Gina's Pest Problem

This was taken at my sister's house in Charlotte. Apparently the squirrels keep trying to get in. I don't know if any have made it through the screen yet but they have been successful around other parts of the house.

So I try again

This is my second attempt to write this blog today, I was almost finished and my computer shut off. I was writing really well but I'm going to try again.

I was free on Tuesday so I slept in, checked out of my hotel at the last possible moment, left my truck in the parking lot and took a cab downtown with my i-pod and cameras to see what I could get myself into. My tour-guide of a cab driver took me by the post office, a little work had to be done, before dropping me off at the acclaimed Chattanooga Aquarium. He insisted that I check it out.

I purchased my tickets and grabbed a quick salad and coffee lunch before passing the extremely bored ticket-takers. I knew that watching a bunch of fish on an empty stomach would make me want to run to the sushi bar, again.

I started off with the "Ocean Journey" part of the tour, which only consisted of petting sting-rays and reading a bunch of info boards. It was really hard to read while LCD Soundsystem rocked out my eardrums, so I skipped the educational part and checked out the butterfly garden before moving on.

Next was the "River Journey" building which, also housed the jellyfish and sea-horses. The jellyfish were extremely hard to photograph due to the low-lights and their fast pace but I got a couple OK shots.



I could probably watch them swim around for hours, especially with my i-pod cranked up.

The sea-horses were also fun to watch; they are the cutest little creatures.



It took me a while to get a shot, they are very quick, but I'm really happy how the above photo turned out.

I also had an interesting photo-opportunity on an escalator. I swear it took me up four stories but it was hard to get pictures with both cameras during the ride.



The rest of the tour was what should have been a fresh fish educational experience but I was more interested in my music and my photo opportunities. I could have spent hours wandering around in full amusement.

Here are a few more aquarium pictures...





After the aquarium experience I grabbed a cup of coffee and found the small shopping district just across the river. I wandered through the hippy shops and galleries for a while without buying anything even though I found a couple cute non-hippy clothing stores that had many tempting articles. I impressed myself with my strength!

I wandered back across the river trying to absorb the small city and in search for dinner. Yet another salad but I substituted the coffee for a beer sampler at the local brew-pub. That was plenty of exploring in one day for me so it was another cab ride and on to the next hotel.

Chattanooga People Suck (at least the one I met)

I was excited to find out that my Chattanooga hotel room was only a $5 cab ride from what is most likely the only Sushi joint in the city. I contemplated delivery but neither pizza nor Chinese sounded pleasing. Raw fish sounded much better. I was the only one in the restaurant sitting at the sushi bar so I felt privileged when I was offered to try a few things for free. I had octopus for the first time. It wasn't as good as the yellow tail but much better than squid.

After I had my Japanese fill for the day, I decided to wonder the streets of Chat instead of heading back to the homestead. I found a bar with a band and eventhough I figured it wasn't my kind of shit I checked it out anyway.

I was very pleased to meet a few cool people among the blue collared shirts and khaki pants. I spent a couple hours hanging out by the bar and making fun of the bands and the crowd. It was hysterical.

I hung out with this guy Sam most of the night. He was really nice until all of us were winding down. Out of nowhere, he got this asshole attitude with me. F-that! Now I fully understand why he is single. And to think he actually had a chance. I was really angry at him for his comments. Just more proof that older men can be just as immature, if not more, than the younger ones.

Frustrated and offended, I caught a cab back to my hotel.

I swear time goes so fast, which makes it really hard to keep up with this. I haven't been home in a couple weeks but it really doesn't feel like it's been that long.

I spent this weekend around Atlanta, mostly at my sister Carla's house. Last weekend I was at Gina's in Charlotte. I think I'm ready to get out of the burbs for a while, i can't take it anymore. It is nice to have a place to chill that isn't a hotel room.

I ventured to downtown Atlanta last night to catch LCD Soundsystem. Super Furry Animals played in another room there but it was going to be impossible to catch both. The venue had a capicity of 1100 but I swear there were less than 500 people there. It was nice to have plenty dance space on the floor. It took me all of about three minutes to find a group of guys to hang out with. It was awesome! My body hurts from dancing non-stop, but it was so worth it. I'm still numb with excitment. I'm actually thinking about driving to North Carolina to catch them again.

Mini-vacation begins

I got to the airport in Baltimore on Friday about three hours before my flight just because I didn't know what else to do with myself. I killed most of the time finishing up some work that I didn't want to visit over the weekend but saved the last 30 minutes before the estimated boarding time to slam a couple Sam Adams Oktoberfest drafts. A buzz on an airplane is a great feeling. As I headed back to the gate, I was disappointed to discover the flight was delayed a little over an hour.
I notified the crew (Kyle, Kevin and Laura) and settled in a deserted area of seats across from the gate. I was buzzed and bored so I dove into the Spin magazine I had picked up earlier. I had already been stuck in the non-smoking airport for hours and I seriously thought another hour would kill me. I never expected that I would get so excited over actually boarding an airplane but as soon as I was in my seat, there was no wiping the smile off my face. It had been six weeks since I revisited the place I call home.

Kyle and Kevin walked in the Dayton airport sliding doors just as I was exiting the secure area, perfect timing. I pretty much ran out the door for a cigarette that actually gave me a buzz. We grabbed some coffee and such which were going to be much needed on the drive to Cincinnati and got the hell out of there.

We dropped Kevin at Sarah's and Kyle and I headed to Laura's so I could unload the luggage and fix my hair before heading to the infamous Murphy's pub for a little reunion.




No matter how long it's been since the last time I've been to Murphy's, nothing there has changed. I guess it provides a little comforts zone for me. I still know all the bartenders and I still walk through the door without anyone checking my ID.

We kept it in true after-hours style when they kicked us out of the bar. Laura, Kyle, Kevin, Pate and I headed over to Kevin's with our 12-pack of carry-out for some card playing and general chilling until we started dropping like flies, good times!

The Tool Lady

Great, out of all names it had to be the Tool Lady. Not that they're serious but I have a feeling the joke is going to keep running for a while. It was a really long day, as of now 15 hours, two of which included talking business at the bar. No complaints there. I was excited to hang out with familar faces over a couple drinks. It was the tool lady and three gentlemen who happen to be at the top of the pyramid with-in their respective companies. It was a new record for the "if you ever need a job, call me" line at 3, excellent.

It's days like this that remind me why I took my job. Not only are these guys impressed by my very detailed tool knowledge but they have commented that the company I work for hit the jackpot by puting a smart female with a fireball personality on the road! I was blushing. I hate excessive flattery from guys hitting on me but when it's work releated, I love it.

Those of you whom have been there on my good days, my bad days and my very bad days, thanks. Today, overall, has been a good day and I believe that tomorrow will be better.

Today didn't start off so well. I couldn't sleep last night which snow-balled into sleeping later than I wanted to which snow-balled into running around to get out the door to meet a co-worker for breakfast. As usual I was right on time, to the minute.

I was expecting to go out for breakfast but when he saw the free stuff in the hotel lobby our plans changed, a menu I usually try to avoid. It's not that the food is complete crap, just that it's the exact same breakfast no matter where I go. I had the usual.

We drove about 25 minutes to meet up with Rob, the salesman I was scheduled with for the day. To my surprise, he was actually cool; an invited alternative to the 'typical' middle-aged sales guys I usually work with. The work talk was kept to a minimum, jokes about the ex-cop pimp look-a-like with horns on his hood (wish I took a picture) and the count of guys asking for my phone number took its place. Today I had a new record of four, just beating the previous record of three with their level of success still remaining at zero. Good thing I don't hand my business cards out like candy.

Today for the first time I ever, as far as I can remember, I can actually understand why chicks get so pissed over breaking a nail. I have yet to give into old habits and I am very proud of myself, but I was so mad that I actually considered getting a fake one put on to match the length of the rest. About two seconds later I was over it.

Once I checked into my hotel, I was looking forward to finishing up a few things, hitting the treadmill and taking it easy but it didn't take too long for that to go to shit. My phone didn't stop ringing, my email was messed, I needed to do laundry and somewhere I had to squeeze in eating time and some easy paperwork. I wouldn't have been so overwhelmed if I wasn't also messing with music files and writing this but that's my own fault.

Anyway, for tomorrow another day in Baltimore, another day in the rain.

bored in Baltimore

This weekend I'm in Baltimore. I haven't ventured far from my hotel, mainly because of rain and a lot of work to do.

