Owie... have you ever wrenched your shoulder by the mere act of pulling on a shirt over your head? I have. Not once. Not twice. A few times. And every time, it’s been inside a dressing room of a store.
I don’t know what it is-- maybe it’s because my movement is restricted due to the small size of the stalls, making me perform contortions. Or maybe it’s because the whole point of dressing rooms is to TRY on clothes, and I’m unwittingly putting on something ill-fitting.
No matter the reason-- it hurts like a bitch! I invariably end up straining the top of my shoulder, the back of it, and all along the front to my breastbone. And it usually remains sore for at least a few days afterward.
Has anything like this ever happened to you?
On another note, I enjoyed a dinner with my group at work last night. There’s a lot of us-- around 60 total, and we enjoyed Mexican food, margaritas and beer at a huge restaurant overlooking the ocean in downtown Santa Barbara. The food was good, but so was the company. Add yet another reason why I’m enjoying working here so much more than my old company. Over there, I always had trouble finding people to hang out with. Sure, there was a huge group of college hires, but not only were they widely dispersed throughout the company (meaning little contact with them outside of college-hire-related activities), but most of them were fresh out of college and in their early 20s. On the flip side, most of my colleagues had families of their own and high-school-aged kids. It was basically two opposite ends of the spectrum: the young, yuppie-yet-partying crowd on one end, and the old, family-oriented folks on the other end. There was hardly anyone in my age group, and in the middle of that spectrum. Here, the majority of my colleagues are closer to my age, and probably have more in common. So it’s kind of nice. I had a good time last night and look forward to more social activities with my colleagues :-)
And now that lunch has arrived, I shall pick it up and eat :-9
(originally posted at: http://www.myspace.com/hellykwee/blog/376101857)
La Maison des Tortues: One third of the "heckled trio" writes...
Wednesday, April 9, 2008
Tuesday, April 1, 2008
Fortune Cookie
I’m struggling to keep my eyes focused as I type this. Just when I thought my days of staying up late catching up on schoolwork were over... I get to proofread part of Allan’s thesis. Now, you’d figure that since I’m only checking for grammatical correctness, it shouldn’t take that long, since I don’t need to study it or understand the content, right? Just make sure a sentence parses correctly. Weeellll... you’d be right, except when it comes to this die-hard grammar police, I ended up picking through it with a fine-tooth comb, bleeding red ink all over the place, and staying up past 1am finishing it.
Consequently, I came in this morning feeling a bit under the weather, so I headed straight to the kitchen, hoping to grab an apple to munch .. all, they are supposed to do a better job at waking you up than coffee. Alas, no apples, and it was too early in the morning for the facilities folks to restock them. So, a cup of coffee (loaded with milk and sugar) it is. And you know me-- I don’t normally drink coffee. Especially after my awful coffee mishaps! On the rare occasion that I do-- you know it’s gotta be pretty bad. Like being rousted at 4am for an alert (practice deployment drill) during my Army days.
In any event, here I sit, slowly waking up, eating strawberries and grapes, sipping sugar water tinged with coffee, and pondering a tiny slip of paper in front of me-- something I picked out of a fortune cookie during lunch last week. It reads:
The riches of others makes you more valuable.
And I know it’s not just my addled brain this morning, for it didn’t resonate with me back when I opened it, and it still doesn’t make much sense now. So, I leave it to you, dear readers-- what on earth do you think that little piece of "wisdom" means??
p.s. Do you use Gmail? Have you seen the newest Gmail feature? Check it out: http://mail.google.com/mail/help/customtime/index.html
:-D
(originally posted at: http://www.myspace.com/hellykwee/blog/372942506)
Consequently, I came in this morning feeling a bit under the weather, so I headed straight to the kitchen, hoping to grab an apple to munch .. all, they are supposed to do a better job at waking you up than coffee. Alas, no apples, and it was too early in the morning for the facilities folks to restock them. So, a cup of coffee (loaded with milk and sugar) it is. And you know me-- I don’t normally drink coffee. Especially after my awful coffee mishaps! On the rare occasion that I do-- you know it’s gotta be pretty bad. Like being rousted at 4am for an alert (practice deployment drill) during my Army days.
In any event, here I sit, slowly waking up, eating strawberries and grapes, sipping sugar water tinged with coffee, and pondering a tiny slip of paper in front of me-- something I picked out of a fortune cookie during lunch last week. It reads:
The riches of others makes you more valuable.
And I know it’s not just my addled brain this morning, for it didn’t resonate with me back when I opened it, and it still doesn’t make much sense now. So, I leave it to you, dear readers-- what on earth do you think that little piece of "wisdom" means??
p.s. Do you use Gmail? Have you seen the newest Gmail feature? Check it out: http://mail.google.com/mail/help/customtime/index.html
:-D
(originally posted at: http://www.myspace.com/hellykwee/blog/372942506)
Wednesday, March 19, 2008
Clouds and Silver Linings
LJ Writer’s Block question: What’s the worst thing that could happen to you today? Bonus question: How would that thing potentially benefit you?
In answering this question, I actually want to hearken back several months, to my previous job. It was a pretty good job-- because of the nature of our work, there was little pressure to meet what few strict deadlines existed. Not to mention that our client base was a few hundred fellow employees, not paying consumers from the outside world. The fact that it was a large company meant the benefits were excellent-- health care was cheap, time off was generous, and retirement benefits were truly unbeatable.
Most of you were probably aware of the news of impending layoffs at the time, so it wasn’t a complete surprise when I turned out to be one of the few thousand affected. I guess the answer to the question above would be: losing my job. And it happened. Still, it wasn’t without its benefits, and that’s where the bonus question comes in.
I enjoyed 3 months "off" before I began working again. During that time, I got to stay home and spend lots of time with Todd, enabling me to bond with my little boy, something I could never do before (leaving the house at 9am, returning at 8pm-- shortly before his bedtime). I enjoyed taking him to and from school, helping him with his homework at home, and generally doing all sorts of mommy-child activities together. My mother fell ill in December and being home full time enabled me to not only look after Todd while she was at various appointments (and then the surgery itself), but look after the household and take care of my mom.
Then there is the job itself. Though the benefits aren’t quite so stellar (but what can you expect when the company is a fraction of the size of my old one?), they are decent. More importantly, I’m really enjoying it here. I’ve learned a lot and continue to do so every day. The atmosphere is decidedly different-- more laid-back, less stuffy. There’s a difference between "casual" and "business casual", after all. While at first Allan and I were a bit skeptical of how working together would affect our relationship (would we be sick of each other?) it has turned out to work well for us. We have a nice, harmonious routine and incredible flexibility in changing our schedules so one of us is always available to look after Todd while he’s with us in SB till summer. Plus, quite frankly, it’s nice to have tech help I can guiltlessly prod for help whenever I need it, just a flight of stairs away :-)
And I know I’ve mentioned this before, but not having to commute at least 45 minutes one way each day, is FANTASTIC! There is something to be said for seeing daylight when you go home in the evening-- even during the short days of the winter months!
