Dear Mr(s) Boss(wo)man

Dear Mrs. Bosswoman,

Hello, how are you this fine day? Last time I ventured out of my cubicle it was the sun was still shining and all was right with the world. I think I may have even heard you laugh just a moment ago. Oh joy.

I just wanted to write this little note in reference to my recent tardiness here at The Firm.

I realize that you don't live very far away and have a very loving husband, who will drive you to work when the weather is bad or you just don't feel like walking to the metro to take your one stop to The Firm. I think it's great that you have such a loving husband. Three cheers for you!

However, I am not that lucky. I do not have a loving, or otherwise, husband who will drive me to work. Heck, not even a boyfriend I can call on when needed. Nor do I own a car that could take me from point A to point B. I, my boss, am stuck with the Metro. And to make matters worse, not just the metro (as in trains) but also the bus. Yes, I must take both to get to The Firm.

I'm not sure, but unless you've been living in the office the last week or have had blinders on your entire body from all the love in your home (yes, a baby is on the way!), but it's been raining. A lot. So much so, that everyone is pretty much crippled from doing anything. Today, the sun is shining, but yesterday and last night, rain, my dear boss, RAIN. Thankfully none of my worldy possessions have been ruined by this rain, save for a pair of flip flops that can't seem to dry out and a few gross looking pants' hems, but that is not the same for the rest of the area.

However, the metro is not fine. There are delays. Traffic. Crazy drivers and tourists that get in my way when trying to get to The Firm. This morning was no different. Despite the sun, the water was still all around and my normal commute was a bit longer than expected.

"Then why don't you check the weather/the news/wmata.com for delays?" You may ask. "I did" is my answer. I checked all three so that I knew that I could leave at my normal time and still get to work on time and plenty early for our 9 a.m conference call that I, technically, did not need to be on. But that was not the case. No, traffic was miserable and yours truly did not arrive until 9:11 a.m.

After the call you were cold to me. Didn't you know that I was beating myself up over my faux pas? Isn't the self-inflicted punishment enough for you?

I guess not, because after we had a check-in you mentioned, almost as a side bar:

"Thanks for the call this morning about being late. But, you need to just leave home earlier. Thankfully you did not need to be on the call this morning, but what about if we needed you? You need to work on this. I'm not a morning person either, but you need to be here for your calls and meetings that are planned. You should be able to get here by 9, if not a little earlier if you have a call at 9 a.m."

"Oh, um...Ok. Yes, sorry," was all I could muster.

But as I returned to my desk I started thinking. I realize that I was late, and yes it's my fault for not ensuring that I would arrive in time for the 9 a.m. call (that I didn't need to be a part of), but what is not my fault is a little thing called water and what it does to people in the District. Maybe you've forgotten, but people here are scared or something of the rain. They can't seem to handle it. Imagine their fret when the rain stopped but the water was.still.there.

I'm sorry that the metro was not up to your expectations causing me, your beloved (or loathed?) employee to be late. I will do all in my power to strike metro down. I will use the death stare that you have so perfectly perfected and use all powers of persuasion to stronghold metro to their promise of on time trains and busses. I will do my best boss woman. I will make you proud.

OR I will just be really pissed at your ignorance as to why I was late.

Either way, I'm sure it'll all work out in the end.

Thanks for this heart-to-heart. Have a great day!
C$

I wonder if he found it....

Happy almost done with Monday!

After telling my father the good news on Sunday (it seems to be our day of 'checking in with each other, usually me calling him) he said this:

Well if you let me know when you're able to move and such, MoJo [my stepmom] and I would like to come up [from Florida] to help you move.

What? I have been moving, almost once a year, for the past 6 years I have moved 13 times. That is not including packing up and moving my mom from our hometown in Maine to Boston over several trips. 13 times I have moved, 11 of which my mom was right there beside me. He has never offered to help and barely even took notice of the fact that I did move, until I sent out the "C$ has a new address" email with pictures attached did I get any sort of acknowledgement that I packed up my entire life and moved it, whether it was 10 miles away or 300 miles away.

But I digress. Come July he will be coming up here and finally helping his (only) baby girl move...

But this leads me to question: what's his deal? did he find my blog/posts? is he suddenly feeling quilty?


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
For those DC readers, I have a question, okay, two:

1. Movers: has anyone ever used a local moving company, hired men and truck to do the dirty work for you. Any companies you recommend looking into or avoiding like the plague?

2. Storage companies: I'm moving from a large one bedroom (600 sq.f. maybe, I honestly have n idea) to a studio (maybe 350-400 sq.ft.) Doesn't sound like a lot, but it is. Anyway, I'll be needed to put almost all of my possessions into storage and need recommendations for companies. My mother is concerned about the quality (or lack there of) franchised storage companies and has heard many a horror story of companies selling possessions if "rent" is not paid on the exact day it is due; charging a fee for accessing your possession; a loading dock/elevator fee, etc. Readers, suggestions? Please?

GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO NEWWWWSSS

Remember while back I posted a picture of the metro thingy (one of those big poles that signify a metro entrance) from Woodley Park saying that if all worked out I would be calling that home?

well, all worked out!!