Lat weekend I stayed at my cousin Doug's in Boston. We spent the weeking watching a lot of football and drinking a lot of beer. I didn't see much of the city but I wasn't really up for being a tourist.


Sunday I drove to Pennslyvania where I worked for two days before heading to the outer banks of Maryland for the remainder of the week.

Thursay I got hooked up with a sweet deal on an expensive hotel room located next to a great seafood place and a bar. I hit both. At the bar I started chatting with the guys sitting around me, very interesting individuals. One of them talked me into singing karaoke with him, which I never do, but I did. We were terrible, it was awesome. We ended up singing a handfull of times before we realized we could barely read the words on the screen anymore. Everyone there knew everyone else, small town, so the guys kept getting asked who I was. It was kinda fun for like an hour or so but then I just felt like I was working.

Friday was rough, I was supposed to be flying home so I was a little aggrevated, it rained all day and needless to say I was just a little hung over. Luckily, I have perfected my ability to function when needed, that and I sucked down about four cups of coffee before lunch. I alomst got taken to a fast food place for lunch, but I nicely refused. Luckily there was an alternative and I didn't have to buy. I've been able to aviod fast food for a couple weeks now, awesome.

I'm in the Baltimore area for the rest of the week. I'm flying to Cincy on Friday and then it's further down the east coast.

What's up with the weather?

I've been in the west during a severe heat wave, in Seattle for 4 sunny days, in the desert when it rained and now I'm in New England during a flood. It's been raining for almost a week and I can't take it anymore. Don't get me wrong, I love the rain but I like it to go away too.

I'm really pulling for better weather this weekend while I'm visiting my cousin Doug in Boston. It's kinda strange, I haven't talked to him in at least a year and who knows how long it was before that, but i called him out of the blue today to see if he wanted to hang out at all. To my surprise, he sounded excited I was in the area and is looking foward to hitting the town. I don't think we've actually voluntarily hung out with each other since we were kids.

Work was kinda boring today, except for my semi-flashback lunch experience. We went to a small local family restraunt that reminded me of my childhood hang-out. The tables and chairs, coffee mugs, salad bowls, and even the dinner rolls were the same. Strange things to remember but when you grow up in a restraunt, it's those kind of meaningless material things you never forget. There was even a guy behind the bar smoking a pipe that could easily scare small children.

After having such a bad week, especially after the indian food incident, it made me feel much better. I even ordered clam strips, one of my Town House favorites and considered chocolate milk just so I could blow bubbles in it. I stuck to coffee.

I have a feeling that this next week is going to be much better.

bored

Today I'm in massachusets, yesterday it was connecuit, Sunday New York City. I visited Sara for the third weekend in a row. I didn't want to leave but I did and then headed to connecuit only thinking about when I will be able to return. Sara and I didn't do too much over the weekend, ran around in the pouring rain a couple times and ate a lot of sushi. I'm going to miss being able to spend time with her but I guess Thanksgiving and Christmas aren't too far away.

Work has been ok. I took today off because I felt like shit and couldn't sleep last night, but I'm making it up on friday, which I had as an off day. Once again my hotel is in the middle of nowhere so I got delivery, sushi once again. I'm starting to get a little burnt out but I'm not sure if it's because I want to go to Cincy for a couple days or if it's because I miss the way my life was before my real job. It's probably some of both.

I've been working with some really great people, especially in New York and Jersey. Most of them have been guys in their mid-40's and have been very parental like. It's nice to know that they are looking out for me.

This next weekend I'm either going to hang out in Springfield, Mass or possibily visit my cousin in Boston.

Yeah my life's not that exciting right now, hopefully it won't stay that way fro very long.

Cleveland it is

After Laura snuck out of her bartenders class early, we used up most of our motivation and got ready for our road trip to Cleveland. We got to Scott and Regan's late and headed downtown ASAP. The plan was to hit the House of Blues to see Fireball Ministry and CKY but we already missed most of Fireball Misistry's set (friends of Scott and Regan), so Kevin, Laura and I wandered "Ingenuity", the little festival going on, while Scott and Regan stuck to the original plan.

I knew the festival was going on but didn't realize the House of Blues was in the middle of it. We found the "All Go Signs" area in search of the members of Infinite Number of Sounds I found Matt and let him know that we were around and would be back to see their set.

We killed an hour at some cheezy chain restaurant/bar with a couple rounds of Long Island's. Kevin and Laura hit another bar while I wandered around and checked out art work and worked the crowd. While at the "All Go Signs" area, I had three people I apparently didn't recognize from the last event I attended in Cleveland walk up to me to ask where Steve was, very annoying. The fourth person that came up to me I actually remembered, Eric (To Box with Man). To quickly change the subject I asked him about his music projects, I have a few of his spoken word MP3s on my computer that I listen to often. I was happy to hear that a CD is in the works and a MySpace account will be set up soon.



Laura and Kevin resurfaced mid-set, Kevin joined Danielle (Dave's GF), Eric and I in the front row of seats while Laura continued on with Scott and Regan to Peabody's for the CKY / Fireball Ministry after party.

INS played a great set. I was also blown away when Eric joined in and performed the spoken word for the last song. I've only seen him do his thing once before. I'm excited to see INS again next week in Bowling Green, Ohio. Luckily for me they just happen to be playing there while I'm in the area.

After the show I said my good-byes and Kevin and I got a cab to Peabody's to meet up with the crew. We seemed to get the most incompetent cab driver ever, Kevin gave him specific directions and he still had a hard time getting us there, he's lucky I paid him half the total fare.

When we got to the after party we quickly discovered that everyone else had drink tickets. Scott and Regan used some of theirs to get us drinks but I didn't want them to run out too soon so I came up with a plan. After talking to a guy for a few minutes, I would offer to buy him a drink. Once they noticed I was paying with cash, they would tell me to put my money away and use their drink tickets. It was flawless!!


We got to stay at Peabody's after they kicked most people out for the after after party, I felt special. Also we were the only chicks in the bar (Regan Laura and I) surrounded by many hot male musicians. I can't think of a better scenario.

Time off, Yes!!

My flight landed noonish on Friday, I wasn't sure if I really wanted to be in Cincy for stupid reasons but I was much looking forward to the plans Laura and I spent the week constructing. I was also looking forward to a few days with no internet. When I'm on the road and not out on calls, I pratically live on the internet.

After a stressful and annoying work week, I had an urge to go to a spa and get my nails done. I talked Laura into going and treated both of us to manicures and coffee afterwards. After that I was ready for anything.

I dropped Laura off at her class and took her car to Clifton to hang out with Kevin and then to Michelle's to get ready and chill for a while, not very exciting. Laura was finally done at 10 p.m. so I picked her up and we headed to her place so she could pick up some stuff for the rest of the weekend. I usually live the nomadic life but Laura was ready to join in for the weekend.

Our plans to hang out in Kentucky by the river went to shit pretty quickly (along with our Sunday plans), but I got over it. We picked up some grub and went to Kevin's. I made sure I oinked out before drinking cause I had a feeling the night would entail some kind of craziness.

We did Murphy's mostly because it's in walking distance. The first hour was lame but I was bummed and all of us were sober. We stepped it up a notch and dove into some long islands after a round of vodka-red bulls. As time went on I was really happy that we went to Murphy's. The 'crew' was there so I got to see many of the people I hung out with there before I quit hanging out there. The drunken conversations at the end of the night were very flattering. Jess & Pate both gave me the 'I love you man' speech.

Chris showed up after running around Main St. I was super happy to see him, such a sweetheart. We grabbed a six pack to-go right before they kicked us out and headed back to Kevin's.



Kyle, Emily and Kyle's friend Kevin came over to join the party. I was excited to meet Emily but I'm not sure if it was the best idea to meet her at 3 a.m. after being at the bar.


For Entertainment purposes we had a very humorous digital photo shoot, mainly due to the lack of anything else to do. I am so glad I had my camera with me!



We continued bull-shitting until about 4:30 when we started dropping like flys. Good TImes!

there's never any time!!

I was hoping to have the chance to recap the past six days or so but that will have to wait until I actually have time to sit in front of my computer for longer than 30 minutes without other work to do. Actually I should probably still be doing work but it's late I'm tired. I think the official time of the end of the work day was 10:45 p.m.; it started at 7:30 a.m. and included a two hour drive in the middle somewhere. Good thing I like my job.