I know I’ve addressed the blog question of the day retrospectively. But it does indeed exemplify the "silver lining in every cloud" adage. I firmly believe that everything happens for a reason. I believe that nothing is an accident or coincidence. And I believe that it’s always possible to look back upon unhappy and disappointing events and see the good things that have come out of it. You may think that’s the eternal optimist in me speaking, but I challenge you to look back on your own less-than-golden memories and find a silver lining. Or two. Really adds perspective, doesn’t it?
In answering this question, I actually want to hearken back several months, to my previous job. It was a pretty good job-- because of the nature of our work, there was little pressure to meet what few strict deadlines existed. Not to mention that our client base was a few hundred fellow employees, not paying consumers from the outside world. The fact that it was a large company meant the benefits were excellent-- health care was cheap, time off was generous, and retirement benefits were truly unbeatable.
Most of you were probably aware of the news of impending layoffs at the time, so it wasn’t a complete surprise when I turned out to be one of the few thousand affected. I guess the answer to the question above would be: losing my job. And it happened. Still, it wasn’t without its benefits, and that’s where the bonus question comes in.
I enjoyed 3 months "off" before I began working again. During that time, I got to stay home and spend lots of time with Todd, enabling me to bond with my little boy, something I could never do before (leaving the house at 9am, returning at 8pm-- shortly before his bedtime). I enjoyed taking him to and from school, helping him with his homework at home, and generally doing all sorts of mommy-child activities together. My mother fell ill in December and being home full time enabled me to not only look after Todd while she was at various appointments (and then the surgery itself), but look after the household and take care of my mom.
Then there is the job itself. Though the benefits aren’t quite so stellar (but what can you expect when the company is a fraction of the size of my old one?), they are decent. More importantly, I’m really enjoying it here. I’ve learned a lot and continue to do so every day. The atmosphere is decidedly different-- more laid-back, less stuffy. There’s a difference between "casual" and "business casual", after all. While at first Allan and I were a bit skeptical of how working together would affect our relationship (would we be sick of each other?) it has turned out to work well for us. We have a nice, harmonious routine and incredible flexibility in changing our schedules so one of us is always available to look after Todd while he’s with us in SB till summer. Plus, quite frankly, it’s nice to have tech help I can guiltlessly prod for help whenever I need it, just a flight of stairs away :-)
And I know I’ve mentioned this before, but not having to commute at least 45 minutes one way each day, is FANTASTIC! There is something to be said for seeing daylight when you go home in the evening-- even during the short days of the winter months!
I know I’ve addressed the blog question of the day retrospectively. But it does indeed exemplify the "silver lining in every cloud" adage. I firmly believe that everything happens for a reason. I believe that nothing is an accident or coincidence. And I believe that it’s always possible to look back upon unhappy and disappointing events and see the good things that have come out of it. You may think that’s the eternal optimist in me speaking, but I challenge you to look back on your own less-than-golden memories and find a silver lining. Or two. Really adds perspective, doesn’t it?
Sunday, March 9, 2008
They've gone and done it
I've been trying to sell Allan for years. In fact, I've offered people MONEY to take him off my hands. Strangely, I never seem to have any takers. So what makes the menagerie think they will have any better luck trying to offload Allan's offspring on some unsuspecting buyer?
For Sale Ad (if you haven't already seen it)
Speaking of buying things, last weekend we finally went ahead and purchased a memory foam mattress. We got a full-sized one for the futon. That means we won't be able to put the futon into its upright position, but we haven't anyway-- while Todd lives with us, I sleep out on the futon while Daddy and little man share the queen bed in the bedroom. We got a pretty good deal on one-- $475, made cheaper because it's not the TempurPedic brand (I rarely do brands, anyway) and because the place spends little overhead on the frills and upkeep of an actual indoor store-- everything is inside a couple warehouses. But the salesmen were very friendly, very knowledgeable, and very easygoing-- no pressure tactics, just the information the customer needs. If you live here and ever need a new mattress, I'd highly recommend them: Mattress Mike in Goleta :)
Okay, that little plug over-- the mattress has been pretty good so far. I think it's still in the break-in period, a little firmer than it should be, so my back is still occasionally sore sometimes upon awakening, but it's nowhere near as bad as it used to be. It's a good test drive-- if it works out well, we'll buy a bigger one when we have our own house someday.
On another note: a physiological oddity: the knuckle of my left hand's ring finger has taken to having occasional "hot flashes" out of nowhere. Without warning, I'll suddenly get this flood of heat on the knuckle, almost like I'm exposing that little area to a flame or something. It lasts several seconds and then goes away. It's the darndest thing-- and the oddest sensation. Anyone ever experienced something like this before? What IS it, exactly?
Wow, almost dinnertime, and it's STILL light out. Yeah... I'm enjoying the longer days :-D Summer will be upon us before we know it!
(originally posted at: http://www.myspace.com/hellykwee/blog/365423228)
For Sale Ad (if you haven't already seen it)
Speaking of buying things, last weekend we finally went ahead and purchased a memory foam mattress. We got a full-sized one for the futon. That means we won't be able to put the futon into its upright position, but we haven't anyway-- while Todd lives with us, I sleep out on the futon while Daddy and little man share the queen bed in the bedroom. We got a pretty good deal on one-- $475, made cheaper because it's not the TempurPedic brand (I rarely do brands, anyway) and because the place spends little overhead on the frills and upkeep of an actual indoor store-- everything is inside a couple warehouses. But the salesmen were very friendly, very knowledgeable, and very easygoing-- no pressure tactics, just the information the customer needs. If you live here and ever need a new mattress, I'd highly recommend them: Mattress Mike in Goleta :)
Okay, that little plug over-- the mattress has been pretty good so far. I think it's still in the break-in period, a little firmer than it should be, so my back is still occasionally sore sometimes upon awakening, but it's nowhere near as bad as it used to be. It's a good test drive-- if it works out well, we'll buy a bigger one when we have our own house someday.
On another note: a physiological oddity: the knuckle of my left hand's ring finger has taken to having occasional "hot flashes" out of nowhere. Without warning, I'll suddenly get this flood of heat on the knuckle, almost like I'm exposing that little area to a flame or something. It lasts several seconds and then goes away. It's the darndest thing-- and the oddest sensation. Anyone ever experienced something like this before? What IS it, exactly?
Wow, almost dinnertime, and it's STILL light out. Yeah... I'm enjoying the longer days :-D Summer will be upon us before we know it!
(originally posted at: http://www.myspace.com/hellykwee/blog/365423228)
Saturday, March 8, 2008
Growing up a loner
(From the LiveJournal "Writer's Block" list)
How do you think having siblings (or not having siblings) affects who you are as a person?
