so cassie always called me monica in highschool when we were both on the tennis team on account of my loud exhaling as i attempt to hit the ball. needless information i know, but slightly relevant as cassie and i have started playing tennis everyday after work. good stuff :) my forearm is KILLING me, but hopefully after a week or so, i'll get used to it.
cassie's also a danaher employee now, working out the kinks in our physical inventory. she can often be seen running about with a clipboard and calculator.
my mom will be here this weekend! v. exciting. and i've even semi-prepared by setting up all our utilities for the new place, and renting a u-haul for the move. we haven't packed a thing yet though. next week is a 2-day work week for me :) yay for hoarding vacation all year long so i can take lots for the second half of the year.
after that, august! cassie's birthday, r-dawg coming to visit (on the 7th), then everyone comes back into town, then classes start again!
life is never boring ;)
Wednesday, July 21, 2004
Monday, July 19, 2004
know anyone who needs a job?
we desperately need warm bodies to pre-count for our physical inventory :) full time from now until the end of august -- 7-4:30 but all of the above is negotiable. let me know if you're interested :)
Thursday, July 15, 2004
happy anniversay to me!
as of today, i've been with danaher for 2 happy years :) someone should take me out to lunch!
lastnight, i went home ate dinner, and sat on the couch to watch school of rock. i think i might have been awake for 10% of it, woke up after 2.5 hours of napping, then pretty much got up and went to bed. but at least today i feel rested finally!
my new office, albeit distracting, is very entertaining so far :) stay tuned for when the honeymoon is over and being a supervisor becomes tough.
lastnight, i went home ate dinner, and sat on the couch to watch school of rock. i think i might have been awake for 10% of it, woke up after 2.5 hours of napping, then pretty much got up and went to bed. but at least today i feel rested finally!
my new office, albeit distracting, is very entertaining so far :) stay tuned for when the honeymoon is over and being a supervisor becomes tough.
Wednesday, July 14, 2004
pack 'em up and move 'em out
so we're moving! 2 weeks from today. even more exciting? my mom's coming to help us move! she'll be here for a week, and cassie and i are counting on her to do her organization thing and kick us into gear on packing. last year, we moved approximately 500 feet to a new apartment- this year- across town. which in blacksburg, can't be that far, but still. i'm just looking forward to having my very own bathroom and walk-in closet. and washer and dryer! and now i'm rambling about topics that aren't that interesting.
new job is great so far- have been building printed circuit board assemblies and cables- will start training on the actual supervisor piece the rest of this week.
tonight? i'm going to get some much needed sleep!
new job is great so far- have been building printed circuit board assemblies and cables- will start training on the actual supervisor piece the rest of this week.
tonight? i'm going to get some much needed sleep!
"Of all the ways to avoid living, perfect discipline is the most admired."
-James Richardson
Sunday, July 11, 2004
noteable quoteable
To be fair, English is full of booby traps for the unwary foreigner. Any language where the unassuming word fly signifies an annoying insect, a means of travel, and a critical part of a gentleman's apparel is clearly asking to be mangled.
- Billy Bryson in The Mother Tongue
Saturday, July 10, 2004
Friday, July 9, 2004
happy birthday grandma!
or... "magaw" as my sister used to say when "grandma" was beyond her pronunciation capabilities ;)
Thursday, July 8, 2004
Wednesday, July 7, 2004
Friday, July 2, 2004
the second of july? already?
i couldn't think of a more interesting title. but a little slack please, it's 7 in the morning and my creativity isn't exactly at its high point.
celia's here! that's right, one of my very best friends from home is here in virginia for the weekend! she and my sister arrived from the airport at 5 a.m. this morning. i'm sure we'll get into plenty of trouble this weekend (if all goes as planned).
touristy things in the area? we almost always take people to chateau morrisette, only 40 minutes or so away from here, on the blue ridge parkway. for $4, you can taste every wine they have and tour the winery too! the only thing missing is the vines...they are grown all over virginia.
and of course, we never miss taking people to both the cellar, and gillie's. blacksburg has such lovable local places. the requisite tour of tech is also probably in order, maybe a quick trip to the roanoke farmer's market some time on saturday (if the weather's nice). and a little downtown blacksburg scandalousness (no, i do not care that that's probably not a word) ;)
happy friday!