I recieved a disturbing phone call from Julia this afternoon. Her cousin and our high school drinking partner Tony was in a really, really bad car accident on Sunday. She told me that it was easier for them to count the un-broken bones than the broken ones. He is very lucky to be alive though he is in very bad shape.

Some lady ran a stop sign and hit his driver door. I later found out that my sister already knew and didn't tell me because she didn't want to upset me. grrrr

Anyway, I have a lot more I want to say but I'm just too tired. It will have to wait until I can find extra time.

Lincoln, NE

I was disappointed that I had to stay in Lincoln, Nebraska instead of heading to Omaha. While in Denver, I met a girl that gave me many tips as to where to go and what to see in Omaha, but what the hell was I going to do in Lincoln. I took a $15 cab ride from my hotel by the airport to anywhere downtown. I was dropped of by the University, walked around the campus for a minute and hit the streets of downtown Lincoln. Finally I found some cool stuff which conveniently included shopping. I found a vintage shop, "the Black Market" which was awesome. It was probably a good thing that I didn't have many dollars otherwise I would have gone overboard. I settled for a new band t-shirt "the lepers". I can never have enough t-shirts!

I wandered around another vintage store and a couple record shops successfully resisting purchasing and then hit the "the watering hole" a favorite to locals and college students alike. I quickly discovered that smoking is banned in all bars in Lincoln, annoying but it kept me from smoking too much for entertainment purposes. I meet some interesting characters as soon as I took my post at the bar. I even got them to shoot some pool with me, good times.

I took a cab back to my hotel around 10p.m., returning with a much better opinion of the city of Lincoln and a handful of new friends.

Work came to early on Tuesday but since we were working at two community colleges, I knew it would be a good time. When we finished around 3p.m. I got in my truck and started driving toward Ohio, I can't wait to get to NY when my long driving days will be over until December.

Will the drive ever end?

No it won't! I made it to Colorado around 9p.m. after sleeping in this morning, which was great by the way. Today's drive was less exciting than yesterday's not that that's a bad thing, no truck troubles and no creepy old guys in truck stops.

I tried to take some pictures during my drive but that effort was officially deemed as unsuccessful, with the possible exception of the following picture. I haven't made a final decision of opinion as of yet but it looks almost surreal to me. What do you think?




I used my usual method to make hotel reservations, call the 1-800# and try to find something in a reasonable location, but tonight I got lucky in my random choice. My hotel is what could easily be a crawl from an Irish Pub. I checked-in, dropped my stuff and immediately went for a cold one. I have yet to find an Irish Pub where I feel out of place.

I want to thank Dave and Kendall for the warm welcoming and great conversation. It's great to run into good people in random places. Check out Kendall's Golden Retriever Bone's blog here



During my stint at the pub, an idea for a reality show surfaced. Imagine this, a hot chick driving a tool truck across the country trying to prove herself in a 98% male dominated industry. May not sound all that interesting to you but you're not the one driving the truck. My blog may give you a decent idea of the things I see and the people I interact with but honestly you have no idea. And to think that I'm just getting started!!

An expensive repair later

They finally finished working on the truck around noon today but that was just the start of the problems. One of the guys I worked with complained to the Garage manager over the phone about the bill because he was quoted 2 hours of labor when we were charged for 3.5. An hour of it was knocked off the bill but I still had to sit through the manager bitching at me like I was the one arguing with him. Not only did this annoy me but I had a hand-full of the ugliest guys I've ever seen talking to my chest for the duration of my waiting time. I guess a low-cut tank top was a bad idea. Forty-five minutes and $600 later I was able to hit the road towards Albuquerque.

I stopped at a truck stop about half-way to refuel on gas and grub. Truck stops are usually a little creepy to begin with but as soon as the guys notice a hot chick getting out of a truck, one better have good ignoring skills. As I was paying at the gas counter, the cashier, a scruffy 50-something male, reminded me not once but twice that they offer free showers to truck drivers. I responded with a polite thanks but no thanks grabbed my change and went straight for the exit. I know he wasn't telling me that because I looked like I needed a shower. Once I got back in my truck I giggled to myself, the dirty old men will cease to surprise me though I wish they'd stop trying.

I was excited to arrive in Albuquerque, I'm really not sure why since I'm just going to get up early and start driving to Denver. I am determined, however, to find some kind of night life, aka the closest bar. I was a little disappointed when I asked my sister to call they guy that she knows in this city to see if he would want to hang out and she refused. That's no fun! At least I'm not shy.

Here's some pics from my drive, I apologize for any of the bug guts from the windshield but it would just be too logical for me to pull over to take pictures.

Why me?

I keep telling myself that my bad luck streak will soon come to an end but as soon as I start believing it something else happens. After an extreme mountain drive from Phoenix to Flagstaff, I discovered my transmission fluid overheated (or something like that). I guess the last time Brian took the truck in they didn't change it so it was overdue anyway. Luckily I found a mechanic that can work on it but not until tomorrow morning. It was a sight to see, me walking down historic 66 in Flagstaff for almost a mile with my backpack, computer bag and purse to get to the Hampton Inn. At least I can laugh at myself and at least I have a nice place to stay with a couch. It's the little things that make me happy. I am a little disappointed that I didn't make it to New Mexico but I have an extra day in my driving schedule to spare. SO much for my first day on the road!


My body was over stocked on caffeine and I couldn't sit still so I hit the elliptical machine in the hotel workout room for about an hour. It helped but not very much, I probably could have stayed on for another hour if I wasn't a smoker.

Other than that, there's not much going on. Flagstaff doesn't seem to be a happening town but I'm sure I can find something in the area to keep me entertained this evening.

Phoenix and Tacoma

We left Vegas around noon on Sunday and headed towards Phoenix. Both of us looked pretty rough but I was feeling ok so far. As the day progressed so did my hangover, Brian took over driving after we stopped for lunch, thankfully. It took us six hours to get to the Phoenix suburbs.




I had the day off on Monday which allowed me to get some paperwork done and hit the mall. I finally bought a pair of prescription sunglasses, which I don't think have left my head since. I'm sure it's not a big surprise when I tell you they are pink and silver. Once again retail therapy proves successful!

Work on Tuesday was miserable. We had an open house from 8 a.m. til about 1 p.m. in the over one hundred degree weather. Unfortunately for us, it is monsoon season in Arizona and the humidity levels have been up to a supposedly 70%. I thought I left that shit behind in Ohio. I was shocked that the first time I encountered rain in my first six weeks on the job was in the desert! We didn't even get any rain while we were in Seattle. It's funny how it works.

Brain flew back to Texas this morning so as of today I am officially an independent road warrior. We went to the Claim Jumper for dinner last night, an excellent choice I might add. After dinner we talked a little about some of the issues I've had lately and Brain helped me gain a new perspective on things. Thanks Brian, I much appreciate it.

At 7 a.m. this morning I drove to Tacoma with one of our reps who happens to be loving life at the ripe age of 71. I was a little nervous about the trip at first but the entire drive was spent telling stories and giving me a crash course in Arizona history.

The gentleman we worked with in Tacoma is also an old car fanatic and was nice enough to give me a tour of his garage. A mint 55 BelAir, 57 Thunderbird and a 68 Malibu all to drool over. I guess he got a great deal on the Thunderbird, half its blue book value, so I tried my hardest to get him to sell it to me while still being very polite. It didn't work, needless to say, but I was ready to hook it to the back of my truck and drive it straight to Ohio, a slight detour on my way to Omaha. I told him that if he did decide to sell it to call me, it only has 55,000 miles, it needs no restoration (all original) and it runs perfect, oh and it's black. I'm still drooling!

I made it back to my hotel in Phoenix around 2 p.m., hung out in the sun for awhile, hit the gym and now I get to run around town for the rest of the evening. Tomorrow I start my long haul to Omaha, a drive I'm spreading over four days or so. To my own surprise, there is no nervousness in my blood as of yet. Just me, my ipod and the open road, enough to make some jealous.

...and I'm hooked

Vegas was awesome! I should from what I can remember, Vegas was awesome. Once I finally upgraded to the blackjack table there was no pulling me away. Kyle and I spent Friday and Saturday doing just that. Saturday we spent the entire night at the Las Vegas club at the liberal 21 table. Two guys from Kansas City joined our table towards the earlier part of the evening and partied with us until we decided to finally walk away. I remember telling Kyle that I wanted to take it semi-easy since a 6 hour drive was in my next morning furture but that went to shit as soon as the first of many rounds of shots was ordered. Good Times!

