I tried...I really did.

I've tried to keep up on this blog, but it's been incredibly difficult with all the things I've been doing the last few weeks. Here are some highlights:

-I'm 25 now. The last hurdle to being a full-fledged adult: being able to rent a car
- Working overtime like crazy.
- Getting into General Hospital again. Sonny and Brenda back together, whoo-hoo!
- Updating my wardrobe. It's incredibly difficult to find tops that fit me properly, and I don't have the money for a seamstress.
- Thinking about taking some music classes at the college. Way cheaper than private lessons.
- Wondering if I should get a little girl cat so Goose has company during the day. He gets so lonely, and he does not work with the males.
- Prepping for Fantasy Football, my mock draft went pretty well and I ended up with most of the players I wanted.
- Clipping coupons. I don't pay retail for anything.
- Scouring the flea markets with Ryan for things to flip. You'd be amazed at how many people can't work a cellphone, but know how to look up prices on eBay.
- Kicking butt at work. I've made a lot of people angry because I've set the curve for sales incredibly high, but my bonus checks keep rolling in!
- Working on my music. I haven't written anything in a while, but I've been able to redo some previous pieces and make them flow a lot better.

So, it'll probably be another month at most before I update again. Whatever, most of you follow me on Facebook anyway. :-)

the diePhone

The iPhone 4 launched a few weeks ago, and ever since, my professional life has been a nightmare. Ryan and I discussed this a few weeks ago, how Apple keeps designing products that have major design flaws that people still line up for days to purchase.

Can you imagine people putting up with this in any other situation? A car that turns itself off when you shift into 4th gear, a house that loses power if you use 3 appliances at once...it's ridiculous what people will put up with to have the newest shiny thing.

The most frustrating part is that my whole department knows what's going on, but for legal purposes, we have to keep our mouths shut. When we talk to clients who are interested in getting the device, we can't warn them they're about to fall into the 7th circle of hell.

I think Apple really shot themselves in the foot this time. With all the tech blogs out there now, all of this stuff is getting recorded in unheard of numbers. You can ignore 1 million screaming people if you try, but you'd better react if you want their business again.

I'm a bad, bad blogger!

Things have been pretty busy for me lately, but that's no excuse! I'm going to be more diligent about keeping this updated....probably. :-)

First off, I'm in my new place: a 1 bedroom haven for me and Goose. My rent is less than $400 a month, which is pretty amazing for Merced. The landlords were remodeling the unit, so I had to wait about 6 weeks for the work to finish. The upside is I was the first one to ever to use the shower, touch the counters, put anything in the cabinets, etc. I was sleeping on an air mattress for about 2 months before my boyfriend Ryan bought me a pillow-top queen set. It didn't take long before I started getting junk mail, but Goose likes to help with it.

Speaking of the boyfriend, I've been dating Ryan for about 5 months. We met while I was dating someone else, but his ringtone at the time was from Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers, and we became friends soon after. I had been single for a few months when his roommate (who happened to be my old roommate) decided to set us up. We haven't been apart since.

I got to spend a lot of time with my family the last few weeks: Kris and Lydia came out west with their new baby Eve, Nathan and Lindsey came down with all the kids, and Brian and Rhonda came up shortly afterwards. We had a great time on the 4th, even though the economy ruined most of the big celebrations. Ryan and I bought a bunch of fireworks from the stands around town, and had a little celebration of our own on my parent's driveway. Braydan was pretty brave with the sparklers, holding 2 in each hand by the end of the night. Tes was a little more timid, the sparks seemed to make her nervous. Vann was very much into them, he would follow me around asking for "nutter one!" Luckily, we had 60 sparklers and they lasted long into the night.

We took a trip to Monterey so Kris could take a tour of a school he's interested in. It would be great to have them back on the West Coast, especially as Eve gets bigger. I've always hated how far away my family is, it would be nice to have us all on the same time zone, at least. Unfortunately, they'll be in New York for at least another year. Oh, well.

Monterey was loads of fun, I rode up with Brian and Rhonda and got to watch Brian's digestive pyrotechnics on the way up. He started feeling nauseous in Los Banos (irony!), so Rhonda and I got to dish about our high school experiences while he slept on the backseat. She's really funny, and she's exactly who I thought Brian would end up with.

We got to walk around Fisherman's Wharf and had lunch at a great seafood restaurant. They were handing out samples of clam chowder at every restaurant, by the time we got to the restaurant we had planned to have lunch at, we were already feeling kind of full.

There was a free trolley that ran around the city, and we decided to take that back to the college where we had left the cars. About 5 minutes down the road, we realized it was going the wrong direction. We hopped off, and jumped onto the trolley headed the other direction, and ended up right back at the Wharf. We gave up, and walked up the monster hills.

Briand and Rhonda introduced us to the best game ever: kind of a cross between Pictionary and Telephone...Pictiophone...or...Telenary. Whatever.