celia's here! that's right, one of my very best friends from home is here in virginia for the weekend! she and my sister arrived from the airport at 5 a.m. this morning. i'm sure we'll get into plenty of trouble this weekend (if all goes as planned).
touristy things in the area? we almost always take people to chateau morrisette, only 40 minutes or so away from here, on the blue ridge parkway. for $4, you can taste every wine they have and tour the winery too! the only thing missing is the vines...they are grown all over virginia.
and of course, we never miss taking people to both the cellar, and gillie's. blacksburg has such lovable local places. the requisite tour of tech is also probably in order, maybe a quick trip to the roanoke farmer's market some time on saturday (if the weather's nice). and a little downtown blacksburg scandalousness (no, i do not care that that's probably not a word) ;)
happy friday!
Wednesday, June 30, 2004
change is the only sure thing.
so i'm now "Cardline Production Coordinator for Electronics." in english? responsible for the team that produces printed circuit board assemblies. so that's exciting- lots of new challenges to be had i'm sure. i've been reading all kinds of books to try to prepare, although i've been told i'll never feel ready, so i'm not sure where that leaves me ;)
Tuesday, June 29, 2004
rough rough draft...
...but what is a blog for if not raw poetry?
(as yet untitled)
it seems those nights my head was full
of poetry that my fingers can no longer
find. was it so very fleeting? even now
you are further and further from me- or is it
farther? i find myself in a unyielding plastic
chair, a sheet of notebook paper in front
of me. the pen i used- too much ink, has bled
to the other side, the answers i number and fill
intermingling in the fibers.
by now, you’ve extended past my reach, rubber
gripping pavement, headlights flashing over bridges
and trees, back to where you began. where i falter
to begin.
(as yet untitled)
it seems those nights my head was full
of poetry that my fingers can no longer
find. was it so very fleeting? even now
you are further and further from me- or is it
farther? i find myself in a unyielding plastic
chair, a sheet of notebook paper in front
of me. the pen i used- too much ink, has bled
to the other side, the answers i number and fill
intermingling in the fibers.
by now, you’ve extended past my reach, rubber
gripping pavement, headlights flashing over bridges
and trees, back to where you began. where i falter
to begin.
Monday, June 28, 2004
truth
although i do like the quotes and whatnot that i often post, my motivations are sometimes not feeling creative enough to type a bri-original post ;)
but while i'm on the subject, the random quote below (on june 25) came from www.fontgarden.com - a great site full of fun fonts, all of them displayed by the use of quotes like the one i posted- some saucy, some thought provoking. and you can also have your very own handwriting made into a font, something i've been meaning to do.
do you like your own handwriting?
but while i'm on the subject, the random quote below (on june 25) came from www.fontgarden.com - a great site full of fun fonts, all of them displayed by the use of quotes like the one i posted- some saucy, some thought provoking. and you can also have your very own handwriting made into a font, something i've been meaning to do.
do you like your own handwriting?
Coffee Maker by Cecily Parks
"Alone, one can but toy with imagery."
-James Merrill, 'Hourglass
Sobriety kicks me out of half-slept sleep
again. Unbound and starved for a routine
that favors day, I'm drawn toward this machine --
the twin-globed, bubbling keep
of caffeine grants plastic-coated access to
achievement, ritual, speed. Which is all I need
these days -- to watch the water, bead by bead
unyield itself and be drawn up into
each elementally alien ground, to give in.
It's almost selfless, brave (to me, at least,
it seems) as I mull over last night's pieced-
together bourbon-driven
dream, which concludes the process nuanced nightly:
we leave the bar, I take you (in my head)
to my near-empty apartment and empty bed.
Reversing cause and effect, I hold you tightly
and wait for bliss, for anything but regret.
Meanwhile, within my plastic odalisque
the water is disturbed enough to whisk
uptube and be beset
by the grounds, or is it the other way around --
the valence fluxes between subduer and
subdued, undoer and undone. I stand,
also propped on the counter, as things compound
without me and within. The torrid brew
ceases to bob and seethe, and with gravity's grace
(and changed) descends into the lower vase --
the final follow-through.
In vicarious absorption and half-awake,
I can only hover here and try not
to think of you, and grasp the steaming pot
from the maker that never makes mistakes.