I am dissappointed that I didn't take as many pictures as I would have liked but the dent in my wallet is more than enough proof that I was there. If nothing else it was great to have a fun weekend to help take my mind off other things/people, but that wore off as quickly as the weekend came to an end. Anyway here are som pics.


Kyle & me


a perfect depiction of myself over the weekend


the ever-famous


Kyle w/ hot chick

Losers Circle

Night two on the town and I am a loser thus far, but hey what can you do.

Kyle came to visit only to trigger drama between him and his girlfriend, whom I have never met. One of the reasons she was mad was simply because he is visiting "some bitch" in Vegas. Yeah... I'm such a bitch, I hope that everyone else knows me better. She can call me whatever she wants, but Kyle is my friend and I will not be hateful towards her, I wish she would also be my friend. Actually I believe that if she would meet me that she would like me instead of considering me a threat. (enter laughter here)

We walked through a couple casinos before giving in to the "cold beer" signs at the tourists shops. We continued walking before going to MGM. I felt bad taking a beer in (considered standard) so I chugged my Miller Lite 24 oz. while Kyle took his High Life in with us. I felt so ghetto walking around with a 24 in a little paper bag, how Cincinnati of me. Eventually it will seep into your blood no matter how much you try to fight it.

We played the slots, we're too cheap to play the real games. We both ended up negative, me more than Kyle, but that means tomorrow, it's on; they're not going to get anymore than they've already taken. You may think my optimism is too much but I say it's just enough :-)

another horoscope

Aquarius
Moving up your own personal career ladder could be thrilling -- and yet just a little bit terrifying at the same time. On no account should you beat yourself up for having mixed feelings about being successful. After all, the price of getting what you want is having to deal with ... getting what you want. And while in many ways it's a great thing to achieve so much, it can be stressful, too.

Breaking even is still winning

After finally catching up on work after the six hour drive to Vegas, I debated what to do with myself. Hmm... It didn't take much to convince myself that the best way to keep myself sane and entertained was to hit the strip. We are staying in the Hampton, just across I-15, so I took advantage of the free hotel shuttle and told the driver to just drop me off anywhere he would recommend.

He drove me down most of the strip so I could see where everything was and then dropped me off at MGM. Walking into the casino was eye opening, seriously I thought my eyes were going to pop out of my head. I walked around the MGM casino in awe before heading out to the street and checking out the scene.

The outside was cool but the inside was better. I fought the foot traffic and started with the slots at the Monte Carlo. I spent the following four hours bouncing around casinos, playing slots and not losing money. I could have ended my night ahead but I got greedy and broke even. At least I didn't lose anything and got a few free gin and tonics out of the deal.

Today at work, I drove around with a rep to visit many of his clients. All day he gave me pointers as to where I need to go before I leave Vegas. I think I'll have to party hard this weekend (not that I wasn't planning to anyway) to hit them all. I think after the sister trip to New York, Las Vegas should be next. (hint hint)

Kyle is flying in to visit for the weekend, must be nice to fly for free. I had plans to go to Cincinnati this weekend but that was cancelled. Then again where would you rather be? I'll take Vegas!

Catching up

Sorry I haven't been keeping up but I've been moving around so much I just haven't had the time to blog.

Sunday I flew from Cincinnati to Cleveland to Los Angeles. The quick flight to Cleveland was almost traumatizing. I was on a tiny plane that had one seat on either side of the aisle and seated under 20 people. I started feeling sick during the ride but after I got off I thought I would vomit at any second. Luckily I didn't.

We spent Monday working in LA. The city is cool but I expected the skyline to be bigger, then again I was told that it looks much bigger from when you see it from another direction.

Monday night we stayed in Rondando Beach. Our rooms were upgraded so I got a balcony on the 3rd of 3 floors, it was awesome. I was surprised by the cool weather by the coastline, it was only like 65 degrees. Not that I was complaining, it was much better than the 103 degrees we had in Boise.

We worked half a day in LA on Tuesday and then drove to San Diego to work for the rest of the day. We then turned around and started north towards Las Vegas but stopped after 45 minutes on the road to avoid dreaded traffic. We ended up in Temecula, it was a cute little California town but everything shut down at 8 p.m., except Target which closed at 9.

I drove the truck for the first time by myself to make a quick Target run. It was liberating. When I got back to the Hotel I ordered room-service and continued watching Magnolia, which I had started earlier but had to pause because of the multiple phone calls I'd received. I didn't think that I've seen it before but I had, must have been a while ago. I fell asleep before it was over so I have to watch it again.

Wednesday morning I was able to sleep-in for an extra hour or so before we took off for Vegas. I drive the entire what turned out to be a six hour trip, not bad at all.

Hogscraper vs. Johnny Cash

Since I dropped my cigarette on the floor, can I please use your lighter. I hate being in charge of the tunes especially when it's not my music library. I recognized most of the bands, a crazy variety, some good stuff.

I was surprised to find the Hogscraper, a band that has maintained it's negative Andrea status, but I played it anyway. AHH HA HA HA HA HA
I have it on my computer but I will never admit to contributing to their constant spot on my audioscrobbler. Jon decided on Johnny Cash instead.

Not the same as being a tourist

One month ago today I packed up my fancy rental car, drove to Chicago and walked away from the semi-normal life I spent five years developing. At first it seemed almost glamorous, still does to some extent, but the realization of the 'on the road' lifestyle started kicking in.

At the beginning of my six week training session with Brian, I was so intrigued by my presence in unfamiliar territory, I wanted to be a full time tourist. I'm currently working in state five, California, spent the last week in Sacramento and I can't say that I have one picture to prove that I as much as entered the city limits.

After spending a full day on site and a couple hours following on planning and organizing, figuring out the most cost effective way to reach the city center and/or other main attractions was the last headache I wanted to attempt to medicate. I unconsciously conducted a count of my luggage and put Storytelling, the only movie I have in stock, into the DVD drive on my notebook computer. I was home.

The majority of days, I live at the Hampton Inn. Every state, every city, every morning it's the same breakfast and the same coffee, a strange take on the normal morning routine leaving the variation to the time I pour my first cup of the Robust Blend and the city skyline views I pass to and from client and customer visits.

I stayed on the road for the first two weeks. Towards the end of the stint, the excitement of traveling 'home' for the weekend clouded my attention to other tasks. The weekend trek to eastern standard time only came to prove my concept of 'home' as illusionary. I can use my parent's address and have stuff sent to and stored at my sister's place, but my 'home' is nonexistent.

When wondering through the overgrown retail world for entertainment purposes and time killers, I often catch myself considering the purchase of items to decorate the apartment I do not live in and to fill the closet I do not have. I have even considered ingredients for food I could not cook. Sounds pathetic, teasing myself with the 'rewards' society expects from having a real job.

Many business students expect to set up work camp in a cube following their much anticipated graduation date. I was expecting it but it was not something to which I was looking forward, the confines would only result in a strong relationship between my forehead and the sharpie decorated desktop.

I have had my doubts of working in an industry with an employee base that is over 90% male and sometimes the feeling of insecurity that goes along with the lack of solid living arrangements gets a little overwhelming but the chaos and uncertainty proves magnetic.

As the workload constantly increases and the schedule intensifies my yearning for personal freedom becomes more of a reality and my fear of living stagnate dwindles. I don't know if the real world is going to be able to handle me but it doesn't have much of a choice.

Funeral over the phone

I wanted to be there more than anything but that was asking the impossible considering I'm currently in California and didn't have enough cash in my account to buy the tickets or the balls to ask for the time off. I called Bryan just in time for another 'cheers to Kevin', actually it was about 13 seconds late but he still counted it valid.

Bryan was nice enough to bring his phone around to Ryan and Jason (Kevin's older brothers respectively) so I could voice my own sympathy. I know that the words that I had to express where no different than than those expressed all day long but I feel better knowing that they heard it from me directly rather that from a cheezy hallmark card.

The Exact time of of me typing this sentence is 12 a.m. E.S.T and I called Shelly just to say happy B-Day and my phone battery is out of juice. Happy B-day Shelly!!

keeping busy is key

It's just after 10 p.m. and I just finished for the day. I got back to the hotel around 6 p.m. but after being on site all day there was plenty of paperwork and phone calls to keep me busy. I actually wish I had more to do just so I'm not bored. Once I get bored it's all downhill.

Isn't my life just so exciting!!

Tomorrow I'm going to try to do some actual Sacramento exploring, but we'll see.

I'll get into Cincy on Thursday at 10:40 p.m. (I still need a ride if anyone can pick me up) This is going to be my last weekend in the Nati for I don't know how long so as for Thursday and Friday night, it's on!

p.s. I still haven't recieved my missing bag from the airlines, bastards

Back in the west

I didn't say much about being in Portland last week because all I could think about was my trip home for the weekend. I was exuberating with excitement to go back to the nati, I feeling that I never thought I would have so strongly. That went to shit as soon as my plane landed and I got word that Kevin Schutz died. I was proud of myself for keeping my cool until I got in Michelle's car. As so as I got in the car the tears came.

I felt better when I got to Steve's, I was so excited to see him. We went out to dinner and then I went to the Victor Street to hang out with my girls for a while; I should have stayed there. After Steve and I made it most of the way through the movie Mean Girls, we decided to crash. It wasn't until I was ready to pass out that he broke up with me, *ouch*. I didn't know what to say or do so I just grabbed as much of my stuff that I could grab quickly and left in tears.

Luckily I still have my keys for the victor street house, so I dropped off my stuff and headed to Murphy's where my sister was going to meet me to make sure I was OK. I wasn't, I was devastated. I hid by the back bar until they moved us up front, letting friends buy me shots to make me feel better, it didn't work, I was just getting more upset. Michelle took me back to the Victor Street house where Jon picked me up to see if he could cheer me up.

Michelle was a little apprenhensive to let me go with Jon since she was now driving me to Minster in the a.m., as the original plan was to take Steve's jeep. I did talk to Steve for a while on the phone, against all recommendations, probably should have listened. Jon did make me feel much better with his Andrea is the coolest chick ever speeches. Thanks Jon, you're also the coolest.

Saturday while at my parent's house, I had a moment of anger when I looked at my pink and black bracelets covering my right wrist and I tried to rip one off, very unsuccessful. Michelle noticed what I was trying to do and got out the scissors. With tears forming, she cut them off and threw them away. It was almost ceremonial. To make myself feel better and to replace them I bought a really nice green bracelet from the jewelry line that Lisa sells. It was expensive but dammit I deserved it.

Saturday night I originally wanted to go out and have fun, I had been looking forward to going to the light brite festival but was nervous that's I'd run into Steve and it would be weird so Jon and I hung out at his house, I got drunk and passed out early.

Sunday I was feeling a little better and a little less worthless so I invited Steve to go out to breakfast with Sara Aaron and I. I didn't really want to see him but I thought it would be unfair for me to go out with his friends and him not be there, especially since it was Sara's last day in town before her move to New York. Once again I was proud of myself for not getting upset even though I lost most of my appetite.


So much for a fun relaxing weekend. If I thought being burnt out towards the end of last week was bad then I'm afraid how the next few day are going to be. At least I'll be back in Cincinnati Thursday night so I can hang out with friends and pull myself back together.

I made it to the airport just in time, as usual. I walked around in a daze most of the day but I was feeling better until I got to Sacramento and realized that they lost the bag that I checked that contained some important work stuff. This was just too much for one weekend. I made it to my hotel and I cried.

R.I.P. Kevin Schutz

We always called him little shitter, Jason was shitter and Ryan was big shitter, but now Kevin is gone. I will never forget his enthusiam, everytime he said anything to me, I could feel his energy for life. Carrie Shelly and I would always say the he would be the cutest, and he was. R.I.P Kevin Schutz, you will be missed. Everytime I visited, it was always a special treat to be graced with your presence. You were a little brother to all of us.

Tacoma

For the second day in a row, I finally dragged myself out of bed much later than I should have. Knowing that this would probably happen, I made sure to have almost everything packed last night. I was like a ninja getting ready and I still had time for a quick breakfast and crappy coffee, I'm awesome. We drove 20 minutes to Tacoma, WA where we met up with the jobber that I would be working with all day. He was very energetic for 9 a.m. and stoked about getting to show off the corporate truck to as many of his customers that time allowed to visit.

The first stop we made was just what I needed to wake me up from my normal morning haze (that and my fresh cup of coffee). He took me to a Garage called Classic Reflection Coachworks. Basically they take brand new Corvettes and gut them.



Then they rebuild them with a classic body style, in this case a 1965 vette.




I'm not sure how many of you know about my thing for corvettes (the 72 stingray is my dream car) I was in awe. I'm talking mouth dropped, tongue hanging out, drooling action. I talked about it all day, I felt privileged to get to see this operation.

The we made about 18 more stops by 2 p.m. then met back up with Brain to head to Portland. I drove the truck almost the whole way. I think I'm ready to start taking over for the city driving, maybe.

I got more work done in the hotel in Portland, we went out to dinner (seafood again) and that's about it.

Last full day in Seattle

Getting up for work today was a struggle. I had 4 alarms set (3 on my cell and an alarm clock) and a wake-up call and I still got up 30 minutes after I should have. Luckily I am low maintenance so I got ready as quickly as I could so I could still have time to grab something from the breakfast buffet and some of the horrible, but highly caffeinated coffee that is served with it.

I did the work thing. I was on my own for lunch today, luckily I found a cute cafe among the suburban sea of crappy fast-food joints. The chef / owner came to talk to me to see where I wandered in from. I guess they don't get a lot of eat-in customers. Usually it's annoying for someone random to strike up a conversation while eating but today I welcomed it.

He discussed the problems with organic food growers and how they label themselves organic when only 25% of their produce may be certifiable. After leaving me to finish my lunch, he returned with a sample of his new salad concoction, spinach with feta and bacon tossed in a raspberry vinaigrette. It's making me hungry again just thinking about it.

After we finished our workday calls I did a little more work at the hotel. While talking to Sara on the phone, I made my way to the mall across the street in search of a long pink dress for Hillary and Endo's short notice wedding. I hit every department store, nothing. I walked another 4 blocks to David's Bridal to see what they had. Nothing in my size apparently. Guess I'll just have to try in the next city.

After I walked out of David's I decided to meander around some other stores in the strip mall. No matter how much shit I talk about hating these overgrown shopping complexes, I'm still shopping there, it just doesn't seem right. I got over that while I was in Best Buy gawking at all the toys I want but can't afford. I spent a good chunk of time walking slowly from TV to TV. I had about six different people try to help me. I don't know if that's because I looked truly interested in buying or just because its Best Buy. I think it's more the latter.

I started getting a little depressed because even if I could afford new toys, I have no place for them. By bags were full when I left Cincinnati; I don't even know where to put the few things that I've purchased over the weekend. Luckily I'm getting a better idea of what I need and what I can live without. I still miss my shoes.

Now I'm back at the hotel again trying to figure out where I'm going to get my dinner. I'm craving some of Steve's burritos with eggs and salsa but even if I wanted to try to make it for myself, I'm shit outta luck. I think my choices are Applebee's or Outback... I think I'll just starve.

Sunday

Sunday I ventured to downtown Seattle to see a few more areas of the city. I roamed around Pioneer Square, the old city, and went on the Underground Seattle Tour. Basically, back in the day, most bars and store fronts were underground because the streets were built up after the buildings were already in place.



I roamed around downtown taking pictures with my 35mm and then hit the waterfront for another round of seafood.

After being lazy in the hotel for a while, I walked forever to the cinema to catch Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. I couldn't help but compare it to the older movie version but I still liked it. I can't give a true analysis because I've never read the book, but maybe I'll just have to see if Aaron will lend me his copy so I can do so.

After the movie I called a cab so I could go to one of the convenience stores to get some smokes. I thought they were convenience stores for a reason but in the burbs it's only true if you can drive there. Reason #1023 why the burbs suck. I surprised that I could actually get a cab in under 20 minutes.

mmm.. Seafood

We started towards downtown around noon with no plans of what we were going to get into. We got a map as soon as we got down there and headed to the Pike Place Market. We were able to see the famous fish throwing but I was unable to get any good pictures of it.
We headed across town to Seattle Center to check out Experience Music Project. We picked up the headphone info sets and spent a couple hours exploring the history of music in Seattle and the history of guitars. I couldn't get any pictures on the inside but got a couple of the building.





We headed to the waterfront to get an early seafood dinner. We unintentionally went to one of the top US seafood places, according to some magazine. We both had the problem of deciding on one type of underwater creature so we got some of everything. Check it out for yourself...



