Thanks, Wendy and Tracy, for your beautiful thoughts on Quitting vs. Letting Go.
One of the specific aspects in my life that had taken up some space in the Quitting vs. Letting Go dilemma in my head was my job. Our company has been struggling for some time and, whether fortunately or unfortunately, it's now time for something new.
I hate job-hunting. I equate it to all the awful parts of dating: Did I say the right thing? Did I wear the right thing? Am I supposed to call them? Are they going to call me?
But I've been blessed to have this opportunity that I've had for nearly three years and it's great experience to throw on the resume. So if you hear of anything in marketing and/or sales, please let me know. Hey, like in dating, I'll take all the help I can get!
Wednesday, September 7, 2011
Wednesday, August 31, 2011
Quitting vs. Letting Go
I've been pondering something lately and I'm curious as to your thoughts. What is the difference between quitting (with its negative connotation) and knowing when to let go (better connotation)? How do you know when there's still something worth fighting for, or when it's smarter/wiser/better to let something go?
Tuesday, August 23, 2011
Compliments Rock!
When it comes to my church wardrobe, I don't have many options. I have about four skirts right now and three dresses. I've had those four skirts for anywhere from 5-8 years, and the dresses for about 3-5 years. But church clothes are the hardest for me to find and I really don't like to spend much time shopping, anyway, so it's been basically the same combination of outfits for the better part of a decade (hey, I've even had one pair of church shoes since I was 18!).
What does this mean? Well, it means that I need to apologize to anyone and everyone who sees me at church on a semi-consistent basis.
Secondly, you can imagine my joy--and complete and utter shock--when I get a compliment on a dress or skirt. It gets me by for another couple of years. Which may or may not be a good thing.
What does this mean? Well, it means that I need to apologize to anyone and everyone who sees me at church on a semi-consistent basis.
Secondly, you can imagine my joy--and complete and utter shock--when I get a compliment on a dress or skirt. It gets me by for another couple of years. Which may or may not be a good thing.
Sunday, August 21, 2011
Sore Legs
On Friday, my sister was planning on swinging by to pick me up so we could pick up Jack from his dad's house and head over to Chuck E Cheese's. She and I talked when she was about 15 minutes away--"Be ready to go in 15 minutes so we're not late picking him up, okay?" I was thinking in my head, Okay, I've still got to walk Kobe, but I should be able to do that in just under 15 minutes and I can get back in change. That'll work. "Cool, I'll be ready!"
So Kobe and I headed to the park and when we were at the street to cross to the park, we saw a car that was having some issues. It was stopped and this young man--maybe a few years younger than I--was standing outside the driver's side of the car, car door open, trying to push the car himself while maneuvering the steering wheel. That plan clearly wasn't working, and I saw him slump back in the car and punch the car's ceiling.
As I'm seeing this unfold, I'm thinking of two seriously competing issues: my sister with her incredible penchant for being on time and utter annoyance if you're not (Mom: "She was running EARLY? Who runs EARLY?!") and that classic story you hear from the pulpit at church. You know, the one where the students of the religion class--I believe it's a religion class on the life of the Savior--head to the classroom to take their final, only to find a note on the door saying the final's going to be administered in another room across campus, and to not be late or they'll be denied the chance to take the final. All of these "obstacles" and "tests" are dotted along the way to the other room, a crying baby, a student who fell off his bike and is injured, etc. Those who stop and help those along the way pass the final; those who don't, fail. (Note: anyone know the source of the story? and even if it's a Mormon myth, it was still going through my head!)
Suffer the wrath of Nicole for being late, or fail this "religion final?" I thought I'd give the latter a whirl, so I offered help if he wanted it, told him I'd tie my dog up to the stop sign ("You can put him in the back seat if you want"), and off I pushed while he tried to steer. Luckily, his car was smallish and we started making some progress. Even more luckily, another saw our plight and stopped to offer pushing the car with his car till we got where we needed to go. Even better! So while we're being pushed, the young man said to me, "Thank you so much for stopping. Maybe 10 cars have passed me in the last few minutes, several of them have passed by several times, and you're the first person to stop." It was at that point that I was grateful for that BYU religion final story that guilted me into this choice. Extremely grateful. Sweet kid. Also, Kobe really liked him, giving him a few big, fat juicy ones on the poor kid's face.