This is an interesting question. As most of you know, I am an only child, and have often wondered what life would've been like had my parents decided to give me a sibling. I remember sitting on the front steps of our apartment one summer when I was 8 years old, asking my mom if I could have one. Amused, she humored me with: "Would you prefer a brother or sister?". I expressed a preference for a sister, only to have Mom demur with "I'm too old". Which was actually true-- she was already 40 and even today it's still a bit risky to have kids at that age-- let alone over 20 years ago. So... no sister. Or brother.
I remember an activity we did in 4th or 5th grade-- the teacher had us all divide into groups based on birth order, and scatter to the corners of the room with our fellow only-children, firstborns, middles, etc... the onlies group had maybe 2 or 3 kids, me included. Then the teacher asked us to go into the group we WANTED to be in. No surprise-- quite a few kids wandered into our group, sick of the bickering and sibling rivalry that you always hear about. Me? I was too shy to actively walk to another group of kids, and at the same time I was also fascinated at hearing some of the "horror stories" from the kids who wished they had no siblings.
Growing up, I sort of assumed the "big sister" role, because the neighborhood was filled with kids who were all younger than me, by a range from 2 to 7 years. But that was only part of the time-- though we all played together often, it's not exactly like I spent all my waking hours with them. Still, if you've ever looked at those personality analyses based on birth order, the first-born and only-child profiles tend to be similar, so who knows how much of an influence spending time with younger kids had on shaping who I am today. Anyway, for the most part, I grew up a bit of a loner.
And to this day, that still holds true. Everywhere I've lived, every place I've gone to school or worked, it has always been the same story: I kept to myself more than anyone else, and thus always felt like a bit of an outcast. I had many acquaintances and colleagues and people I hung out with, and even people I knew well enough to actually call "friends", but the ones I could call *true* friends? Close friends? Few and far between. Granted, part of that is just who I am-- by nature, a shy and reserved person. But it does make you wonder if having a sibling would've mitigated that effect somewhat. Would I have been a little more at ease around other people if I had grown up having to deal with someone near my own age?
These days, I think of my son. He's even more "isolated" than I am. I have several aunts and uncles, and dozens of cousins-- even more than Allan does. Todd has one aunt and uncle, and will never have any cousins. As you can imagine, he can get pretty spoiled, being the only grandchild on both sides of the family, and nobody else (except "cousin" Sammy the Lhasa Apso) to compete with for attention from his extended family. We're 99.9% sure we won't have any more children, so Todd is destined to be an only child, just like Mommy. On rare occasions, however, I waver. I watch Todd playing with other kids (especially the younger ones) and it strikes me how he would make such a good big brother. It is rare that he gets to play with kids his own age, and grownups are never as fun to play with. As one neighborhood mother of three pointed out to me: the kids manage to keep themselves entertained, so there's actually less demand for your attention and time in that regard. Interesting point... but... no. Eh-- I think I turned out okay, and I'm sure Todd will be fine ;-)
Hmm, what was the original question again? I don't know if I've answered it. Probably because it can't really be answered, since you'll never really know how a different household scenario would've affected you. Maybe a lot, maybe not at all. As for me, I do think that being an only child probably reinforced my natural tendencies toward wallflower-like behavior. I think I'll always feel a bit like an outsider, never truly belonging to any social circle, never truly fitting in. Whether that means I wouldn't feel this way if I'd had siblings, or that I wouldn't have "fit in" well with my own family growing up anyway... well, I could ramble on and on, speculating... so I'll stop boring you and end this here :-)
How do you think having siblings (or not having siblings) affects who you are as a person?
This is an interesting question. As most of you know, I am an only child, and have often wondered what life would've been like had my parents decided to give me a sibling. I remember sitting on the front steps of our apartment one summer when I was 8 years old, asking my mom if I could have one. Amused, she humored me with: "Would you prefer a brother or sister?". I expressed a preference for a sister, only to have Mom demur with "I'm too old". Which was actually true-- she was already 40 and even today it's still a bit risky to have kids at that age-- let alone over 20 years ago. So... no sister. Or brother.
I remember an activity we did in 4th or 5th grade-- the teacher had us all divide into groups based on birth order, and scatter to the corners of the room with our fellow only-children, firstborns, middles, etc... the onlies group had maybe 2 or 3 kids, me included. Then the teacher asked us to go into the group we WANTED to be in. No surprise-- quite a few kids wandered into our group, sick of the bickering and sibling rivalry that you always hear about. Me? I was too shy to actively walk to another group of kids, and at the same time I was also fascinated at hearing some of the "horror stories" from the kids who wished they had no siblings.
Growing up, I sort of assumed the "big sister" role, because the neighborhood was filled with kids who were all younger than me, by a range from 2 to 7 years. But that was only part of the time-- though we all played together often, it's not exactly like I spent all my waking hours with them. Still, if you've ever looked at those personality analyses based on birth order, the first-born and only-child profiles tend to be similar, so who knows how much of an influence spending time with younger kids had on shaping who I am today. Anyway, for the most part, I grew up a bit of a loner.
And to this day, that still holds true. Everywhere I've lived, every place I've gone to school or worked, it has always been the same story: I kept to myself more than anyone else, and thus always felt like a bit of an outcast. I had many acquaintances and colleagues and people I hung out with, and even people I knew well enough to actually call "friends", but the ones I could call *true* friends? Close friends? Few and far between. Granted, part of that is just who I am-- by nature, a shy and reserved person. But it does make you wonder if having a sibling would've mitigated that effect somewhat. Would I have been a little more at ease around other people if I had grown up having to deal with someone near my own age?
These days, I think of my son. He's even more "isolated" than I am. I have several aunts and uncles, and dozens of cousins-- even more than Allan does. Todd has one aunt and uncle, and will never have any cousins. As you can imagine, he can get pretty spoiled, being the only grandchild on both sides of the family, and nobody else (except "cousin" Sammy the Lhasa Apso) to compete with for attention from his extended family. We're 99.9% sure we won't have any more children, so Todd is destined to be an only child, just like Mommy. On rare occasions, however, I waver. I watch Todd playing with other kids (especially the younger ones) and it strikes me how he would make such a good big brother. It is rare that he gets to play with kids his own age, and grownups are never as fun to play with. As one neighborhood mother of three pointed out to me: the kids manage to keep themselves entertained, so there's actually less demand for your attention and time in that regard. Interesting point... but... no. Eh-- I think I turned out okay, and I'm sure Todd will be fine ;-)
Hmm, what was the original question again? I don't know if I've answered it. Probably because it can't really be answered, since you'll never really know how a different household scenario would've affected you. Maybe a lot, maybe not at all. As for me, I do think that being an only child probably reinforced my natural tendencies toward wallflower-like behavior. I think I'll always feel a bit like an outsider, never truly belonging to any social circle, never truly fitting in. Whether that means I wouldn't feel this way if I'd had siblings, or that I wouldn't have "fit in" well with my own family growing up anyway... well, I could ramble on and on, speculating... so I'll stop boring you and end this here :-)
Sunday, March 2, 2008
Rise of the animals
An interesting little tidbit before I launch into my pitch. I just noticed that if you do a Google search for "weeples"-- well, guess what the first result to come up is? Oh, go on, try it! :-D
I thought it was really cool, too bad I don't blog there anymore, eh!
