In the past two days I have ventured to the courthouse three times to copy some files from the records department. The court is a mile from my office and both days my boss has had me drive her car instead of walking.
Yesterday I drove her car:
Mercedes Benz SLK Hardtop Convertible
And today I drove her husbands:
Lexus RX400h (Hybrid)
I was so nervous. Thankfully I didn't wreck either. One of them is my dream car. Can you guess which one?My laptop is on its last leg and I am researching its replacement. All of my previous computers have been PCs but I am seriously considering getting a Mac. Congratulations Mac for winning me over with your ingenious advertising. I bought into the cool factor. Shameful but true.
Everyone always says how much they love their Macs, but I have never minded my PC. Are Macs really that great? Are they worth the extra money? Is it hard to go from a PC to a Mac? Does anyone actually prefer a PC? Input would be much appreciated.
I am looking into a MacBook but am still in the preliminary stages and could be swayed.
I have never professed grammatical proficiency as my blog entries may attest. Though correct comma placement is a dream of mine, I never quite know if I am punctuating right. So when I was asked to consider being an editor for The Journey, I was skeptical. In a moment of inflated confidence I agreed to attend a meeting tonight for editors and aspiring editors.
I rarely feel so out of my element. I was surrounded by lawyers, authors, editors (not the volunteer kind... professionals), seminary students and English professors. I realize I am an attorney (and I was thankful to be able to say so) but the meeting was intimidating. One man actually used the word penultimate in a sentence. PENULTIMATE! I had absolutely no idea what the word meant. I didn't even know it was a word.
Incidentally: pe'nul'ti'mate
adjective
1. next to the last; "the author inadvertently reveals the murderer in the penultimate chapter"; "the figures in the next-to-last column"
noun
1. the next to last syllable in a word [syn: penult]
No one else seemed fazed by the word so I tried to play it off. I politely laughed with everyone as I jotted "pinultimate (sp)?" down so I could look it up and blog about it when I got home. The conversation functioned at a higher level than I am used to and though I thoroughly enjoyed myself, I kept thinking, "What have I gotten myself into?!?"
Hopefully as I critique others I will gleam some insight and my professional and personal writing will improve. The editing process does not begin until September so don't be too hard on me until then. But by November, I hope to be a grammar goddess. Fragments, run-ons, dangling participles, subject verb disagreement and unnecessary punctuation, you have been warned.
I am addicted to budgeting. I don't necessarily love following my budget but I am fascinated by where my money goes. I have been a faithful Quickenite for a few years now but didn't want to buy the new software in '09. Of course that meant my Quicken got quirky. My accounts stopped linking correctly and for the last three months I have been manually entering my data for one of my accounts. I finally hit the breaking point last week. However, crisis was averted when I read about Mint.com on Kacie's blog.
I quickly signed up and have been oh so impressed with Mint. It is a free site so you have to deal with credit card and other advertisements but they don't bother me too much. I can track my finances and set up a budget but Mint also has a nifty section that allows you to compare your spending with people in your city (or any other city if you choose). Mint also sends me weekly emails with my summarized financial activity and budget updates. I have been riveted (and yes, I realize I completely divulged my nerdiness). If you are looking for free financial/budgeting software, I recommend it!
Sadly not my own... But it is a new pretty car regardless. On Monday, my father and I took the day off work to go with my brother to buy his very first car. He has had a '92 Mercury Grand Marque since he was 16 and now that he is a working man, he was ready for an upgrade. Boy what an upgrade. He bought an '06 Infiniti G35 and I was ever so proud and a tiny bit jealous.
I have not purchased a car since I was 18 (and then I paid cash which apparently makes a world of difference in car buying time) and somehow in 8 years I forgot what an ordeal it can be. We got to the dealership at 8am and we did not have the car until 4:30pm. Luckily we were not at the dealership the whole time, but the day was exhausting.
But look what he has to show for it.
I am trying to cope with my younger brother having a much nicer car than mine by reminding myself: 1) I don't have to make monthly payments. 2) My car is still running quite well for having over 200k miles on it. 3) I am getting a new(er) car before the end of the year. 4) A vast majority of the world's population does not have a car and I should be (and am) grateful for what I have.
It is sort of working.
On Friday night my co-leader Melissa and I took our girls to the Rock & Worship Roadshow at American Airlines Center. We had 4 girls riding with us and 1 meeting us there, which meant we got to pimp out my dad's Expedition. I have never felt more like a soccer mom.
Once we got to AA Center it was insane. The lines were out the door of every door. We got there about 10 minutes before the concert began and apparently we were cutting it close because they eventually began turning people away. The stadium held 18,000 people and the concert sold out.
Trying to get and save seats for 5 girls and 2 leaders was quite intense with restroom breaks and food runs. At one point I was saving 4 seats while Melissa and three of our girls were getting food. Two ladies tried to sit in the seats and I told them they were saved. One of the ladies looked at me quite rudely and said "I don't care. You can't save seats. This is sold out. Your friends should be sitting down. We are taking their seats." I only managed to stay calm because 2 of my girls were watching me. I politely mentioned that the girls were in the stadium and had just gone to get food. I also mentioned that my co-leader and I had five 6th grade girls from our small group and were really hoping to watch the concert together. Somehow this worked and she rolled her eyes and said, "Fine. Take your seats. But ONLY because it is your church group." Then she stormed off. I was in shock. I couldn't really enjoy myself again until my co-leader and our girls were safely back in their seats.
