

Should be great prep for my PhD program path as well.

#74

MovingPictures07 wrote:Okay, for those of you who actually ARE interested, I promise to get to my recap of the vacation if not tonight, then definitely tomorrow.

Also, I just found out I will be teaching Intermediate Accounting I up at my alma mater for this coming Spring '14 semester!!! I am so stoked. It means I'm going to be REALLY busy between a busy audit season (I'm scheduled for 7+ audits between now and April 15th), a busy tax season, and now teaching, but... still totally stoked.

Should be great prep for my PhD program path as well.

Yay! I'm glad you were able to work it out with your boss (James is excited for you too).

Way to go, Professor Sock!

#75

Mongoose wrote:
MovingPictures07 wrote:Okay, for those of you who actually ARE interested, I promise to get to my recap of the vacation if not tonight, then definitely tomorrow.

Also, I just found out I will be teaching Intermediate Accounting I up at my alma mater for this coming Spring '14 semester!!! I am so stoked. It means I'm going to be REALLY busy between a busy audit season (I'm scheduled for 7+ audits between now and April 15th), a busy tax season, and now teaching, but... still totally stoked.

Should be great prep for my PhD program path as well.
Yay! I'm glad you were able to work it out with your boss (James is excited for you too).

Way to go, Professor Sock!

Me too! Thanks!

I am nervous... but mostly excited!

#76

Alright, so the vacation!

It was absolutely sublime. Very tiring, especially the first six days, but so much fun, and certainly worthy of being my 'CPA celebration'.

My brother, Annie, and I flew out Monday the 30th, arrived in Orlando in the afternoon. Got the rental car (which was a Hyundai Sonata hybrid... I miss that car), ate dinner at Amigo's, a local Mexican restaurant which is completely amazing (Annie and I KNEW we had to visit while down there after we went there twice last time when I visited her), and ventured around the east side of Orlando for a bit before heading to our hotel. We stayed at the Disney All Star Music Resort starting that night through Saturday the 4th.

Tuesday the 31st began our insane five-day stretch of amusement parks, which was incredibly fun, but so incredibly tiring. My feet were yelling at me by the end of the first day and continued to do so throughout the week, but it was worth it.

Each day, these were the parks we visited:
Tue 12/31/13 Universal - Universal Studios
Wed 01/01/14 Disney - Epcot
Thu 01/02/14 Disney - Hollywood Studios
Fri 01/03/14 Universal - Islands of Adventure
Sat 01/04/14 Disney - Magic Kingdom

We actually headed over to Islands of Adventure in the early evening on the 31st... then Friday we went to Universal Studios for like two hours and spent the rest of the day at Islands of Adventure.

Overall, I was impressed by all of the parks, but here are my thoughts: While Disney's branding is absolutely genius and their fireworks/light shows at all three parks are mindblowingly outstanding, many of the rides are outdated, and I felt Hollywood Studios was essentially a poor man's Universal Studios. I love that I can now say I've been to Magic Kingdom and Hollywood Studios, but I'm not sure I have any desire to go back. Epcot, which I've been to twice before, is definitively my favorite Disney park and I still loved it just as much as always. That said, I am OK with not visiting it again for a while. Universal, on the other hand, I was ready to visit again on Sunday the 5th, and am still now! What they accomplish in their rides is truly awesome, particularly the new Transformers ride, the Spider-Man ride, and The Wizarding World of Harry Potter (which is impressive, even for a non-fan such as myself). Now I get major motion sickness, so after discovering in the past year that dramamine is my new best friend, getting to ride pretty much everything was fantastic, especially something as technologically advanced as the Harry Potter ride (which is definitively the best ride out there among all five parks).

My souvenirs were a CD of the Moroccan jazz fusion band that plays at Epcot (because they are AWESOME) and a few Doctor Who shirts from Universal that I thought were pretty sweet.

My brother flew back home early Sunday morning; Annie and I spent the morning and afternoon with her friends from Orlando, which was fun! I know she didn't get near enough time with them as she wished, but it was a nice contrast to the previous five days, and in the evening we started to drive to St. Pete Beach. While there we stayed at the Postcard Inn, which is 'run down meets hipster' as Annie called it, and we were both very impressed. Actually better than Disney's Resort which was sort of underwhelming IMO. And it was right on the beach! Thanks to Mongoose for the recommendation there!