As if I didn't spend enough time on this blasted site, check out who one of my newest Myspace friends is. You might recognize a few of the faces from past blog entries I've written, either on here or on Todd's diary. They're new to the Myspace scene, and would love to see their friends list grow and their social network expand. So if you crack even half a smile at their profile, click the "Add" button... can't have too many friends in this world, especially loyal, cuddly, plush ones! :-D
http://www.myspace.com/stuffedmenagerie
(originally posted at: http://www.myspace.com/hellykwee/blog/363071793)
I thought it was really cool, too bad I don't blog there anymore, eh!
As if I didn't spend enough time on this blasted site, check out who one of my newest Myspace friends is. You might recognize a few of the faces from past blog entries I've written, either on here or on Todd's diary. They're new to the Myspace scene, and would love to see their friends list grow and their social network expand. So if you crack even half a smile at their profile, click the "Add" button... can't have too many friends in this world, especially loyal, cuddly, plush ones! :-D
http://www.myspace.com/stuffedmenagerie
(originally posted at: http://www.myspace.com/hellykwee/blog/363071793)
Wednesday, February 27, 2008
Blogging-related quizzes
It is 8:30 in the morning and I'm still waiting for Todd to wake up. He awoke in the middle of the night, hungry, so Daddy gave him some milk so he could settle back down to sleep. I guess he'll be going in to school a bit late today. Meantime, I'm killing a bit of time on here.
It is really too bad that the RSS feeds Myspace provides for its blogs don't include the full content of the posts. It's the one thing I find lacking on Myspace blogs (aside from the fact that there aren't enough categories and you can't create your own)-- other than that, I still find them the perfect venue, not the least of which is because most of my readers are on here.
Why is this relevant? Because now that I primarily blog here, the Myspace feed would've been the perfect thing to feed into this quiz I spied on a friend's LiveJournal while catching up with all her entries:
This suggests that your writing style is conventional
(to communicate well you should aim for a figure between 10 and 20).
Your blog has 27 sentences per entry, which suggests your general message is distinguished by verbosity
(writing for the web should be concise).
CHARACTER MATRIX...>..>..>
Your text shows characteristics which are 55% male and 45% female
(for more information see the Gender Genie).
Looking at pronoun indicators, you write mainly about yourself, then the world in general and finally your social circle. Also, your writing focuses primarily on the present, next the past and lastly the future.
Find out what your blogging style is like!
I input my Grab blog's RSS feed, and even though it's out of date, it does encompass my posts in their entirety, giving a more accurate reflection (I hope!) of my blogging style. I had to laugh at the part where they suggest I'm prone to verbosity-- truer words were never spoken! As Lilly can attest so, brevity is not my friend. I could probably learn a thing or two from her, right, Lilly? ;-)
There was an accompanying quiz, where I HAD to input my LJ user ID, and since I haven't blogged on there in ages, it's probably not the most accurate. Oh well, quizzes are never meant to be 100% accurate anyway, right? Here goes:
So, hellykwee, your LiveJournal reveals...
You are... 0% unique and 68% herdlike (partly because you, like everyone else, enjoy tennis). When it comes to friends you are lonely. In terms of the way you relate to people, you are keen to please. Your writing style (based on a recent public entry) is conventional.
You are weirder than 20% of other LJers.)
Find out what your weirdness level is!
Hmm, odd that I didn't score higher on the weirdness index. Considering who I married and all that ;-) So I will take this as a compliment :-D
How about you? What's your blogging style and weirdness factor?
(originally posted at: http://www.myspace.com/hellykwee/blog/361944919)
It is really too bad that the RSS feeds Myspace provides for its blogs don't include the full content of the posts. It's the one thing I find lacking on Myspace blogs (aside from the fact that there aren't enough categories and you can't create your own)-- other than that, I still find them the perfect venue, not the least of which is because most of my readers are on here.
Why is this relevant? Because now that I primarily blog here, the Myspace feed would've been the perfect thing to feed into this quiz I spied on a friend's LiveJournal while catching up with all her entries:
The Blogalyser reveals...
Your blog/web page text has an overall readability index of 13.This suggests that your writing style is conventional
(to communicate well you should aim for a figure between 10 and 20).
Your blog has 27 sentences per entry, which suggests your general message is distinguished by verbosity
(writing for the web should be concise).
CHARACTER MATRIX...>..>
| male |   | female |
| self |    | world |
| past |    | future |
Your text shows characteristics which are 55% male and 45% female
(for more information see the Gender Genie).
Looking at pronoun indicators, you write mainly about yourself, then the world in general and finally your social circle. Also, your writing focuses primarily on the present, next the past and lastly the future.
Find out what your blogging style is like!
I input my Grab blog's RSS feed, and even though it's out of date, it does encompass my posts in their entirety, giving a more accurate reflection (I hope!) of my blogging style. I had to laugh at the part where they suggest I'm prone to verbosity-- truer words were never spoken! As Lilly can attest so, brevity is not my friend. I could probably learn a thing or two from her, right, Lilly? ;-)
There was an accompanying quiz, where I HAD to input my LJ user ID, and since I haven't blogged on there in ages, it's probably not the most accurate. Oh well, quizzes are never meant to be 100% accurate anyway, right? Here goes:
You are... 0% unique and 68% herdlike (partly because you, like everyone else, enjoy tennis). When it comes to friends you are lonely. In terms of the way you relate to people, you are keen to please. Your writing style (based on a recent public entry) is conventional.
Your overall weirdness is: 12
(The average level of weirdness is: 28.You are weirder than 20% of other LJers.)
Find out what your weirdness level is!
Hmm, odd that I didn't score higher on the weirdness index. Considering who I married and all that ;-) So I will take this as a compliment :-D
How about you? What's your blogging style and weirdness factor?
(originally posted at: http://www.myspace.com/hellykwee/blog/361944919)
Monday, February 25, 2008
Easter Birthday
Once-in-a-lifetime events are neat. Like Haley's comet. Even neater are the events that are so rare they don't even occur once in EVERY lifetime.
I don't know about you, but I typically associate Easter with the very beginning of April. I have a friend whose birthday is on April 8, and it falls on Easter every several years. Just like our celebration of Todd's birthday will often occur on Memorial Day weekend, when his actual birthday doesn't fall on a weekend itself. This year, Easter will be a little different.
You see, there's Allan-- born March 23, right on the cusp between Pisces and Aries. Outside the family, it's usually just another ordinary day. Not this year. This year, his birthday falls on Easter. And how rare is such an occurrence? Well, this is a snippet from an email his mom sent:
The next time Easter will be this early (March 23) will be the year 2228 (220 years from now). The last time it was this early was 1913 (so if you're 95 or older, you are the only ones that were around for that!).