-James Merrill, 'Hourglass
Sobriety kicks me out of half-slept sleep
again. Unbound and starved for a routine
that favors day, I'm drawn toward this machine --
the twin-globed, bubbling keep
of caffeine grants plastic-coated access to
achievement, ritual, speed. Which is all I need
these days -- to watch the water, bead by bead
unyield itself and be drawn up into
each elementally alien ground, to give in.
It's almost selfless, brave (to me, at least,
it seems) as I mull over last night's pieced-
together bourbon-driven
dream, which concludes the process nuanced nightly:
we leave the bar, I take you (in my head)
to my near-empty apartment and empty bed.
Reversing cause and effect, I hold you tightly
and wait for bliss, for anything but regret.
Meanwhile, within my plastic odalisque
the water is disturbed enough to whisk
uptube and be beset
by the grounds, or is it the other way around --
the valence fluxes between subduer and
subdued, undoer and undone. I stand,
also propped on the counter, as things compound
without me and within. The torrid brew
ceases to bob and seethe, and with gravity's grace
(and changed) descends into the lower vase --
the final follow-through.
In vicarious absorption and half-awake,
I can only hover here and try not
to think of you, and grasp the steaming pot
from the maker that never makes mistakes.
Friday, June 25, 2004
love is a battlefield
and so is work! meeting marathon today (annoyance from 2 hour meetings has much subsided due to the arrival of norman, the laptop). despite good intentions to get to work at 8 a.m. this morning, i woke up late and didn't even make it by 8:30 (although to be fair, i barely missed that cut off).
today's soundtrack is "for the road" courtesy of joey card (thanks joey!) i've actually had this cd for some time now, but is one that can be played end to end to end to... bottom line, i'd take it to a desert island with me.
random target plug: their sparkling water (market pantry) white grape flavor is tasty tasty- no calories, no sugar, nothing! mmm mmm good.
happy friday ;)
today's soundtrack is "for the road" courtesy of joey card (thanks joey!) i've actually had this cd for some time now, but is one that can be played end to end to end to... bottom line, i'd take it to a desert island with me.
random target plug: their sparkling water (market pantry) white grape flavor is tasty tasty- no calories, no sugar, nothing! mmm mmm good.
happy friday ;)
Tuesday, June 22, 2004
i love my new laptop and my new laptop loves me
i'm taking suggestions for names- any bright ideas?
so i have a car pool partner for at least the next two months. ian hovey can't drive his car with his left leg permanently extended by a bright red cast. go figure.
work's pretty quiet lately, i've trained the two new hires to do my job, and i don't have my new one yet, so mainly i read up on how to do my new job, without actually doing it. in fact, i think i'll get back to that now.
so i have a car pool partner for at least the next two months. ian hovey can't drive his car with his left leg permanently extended by a bright red cast. go figure.
work's pretty quiet lately, i've trained the two new hires to do my job, and i don't have my new one yet, so mainly i read up on how to do my new job, without actually doing it. in fact, i think i'll get back to that now.
Monday, June 21, 2004
lob-stah
so we spent yesterday on claytor lake- and i am now a bonafide lobster. head to toe. it's making me quite sleepy at work today actually. but i did really enjoy the lake, unfortunately, ian hurt his knee pretty badly in a wakeboarding incident and is now on crutches for an as yet unspecified period of time.
today's work soundtrack? abbey road. good stuff, nothing like "oh darling" playing with the copy machine as back-up percussion.
up to the minute update: apparently ian's leg is broken. how is it the hospital missed that the first time around? ah the wonders of modern medicine.
it seems as if they mow the lawn everyday. and the grass is still ridiculously tall most of the time. must be that virginia rain that we get EVERY day. makes me appreciate living in an apartment where i don't have to worry about the grass.
happy monday ;)
today's work soundtrack? abbey road. good stuff, nothing like "oh darling" playing with the copy machine as back-up percussion.
up to the minute update: apparently ian's leg is broken. how is it the hospital missed that the first time around? ah the wonders of modern medicine.
it seems as if they mow the lawn everyday. and the grass is still ridiculously tall most of the time. must be that virginia rain that we get EVERY day. makes me appreciate living in an apartment where i don't have to worry about the grass.
happy monday ;)
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