We made it the half mile or so to where he needed to go, and Kobe and I jogged as fast as he'd let me (it was hot!) back to the house. Gratefully, *I* was not the one running late, so I actually got a few minutes to catch my breath before Nicole arrived. But as I caught my breath, I was very grateful for a story (or perhaps a Mormon myth) that circulated enough for it to be running through my head, guilting me into doing the right thing. Hey, sometimes our motives aren't always perfectly pure (guilt or fear versus love), but it's still great when we end up at the same place.
So Kobe and I headed to the park and when we were at the street to cross to the park, we saw a car that was having some issues. It was stopped and this young man--maybe a few years younger than I--was standing outside the driver's side of the car, car door open, trying to push the car himself while maneuvering the steering wheel. That plan clearly wasn't working, and I saw him slump back in the car and punch the car's ceiling.
As I'm seeing this unfold, I'm thinking of two seriously competing issues: my sister with her incredible penchant for being on time and utter annoyance if you're not (Mom: "She was running EARLY? Who runs EARLY?!") and that classic story you hear from the pulpit at church. You know, the one where the students of the religion class--I believe it's a religion class on the life of the Savior--head to the classroom to take their final, only to find a note on the door saying the final's going to be administered in another room across campus, and to not be late or they'll be denied the chance to take the final. All of these "obstacles" and "tests" are dotted along the way to the other room, a crying baby, a student who fell off his bike and is injured, etc. Those who stop and help those along the way pass the final; those who don't, fail. (Note: anyone know the source of the story? and even if it's a Mormon myth, it was still going through my head!)
Suffer the wrath of Nicole for being late, or fail this "religion final?" I thought I'd give the latter a whirl, so I offered help if he wanted it, told him I'd tie my dog up to the stop sign ("You can put him in the back seat if you want"), and off I pushed while he tried to steer. Luckily, his car was smallish and we started making some progress. Even more luckily, another saw our plight and stopped to offer pushing the car with his car till we got where we needed to go. Even better! So while we're being pushed, the young man said to me, "Thank you so much for stopping. Maybe 10 cars have passed me in the last few minutes, several of them have passed by several times, and you're the first person to stop." It was at that point that I was grateful for that BYU religion final story that guilted me into this choice. Extremely grateful. Sweet kid. Also, Kobe really liked him, giving him a few big, fat juicy ones on the poor kid's face.
We made it the half mile or so to where he needed to go, and Kobe and I jogged as fast as he'd let me (it was hot!) back to the house. Gratefully, *I* was not the one running late, so I actually got a few minutes to catch my breath before Nicole arrived. But as I caught my breath, I was very grateful for a story (or perhaps a Mormon myth) that circulated enough for it to be running through my head, guilting me into doing the right thing. Hey, sometimes our motives aren't always perfectly pure (guilt or fear versus love), but it's still great when we end up at the same place.
Saturday, August 20, 2011
Uh oh!
This is potentially awesome, or potentially awful, depending on how you want to look at it (I see it as the former, but worry it's actually the latter):
My blu-ray updated its software today, and now offers
So movies/TV shows (on DVD) via Netflix, and current TV shows on Hulu? Bring it. I've been re-watching some classic Grey's today since I've been working most of the day. A Saturday. Boo. Thank heavens for software updates on my blu-ray. Yay!
What have you been watching on Netflix/Hulu lately?
My blu-ray updated its software today, and now offers
So movies/TV shows (on DVD) via Netflix, and current TV shows on Hulu? Bring it. I've been re-watching some classic Grey's today since I've been working most of the day. A Saturday. Boo. Thank heavens for software updates on my blu-ray. Yay!