Naturally, that brings to mind all sorts of creative ideas for a dual celebration. Or, well, it should, if you're creative-minded. And I'm usually not. Maybe an egg-shaped cake (if such a thing can be found in bakeries)? Definitely the usual Easter-egg hunt for Toddy :-) Any other ideas for an Easter birthday? C'mon, let's hear 'em!
I don't know about you, but I typically associate Easter with the very beginning of April. I have a friend whose birthday is on April 8, and it falls on Easter every several years. Just like our celebration of Todd's birthday will often occur on Memorial Day weekend, when his actual birthday doesn't fall on a weekend itself. This year, Easter will be a little different.
You see, there's Allan-- born March 23, right on the cusp between Pisces and Aries. Outside the family, it's usually just another ordinary day. Not this year. This year, his birthday falls on Easter. And how rare is such an occurrence? Well, this is a snippet from an email his mom sent:
The next time Easter will be this early (March 23) will be the year 2228 (220 years from now). The last time it was this early was 1913 (so if you're 95 or older, you are the only ones that were around for that!).
Naturally, that brings to mind all sorts of creative ideas for a dual celebration. Or, well, it should, if you're creative-minded. And I'm usually not. Maybe an egg-shaped cake (if such a thing can be found in bakeries)? Definitely the usual Easter-egg hunt for Toddy :-) Any other ideas for an Easter birthday? C'mon, let's hear 'em!
Friday, February 22, 2008
What's in a name?
Not much to it... a random question, whether simple or thought-provoking, is posed, giving you something to write about on days when you fail to be inspired by original material.
I logged into my LJ for the first time in a looooong time, and browsed through some of the questions. I came across this little one that I thought would be fun to answer:
How have people pronounced your name? How is it supposed to sound?
It's funny, isn't it? The name "Kelly" is actually quite common, people have no trouble pronouncing it correctly, and yet swap out one measly letter to make "Helly" and all of a sudden nobody can pronounce it.
The 2 most common mispronunciations of my name?
"Hee-ly"
and
"Hay-ly"
Every once in a while I get "Hal-ly" (as in Halle Berry)
Equally often? I get called Kelly, Holly, or Helen.
Then there is my last name. Y'know, neither of my names should be that hard to pronounce. Just look at the letters that spell them, and enunciate accordingly. "Kwee" should sound the way it is spelled (like "queen" without the ending "n").
But I've frequently gotten "Kee", "Kiwi" (my nickname as a cadet was "Kiwi"-- since everyone in the Army goes by last names), "Knee" (!!!) and everything else you could possibly imagine-- mostly garbled mumblings as people struggle to make sense of the 4 letters printed on the sheet before them.
My favorite comes from a classmate of mine, who studied the "Helly Kwee" I'd written on one of our lab writeups to turn in. She remarked:
"That makes my eyes cross. It looks like it should be 'Kelly Hwee' instead!"
Sadly... she wasn't the only to one to say it, as I've gotten that same remark a few times in the years following.
As a bit of a digression-- Allan has a different problem: not pronunciation, but spelling. Since he uses the less-common British spelling, most people assume his name is spelled "Alan" or even "Allen".
Surprisingly, the same befalls Todd: a lot of people think it's spelled with only one "d": Tod. Which is unnerving because "Tod" means "death" in German! O.O
How about you? Any interesting stories about common manglings of your name?
(originally posted at: http://www.myspace.com/hellykwee/blog/360373473)
I logged into my LJ for the first time in a looooong time, and browsed through some of the questions. I came across this little one that I thought would be fun to answer:
How have people pronounced your name? How is it supposed to sound?
It's funny, isn't it? The name "Kelly" is actually quite common, people have no trouble pronouncing it correctly, and yet swap out one measly letter to make "Helly" and all of a sudden nobody can pronounce it.
The 2 most common mispronunciations of my name?
"Hee-ly"
and
"Hay-ly"
Every once in a while I get "Hal-ly" (as in Halle Berry)
Equally often? I get called Kelly, Holly, or Helen.
Then there is my last name. Y'know, neither of my names should be that hard to pronounce. Just look at the letters that spell them, and enunciate accordingly. "Kwee" should sound the way it is spelled (like "queen" without the ending "n").
But I've frequently gotten "Kee", "Kiwi" (my nickname as a cadet was "Kiwi"-- since everyone in the Army goes by last names), "Knee" (!!!) and everything else you could possibly imagine-- mostly garbled mumblings as people struggle to make sense of the 4 letters printed on the sheet before them.
My favorite comes from a classmate of mine, who studied the "Helly Kwee" I'd written on one of our lab writeups to turn in. She remarked:
"That makes my eyes cross. It looks like it should be 'Kelly Hwee' instead!"
Sadly... she wasn't the only to one to say it, as I've gotten that same remark a few times in the years following.
As a bit of a digression-- Allan has a different problem: not pronunciation, but spelling. Since he uses the less-common British spelling, most people assume his name is spelled "Alan" or even "Allen".
Surprisingly, the same befalls Todd: a lot of people think it's spelled with only one "d": Tod. Which is unnerving because "Tod" means "death" in German! O.O
How about you? Any interesting stories about common manglings of your name?
(originally posted at: http://www.myspace.com/hellykwee/blog/360373473)
Tuesday, February 19, 2008
Warning: Powerful speakers cause false alarms
A few years back we rummaged through a garage sale and came across a little stereo system. It had a 3-CD changer which was broken, but the radio and cassette player portions worked fine. Its price tag? $5. Not bad, considering we did need a cassette player, but it seemed a bit large and unwieldy just for that. Allan, however, noticed something else: the nice Bose speakers attached, good quality ones which would easily have been worth over $100 retail. So we bought it, and then promptly put it in the corner to collect dust for the next few years ;-P
Since Todd moved back in with us temporarily last month, we had to rearrange the bedroom a bit to make room for his extra items. So, I moved the stereo to the nightstand on Todd's side of the bed, figuring I could play classical music cassette tapes for him to listen to as he drifted off to sleep at night. That worked well... until the following weekend, when it came time to vacuum the bedroom, and the large speakers sitting on the floor proved yet again unwieldy.
This weekend, Allan hit upon the perfect solution. He has long owned one of those fancy-schmancy sound systems with the big subwoofer and all those little speakers you can scatter around your living room, creating the perfect surround-sound experience, yadda yadda yadda... Well, he swapped out two of the little speakers for the two Boses from the garage sale, and voila! Problem solved! Except... now there was the matter of where to put the big Bose speakers with respect to our tiny living room's entertainment center (keep in mind our entire apartment is maybe 800 sq. ft total, so "big and unwieldy" is a relative term). Allan discovered that they fit perfectly on the TV stand behind the TV itself. Proud of himself, he flopped down on the futon and settled down to watch a movie, trying out the new speaker hookup for a test drive.