I tried one of the little things with the eyes but I had to have Brian peel it for me. Even then I still couldn't eat them, lucky for Brian.




After dinner we headed back to the hotel. I'm going to hit downtown again tomorrow to get some good pictures with my 35mm camera. I'll probably be the nerd taking pictures in both 35mm and digital.

Finally in Seattle

Thursday was a day to forget, with the exception of the beautiful scenery. The actual work day was good but when we finished our business stops, we were off to Seattle not knowing exactly how long it would take us to get there.

There is no great route to get from Boise to Seattle, as least as far as we know, so we took a semi-suggested scenic route that consisted of two lane state roads winding through the mountains. I got to drive the truck for the first time. I think Brian was impressed with my performance except he said I drove a little too fast. I guess it's time to get my lead foot under control.

Twelve hours later we were still over two hours from Seattle, but we found our way to Interstate 90 and a Holiday Inn.

Before checking-in to the hotel we hit Denny's for beers and breakfast food only to return in the a.m. for another round but without the beers. It was time for round two with the truck but this time on the highway. I got a little nervous here and there but I'm getting the hang of it.

I talked to my boss a little today and found out that I will be visiting our Ohio factory in September. If this works out the truck might be making an appearance at the parents house that is if there is enough room to park it.

Since getting into Seattle we haven't really done much. I went to the mall across the street to find a charger for the digital camera so it wouldn't be useless. I talked to the employees at Hot Topic for a minute and got some tips on the Seattle scene. One of the girls invited me to meet them at a show on Monday if I wanted to go but not by myself. She said I would be able to meet her friends (so she says) who are playing, also known as GWAR. I'd really only be interested in meeting them if I could take Steve with me, he's a fan, hardcore.

Tomorrow is tourist day so I should have some good Seattle pictures then. I did get a picture of downtown when we drove past. Also, here are some pictures from our long haul (Thursday).

Driving Idaho

Today was uneventful for the most part. We drove from SLC to Logan, UT for a stop with a potential client and then headed towards Boise. I think is was around 300 miles but I can't say for sure.

My co-worker let me play my I-pod for the entire drive so he could discover some new music. So far he's discovered that he likes the Dandy Warhols and is intrigued by Blond Redhead.

We are actually staying about 20 miles west of downtown Boise so there is nothing interesting to do by a cheap taxi ride except to visit one of many cinemas we passed along the highway. I think I am going to try to see Willy Wonka tomorrow since we will be here another full day.

Here are some pictures I took along the way today. Hopefully I will have more interesting things to say in the days to come.

Salt Lake City

After getting up just after 6 a.m. eastern time and sitting on a three and a half hour flight that I almost missed, all I wanted to do was nap. With no coffee in my system, I made it through the first day in my new position. Tomorrow I'll make sure coffee is involved.

Over lunch we discussed the Mormon life and some history of the religion with a practicing member. The center of the Salt Lake City street grid is the Mormon temple. It is a beautiful granite building that took over 40 years to build.



The mountains surrounding the area are no way near as impressive as the alps but are still nice too look at



Lucky for me SLC has a light rail system. We are staying in the burbs and with out the public transport, I wouldn't have been able to see much. I had just enough time to take the train down, run around the city for an hour and take the train back in time for dinner.



Being easily amused, I thought the look signs painted on the streets at intersections were great, especially for us stupid people. They reminded me of similar signs in Dublin, which were necessary for those not used to cars on the wrong side of the street.



Tomorrow morning we are heading to Logan, for a stop on our way to Boise. As for Salt Lake City, the scenery is nice but it is too small for me.

2229 Victor Street Girls

it's been fun !!!

packing lite is never easy

I finally cut down my wardrode to fit in my little suitcase. As long as I can fit my soes in somewhere I'll be ok. I'm sad because my new Pumas had to stay behind. At least I have a key to my sister's apartment so I can get stuff out of storage whenever I'm in town if she's not there.

The weekend had been fun but it went too fast. Friday we went to Christy's and Saturday we drove to cleveland for the All Go Signs event. We the main reason I wanted to go was to see Infinite Number of Sounds, a Cleveland based band that incorperates video with their live tunes, fucking awesome. Steve was invited to spin during INS's Cleveland CD release party on August 12th. Hopefully I will be able to fly into Cleveland on time, since it is on a Friday.

Today has been pretty uneventful. The drive back to Cincinnati was bearable but we were grateful to get out of the car. I still have some packing to finish but for the most part I am ready to go. My flight leaves at 9 a.m. and I will be in Salk Lake City around 11 a.m. mountain time. I hear it's been over 100 degrees, and all I have are long sleeve work shirts. Not looking foward to that.

friday :-)

I'm writing this blog through email since I can't seem to get to the
blogger site, hopefully this works. It's my last day of training in
Chicago. I am thrilled that starting Monday I will no longer sit at a
desk in a cube, even though it will be a pain not having a permanent
work space. I got paid today and already spent most of it.
I have over $1400 tied up in expenses right now so hopefully I will
have it in my account by next week. I'm a little nervous because I
booked my flight from Boise to Cincinnati but not my flight from
Cincinnati to Seattle because I didn't have enough funds. If I can't
get a flight by early next week, it will be a wasted ticket.

What makes me even more nervous is the possibility of not having
enough funds to pay for my hotels and food. It would have been much
easier for me if they would've just given me a company credit card.
Easier but dangerous.

I have a lot of downtime today waiting for people to finish up
meetings so they can meet with me. What makes this even worse are the
problems with the network. I could loose my connection at anytime. It
happened earlier and was down for over 30mins. Now that's boredom.

Last night I attempted to pack a suitcase for the next week (possibly
two), not an easy task. I may only have enough room for one pair of
shoes and it would have to be my work shoes. I could upgrade to a
bigger suitcase but I can carry on the smaller one, saving time at the
many airports I'll be visiting. I guess that once I get to the truck I
will have personal storage space if I want it.

As soon as I am done working with the product manager today, I get to
head back to the Nati. Luckily for me, he is a busy guy and doesn't
have much time to for me. I'm hoping to be out of here by 3 at the
latest but we'll see.

today's horoscope

this is my horoscope for today, I think it's fitting.


Aquarius
Movement isn't just something you enjoy. It's something your restless sign absolutely craves. And since you insist on it, why would you want to argue when the universe provides it? Get on the plane, hop on the train or climb into the car. Regardless of which it happens to be, you've got someplace to be, someone to take you there and someone to welcome you once you arrive. This hardly seems like it could be a problem.


horoscope provided by Astrology.com

yesterday (tuesday)

The point of getting a training schedule was to make sure that my time would be used effectivly. Unfortunately, it has completely changed this week and I feel that I am wasting my time. Today I have nothing scheduled. I am supposed to do internet research on competitors, I did a lot of that yesterday. It is now 8:53 a.m. and I am not scheduled for anything else until after lunch, around 1 p.m.
Yesterday I spent the most day in customer service, boring. It's hard to observe a customer service department when you can only hear one side of the conversation so it wasn't as informative as it could have been. But everyone was very nice and I know they will be very helpful once I am on the road.
After work I kept myself entertained while waiting for Gina to get home by running around and taking pictures. The rain had just stopped and the sky was a mixture of sunshine and gray clouds. I wasn't able to get great reflection pictures off the glass buildings, but I'm not into those pictures a great deal anyway. I took just over two rolls so hopefully some of them turned out. I'll have to try to get them developed over the weekend since I can finally afford to do so. I need to find my box of used rolls and start getting those developed, I'm sure I will find some great stuff.

After dinner, Gina sent me to the grocery store since she had a lot of work to do. The worst part about grocery shopping in Chicago is trying to carry everything back to the apartment. Luckily we have a grocery store in the complex and they offer a delivery service for a small charge depending on the amount of groceries purchased. I probably looked stupid walking to the apartment with a guy pushing a shopping cart but it would have been worse if I was carrying them myself and dropping shit all over the hallway.

After doing a little work myself, I got to watch some Aqua Teen Hunger Force on Adult Swim. I forgot how much I enjoy watching it, it's been a while.

Heopfully I can make it through today with much less boredom than yesterday, but we'll see.

It's now week 2 day 2. I have a minor hangover after a night of sake and beer, I should have known better than to mix. I went out for Sushi with my sister and one of her co-workers. We tried a new place on Randolph which proved to be the best I have had yet in Chicago. I would never be able to afford a dinner like that on my own, I think the bill for three of us was around $230. They're big whigs so they can expense those kind of things. After dinner we stopped at Dylan's for another round and then back to the apartment. My sister has already planned for us to go out again on Wednesday night but I'm not sure if I can handle it. I don't do well in the morning after a night of drinking especially when work is involved. For the first time ever I can truthfully say that one of my older sister's is a bad influence, who ever thought that would happen.

I was close to beating my record travel time of four hours between Cincinnati and Chicago, but it went to shit right after I crossed the Sky Bridge into the city. I finally walked into the apartment just before midnight Eastern Time, about five hours after getting in the car in Clifton. It was the last chance I had to try to break the record since I am driving to Cleveland next weekend before going back to the Nati. Michelle visited Chicago for the first time over the weekend. I tried to get her to come up a couple months ago but she always had other stuff going on. As expected she had a great time and is now disappointed that I am no longer moving here permenently. I don't think she fully realizes that she is allowed to stay at the apartment whenever she wantes, as long as she can arrange to get a set of keys. It's weird for me to have no solid living arrangements. I was asked for my address while making a purchase at micro-center and I laughed a little before I told the sales guy that I didn't have one. I guess I could have given him my parents address but I don't think they need to get any more junk mail with my name on it. ALong with shopping at micro-center this weekend, Steve and I also went to 3 curcuit city's, a best buy and HH Gregg all in search for the Palm Pilot I need for work. I didn't get one until we got back to Steve's and I found what I wanted on the internet. Apparently no one carries a decent stock of Palm Pilots Just because we couldn't find a Palm doesn't mean we didn't buy anything. Steve got some new toys including a digital camera. Since he got a new one I inherited his old one and he also hooked me up with some portable speakers so I can actually listen to music without being right next to my computer. We didn't really do much else this weekend, which was good because seven hours of shopping was enough to kill all our energy. Tomorrow it's back to work for week #2. I'm excited to get through this week and to actually start in my position, eventhough it will still be training for a while. Anyway it's late and I'm tired.

I've never been much of a morning person but today took the prize. I had the TV programmed to turn on at 6 a.m., my three cell phone alarms were randomly set for times between 6 and 6:30 and the actual alarm clock was set for 6:35 exactly. I finally woke up closer to 7 a.m. with everything going on full blast. Difficulty sleeping is to blame. More specifically, it's the orange lighting that creeps through the blinds, I'm used to sleeping in complete darkness. I'm sure that my attempt to shut out the light by covering my head with all the blankets muffled any sound that was determined to interrupt my much needed slumber. Luckily I half-way prepared my morning coffee before hitting the mattress, having to just add water and hit the switch before my quick shower. I am grateful that I have easy attire requirements for work otherwise I would have been late for sure. Day two showed to be much more interesting that day one. I spent the morning reviewing current and previous promotions to gain a better understanding of some of the marketing efforts. I also approved a proof for my business cards (I HAVE BUSINESS CARDS) and picked out my permanent supply of work shirts. I wasted time looking into computer bags and PDAs while I waited for one of the sales guys to finish a meeting so he could take me out to lunch and then to some of the big local distributors whom I will be working with in the near future. There was much excitement that a female is taking over the role as product specialist, I am the first. Once I arrived back to the apartment, I changed and headed downstairs to pick up the pound of Flor azul (I spelled it "Flora" yesterday) that was not available when I bought the rest. I stopped by the hair place to see if they had any openings but discovered it was $35 for a wash and cut and walked out. I'm not forking that over for a minimal trim. If I had a good pair of scissors I'd do it myself, but I don't. My plan was to take it easy for the evening but after having dinner at the sports bar I ended up staying and having a video crack challenge with a guy from Italy who was also dining alone. His game of choice was movie trivia. Hands down, I lost, big surprise. The only would have had a chance if I had Steve on the phone while I was playing (and this guy was from Italy!) At least I was somewhat entertained. They bar downstairs is nice because the majority of the people there are there alone so it is easy to strike up a conversation. I have found that most of the people that go there are in Chicago for business and live (temporarily) in the complex, great place for networking. Too bad I don't have my business cards yet. Now it is 11:49 exactly and I want nothing more than to crash but I still have to pack for the weekend so I can avoid as much downtown traffic as possible when I am done for the day.

I made it through the first day of the new job with little excitement. I discovered that whoever made my schedule for the week over estimated on the time it would take for information sessions with the different departments. I got to take the plant tour twice and was guided through the socket process at least three times. At least I got it down. I got my work computer today which I have verified is just a little smaller than my personal. Now I just have to figure out the easiest way to carry around two laptops. Luckily for me my old laptop case, the one with the broken strap, is still in my sister's apartment so I don't have to go out and buy another one until I decide what kind I want. I made it back to downtown without encountering any slow traffic, surprisingly. I expected it to be much worse. I quickly changed out of my work attire and headed in search of a fifth third so I could deposit my expense front and get cash to make it through the next couple days. The location I am familiar with did not have an ATM willing to accept deposits. I figured someone was too lazy to refill the envelopes it dispenses. Luckily I was able to locate another location via the customer service line. FYI if you're in Chicago and need a Fifth Third there is one in the Sears Tower, I never would have found it on my own. I was expecting to head to Wrigleyville to meet up with Shawn and Brent soon thereafter but they called and postponed until later this evening so I went to H&M to kill time. Luckily for me they are having a big sale this week. I then hit the Nordstrom Rack, the discount stuff, where I found some awesome shoes. Navy blue Pumas for $20, I wasn't strong enough to walk away. I grabbed a cup of coffee on my way back to the apartment thinking the downstairs coffeeshop would be closed. I was wrong so I quickly finished the coffee I had and went in to buy some by the pound. I had a sample of the Flora Azul, the excellent medium roast that just finished brewing but they were out of whole beans until tomorrow. I ended up with a half pound of the Organic Brazil Cachoeira and a pound of the highly recommended Bean Addiction (also the name of the Coffeeshop). I'll probably still go back tomorrow and get the Flora Azul. Since I have never had one of their famous lattes and since I was such a good customer, they made me one for free. Mind you I chugged a cup of coffee right before I walked in the door. Who is highly caffeinated? I think it's me! I'm still waiting for Shawn and Brent to call but I think I'm going to start towards Wrigleyville just because I can't sit still.

After tomorrow it's no turning back. I am going to accept a job as a product specialist that is 100% travel. I start in two weeks in Chicago where I will train for two weeks and then fly to the west coast and spend a month with Brian the guy I'm replacing to learn the ways of the road. I will then spend who knows how long zig-zagging all across the US trying to impress mechanics and store managers with my tool knowledge, a tool specialist. Who knew that I would spend hours filling my brain with tool knowledge. You know what my dad is getting for Christmas this year!! I keep telling people that I will be a glorified truck driver and laugh to myself. It is almost impossible for me to take anything too seriously. I am somewhat relieved that I will not spend my immediate post college time in a cube forced to listen to and converse with those around me on an almost constant basis. My office will be my truck and my hotel rooms. I just have to be careful not to let the hillbilly seep into my blood after spending five years of trying to detox myself. However this is just another step of proving my worthiness in a man's world. All my life, with all my guy friends, I have spent proving that I can 'hang'. This time it's hardcore. I am not looking forward to the 'sweethearts' and the 'enter cheesy cat call here' from, well from anyone. I am fortunate enough to have the mentally to not take shit from anyone and the skill to throw it back it their face when needed. This is just another job to add to my extensive list of random shit I've done in the past, but this time it's full time.

I started my new telemarketing job yesterday. I was afraid it was going to be as horrible as my last job but so far I was wrong. The working environment is much better. I have an actual desk with drawers and filing that I share with no one. There are five other people in the same room as me whom were very supportive today, my first day on the phones. I feel kinda bad because I have not mentioned my intentions to move to Chicago in the upcoming months. Oh well. I have two interviews in Chicago this Friday. One is based in Chicago and one is a nationwide sales job. If I get the nationwide job I will be able to fly back to cincy on most weekends, on the company tab. If I take the job in Chicago, I have to pay to come back. But if I am based in Chicago, I will be able to experience one city and be able to make friends. I don't know what I want yet, one city with friends or traveling the states and getting to experience many cities on the short term. I may not get offered either. I get to drive a rental car up there, paid for by one of the companies I'm interviewing with. Good thing I don't have to drive the truck, that would be torture.