Speaking of which, getting to spend Monday and Tuesday with Mongoose and James was a ton of fun! It went way too quickly. We hit up the world's largest record store (which made me SO happy... until Annie had to drag me out

, but it's okay because we visited a different, even better record store on Tuesday! and I bought my fair share of records at both places), Mongoose showed us around St. Pete, which was really cool, ate awesome food, and just hung out. On Tuesday we walked a pier in St. Pete and visited this awesome gelato place! The moment we left Tuesday evening to head back to Orlando, I know we missed spending time with them already! Then we spent the night at Annie's friend's place, stopped by an Asian grocery in the morning before heading to the airport, bought a bunch of Asian goodies mostly for my brother (he was going to buy a bunch at Epcot, and Annie insisted she would stop at the grocery instead because the prices were way inflated), then sadly went to the airport.

Well, now I'm getting kind of tired and I can't think of anything else, but that was pretty much it. Totally awesome vacation and I was very pleased with it.

I will likely post some pictures whenever I get them uploaded! Hopefully sometime this weekend.

#77

Islands of Adventure is awesome. Alison is awesome. Sounds like a good trip.

#78

Don't forget the phone-related shenanigans at the Dali Museum and how we got lost for hours and hours in the hedgemaze, ha.

A good time was had by all.

Tacos were had at the taco bus.

And both Alex and Annie were SO awesome about me dealing with an absolute crisis that erupted while they were there -- Pipecleaner got diagnosed with diabetes and spent their entire first day with me in the hospital (he's okay) so I was just palpably stressed. I dealt with this by spontaneously bursting out into 80s dance moves? I don't even know.

They were an absolute godsend. I've been giving the cat injections twice daily and he's rallying. His condition is likely reversible. You can follow his adventures on facebook if you please (search for Pipecleaner Lamont).

#79

I need to stress how epic this meltdown was. I was 10x more stressed out than the day I got into the car wreck. Which makes me either very altruistic or a very neurotic cat lady. Or perhaps both.

#80

We were just in Orlando. The next time we make it down there we ought to head a little farther west.

#81

Epignosis wrote:We were just in Orlando. The next time we make it down there we ought to head a little farther west.

Indeed, yes! The Taco Bus awaits you!

#82

Mongoose wrote:
Epignosis wrote:We were just in Orlando. The next time we make it down there we ought to head a little farther west.
Indeed, yes! The Taco Bus awaits you!

Wouldn't mind taking the kids to see Clearwater. My favorite beach. So pretty.

#83

Epignosis wrote:
Mongoose wrote:
Epignosis wrote:We were just in Orlando. The next time we make it down there we ought to head a little farther west.
Indeed, yes! The Taco Bus awaits you!
Wouldn't mind taking the kids to see Clearwater. My favorite beach. So pretty.

That's where that legless dolphin from that movie is located!

#84

Well, flipperless.

#85

Mongoose wrote:Don't forget the phone-related shenanigans at the Dali Museum and how we got lost for hours and hours in the hedgemaze, ha.

A good time was had by all.

Tacos were had at the taco bus.

And both Alex and Annie were SO awesome about me dealing with an absolute crisis that erupted while they were there -- Pipecleaner got diagnosed with diabetes and spent their entire first day with me in the hospital (he's okay) so I was just palpably stressed. I dealt with this by spontaneously bursting out into 80s dance moves? I don't even know.

They were an absolute godsend. I've been giving the cat injections twice daily and he's rallying. His condition is likely reversible. You can follow his adventures on facebook if you please (search for Pipecleaner Lamont).

LMAO, yes!!!! The lobster phone!! I did have a few oversights in my summary vacation post, that being the biggest. I hadn't laughed that hard in way too long. Good times.

And Taco Bus was pretty damn good.

And it's not a problem, again, I understood completely. I really hope a speedy recovery for him!

Oh, and the other major oversight was that I neglected to explain the weather. Most days were not typical Orlando sunny days; in fact, most were overcast. On Hollywood Studios day, it rained most of the day, unfortunately. Ironically, on Sunday it was sunny and hit a high of 81! But that was the only real normal day. Tuesday while we were in St. Pete it was in the 40s all day! So strange. But the weather was WAY better than back home. It started snowing as we left the airport the first day, and apparently it snowed some more that week, and then the temperatures were in the negatives for a few days! Upon returning, it was 20s all day, then it has gotten warmer since, and today it was even in the 50s! So... all in all, I'm glad we missed that madness, even if the weather was a bit weird.

#86

thellama73 wrote:Islands of Adventure is awesome. Alison is awesome. Sounds like a good trip.

And indeed! Forgot to include this in my previous post.

#87

There are so many things I like about your vacation!

Pros:
Delicious food
Visiting friends (mildly jealous)
Doctor Who shirts
Dramamine working (gives me hope I will actually be able to ride something one day instead of being the "lame" mom)
Love that you say Mongoose and James

Cons:
A non-HP fan? How is this possible? Did you try to read the first book first?
Pipe cleaner and diabetes. So sorry Allison!
(In retrospect the cat should be listed first)

I remembering hating Epcot at 7 because it was boring, but loved the regular Disney and Hollywood studios. Loved Universal when I was 16 as well. Maybe some are better for adults than kids?
Also, I want to know more about this hedge maze!