The rest of the extended family came over on Friday, and it was so great to see all the younger kids together. It's strange to think that we were all their ages once. We played the game again, and we've all agreed it's going to replace Pit as the staple game at all our family events.

I'm hoping to be able to visit my best friend Sarah, her husband Noah, and their daughter Audrey sometime this year. I haven't been able to see her much since they moved to Oklahoma, this is the longest we've been apart since we were just weeks old.

That's all for now, hopefully I'll remember to keep updating!

Another week gone by

This week just seemed to fly by! I was having a meltdown earlier this week, but luckily things worked themselves out by Thursday.

And an exciting change, the company is now letting us have iPhones on our employee accounts. I ordered my 8GB for $49, and it will be here tomorrow or Monday at the latest. Now Mom will finally be able to use that outfit coordination app she saw on the Today Show. :-)

My youngest older brother (sounds weird, I know!) and his wife are having a baby! So excited, can't wait to be an aunt again. I look at how big Braydan, Tes, and Vann are already, and it just throws me how much time has passed.

I recently celebrated my 5-year anniversary at AT&T, and the company gifted me with a 1 carat blue topaz ring in sterling silver (our company colors, of course). I also received a pay raise, and all of my sick days are now paid. Previously, it had to be consecutive days in order for it to be paid. Now, if I need to take off early for any reason, it will all be paid.

I'll be spending Sunday at my parent's house, the Niners play the Seahawks at 1:05 sharp; immediately following is the Primetime Emmy Awards. Mom and I are planning a celebration menu, but we haven't decided on the theme yet. I'm leaning towards finger foods or desserts.

We chose sushi for the Oscars, and boy was that yummy!

Lazy Sunday

I'll be relaxing most of today, looking forward to the Niners game at 1:15! Season opener against the Cardinals, NFC champions last season and Super Bowl contenders. I'm not expecting us to do very well, our 1st string proved they were no match for a tighter team like the Chargers last week. But I am hoping they get some points on the board without having to rely on the kicker Joe Nedney.

He and the punter Andy Lee spend way too much time on the field.

My jazz shoes came in on Thursday, I was supposed to audit the class on Tuesday but couldn't because the shoes hadn't come in yet. Took a few spins on Mom and Dad's hardwood, and my ankle felt great. My balance is still an issue, and my spotting, but I'm hoping that will all come back to me in time. As long as I keep doing the strengthening excercises my physical therapiost gave me, I hope my joints can keep up.

And it looks like some of Dad's gaming bug rubbed off on Mom! She's playing a bunch of apps from her Facebook account and signed up for one through MySpace so we could play together. Our favorite is YoVille, which is a slightly altered version of the Sims. You get to deisgn your character (facial features, clothes, hairstyle, etc.), and you get an apartment to deocrate. Visting people, playing games, and working at the factory all get you coins and YoPoints. As your YoPoints increase, you earn extra items and can wrok towards buying a house. It's very fun, and you can see all I've been able to do in the last week.

Shame on me!

Sorry for the neglect, things have been quite busy as of late...

-The fleas have been eradicated! No more buggies on our babies, beds, or bodies, and the house just feals so much cleaner.

-It's been a pretty mild summer so far, only needed to run the A/C a few times.

-House-sitting for Mom and Dad while they were in Vegas was fun, Goose enojoyed being back at home.

-Our trip to Vegas was awesome! Had a fantastic birthday dinner at the sushi place Ra, saw the fountains at Bellagio, and did a ton of walking. Also discovered my memory card was damaged and lost over 400 pictures, including all the pictures from the trip.

-Work is going well, a new team shift takes away some of my responsibilities. Not sure if that's a good thing or not, time will tell I suppose.

-Roomie and I getting along well, and we have a drifter on our couch. :-) Just kdding, a friend of ours needed a place to crash while she gets some thing in order, so we offered our very uncomfortable couch and tiny bathroom. How could she resist?

-Jazz shoes are on the way, and I have an audit of the modern jazz class on Tuesday after work. Physical therapist says my ankle is stronger now, but I have to be careful trying to go up en pointe. As long as the toes aren't woo worn, I can go into a demi and the untrained eye won't know the difference.

-Baking a lot, made Grandmama's Blueberry Buckle last week to rave reviews. Next is Nana's Dump Cake!

Die! Die! My Darling!

It's going down this weekend, I'm bombing my apartment. Btw, people look at me funny when I say that. :-)

I found 3 foggers at the SuperTarget in Atwater for $7, and my roommate is out of town this weekend. I'm taking Goose to my parents house and spending the night while the rooms are being treated, George will come by later in the evening to air things out. The hard part will be getting everything covered on the entertainment center. There's a lot of electronics out that can't be exposed to the chemicals, and everything in the bedrooms needs to be covered too. We bought a bunch of huge garbage bags we'll split open and tape them over all we can.

I'm going to Tami's baby shower tomorrow, I'll post pics soon!