Things sounded great! And heck-- if you were a blind person you would never have noticed the next mishap-- odd color effects on the TV screen.
"Oh crud", thought Allan, "the TV's finally going out". His next thought was one of glee: "Yay, that means we can get the big flat-screen monitor!" Fortunately for our bank account (and for his physical well-being), he wisely decided to investigate and see if he could fix the problem first. Sure enough, what do you suppose the cause was? The strong magnetic force of the speakers was distorting the TV colors! He put the speakers back down on the floor, the TV returned to normal, and he shook his head sadly-- gone was the excuse to get a nice, big flat-screen monitor :-P
(originally posted at: http://www.myspace.com/hellykwee/blog/359604236)
Since Todd moved back in with us temporarily last month, we had to rearrange the bedroom a bit to make room for his extra items. So, I moved the stereo to the nightstand on Todd's side of the bed, figuring I could play classical music cassette tapes for him to listen to as he drifted off to sleep at night. That worked well... until the following weekend, when it came time to vacuum the bedroom, and the large speakers sitting on the floor proved yet again unwieldy.
This weekend, Allan hit upon the perfect solution. He has long owned one of those fancy-schmancy sound systems with the big subwoofer and all those little speakers you can scatter around your living room, creating the perfect surround-sound experience, yadda yadda yadda... Well, he swapped out two of the little speakers for the two Boses from the garage sale, and voila! Problem solved! Except... now there was the matter of where to put the big Bose speakers with respect to our tiny living room's entertainment center (keep in mind our entire apartment is maybe 800 sq. ft total, so "big and unwieldy" is a relative term). Allan discovered that they fit perfectly on the TV stand behind the TV itself. Proud of himself, he flopped down on the futon and settled down to watch a movie, trying out the new speaker hookup for a test drive.
Things sounded great! And heck-- if you were a blind person you would never have noticed the next mishap-- odd color effects on the TV screen.
"Oh crud", thought Allan, "the TV's finally going out". His next thought was one of glee: "Yay, that means we can get the big flat-screen monitor!" Fortunately for our bank account (and for his physical well-being), he wisely decided to investigate and see if he could fix the problem first. Sure enough, what do you suppose the cause was? The strong magnetic force of the speakers was distorting the TV colors! He put the speakers back down on the floor, the TV returned to normal, and he shook his head sadly-- gone was the excuse to get a nice, big flat-screen monitor :-P
(originally posted at: http://www.myspace.com/hellykwee/blog/359604236)
Friday, February 15, 2008
Valentine's Day
I don't feel very strongly about Valentine's Day, which seems to put me in a strange minority, as a lot of folks seem to be either loving it up or adamantly against it. Both camps have their points. I agree with those who dislike how commercialized it has become-- though that is also true of any holiday these days. At the same time, I don't buy into the "you should show her you love her more often than once a year" argument because if you think about it, that sort of "special attention" holds true at birthdays, anniversaries... and those come but once a year as well, and nobody lambasts such celebrations. Besides, if you shower your loved one with that kind of affection too frequently, the effect kind of wears of. Sort of like building up tolerance...
Anyway, our Valentine's Day was pretty low-key. We were so busy that we both forgot about it, until I dropped Todd off at school yesterday morning and noticed that all the othere parents were bringing their kids in with cards to hand out to their classmates! Eep! I felt bad that Todd didn't have anything for his friends, but looks like almost every kid brought something. Here is his little cache of Valentine cards:
At work, we got cupcakes! And in each person's mailbox was a little tin filled with "motivational" M&Ms. I guess they served a dual purpose: remind employees of the company's mission (the tins were labeled with "Connecting people like never before with fearless innovation and flawless tools") and give them a little Valentine's Day treat, as the candy was colored red, white, and beige. You can see the words "fearless" and "flawless" stamped on the back of each M&M:
As I mentioned in my previous blog entry, I've been in training all week, which adds a bit of variable flexibility to my schedule. Yesterday we managed to finish ahead of schedule, which allowed Allan and me to pick up Todd together. He didn't seem too fazed at the sight of BOTH of us there, surprisingly. I was expecting him to say "Why are TWO of you picking me up?". Anyhoo, we trooped straight to IHOP from school, enjoying a nice little family dinner in honor of Valentine's Day :-) Nothing quite like breakfast for dinner, and then sharing some chocolate chip pancakes with my son for dessert! :-9
So... not the most sweepingly romantic of days or anything, but lots of fun nevertheless. And there's nothing quite like hearing "Happy Valentine's Day, Mommy" from little man... even if it was said in reciprocity :-)
(originally posted at: http://www.myspace.com/hellykwee/blog/358372420)
Anyway, our Valentine's Day was pretty low-key. We were so busy that we both forgot about it, until I dropped Todd off at school yesterday morning and noticed that all the othere parents were bringing their kids in with cards to hand out to their classmates! Eep! I felt bad that Todd didn't have anything for his friends, but looks like almost every kid brought something. Here is his little cache of Valentine cards:
At work, we got cupcakes! And in each person's mailbox was a little tin filled with "motivational" M&Ms. I guess they served a dual purpose: remind employees of the company's mission (the tins were labeled with "Connecting people like never before with fearless innovation and flawless tools") and give them a little Valentine's Day treat, as the candy was colored red, white, and beige. You can see the words "fearless" and "flawless" stamped on the back of each M&M:
As I mentioned in my previous blog entry, I've been in training all week, which adds a bit of variable flexibility to my schedule. Yesterday we managed to finish ahead of schedule, which allowed Allan and me to pick up Todd together. He didn't seem too fazed at the sight of BOTH of us there, surprisingly. I was expecting him to say "Why are TWO of you picking me up?". Anyhoo, we trooped straight to IHOP from school, enjoying a nice little family dinner in honor of Valentine's Day :-) Nothing quite like breakfast for dinner, and then sharing some chocolate chip pancakes with my son for dessert! :-9
So... not the most sweepingly romantic of days or anything, but lots of fun nevertheless. And there's nothing quite like hearing "Happy Valentine's Day, Mommy" from little man... even if it was said in reciprocity :-)
(originally posted at: http://www.myspace.com/hellykwee/blog/358372420)
Thursday, February 14, 2008
Food Pilfering, Part 3
It doesn't seem that long ago, but after trawling through my blog archives (made easier via my feeder) I realized I last blogged about lunch thieves over a year ago. Back then, I was at my former employer and the stolen goods consisted of generic, unmarked (with name tags, that is) frozen entrees stored in the community fridges. Here, the lunch thieves were a little more brazen.
I've been in training all week-- full day of class from 9 to 5 everyday, hence my current status. And as is the case in most companies, all-day training comes with free lunch. Nothing fancy-- sandwiches one day, lasagna another day, sammich wraps today... the usual catered fare. Most of the time, the food is delivered straight into the conference room where the class is taking place. But if the room is too small, where does it go? On a table outside the room, of course.