Everytime I recieve a call about a potential job, I get a burst of excitement that someone might actually hire me. The strength of today's burst almost caused and internal explosion. I recieved a call for a national sales position that requires 100% travel with 100% expenses paid. Eventhough it was a contracted recruiter, he thought that I would be a great fit and told me to expect a second phone call later this afternoon, phase two. We talked a little about the potential of not being based out of one perticular city and he thought that since I am flexible as to where I fly on the weekends, it would be more cost effective for the company ex. fly to whatever city is cheaper at times. This is great for me because I have many options as to where I can go, Cincinnati, Chicago, Charlotte, Atlanta, Toledo just to name a few. This would also gurantee that I can get back to Ohio for events such as Steve's B-day show and Carrie's shower and wedding, not to mention holidays, and I would still be able to spend as many weekends as I want in Chicago. I am however looking foward to moving in with my sister Gina and she's not there on the weekends. We'll see how it goes, it was just one phone call.

Luckily I woke up by noon today. I had almost forgotten about the interview I had scheduled for 1:30 this afternoon. I made it just in time suprisingly considering I had to drive to Sharonville. The company is called Lead Source and it's another telemarketing job. Luckily i don't mind harassing unknown homeowners on a daily basis, and for somereason I'm actually good at it. It must be the socialite in me coming to surface. I know I'm still going to hate going to work but at least I'm not a waste of space anymore, and I'll have an income. I've been unemployeed for a weekend and I already hate how it feels. Since i have experience in the field, he hired me on the spot and I got a $2.50 per hour raise from my last job. When I got back to my house I decided to pack up some of my shit so I can get it all out of there before Friday. That gives me three days. I spent a few minutes talking to michelle trying to arrange closet space in her apartment for my clothes. Sounds like living out of my suitcase is my only option. Since I don't even have space in her house to keep my suitcase, I'm going to be living out of my non functional car since the truck has no secure storage other than the tiny cab. I know it sounds kinda sad but I don't mind so much. I'm sure I'll be carrying by backpack and my green box with me all over the place. It will be like when i was running around Europe, well kind of. no matter what, it will be interesting to see how things work out.

So far it's been my lucky day today. Someone wants to buy my car and Matt stopped by with a special treat for everyone. After switching loads of laundry I walked down to Ravine street to get some munchies and I picked up an Ohio lottery scratch off, an occasional impulse buy. For only getting $1 ticket i was happy to discover that I won $10. That may not seem like anything to some people but that will last me a couple of days as long as i don't have to put too much gas in the truck. Other than that my day has been fairly uneventful, so far. Steve is playing noise at the Comet tonight, which I haven't yet decided whether I'm going to be in attendence. I think Michelle is willing to go along just to see his set and we may get dinner sometime before or after. We'll see, hopefully it will be some good time no matter what we get into.

So yesterday i walked out on my job. My reasoning was in response to the new policies put in place to maximize the productivity of the marketing department and cut back on necessary costs. I say it's a way to screw employees out of deserved pay. Eith way, I didn't really want to go back to work anyway. The only question now is what to do next. I spent my free afternoon looking for a filler job in cincy when i could have been looking for a job in chicago. The deal is that I could move to Chicago with-in the next two weeks, if I wanted to. Part of me is saying that the pratical thing to do is to just go. Sell my car, take the money and use it to live while I find a job there. All this while my heart wants to stay in cincy a little longer meaning, as of now, the end of July. That is my deadline. I am excited about getting to move somewhere new but I don't want to walk away from a great guy I've come to care a lot about.

It's Wednesday afternoon and I have four hours until I have to be anywhere. I'm finally able to go back to work today with the help of a working vehicle. I haven't been there is something like two weeks. Yesterday I turned in my last college paper and went to my last lecture. Exciting yet boring. I think I spent most of the class exchanging text messages with my sister Michelle. After class I recieved a call from Purp, the crazy guy I've been friends with since I was in grade school. Him, Nate and Nick are working on a building in Milford and invited me to join them at the bar and then at their hotel to hang out. By the time I got there, they were wasted. I love those boys to death I know that they would do anything for me but damn they can drive me crazy. I felt really bad because I never told Nate of my plans to move to chicago. He found out from Bryan (Purp) but was upset that I did not tell him myself. They tried to talk me into moving back home and working for their new construction company. I'm so proud of them for starting a venture on their own. I didn't expect to hang out with for as long as I did but they didn't want to see me go. It's amazing that for being such tough guys how much their emotions come out after a few beers. The new guys on their crew told me all the good things my boys said about me before I arrived and my boys spent the last 20 minutes of my presence reminding me how much they love me and how they will always be there for me. It's a great feeling knowing that my oldest guy friends think so kindly of me. After leaving Milford I trucked over to fairfield to hang out with Steve and Jennifer. They were singing karokee at an empty bar in the middle of nowhere. It was nice because they got to sing every three songs or so. I love watching Steve sing, he's really good at it and he's really sexy behind a microphone.

I can honestly say today was one of the best days I've had in awhile even though I've had a lot of good days lately. I slept longer than I wanted to but I got up in time to accomplish the things I had planned. I made it to Dayton to see my dad. I was so excited to hear that he is going to be able to leave the hospital earlier than expected due to his speedy recovery. His therapist had to meet with him an extra time just to emphasize that he has to take it easy. He's a go-getter and refuses to let by-pass surgery slow him down. He reminded me of myself when I had my surgery and wanted to get back to normal daily life ASAP. I was only there for a couple hours in an effort to get back to cincy before the intense holiday traffic kicked in. I still hit it. It took me two hours for a normal 45 minute drive. I arrived home to a message from Steve that he got off work an hour early due to the holiday, excellent. We went to his brother Mike's gallery opening at the 1305 Gallary on Main. i was very impressed with Mike's artistic talent mostly because his style is what i consider to be good art if that makes sense. Then was dinner and a show at Sudsy's, good times. Steve dropped me off at home just in time for me to jump in as asshole in a game of the same name. After a round at Christy's, i went to Jon's for some of his leftover keg and then back to Steve's. I feel like I've been overly productive today though most of my activities were more social than anything. Today was the perfect start to what I expect to be a great weekend, it is only friday

I've known for about a month now that June 12th is my move out day. Today I finally bit the bullet and starting weeding through the shit I've accumulated over the past five years. Especially since I moved into the Victor Street apartment, September 1st 2002. All day I've weeded through boxes, bags and drawers and emptied shelves. I should have progressed more than I have but I find myself memorizing the looks of things before deciding its destiny. I've watched tapes recorded in my video camera, just to catch a glimpse of past drunkenness, only to make 'cleaning' harder on myself. I'm still having I hard time officially stating that I am packing, officially growing up has never appealed to me...

I decided to suck it up and go out by myself last night. Usually when I go out alone, I go to a live show. Instead I went to the Metro Smart Bar, a dance club, definitely not my usual scene. After about half an hour chillin by myself, I met a couple interesting guys, both muscicans. One was wasted, funny but borderline annoying. His friend was cool but tired of babysitting. I got to talk music for a while but soon grew tired of trying to screm over the beats from the turntables. They bought me a few drinks, which was excellent until the drunk one ordered us drinks and them realized he was out of cash. he's lucky I'm a nice girl. After they left I started talking to this guy who barely spoke english. I discovers his name is Danas and he's from lithuainia (hopefully I spelled that right). He talked me into hitting the dance floor because I guess that's his thing. He's the type to join in a 'dance off' in clubs. I still think I was a better dancer. We ended up going down the street to the Euro club just for the sake of a new environment. The scene was less snobby but most people were speaking other languages. Per Danas I discovered it was full of people speaking mostly Russian, Polish and Chechz. Danas was fun to hang out with but was offended when I told him I was going to get a cab home. He wanted to drive me. Not that I would have let him drive me home if he was sober but after he drank as much as I did there was no way in hell. On the way home in the cab, I saw two accidents on lake shore, one looked really bad. When I got back to the apartment, I tried calling my cell and discovered I was no longer receiving incomming calls. I was wondering why no one called me all day, I just assumed there was no love. I was happy to discover that Steve was still alive when I called. We spent quite some time exchanging pictures over MSN messanger. Mostly he was sending me pictures. I think i was on the phone until 6 a.m. and even then I probably could have talked forever. That's what red bull will do to you. I still have a red bull hyper buzz and that's after a few hours sleep.