What have you been watching on Netflix/Hulu lately?
Thursday, August 18, 2011
Hmmm.
Is it just me, or does Kirsten Dunst look stoned in pretty much every picture taken of her?
No, seriously.
No, seriously.
Tuesday, August 9, 2011
IT GETS EVEN BETTER
Assuming you've read the blog post about The Testimony, I gathered one more tidbit of information that makes the story all the more fantastic. Wondering if ManyTalents/ExtremelyGifted is as self-involved as we were assuming (and somewhat hoping, now that I'm crossing my fingers for an encore performance when a couple friends are in town for next month's F&T meeting)? We've now got some solid evidence that yes, in fact, he is.
After ManyTalents/ExtremelyGifted sat down, apparently he leaned over to the person next to him and said, "What did you think?"
Yeeeeeaaaaaaahhhhhhh . . .
After ManyTalents/ExtremelyGifted sat down, apparently he leaned over to the person next to him and said, "What did you think?"
Yeeeeeaaaaaaahhhhhhh . . .
Bachlor Pad
Holy cow, these people are so dumb! Which is entertaining for me, but three hours of stupid was a looooooong time. Even with kettlecorn and fun ladies.
Some of my thoughts:
Some of my thoughts:
- Trojan elephant
- dysfunctional is a big word
- flies have a mouse
- Vienna is nuts
- Jake is smarmy
- Ames is too good for these people
- The only contribution Vienna has ever made was her classic line about the super-nice Tenley: "She s***s rainbows."
- Michelle's new teeth are similar to Ross's in FRIENDS in the episode with the blacklight
- Blake is a witch-with-a-b-in-a-man's-body
- Michelle is nuts, but in an endearing kind of way. I think she knows exactly what she's doing.
Sunday, August 7, 2011
Sacrament Meeting Funnies Part III
Good grief, was today's fast-and-testimony meeting epic or what? Kellie was to my right (RSP, baby!) and kept saying "Oh my gosh," and "I can't take this" in between poking my leg with "ARE YOU KIDDING ME?" pokes. Seriously. I hope I can do any of this justice as I recount bits and pieces as best I can. I think only two current ward members have this blog address, so Angel and Aubrey, it's your chance to fill in any details I missed. I beg of you, PLEASE. :)
Like any singles ward (or any ward, for that matter), we have a Top 5--the same five people get up pretty much every month, right? It looks like we'll have a new entry into the Top 5, folks!
A couple people got up . . . nice, short, and sweet. Then this guy gets up--he moved into the ward five weeks ago, apparently--and starts off with how much he's been waiting to bear his testimony in this ward. He's just bursting and has to get it out; he wanted to get up the previous month but "something occurred" so he wasn't able to attend our ward that day.
He then started to talk for maybe five minutes about how he's an IT guy. A salesman. An entrepreneur. He had a company, but then didn't like the direction it was going, so he decided to get a real job as a developer (computer programmer). Now, he'd been told the learning curve was a month. But because he is "very gifted in many areas" he was able to get it down in 2 days. So after those two days, he didn't have much else to do. He'd get in to the office at 6am, have his work done by 9am, and then start asking people in the office if he could help them with their work.
He was brought in and told they were going to let him go. "But why?" "The reasons don't matter; we just need to let you go." "But what takes other people a month, I did in two days." "We need to let you go." Somehow, this lesson turned into a lesson on tithing because he usually just paid tithing once a year after reinvesting any earnings back into his company, but decided to pay his tithing on this one-week paycheck after his mother urged him to "pay your tithing."
So, again, because of his very giftedness in many different areas, he decided to use all the skills he learned in those few days with that company to start two new companies and, within days, he had more work than he could handle--it was so successful. So he's an entrepreneur again.
He then proceeded to say that he's so busy with work and has slept very, very little recently. So little, in fact, that while on a date with a lady from our ward (whose name he did reveal from the pulpit), he told her he'd slept 5 hours in the previous 48. "Then we should call it a night! You should be home sleeping!" "No, I've had enough."