As you can imagine, that pretty much leaves it up for grabs for anyone that walks by. And most-- I repeat, *most* people maintain a bit of integrity and don't touch the food until the leftovers have been transported to the kitchen-- and by that point it's fair game for anyone.
Yesterday we ran out of food a little too quickly. Fortunately, everyone got to eat (at least I hope so!) but our admin coordinator was puzzled as to how we ran out so suspiciously fast-- there were only 11 of us in the class (including the instructor), and there was enough food to feed more than that. We realized that the people working nearby were taking liberties to assume that because nobody was lined up in front of the table, it meant we had all eaten, and they could raid the so-called "leftovers". Gee, not everyone immediately grabs food when we break for lunch. Some of us visit the bathroom first. Some of us linger in class, with extra questions or simply finishing the exercises. It's natural to assume that there will still be enough to grab when we finally make it to the table, right?
So, today, our AC put up not one, but two notes warning people that the food was for us, and to please wait until 2pm before assuming the leftovers were free for the taking. It's not even 2pm as I write this...
What do you think, dear readers? Do you suppose this deterred yesterday's pilferers? What do you gather I witnessed today?
I've been in training all week-- full day of class from 9 to 5 everyday, hence my current status. And as is the case in most companies, all-day training comes with free lunch. Nothing fancy-- sandwiches one day, lasagna another day, sammich wraps today... the usual catered fare. Most of the time, the food is delivered straight into the conference room where the class is taking place. But if the room is too small, where does it go? On a table outside the room, of course.
As you can imagine, that pretty much leaves it up for grabs for anyone that walks by. And most-- I repeat, *most* people maintain a bit of integrity and don't touch the food until the leftovers have been transported to the kitchen-- and by that point it's fair game for anyone.
Yesterday we ran out of food a little too quickly. Fortunately, everyone got to eat (at least I hope so!) but our admin coordinator was puzzled as to how we ran out so suspiciously fast-- there were only 11 of us in the class (including the instructor), and there was enough food to feed more than that. We realized that the people working nearby were taking liberties to assume that because nobody was lined up in front of the table, it meant we had all eaten, and they could raid the so-called "leftovers". Gee, not everyone immediately grabs food when we break for lunch. Some of us visit the bathroom first. Some of us linger in class, with extra questions or simply finishing the exercises. It's natural to assume that there will still be enough to grab when we finally make it to the table, right?
So, today, our AC put up not one, but two notes warning people that the food was for us, and to please wait until 2pm before assuming the leftovers were free for the taking. It's not even 2pm as I write this...
What do you think, dear readers? Do you suppose this deterred yesterday's pilferers? What do you gather I witnessed today?
Saturday, February 9, 2008
Photobucket Survey
Swiped from Kendra :-D
1) Answer the questions below
2) Take each answer and type it into Photobucket
3) Take a picture from the first page of results and copy the html code.
4) You can't copy the persons answers who posted this before you!
1. The age you will be on your next birthday:
2. A place you'd like to travel:
3. Your favorite place:
4. Your favorite object:
5. Your favorite food:
6.Your Favorite Shape (not really, but I love saying its name):
7. Your favorite color:
8. The town in which you were born?
9. What did you do last weekend?
10. The name of your pet:
11. The first name of your love (after pages of weird-looking guys, I decided to pick the most offbeat one I could find!):
12. Your nickname/screen name (obviously, my screenname yielded nothing, so I had to go the nickname route):
13. Your Current Job?
14. Favorite Show?
15. A habit of yours:
16. Your first job:
17. Your grandmother's name (no results turned up, of course, so I used the name Todd used to call her):
18. Your favorite book:
19. Your favorite animal (this little guy is so cool, he's my new IM icon)?
20. The town in which you live?
21. Your name (anyone recognize this brand logo)?
22. Your middle name?
23. Your last name (no, that is not me :-P)?
24. Favorite Band?
25. Something that you love (it was a tossup between 2 answers, so I put both):
and 
(originally posted at: http://www.myspace.com/hellykwee/blog/356488067)
1) Answer the questions below
2) Take each answer and type it into Photobucket
3) Take a picture from the first page of results and copy the html code.
4) You can't copy the persons answers who posted this before you!
1. The age you will be on your next birthday:
2. A place you'd like to travel:
3. Your favorite place:
4. Your favorite object:
5. Your favorite food:
6.Your Favorite Shape (not really, but I love saying its name):
7. Your favorite color:
8. The town in which you were born?
9. What did you do last weekend?
10. The name of your pet:
11. The first name of your love (after pages of weird-looking guys, I decided to pick the most offbeat one I could find!):
12. Your nickname/screen name (obviously, my screenname yielded nothing, so I had to go the nickname route):
13. Your Current Job?
14. Favorite Show?
15. A habit of yours:
16. Your first job:
17. Your grandmother's name (no results turned up, of course, so I used the name Todd used to call her):
18. Your favorite book:
19. Your favorite animal (this little guy is so cool, he's my new IM icon)?
20. The town in which you live?
21. Your name (anyone recognize this brand logo)?
22. Your middle name?
23. Your last name (no, that is not me :-P)?
24. Favorite Band?
25. Something that you love (it was a tossup between 2 answers, so I put both):
and (originally posted at: http://www.myspace.com/hellykwee/blog/356488067)
Thursday, February 7, 2008
How to diffuse an argument
In my previous blog entry, Kendra made a comment that referenced a status I had up sometime last week-- something about how Allan is a "normal" person (emphasis on the quotation marks here). I promised to elaborate more later, so here I am now.
Couples argue. That is a given fact. After all, we're all individual human beings and we're bound to disagree from time to time. And, all arguments must end, some way or another. Sometimes they end because one party concedes that they were wrong and the other was right. Sometimes they end via compromise. And sometimes they end because both parties ran out of steam but will pick up again right where they left off, the next time this issue (or something similar) crops up.
Then, there is the solution that seems to work well in the Kwee/Knight household: laughter.
Allow me to illustrate:
A few years back, shortly before his birthday, Allan and I were having a pretty intense argument, about what exactly, I no longer remember. But I do remember bringing up a point about his maturity (or lack thereof?) for I emphatically said: "You are a 36-year-old man!", as if to say "you should know better!"
Which... isn't really so bad. Except for the fact that he was still only 34 at the time. I didn't do it on purpose, either! In the heat of the moment, I honestly thought he was already 35 and just a few weeks away from his 36th birthday! With such an unintentional yet hilarious insult, how else could the mood go except for us to dissolve in a fit of giggles?
So how about the heated discussion that brought about that "normal" status?
Well, a person invariably talks differently to their spouse than they do to other (i.e. "normal") people, right? There's less formality, fewer inhibitions, more familiarity. And we were arguing about how I talk to him. He pointed out that he was my husband, and then emphasized that point with: "I am NOT a normal person!"
