It's my 37th birthday!
I share my big day with:
Zog I, King of Albania (1865)
Wayne Gretsky's dad
Jesse Jackson
Chevy Chase
Johnny & C-Jay Ramone
Sigourney Weaver
Robert "Kool" Bell
Matt Damon
Soon-Yi Previn (yuck...)
Jeremy Davies
Wednesday, October 8
Tuesday, October 7
Dumbest quote ever
From an interior design magazine:
"When buying furniture, if you see a piece you really love, buy two!"
"When buying furniture, if you see a piece you really love, buy two!"
Saturday, October 4
Family Photos
Last night we all hung out on the deck and discussed fun things like "Should we buy new curtains tomorrow?", "Is it worth staying here or should we continue house-hunting?", "How much money can be made from web design?" and "Where the hell are the American neighbors??" (we've only caught glimpses!!) Then we went inside for an awesome steak & beet salad dinner and episodes of 'The West Wing'. Here are some pictures. Yeah, I definitely need a hair cut....
Friday, October 3
Tuesday, September 30
HAPPY BIRTHDAY DANIELLE!!!
Happy birthday skank!The first photo is from college -- I'm not sure what's worse: my sideburns or your gold necklace. Actually, I think the Sigma Psi mug in your hand is probably the worst....
The other photo is my favorite from your wedding. Happy one year anniversary!
Monday, September 29
Monday
Occasionally the teachers will announce that a company is looking for help, and a bunch of us scramble to jot down the name and apply. A little over a month ago, a job opening came up that was awarded to a classmate who definitely deserves it -- she's excellent. Well, she obviously shares this view, because she comes into class each day and rambles on about how awesome it is. They're so nice! We drank wine yesterday! They let me work from home! They said I'm great at Javascript! They paid for my very own domain name! The work is really fun and easy!It's obnoxious and really insensitive. I was not one of the people who applied for the job (thank god) but what about the poor schmucks who did? I know it's supposed to be a competitive atmosphere but she crosses the line between "discussing new job" and "openly gloating".
Don't get me wrong - I was happy for her (and happy for me -- with her already employed, I won't be competing with her for future jobs). And for someone her age, indulging in some bragging the first day or so would seem natural, but it's become an accepted daily event.
Our teacher encourages it and makes it part of the class. "Sarah has a real world job!" (I know, it's like we're 5). He takes up huge chunks of class time to help her with work-related issues. They're constantly talking about her job. Never mind the rest of us, working just as hard on sites we aren't getting paid for! I had my hand up for like 10 minutes the other day while I waited for him to finish answering a question she had about a work project.
The BEST was on Friday: I emailed my teacher to ask what we were working on that day. He said, "Sarah came to me with a bunch of questions for her work. As you know, she has a real world job that needs sorting, so we're going to help her with that today."
WHAT?!
Yeah, I stayed home.
Good news: we have 3 weeks left of this portion, then they teach us Flash (I can't wait), then it's on to the big Industry Project. Yea!!
Sunday, September 28
Open Homes are a bit like dating
We saw three open homes today. Each had promise, each seemed to have all we were looking for, and we wandered up the driveways full of anticipation: "Maybe this is the one!!" And then 20 minutes later we'd wander back to the car, dejected, and disappointed, but thinking, "Maybe the NEXT one will be different!"
The first house would've been great, if you could pick it up and move it somewhere quieter. It was slightly larger than ours and had been renovated, but every window you looked out of looked right into another home -- and there was practically no yard. You could hear the loud bass music blasting from the home next door -- no way. Kiwis tend to subdivide, which means they cram homes into backyards, so you get a house with another house right behind it. Great for the original property owner -- they now get to sell 2 homes - but it's greedy and ruins neighborhoods and looks really crappy (in my opinion).
That was the deal with this place. It has no business being there. On to the next house!