Yeah, I think we've all had enough. Seriously, it was the biggest kick to look around the congregation and see the looks on folks' faces. Kellie was dying next to me. Sometimes I had to look down at my iPad and focus on SOMETHING just to keep from laughing. The Bishop was trying to hold it together. It was really, really awesome. It was maybe a 12-15 minute testimony on . . . who knows what it was actually on.
Another Top 5-er got up next and Kellie was like, "C'mon, A, bring it back!" You know it's bad when you're asking A of "The Church is run by little, old men" fame (that was in her testimony several months back) to bring the meeting back on track. But she did a great job. Short, sweet, simple, and to the point. Perfect.
Then another guy got up. Another Top 5-er. And, at this point, the guy to my left said, "Oh no. Not this guy." He then proceeded to shake his head incredulously throughout the testimony. It was another long one . . . maybe 10 minutes or so. Unfortunately, I'd completely lost any mental abilities to focus at this point, so I was just reading notes from Fluhman D&C lectures from my BYU days on my iPad. But oh, that first long testimony. I wish you all could have been there so we could compare notes and funny lines from it. It was epic.
Like any singles ward (or any ward, for that matter), we have a Top 5--the same five people get up pretty much every month, right? It looks like we'll have a new entry into the Top 5, folks!
A couple people got up . . . nice, short, and sweet. Then this guy gets up--he moved into the ward five weeks ago, apparently--and starts off with how much he's been waiting to bear his testimony in this ward. He's just bursting and has to get it out; he wanted to get up the previous month but "something occurred" so he wasn't able to attend our ward that day.
He then started to talk for maybe five minutes about how he's an IT guy. A salesman. An entrepreneur. He had a company, but then didn't like the direction it was going, so he decided to get a real job as a developer (computer programmer). Now, he'd been told the learning curve was a month. But because he is "very gifted in many areas" he was able to get it down in 2 days. So after those two days, he didn't have much else to do. He'd get in to the office at 6am, have his work done by 9am, and then start asking people in the office if he could help them with their work.
He was brought in and told they were going to let him go. "But why?" "The reasons don't matter; we just need to let you go." "But what takes other people a month, I did in two days." "We need to let you go." Somehow, this lesson turned into a lesson on tithing because he usually just paid tithing once a year after reinvesting any earnings back into his company, but decided to pay his tithing on this one-week paycheck after his mother urged him to "pay your tithing."
So, again, because of his very giftedness in many different areas, he decided to use all the skills he learned in those few days with that company to start two new companies and, within days, he had more work than he could handle--it was so successful. So he's an entrepreneur again.
He then proceeded to say that he's so busy with work and has slept very, very little recently. So little, in fact, that while on a date with a lady from our ward (whose name he did reveal from the pulpit), he told her he'd slept 5 hours in the previous 48. "Then we should call it a night! You should be home sleeping!" "No, I've had enough."
Yeah, I think we've all had enough. Seriously, it was the biggest kick to look around the congregation and see the looks on folks' faces. Kellie was dying next to me. Sometimes I had to look down at my iPad and focus on SOMETHING just to keep from laughing. The Bishop was trying to hold it together. It was really, really awesome. It was maybe a 12-15 minute testimony on . . . who knows what it was actually on.
Another Top 5-er got up next and Kellie was like, "C'mon, A, bring it back!" You know it's bad when you're asking A of "The Church is run by little, old men" fame (that was in her testimony several months back) to bring the meeting back on track. But she did a great job. Short, sweet, simple, and to the point. Perfect.
Then another guy got up. Another Top 5-er. And, at this point, the guy to my left said, "Oh no. Not this guy." He then proceeded to shake his head incredulously throughout the testimony. It was another long one . . . maybe 10 minutes or so. Unfortunately, I'd completely lost any mental abilities to focus at this point, so I was just reading notes from Fluhman D&C lectures from my BYU days on my iPad. But oh, that first long testimony. I wish you all could have been there so we could compare notes and funny lines from it. It was epic.