It was all I could do to keep a straight face... for about 5 seconds. Long enough to dawn on him what he just said, and for both of us to start up the raucous laughter again. This was even better than the "36-year-old" remark, because this time HE foisted the insult onto himself-- all by himself, too! I've never let him forget that "not normal" assertion ever since!
They say laughter is the best medicine. Apparently, sometimes it even serves as a pretty good antidote for major quarrels and minor spats!
Couples argue. That is a given fact. After all, we're all individual human beings and we're bound to disagree from time to time. And, all arguments must end, some way or another. Sometimes they end because one party concedes that they were wrong and the other was right. Sometimes they end via compromise. And sometimes they end because both parties ran out of steam but will pick up again right where they left off, the next time this issue (or something similar) crops up.
Then, there is the solution that seems to work well in the Kwee/Knight household: laughter.
Allow me to illustrate:
A few years back, shortly before his birthday, Allan and I were having a pretty intense argument, about what exactly, I no longer remember. But I do remember bringing up a point about his maturity (or lack thereof?) for I emphatically said: "You are a 36-year-old man!", as if to say "you should know better!"
Which... isn't really so bad. Except for the fact that he was still only 34 at the time. I didn't do it on purpose, either! In the heat of the moment, I honestly thought he was already 35 and just a few weeks away from his 36th birthday! With such an unintentional yet hilarious insult, how else could the mood go except for us to dissolve in a fit of giggles?
So how about the heated discussion that brought about that "normal" status?
Well, a person invariably talks differently to their spouse than they do to other (i.e. "normal") people, right? There's less formality, fewer inhibitions, more familiarity. And we were arguing about how I talk to him. He pointed out that he was my husband, and then emphasized that point with: "I am NOT a normal person!"
It was all I could do to keep a straight face... for about 5 seconds. Long enough to dawn on him what he just said, and for both of us to start up the raucous laughter again. This was even better than the "36-year-old" remark, because this time HE foisted the insult onto himself-- all by himself, too! I've never let him forget that "not normal" assertion ever since!
They say laughter is the best medicine. Apparently, sometimes it even serves as a pretty good antidote for major quarrels and minor spats!
Tuesday, February 5, 2008
The Week in Review
Wow, talk about time flying by. Has it really been nearly a week since I blogged? I guess the days are just both too long and too short. The days are long because they start so early (compared to what my scheduled USED to be, anyway!). Up a little after 7am, and after dropping Todd off at preschool, it's a busy day of work until around 6pm. Come home, and take care of little man until he goes to bed at around 8pm, then household chores and a bit of relaxation before bedtime. At the same time, the days seem incredibly short because there's just soooo much to do, and keeping busy helps make the hours fly by faster than a Concorde. It's not just any kind of busy, either-- it's a good productive busy. You know, the kind that leaves you feeling tired at the end of the day, but it's a good feeling anyway because you know you're tired because you've accomplished a lot.
Work has been going pretty well so far. I'm still struggling to get my programming environment set up properly and get stuff running correctly, but progress continues. At the very least I'm gaining a good understanding of why I'm getting these various error messages. I've learned quite a bit this past week and a half, and actually look forward to coming in everyday!
My team lead works remotely from the Midwest, so it's definitely a bit different to have to correspond with him via media that don't involve face-to-face contact. Still, it works pretty well all around, though I do wonder how inconveniencing the 3-hour time difference can be for him sometimes...
As you can tell, the company is pretty cool about working remotely from home. Heck, our main focus is on software solutions that enable exactly that-- real-time remote access from anywhere. That'll bode well for the inevitable days when Allan and I will be busy and have to put in a few overtime hours, yet still manage to get Todd to and from school.
The company also has a very dog-friendly policy-- you can bring your faithful canine friends to work with you! Of course, I brought Rocky :-D Sorry Scot, no bring-your-cat-to-work policies yet! ;-) My team lead's cat was getting in the way while we were troubleshooting some of my problems over IM, and I mused at how at least home can be very cat-friendly!
What else? Todd's faring well in his new school. Still eats too slow to finish lunch in time, and still a bit shy about asking for important things like going to the bathroom, but they say he's starting to get familiar with all the other teachers, so that's progress. Almost every day a kid is featured as the "Christian Soldier" of the day-- in other words, it's that kid's turn to bring in something for show-and-tell. This month's theme is "my favorite dance moves", so we're gonna have to think up something creative for Todd, as it's his turn on the 21st. I'm thinking something from Blue's Clues. Any other ideas?
So, that was my week in a nutshell. Not much to write about, just a few observations on what makes this job (or more accurately, this work environment) unique and how little man is doing. One thing's for certain: I'm having fun so far, and that makes all the difference in the world!
p.s. The score seems to have evened out a bit-- I experienced a host of technical, IT-related difficulties this past week, while Allan did not. So, will someone please tell him to stop pouting!? ;-P
(originally posted at: http://www.myspace.com/hellykwee/blog/355137464)
Work has been going pretty well so far. I'm still struggling to get my programming environment set up properly and get stuff running correctly, but progress continues. At the very least I'm gaining a good understanding of why I'm getting these various error messages. I've learned quite a bit this past week and a half, and actually look forward to coming in everyday!
My team lead works remotely from the Midwest, so it's definitely a bit different to have to correspond with him via media that don't involve face-to-face contact. Still, it works pretty well all around, though I do wonder how inconveniencing the 3-hour time difference can be for him sometimes...
As you can tell, the company is pretty cool about working remotely from home. Heck, our main focus is on software solutions that enable exactly that-- real-time remote access from anywhere. That'll bode well for the inevitable days when Allan and I will be busy and have to put in a few overtime hours, yet still manage to get Todd to and from school.
The company also has a very dog-friendly policy-- you can bring your faithful canine friends to work with you! Of course, I brought Rocky :-D Sorry Scot, no bring-your-cat-to-work policies yet! ;-) My team lead's cat was getting in the way while we were troubleshooting some of my problems over IM, and I mused at how at least home can be very cat-friendly!
What else? Todd's faring well in his new school. Still eats too slow to finish lunch in time, and still a bit shy about asking for important things like going to the bathroom, but they say he's starting to get familiar with all the other teachers, so that's progress. Almost every day a kid is featured as the "Christian Soldier" of the day-- in other words, it's that kid's turn to bring in something for show-and-tell. This month's theme is "my favorite dance moves", so we're gonna have to think up something creative for Todd, as it's his turn on the 21st. I'm thinking something from Blue's Clues. Any other ideas?
So, that was my week in a nutshell. Not much to write about, just a few observations on what makes this job (or more accurately, this work environment) unique and how little man is doing. One thing's for certain: I'm having fun so far, and that makes all the difference in the world!
p.s. The score seems to have evened out a bit-- I experienced a host of technical, IT-related difficulties this past week, while Allan did not. So, will someone please tell him to stop pouting!? ;-P
(originally posted at: http://www.myspace.com/hellykwee/blog/355137464)
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