The second house was massive -- the entire basement could've held an office for Iain AND an office for me and then there were three bedrooms upstairs and the whole house had a sweeping view of the water. But it was a total dump -- it had that old lady smell plus mold and mildew. It must've been a big family home at one point, but it needed a TON of work. It was also in the shade, and quite cold.
The third and final house seemed too good to be true (on paper) -- 3 bedrooms, 1 office, 2 bathrooms. The two (!!) guest bedrooms were REALLY nice. They looked like they belonged in a lush tropical inn somewhere -- it evoked fantasies of entertaining out of town friends: "... and here's where you'll be staying... yes, it's lovely, isn't it... Look at the palm trees right outside your window. Well, why don't you get settled in -- your bathroom is just off the hall -- and when you're ready, join us on the deck for some wine and hors d'œuvres..." SO cool!!!! Man, the bedrooms were awesome. Iain agreed they were nice but didn't share my romanticism: "Yeah, they're ok..."
It had a nice deck off of the living room, but it was a little small and not too convenient. Like, we imagined having guests over for dinner and we're out on the deck and someone asks for the salt and oh crap, it's in the the kitchen which means walking back in through the living room, down the stairs into the kitchen... It sounds stupid but these are the things that will drive you nuts. There were way too many stairs in this place -- it had like 4 levels. Imagine the vacuuming!
But what sealed the deal was the fact that it's a townhouse and had a narrow, cramped apartment feel to it, which we're not looking for. Also, the townhouse next door looked like a bunch of squatters lived there -- I meant to ask the realtor, "Um, who or what lives next door???" Old mattresses shoved up against the windows, furniture and crap everywhere... It wasn't cool.
Oh well. It's fun to look, and until I get a job we aren't really in a position to go anywhere.
The first house would've been great, if you could pick it up and move it somewhere quieter. It was slightly larger than ours and had been renovated, but every window you looked out of looked right into another home -- and there was practically no yard. You could hear the loud bass music blasting from the home next door -- no way. Kiwis tend to subdivide, which means they cram homes into backyards, so you get a house with another house right behind it. Great for the original property owner -- they now get to sell 2 homes - but it's greedy and ruins neighborhoods and looks really crappy (in my opinion).
That was the deal with this place. It has no business being there. On to the next house!
The second house was massive -- the entire basement could've held an office for Iain AND an office for me and then there were three bedrooms upstairs and the whole house had a sweeping view of the water. But it was a total dump -- it had that old lady smell plus mold and mildew. It must've been a big family home at one point, but it needed a TON of work. It was also in the shade, and quite cold.
The third and final house seemed too good to be true (on paper) -- 3 bedrooms, 1 office, 2 bathrooms. The two (!!) guest bedrooms were REALLY nice. They looked like they belonged in a lush tropical inn somewhere -- it evoked fantasies of entertaining out of town friends: "... and here's where you'll be staying... yes, it's lovely, isn't it... Look at the palm trees right outside your window. Well, why don't you get settled in -- your bathroom is just off the hall -- and when you're ready, join us on the deck for some wine and hors d'œuvres..." SO cool!!!! Man, the bedrooms were awesome. Iain agreed they were nice but didn't share my romanticism: "Yeah, they're ok..."
It had a nice deck off of the living room, but it was a little small and not too convenient. Like, we imagined having guests over for dinner and we're out on the deck and someone asks for the salt and oh crap, it's in the the kitchen which means walking back in through the living room, down the stairs into the kitchen... It sounds stupid but these are the things that will drive you nuts. There were way too many stairs in this place -- it had like 4 levels. Imagine the vacuuming!
But what sealed the deal was the fact that it's a townhouse and had a narrow, cramped apartment feel to it, which we're not looking for. Also, the townhouse next door looked like a bunch of squatters lived there -- I meant to ask the realtor, "Um, who or what lives next door???" Old mattresses shoved up against the windows, furniture and crap everywhere... It wasn't cool.