Wednesday, July 27, 2011
Pizookie Trio? Yes, please!
Did you guys know that BJ's has a pizookie trio? Where you get three mini-pizookies? It's fantastic. Even better . . . did you know that BJ's has a red-velvet pizookie? And that it's AWESOME? The things you learn in Laguna Beach (good things; the bad things include the fact that my hair poofs out about 3 feet with the humidity and ocean air in the summer).
Saturday, July 9, 2011
Facebook Fun
I'm not quite sure how this will copy/paste into Blogger, but here's how ridiculous and nerdy we are at work. This is from my boss's Facebook status. Also, when reading the status update, read it in the voice of a 37-year-old man. It makes it that much better.
Tuesday, July 5, 2011
Are you kidding me?!
Considering my utter lack of enjoyable dates recently (we're talking the kinds of dates where the guy talks about himself all night, folks), I don't dare get my hopes up for this one, but let me just share in a wee bit of excitement.
A guy--who actually asked me questions on the phone!--just asked me out for Friday night. The activity? Walking around a bookstore. BOO-yah. It's this nerd's dream date. The bonus points for the guy? He reads Michael Pollan ("In Defense of Food," "The Omnivore's Dilemma," and the guy interviewed throughout much of "Food, Inc.") and Malcom Gladwell ("The Tipping Point," "Blink," and "Outliers"). Be still my heart.
A guy--who actually asked me questions on the phone!--just asked me out for Friday night. The activity? Walking around a bookstore. BOO-yah. It's this nerd's dream date. The bonus points for the guy? He reads Michael Pollan ("In Defense of Food," "The Omnivore's Dilemma," and the guy interviewed throughout much of "Food, Inc.") and Malcom Gladwell ("The Tipping Point," "Blink," and "Outliers"). Be still my heart.
Tuesday, June 21, 2011
Letter-Writing Campaign
Dear 13-Hour Workday,
I haven't missed you. Please don't stay for long--you or your 12-hour, 14-hour, etc. varieties. I can handle you for a period of time, but you'd better be worth it.
Sincerely,
Me
I haven't missed you. Please don't stay for long--you or your 12-hour, 14-hour, etc. varieties. I can handle you for a period of time, but you'd better be worth it.
Sincerely,
Me
Interested Friends
I just had one of my most favorite weekends ever thanks to this dear, dear friend.
Spending the weekend with Miss Paola reminded me of one of my favorite stories by Taylor Hartman, the Color Code guy. He relates a story of this kind of miserable woman who hated her job and everything and everyone around her until a professor challenged her with an intellectual exercise. That exercise eventually changed her, and he remarked to her, "There are no uninteresting things--only uninterested people."
On the flip side, there's nothing like an interested friend, one who continually tries to understand and support you. Knowing that I have what will likely be an incredibly difficult, long, and stressful couple months ahead of me, I thank you, Paola, for being such an interested friend, one in whom I can confide and on whom I know I can lean. And thanks to the many others of you who are the same. There's nothing like an interested friend to keep you going.
Spending the weekend with Miss Paola reminded me of one of my favorite stories by Taylor Hartman, the Color Code guy. He relates a story of this kind of miserable woman who hated her job and everything and everyone around her until a professor challenged her with an intellectual exercise. That exercise eventually changed her, and he remarked to her, "There are no uninteresting things--only uninterested people."
On the flip side, there's nothing like an interested friend, one who continually tries to understand and support you. Knowing that I have what will likely be an incredibly difficult, long, and stressful couple months ahead of me, I thank you, Paola, for being such an interested friend, one in whom I can confide and on whom I know I can lean. And thanks to the many others of you who are the same. There's nothing like an interested friend to keep you going.