#88

Alright, which of you are somewhat near to the DC area? My sister (Captain Bunny Killer) lives in Lynchburg, VA and we are thinking of making a trip out there after tax season is over to visit her on a weekend and then thought, hey there some people in VA and the Dc area right? Maybe we can all convene for a day or so in some central-ish location and hang out! So... Speak up if you like the idea and might be interested!

#89

Hedgeowl wrote:There are so many things I like about your vacation!

Pros:
Delicious food
Visiting friends (mildly jealous)
Doctor Who shirts
Dramamine working (gives me hope I will actually be able to ride something one day instead of being the "lame" mom)
Love that you say Mongoose and James

Cons:
A non-HP fan? How is this possible? Did you try to read the first book first?
Pipe cleaner and diabetes. So sorry Allison!
(In retrospect the cat should be listed first)

I remembering hating Epcot at 7 because it was boring, but loved the regular Disney and Hollywood studios. Loved Universal when I was 16 as well. Maybe some are better for adults than kids?
Also, I want to know more about this hedge maze!

This post was so hilarious.

The hedge maze was a ridic. It was in the back yard of the Dali Museum. There's a Wish Tree (you put your wristband on it and make a wish) and then there's melting bench with a melting clock on it (big enough for one person only) and then this hedge "maze" that is not actually a maze as there is only ever one way to go (there's never forks or anything, just a big spiral all the way to the middle and back out). It takes about 5 mins to get to the middle, where a solitary tree welcomes you to your destination's end.

anyway, the whole backyard is called The Avant Garden, which I thought was totally apropos.

Linki - Daisy -

Logan's in DC and might birth a litter of kittens if he misses out on that!

#90

Spacedaisy wrote:Alright, which of you are somewhat near to the DC area? My sister (Captain Bunny Killer) lives in Lynchburg, VA and we are thinking of making a trip out there after tax season is over to visit her on a weekend and then thought, hey there some people in VA and the Dc area right? Maybe we can all convene for a day or so in some central-ish location and hang out! So... Speak up if you like the idea and might be interested!

I live in DC! I am interested!

#91

Hedgeowl wrote:There are so many things I like about your vacation!

Pros:
Delicious food
Visiting friends (mildly jealous)
Doctor Who shirts
Dramamine working (gives me hope I will actually be able to ride something one day instead of being the "lame" mom)
Love that you say Mongoose and James

Cons:
A non-HP fan? How is this possible? Did you try to read the first book first?
Pipe cleaner and diabetes. So sorry Allison!
(In retrospect the cat should be listed first)

I remembering hating Epcot at 7 because it was boring, but loved the regular Disney and Hollywood studios. Loved Universal when I was 16 as well. Maybe some are better for adults than kids?
Also, I want to know more about this hedge maze!

Trust me, dramamine is a godsend. I get REALLY motion sick. Like I could never ride any ride. And I get sick in cars, boats, planes, etc. But this stuff works like a charm. Just use the less drowsy version... the one time I used the regular version it TOTALLY knocked me out.

Sorry. I tried reading it YEARS ago but it didn't interest me too much and I haven't tried them again, I suppose just due to lack of time and lack of enough interest to push it high enough on a list that has millions of awesome things to check out on it across all mediums (and music has soaked up most of it, historically). I did see the first three movies and the fifth though, if I remember correctly. I don't dislike HP, I just wouldn't consider myself a fan.

thellama73 wrote:
Spacedaisy wrote:Alright, which of you are somewhat near to the DC area? My sister (Captain Bunny Killer) lives in Lynchburg, VA and we are thinking of making a trip out there after tax season is over to visit her on a weekend and then thought, hey there some people in VA and the Dc area right? Maybe we can all convene for a day or so in some central-ish location and hang out! So... Speak up if you like the idea and might be interested!
I live in DC! I am interested!

Yes!! I definitely think this would be a fantastic next 'vacation' idea and I think we could get a solid, awesome group together. Hedge is close enough, right?

Maybe Epig and Elo could join us as well?

#92

We're 4 hours away.

#93

I'm so jealous all of y'all live kinda near each other.

#94

I am 1 hour and a bit from Lynchburg in Charlottesville!! Yes, this sounds like the beginning of a plan most epic in it's awesomeness.

I completely understand not being a "fan" of Potter, but definitely worth reading if you enjoy the fantasy/magical genre. If not, then no worries, but I loves it. The books become more interesting, complex and "adult" as you read, so starting with the 3rd I think is best if you can't get into 1 or 2. Movies are fun, but assume so much knowledge from the books IMO.