Oh well. It's fun to look, and until I get a job we aren't really in a position to go anywhere.
Going crazy without my camera...
So here's a picture from our honeymoon (which sucked, as I think I've mentioned).
Canon has had the camera for two weeks. I am totally calling them tomorrow morn to ask what the deal is. Do you know how many cute cat moments I've missed???
Absentee Ballot!!
I received my absentee ballot in the mail. I was very disappointed to see that the ballot is a generic form, good for any election at any time. How.... frugal. The candidates' names don't appear on the ballot -- you write in your vote. What a letdown - I was so psyched to see their names and tick the box next to Obama. Oh well. At least it arrived! The last time I spoke with the election office in Philly they were really snarky!
Daylight Savings
We "spring forward" today (actually, it already happened).
It's been a quiet weekend.
Today we went for a long walk along the water -- the weather is definitely getting nicer! There were a ton of birds out and everything looked really lush and green. (the picture above is an old one -- the camera still isn't back yet!)
Yesterday, I was on the phone in the morning to Shelby & Danielle, then I spent the rest of the day working on my website. Iain went grocery shopping and scraped paint off the house. I also watched the Presidential Debate. I have to admit, McCain did a pretty decent job, although he looks like death warmed up.
Around 4pm we were both feeling a bit cabin-fever-y so we drove over to Browns Bay for some afternoon drinks.
Today, Iain's back to work on the house and I'm back to my web stuff.
We're going to an open house in our neighborhood -- there's a beautiful 3 bedroom that overlooks the water that's in our price range which probably means there's something seriously wrong with it, like there's no kitchen, or a wall is missing, or there's a dead body in the basement.
Thursday, September 25
Rock the Vote!
The NZ elections are on November 8 and they've got their own version of MTV's Rock The Vote.
There's a commercial targeted to "today's youth" that features four people around a table, including a dwarf featured on one of the local shows. Every time one guy (not the dwarf) starts to speak, the rest of the group shhhsh's him. He keeps trying to talk, and finally one of the women yells, "SHUT IT!".
Then they attack him and duct tape his mouth. (I swear to god, I did not write this spot)
The announcer reads, "If you don't vote, no one gives a shit what you say."
Well said!
There's a commercial targeted to "today's youth" that features four people around a table, including a dwarf featured on one of the local shows. Every time one guy (not the dwarf) starts to speak, the rest of the group shhhsh's him. He keeps trying to talk, and finally one of the women yells, "SHUT IT!".
Then they attack him and duct tape his mouth. (I swear to god, I did not write this spot)
The announcer reads, "If you don't vote, no one gives a shit what you say."
Well said!
Thursday.
My day started off really well. It stopped raining just in time for me to go for my morning walk. I had a brand new podcast of 'This American Life' on my iPod to listen to during my walk. While getting dressed for school, I noticed that my jeans felt looser, proof of my recent weight loss & exercise efforts.
I even lost a gold earring on the bus and had it returned to me by a friendly passenger. I couldn't believe my luck!
Then I got to class.
We had a guest speaker: some PHP genius that our teacher raves about. I figured it would be boring but so what -- all I have do is sit there, right? Wrong. This guy likes to TEACH. He likes to call kids up to the blackboard and say, "Create a new function." Like an 8 year old in class, terrified of drawing attention to one's self, I slunk down in my seat and tried not to make eye contact, and eventually some other chump went up and did it.
Then it got difficult. The guy kept barking out orders: "Class, create a function that gives us the area of a circle. (pause) Ok, who's finished?"
Jeez, slow down! I have to do PHP and geometry??? Whoa - he just typed a function that gives the radius of a circle. Crap. How much time is left until the end of class? Two and a half hours???
I typed what I thought the answer was. The guy asked us, "Did it work? Who's got it working?"