After the brief drama the concert went off without a hitch. The girls had a blast and I really enjoyed my time with them. We saw Tenth Avenue North, Hawk Nelson, Jeremy Camp and Mercy Me. I was surprised at how well they all performed live but I guess they tour the country regularly. It was definitely worth $10. Check it out at http://www.therockandworshiproadshow.com/. I would go again. Though hopefully next year there won't be any seat drama.
Why is it that cell phones go completely ghetto a few months before your contract is up? Do they sense they are about to be obsolete and decide to get their vengeance? Do they despise you for using them faithfully for 2 years and then throwing them away? I don't know but I find it comical that my phone, my brother's phone and both of my parents phones all started developing quirks in the last month. Our contract is up in the beginning of May. I don't think it is a coincidence!
If you call me in the next month and I don't pick up, it doesn't go to voicemail or it goes straight to voicemail, you now know why. Please have grace until May. I am trying to.
So I am trying to increase my knowledge on several subjects, one of which being old movies. I started tonight by watching The Bachelor and the Bobby-Soxer for no real reason other than it was on. I multitask well with old movies on and was being quite productive but half way through the movie I stopped in my tracks. All of a sudden I heard:
Richard Nugent: Hey, you remind me of a man.
Susan Turner: What man?
Richard Nugent: Man with the power.
Susan Turner: What power?
Richard Nugent: Power of hoodoo.
Susan Turner: Hoodoo?
Richard Nugent: You do.
Susan Turner: Do what?
Richard Nugent: Remind me of a man...
Anyone know what movie I first heard this in (well it is not this exact language but it is close)? It is NOT this movie though apparently it was not original in the movie I know it from.
I absolutely love the Rodeo. It reminds me of the State Fair but with the added bonuses of a Rodeo and concert. This year I went to Brooks & Dunn with my brother, Melissa and David. Brooks & Dunn happened to coincide with the Rodeo finals. We saw all of the rodeo events twice, the semi-finals followed by finals. It made for a longer evening but the second round events were a tad more interesting knowing that the winner received $50,000. Also, I felt like I was cheating the system and getting to see 2 rodeos for the price of one. Well worth the price.
After the classic Rodeo events came my favorite two activities, the calf scramble and mutton bustin'. The calf scramble consists of children running around trying to catch calves. After a child captures a calf, they have to rope it and drag it to the center of the ring. Then I think they raise the calf for a year or something. Not really sure but the capturing process is quite humorous.
Mutton Bustin' was new to the main stage this year and a welcome addition. It involves small children (around 5 years old) riding a sheep around the rink. The child able to hang on the longest wins. The children were adorable and the event was quite entertaining.
After the rodeo we headed to the tents to find food. I love eating at the rodeo. I had a corn dog for lunch and a BBQ sandwich for dinner. Both were worth every calorie.
Then the true challenge began. This year I was determined to find a frozen banana. I heard about them last year but didn't manage to find one. This year, however, I was on a mission and made everyone scour the carnival to find the tent selling them. After searching the entire carnival we finally found the frozen gooodies tent next to the fried candy tent. I patiently waited in line (and by patiently I mean I jumped around in excitement) and succeeded in trying my first frozen banana. My brother got a root beer float. We were both pleased with our selections and I see more frozen bananas in my future. Bring on the State Fair!
This weekend I went to Houston for the rodeo and to visit family and friends. On Friday I headed straight to Jacki's and spent the afternoon with her and the kids. It is scary how fast they grow. Jessica turns 3 in May and Jacob will turn 2 soon after that.
When I got to the house on Friday afternoon, Jessica recognized me immediately. She ran up to me as I walked into the door and said "Jen'ni'fer! You are HERE!" Her mom said "yes, I told you she was coming today." To which Jessica replied, "but she is actually HERE!" It made my day to see how excited she was to see me. Jacob ran up beside her and I said "Hi!" He is speaking well these days and said "Hey Jen." He was more weary of me at first but warmed to me in about 20 seconds when he saw how happy Jessica was to see me.
I had a great time playing with them and eating dinner.
At one point Jessica was sitting in my lap and started playing with my watch. She looked at my wrist and asked "What's this?". I said it is my watch and she said "No... this". I looked and she was looking at the medical alert bracelet I wear with my watch. I told her it was my bracelet and she said "oh..." and looked down sad. I asked her what was the matter and she said she didn't have her watch or bracelet on. I told her that was okay but she would not cheer up. About a minute later Jacki told me where her watch and bracelet were and said I could go and get them for Jessica if I wanted. Jessica looked thrilled so we went and got them. She put her watch and bracelet on the same hand as mine and started beaming.
I couldn't resist getting a picture. They say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.