Monday, June 13, 2011
Grilled Cheese
I went to a beautiful wedding reception for a dear friend several weeks ago. There was such an incredible, special feeling to the reception; you could feel that these two were wonderfully matched and equally yoked--it was awesome. He played the piano for her at their reception that brought most of us to tears because it was so touching (and let's be honest, a guy that can play the piano wins hotness points).
I was talking with her mom last night at stake choir, asking how Jess was doing.
"You know, she's doing great! She'd had a really hard first day at work last week, and she came home to David who'd been filling out medical school applications all day. He looked at her and said, 'You look like you've had a long day. How about if I cook you dinner tonight?' It was probably just grilled cheese or something like that, but isn't that great?"
David Larsen, you've now brought me to tears twice in a month for how well you treat my friend, Jess. I've only talked to you for about a minute, but knowing there are great guys out there treating my friends well makes me incredibly happy. Thank you.
I was talking with her mom last night at stake choir, asking how Jess was doing.
"You know, she's doing great! She'd had a really hard first day at work last week, and she came home to David who'd been filling out medical school applications all day. He looked at her and said, 'You look like you've had a long day. How about if I cook you dinner tonight?' It was probably just grilled cheese or something like that, but isn't that great?"
Tuesday, June 7, 2011
Bachelorette Musings
Favorite things from last night's ep or the watching of last night's ep?
The use of "dot dot dot"--actually spelling out . . . --was fantastic.
Sister Gibby's, "Can I unhook my bra now?" as she walked into the room. "Well, I couldn't at FHE."
Me: "Are you going to get up and stand in front of the TV?"
Gibby: "No, I unhooked my bra."
Sister Ferguson brought cupcakes she made from scratch, and Sister Linton brought See's suckers while we watched The Sucker, Ashley, be suckered in my Bentley. Sheesh.
I kind of love Ben C but, then again, I have a soft sport for kind attorneys. He's a good guy.
I'm bummed she sent Chris, the Scott Foley look-alike, home. He was dreamy.
The mask guy was better looking than I was expecting, but I'm glad he was sent home!
Your thoughts?
(p.s. to those of you watching with us last night--isn't it amazing how much one person can completely change the dynamic of a group? eeeshk. sorry!)
Sunday, June 5, 2011
Sacrament Meeting Funnies Part II
Our ward had offered some pretty great material today. One guy started his testimony by saying, "There's nobody who likes to hear me speak as much as myself." (had to keep the awful grammar in there for effect)
Another guy chastised the guys a bit for not dating, "Stop being weenies and ask each other out. I mean, you make it easy for me, though it's really easy already."
Uh . . . sure.
Another friend on receiving a friendship note in Relief Society saying, "You're such a sweet spirit": "Do I have an enemy in this ward?"
And, lastly, our beloved bishop, doing his "60 Seconds Around the Ward" before dismissing to Sunday School, from the pulpit, saying to someone in the congregation, "Beth, I like your hair," and "Meredith, you look good in that color." I adore him.
Another guy chastised the guys a bit for not dating, "Stop being weenies and ask each other out. I mean, you make it easy for me, though it's really easy already."
Uh . . . sure.
Another friend on receiving a friendship note in Relief Society saying, "You're such a sweet spirit": "Do I have an enemy in this ward?"
And, lastly, our beloved bishop, doing his "60 Seconds Around the Ward" before dismissing to Sunday School, from the pulpit, saying to someone in the congregation, "Beth, I like your hair," and "Meredith, you look good in that color." I adore him.
Sacrament Meeting Funnies
I read this blog post this morning and have been laughing out loud for about a minute. Ever get the giggles in church? (anyone doubt that my mom is often the instigator?)
Saturday, June 4, 2011
Woo!
I'm a nerd; I realize this. But do you know what I'm super excited about? Just booked my (conference) ticket and hotel for Santa Barbara in September for work. Boo-yah! A conference at a resort on the beach in Santa Barbara, where all the meals and networking events are outside? Bring it.
Wednesday, June 1, 2011
For Comparison's Sake
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