Mine didn't work. My nosy "neighbors" who sit on either side of me glanced over at my screen (theirs worked, of course). They saw that mine wasn't working and started going through my script. Then the kid who sits behind me chimed in: "I know what you did wrong! You're not browsing to the local server!" "Yes, I am!" I argued, getting more and more flustered and annoyed. I was silently pleading with everyone to just leave me alone, to please grant me the opportunity to figure out on my own what horrendous programming logic I'd screwed up in this life-threatening exercise.
Then the guy walked over, followed by my teacher. Oh god...
"What's the problem over here? Someone not getting it? Come on - this is easy stuff." the guy boomed.
So now I've got FIVE people leaning over my screen with the entire class staring at me. I wanted to die. Memories of college calculus began flooding in....
The only difference between a humiliated 8 year old school kid who experiences that and a mortified 37 year old is that I didn't start crying or wet my pants. Close, though, on both counts. But the emotions - the embarrassment, the irritation - are exactly the same. I handled it the way we have to as adults: act like it's no big deal, maybe make a self-deprecating joke, say, "Thanks everyone." and shrug it off. And then write a rambling blog post about the whole thing...
(Follow-up: the problem in my code was a missing semi-colon. Hurray! I'm not a complete idiot! )
I even lost a gold earring on the bus and had it returned to me by a friendly passenger. I couldn't believe my luck!
Then I got to class.
We had a guest speaker: some PHP genius that our teacher raves about. I figured it would be boring but so what -- all I have do is sit there, right? Wrong. This guy likes to TEACH. He likes to call kids up to the blackboard and say, "Create a new function." Like an 8 year old in class, terrified of drawing attention to one's self, I slunk down in my seat and tried not to make eye contact, and eventually some other chump went up and did it.
Then it got difficult. The guy kept barking out orders: "Class, create a function that gives us the area of a circle. (pause) Ok, who's finished?"
Jeez, slow down! I have to do PHP and geometry??? Whoa - he just typed a function that gives the radius of a circle. Crap. How much time is left until the end of class? Two and a half hours???
I typed what I thought the answer was. The guy asked us, "Did it work? Who's got it working?"
Mine didn't work. My nosy "neighbors" who sit on either side of me glanced over at my screen (theirs worked, of course). They saw that mine wasn't working and started going through my script. Then the kid who sits behind me chimed in: "I know what you did wrong! You're not browsing to the local server!" "Yes, I am!" I argued, getting more and more flustered and annoyed. I was silently pleading with everyone to just leave me alone, to please grant me the opportunity to figure out on my own what horrendous programming logic I'd screwed up in this life-threatening exercise.
Then the guy walked over, followed by my teacher. Oh god...
"What's the problem over here? Someone not getting it? Come on - this is easy stuff." the guy boomed.
So now I've got FIVE people leaning over my screen with the entire class staring at me. I wanted to die. Memories of college calculus began flooding in....
The only difference between a humiliated 8 year old school kid who experiences that and a mortified 37 year old is that I didn't start crying or wet my pants. Close, though, on both counts. But the emotions - the embarrassment, the irritation - are exactly the same. I handled it the way we have to as adults: act like it's no big deal, maybe make a self-deprecating joke, say, "Thanks everyone." and shrug it off. And then write a rambling blog post about the whole thing...
(Follow-up: the problem in my code was a missing semi-colon. Hurray! I'm not a complete idiot! )
The Americans!
Our next door neighbor is moving to a new house. He hasn't sold his current house yet, so he's renting it to some tenants.
They're from California. That's all we know. Oh, and they move in this weekend. I have mixed feelings about this.
Fears:
1) They like Palin (deal breaker)
2) They're young and will have super loud parties (this is a general fear that has nothing to do with their nationality)
3) They'll assume that because I'm American, we're instant BFFs.
Hopes:
1) They're voting for Obama
2) They're our age and super cool and watch Gossip Girl and Lost and can't wait for the Golden Globes
3) Because I'm American, we're instant BFFs.
Stay tuned!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)