Mongoose- this sounds less exciting from a maze perspective, but interesting as a garden. I will stick to corn mazes for now. Worked in a haunted one in high school as a scary creature who got to scream and chase people. Best job ever.

Minus the drunk guys showing off and trying to prove they werent scared. They didn't realize the person under the mask might be a 17 year old girl, so my tactic was to stand silently and ominously until they left.

Also made a few tiny children cry and had to take off the mask which made some cry harder.

Seriously people do not bring tiny littles to a haunted maze!! Left hoarse every night, but it was worth it.

#95

Mongoose wrote:
Hedgeowl wrote:There are so many things I like about your vacation!

Pros:
Delicious food
Visiting friends (mildly jealous)
Doctor Who shirts
Dramamine working (gives me hope I will actually be able to ride something one day instead of being the "lame" mom)
Love that you say Mongoose and James

Cons:
A non-HP fan? How is this possible? Did you try to read the first book first?
Pipe cleaner and diabetes. So sorry Allison!
(In retrospect the cat should be listed first)

I remembering hating Epcot at 7 because it was boring, but loved the regular Disney and Hollywood studios. Loved Universal when I was 16 as well. Maybe some are better for adults than kids?
Also, I want to know more about this hedge maze!
This post was so hilarious.

The hedge maze was a ridic. It was in the back yard of the Dali Museum. There's a Wish Tree (you put your wristband on it and make a wish) and then there's melting bench with a melting clock on it (big enough for one person only) and then this hedge "maze" that is not actually a maze as there is only ever one way to go (there's never forks or anything, just a big spiral all the way to the middle and back out). It takes about 5 mins to get to the middle, where a solitary tree welcomes you to your destination's end.

anyway, the whole backyard is called The Avant Garden, which I thought was totally apropos.

Linki - Daisy - Logan's in DC and might birth a litter of kittens if he misses out on that!

Now I want a logan kitten.

#96

So my first ACC 300/teaching experience was awesome!!!

After a really long day, that's all I have time to elaborate on, for now. Lol.

#97

MovingPictures07 wrote:So my first ACC 300/teaching experience was awesome!!!

After a really long day, that's all I have time to elaborate on, for now. Lol.

How many kids did you have?

#98

^ That's a really funny question out of context.

#99

LOL. It is.

I have a full class, so 36. It's going to take way longer to get their names down than I thought... I only remember like 3 off the top of my head. Lol. I don't know what's worse; that, or, the fact that I obliterated some of their names. Hopefully I get it right next time.

It was pretty good experience. I would say I wavered between being uncomfortable/nervous and feeling in charge/not nervous for most of the class, but less of the former and more of the latter as it went on during the night. I imagine the more I get up there and talk though, the less I'll be dealing with that former feeling.

Considering it was first day of classes and half of the class didn't seem to have their book yet and that I didn't even know I would be teaching for sure until this past Friday, it went well. I try to get the class as engaged and participatory as possible -- and I feel I accomplished almost as much as I could have, on that front, even if sometimes it went almost completely unsuccessful. I also realized how weird it is to teach some of these accounting concepts via lecture -- it typically is more effective, IMO, to work problems with them. I try to balance both, but I hate lecturing to them about accounting for long periods of time; it gets old, it sometimes lacks the practicality that problems have to make the concepts stick, and especially given it's a 3 hour night class, surely becomes tiring to sit and hear. So I'm going to try to break up all of my lectures into like a lecture -- problems -- lecture -- problems -- lecture -- problems type of format. I also noticed the students latch onto real-life applications -- they help the mind more easily grasp some of these concepts, which can be really abstract upon first learning them.

The pacing worked out perfectly, even though I was worried. I knew I wanted to introduce myself, go over the student roster, and then talk about the syllabus/game plan/class schedule. Figured it would take like 40-50 minutes. Took like 20 minutes, tops. I was like, OK, lol. Then I got like over halfway through the chapter (which should have been mostly or all review, yay for that -- though it did make the lecture a bit awkward -- since I kept asking them, does this make sense? Or do you guys all know this already?), finished those two problems I had assigned, and it was like barely 7:00PM. My class started at 6:15PM. I seriously started thinking, well, these students are going to get out EARLY. Well, after getting through the last few lecture items and working four more problems, it was like 8:40PM. Perfect. Note to self: Problems can take a while.

There were perhaps a few bumps and bruises, I thought, BUT that could be attributed to the fact that I'm a perfectionist. I'll get the communication aspects down with more practice as well. Overall though I thought I did well and I certainly did enjoy it.

It cemented in my mind that this is absolutely what I want to do with the rest of my life. It was satisfying.

#100

Yay, that's great news all around. The best part is your last line about confirming your goals.