Come Aug 1 (give or take a few days) I'll be moving to Woodley Park. Rent Free. I would love to elaborate but can't be found by the powers that be...if you are intrigued, email me and I'll fill you in on the whole gosh damn secret


YAY!!!

Friday Rants

I commute to work on the Metro much like thousands of people every day. Each day I am amazed at people, what they wear, what they are reading, their quirks and habits that I catch during our short time together.

However, I am most amazed at how mean I become. I become judgmental. I give people the "once over" and stare them down. I roll my eyes behind peoples' back as they exit and are off to start their day.

But it's all in good fun. Or at least in my head it's fun....

Here are some of my thoughts from yesterday's commute home:

Do you realize how stupid you look?

Hey, have you noticed that we're underground. Yeah, those sunglasses ain't going to be helping you down here, rendering those "cool" sunglasses completely pointless and serving no purpose but making you look like an ass.

Look, we all know having an iPod is the in thing (I have one too), but do you really need to be waving around for all to see or holding it so gingerly in the palm of your hand? You seriously look like an idiot.

You can wear that to work?

Get out of my god damn way!

Cool trendy things should be reserved for those who are actually cool and trendy. In this cause, the clothes do not make the man. If you have to ask "am I cool enough to wear this?" then probably, you aren't. Please save me the hassle of mocking you and just stick with the basics.

Pulled up gym socks. Why? Are your legs really that cold in this 90 degree heat?

Why must you, when there are numerous seats available on this train find a reason to sit next to me in all of your sweaty glory.

Deodorant. Please?

Just cause you can wear it [it's offered in your size, it looks cute on your friend or a model, etc] does not mean YOU should wear it.

To the rest of you-what are your thoughts while commuting? Tell me I'm not the only one who starts her day off judging.offical uniform of judgers everywhere

Weighing in on the "issues"

Bad at Life posted yesterday about an issue effect many Americans, minimum wage and Congress' refusal to increase pay from $5.15 to $7.25 and yet voted to raise their own wages by ~$3,000.

As a true blue, idealist liberal, this angers me. But as an honest realist, I can understand why the rate increase was not passed. Nearly 20% more over just a year (?). That's a lot for small business owners and nonprofits who rely on minimum wage employees to get by. I do not support huge companies and retail giants (ie Walmart, Target, et al) who are lacking in the benefits and fair pay department.

Anyway, on to bigger issues.

The DC area has been abuzz about one thing the last couple of days. And by abuzz I mean a few people are talking about it and a few are being quoted in the Express bloglines section regarding their thoughts on....

Open Toed Shoes in the Workplace.

Can they be worn at work? Should they be worn at work? What kinds of open toed shoes can be worn? etc etc etc

Let me just say, I love sandals. I LOVE THEM. If I could, I would wear flip flops every day of the year. With that said, I also have a low tolerance for inappropriate use of flip flops (and all open toed shoes in general).

Here are my two cents:

Can they be worn at work? Well, this is how I see it. For the most part, they shouldn't be worn at work, unless you have a casual office that allows such footwear. And if you do work in an office that does allow it, like mine, you must follow a few rules:

1. Your toes/feet must be in tip top shape. Not cracked or dry heels (ewwww) and polish on your, of normal length, toe nails.

2. What is on your feet must correspond with what is on your top. Wearing a suit-then no, you can not wear open toed shoes of ANY KIND. No, it's just not good. Wearing a summer dress or summery like pants, then yes, sandals are fine as long as they are a bit dressier than your 'run around in the front yard' flip flops. A coworker of mine is a very nice dresser. In the summer she wears a lot of summer like clothes (summer dresses and light fabric outfits). Her shoes always correspond to what she is wearing and is a always a sight to be seen. Women all over the DC area should learn from her.

Can they be worn to formal events? Again, it all depends on the dress code. Black tie event--no. Summer wedding during the day, ok, BUT only if they are heeled and/or are a more dresser than flip flops. DO NOT WEAR FLIP FLOPS TO ANY FORMAL EVENT. EVER. unless they are really cute, sparkly ones that no one would notice are flip flops and no one would hear your flopping and not ones that have black rubber soles. ever.

Ok, rant over. I feel much better.

a little shocker fun

Here's a little eye opener right before the start of the US match vs. Ghana

a friend commented on this picture-
"it's hard to take your shocker seriously when you're smiling like that"

GO U.S.!

and good luck to Alex Ovechkin tonight. Calder Trophey is coming back to DC, I can feel it.

got me thinking...

I-66 over at Yeah, so I'm... has a post on Father's Day. Reading his has gotten me thinking. If I have time today I'll put something together on my own "relationship" with my father and what this holiday does to me.

Until then I will leave you with this picture, shocker style just for I-66

Enjoy!

sorry for the small size, but you get the jist...

Week Two, Part I

NEVER have I been so happy to see this on my cab ride home

Week Two

After returning from Hotlanta, last Tuesday night, it was back to work at the Firm for me, no rest for the weary. Before leaving ATL, I emailed all of my friends and requested their presence at a happy hour in my honor (I’m humble y’all!) and my return from the brink of southerness. I believe the final count was 9, seven of which showed up at the Hawk N Dove on Wednesday to toast my return, watch the hockey game (Oilers vs. