Sunday, June 20, 2004

So i have been a busy little bee lately. i went to martha's vineyard this weekend, which will be news to Dad who i totally forgot to tell about whilst we were on the phone this evening. The vineyard was gorgeous. The highlight? Being able to relax for a while. Went to the beach and swam in the ocean, which was LOVELY. It was like Maine is in late July. Totally swim-able. It was a much-needed relaxation device. It was great to see the Nevins, and it was really great to see the Aria bird in her natural environment. I could tell it was equally exciting for her to have us there (Dan, Matt, and I).

Otherwise, it has been a whirlwind of an absolutely hellish week at work and a fuckton of studying for the GRE's. Today i even disciplined myself enough to lock myself inside on a sunny day and take the practice test under strictly regimented timing. It went.... ok. That's about as well as i can expect. I scored what i got on my SAT. So that's good enough i guess. I know that i have gotten proportionately more intelligent, but i still can't standardize test my way out of a paper bag. I'll keep practicing and studying all week, but there's really only so much preparing one can do. I wonder what i should do on Friday night to treat and relax myself without staying up too late? Any suggestions?

Well, other than that, if you have something to tell me, put in on my blog in the comments or just fucking call me because my email isn't working at all right now, which has been a source of frustration for me. Yarg. I feel totally cut off from the world without email!

Saturday, June 12, 2004

An Update from the Midst of A Gorgeous Day

This morning Dan and i went to a brunch at Davin's (the president of Global Protection) house in Back Bay (REALLY nice area of Boston. Didn't used to be, but the property there was cheap and so it went fast, and now it's grown up quite nicely and is covered with trees and beautiful old buildings. It's really cool. He had a brunch there for the company and other companies we work with as a morning celebration before the Pride Parade. It was great! The brunch was really yummy -- i ended up helping out a lot, but i eventually got to hang out, and it was so sweet to watch Dan playing with the kids there :)

Then we went to the Pride Parade, which was literally around the corner, and it was the most celebratory parade i have ever been to. Everyone was just so happy to be in it, and this is the city where gay marriages are first legalized, so there was such an air of happiness and gratefulness. I loved it.

Well, Dan and I are off to go to Annie's house (she lives down here) for a BBQ with her and her boyfriend. That will be fun. It's GORGEOUS daY.

Tuesday, June 08, 2004

the quick and the dirty

it's hot here. really hot. but the air conditioner is totally doing its job, and dan and i are happily not too hot together :)

my heart: the results from the heart monitor came back "normal," though the doctor still wants to talk to me about irregularities of the pace of my heartbeat. fine with me! it's getting rather annoying having all these doctor's appointments though. it's not so good for the paycheck, or the checkbook for that matter. i might drive to work tomorrow so i can come earlier and stay a little later to make up SOME of the time.

on the starbucks front: the interview went really well, and the recruiter has called some starbucks branches in the area for me to speak with about possible opportunities. she said that my past experience shows me as a better fit for shift leader (not enough money) though it sounds like i might get to talk to managers about that.

Sunday, June 06, 2004

The Past Few Days

The summer atmosphere of craziness is in full-swing. Here at the ranch, we have had guests in honor of Matt's birthday, as well as people passing through on their way to family vacations, someone who'll be stopping by on his way back from meeting a chick he met online, and someone who will be stopping by on her way back from visiting her boyfriend. The sun was out yesterday, and it was a marvellous day.

Friday, we took a surprise outing from work! It was one of our employee's 5th anniversary there, and she had always wanted to have the whole company go out for a ride on a boat in the harbor. So for her 5th, we surprised her by bringing her down to Rowe's Wharf (= NICE AND POSH) and took a ferry down to Hingham where we passed beautiful little islands. It's not nearly as pretty as it is floating around the coast of Maine, but i guess people do go sailing in Maine above other places for a reason. Then we ate lunch and had drinks at a restaurant right on the water, and it was lovely! We had cake, gave her tickets to see Rod Stewart (she calls him "her boy"), and then we all went home. And i got PAID for this. And i thought to myself, "this is good place to work if you're in it for the long haul." They really pay attention to what you'd want, because they really do appreciate you. However, if you're not in it for the long haul, well, it's not a very good place to work if you're trying to save up money.

Friday night was Matt's birthday party, and i am so proud and happy to be a part of what made his birthday go from the worst day he's had a long time to being one of the most fun time's he's had for a while. Kal-el, Gilly, Lyrica, and Aria came over, and we all went out to dinner with them (including me, Dan, and Matt) and Kal treated! The restaurant was not necessarily a place i'd go back to because it was Malaysian and didn't have more than two vegetarian options on a HUGE menu, and it was loud and we couldn't hear each other. Not to mention that the service was pretty poor. But it was fun and different. When we got back, Gilly and i whipped together some brownies and pistachio pudding, sang happy birthday to him, and we all watched a couple episodes of the most brilliant cartoon to come out in a while, Invader Zim.

Last night, we saw the new Harry Potter movie. I won't write anything about it since i don't want to give anything away for those of you who haven't seen it. Suffice it to say that it was necessarily different from the first two, which were short books and could easily be fit into a movie. I enjoyed it a lot nevertheless, and i also saw a preview for Spiderman, for which i am INCREDIBLY psyched.

All this before i have to take the GRE's. Someone PLEASE tell me next weekend will be less crazy and fun.

Tuesday, June 01, 2004

Addition to the earlier post

I had to leave work early today because i was having rapid heart beat, and the doctor wanted me to come over asap the next time it happened. It seems to correspond to medication i have been taking for my sinus infection, but not all the time. I think that's what it is this time, though. So they gave me an EKG, and they think it's normal (especially since i have a bit of a family history of it), but wanted me to wear this heart monitor for 24 hours. It's a pain in the ass! I'm hooked up to it with weird adhesives and buttons all over my chest, and on top of that i have to carry these wires around with me on the end of this battery run special tape recorder just to tape it. Sigh. Who knows if they'll find anything. I suppose it's worth it, but it's such a huge pain that i'm not sure if it is. But it would be good to know for sure it's not the condition of my heart, i guess. It could be anything from an advanced allergy attack to a side effect of decongestants. Ah well. I'll let people know once i find out anything. In the meantime, i just can't wait to get this thing off.
For those of you who are still reading my blog, i have an interview with the New England Regional Recruiter on Monday morning at 8:30! That's hella early, but hey - i can make it work. I hope it goes well. I spoke with her this afternoon, when she told me she would like to continue the conversation face to face. How did it go? Well, she asked me about my past experience, and that went fine. When she asked "Why Starbucks instead of all the other coffee shops in the area?" I had to be honest for a bit before i could pull something out of my ass that was still true. My first answer was the health insurance and benefits thing. Other than that? I said, "Also, i really like and appreciate the way that Starbucks educates the public about coffee. The marketing is really good (to which she laughed) it has made higher quality coffee a more mainstream thing. Starbucks also does a really good job of educating the public, for those who wish to be educated, about how to buy socially responsible and environmentally responsible coffee." She liked that answer. And the nice thing? It's true! The have done everything that i said they have done. So, go me. Onto the next round. I drive out to meet her on Monday morning. The next challenge is to be myself when i'm with her, to mention that i'm good at keeping morale up without trying to oversell myself to the point where i'm panting, "gimmethajob! GIMMETHAJOB!" Because i do have a job right now, and that also has to mean something. I told her i was very glad to hear from her because i miss working in a coffee shop.

What else? Glasses! I can't believe how much easier it is to see the computer screen!

And that's all.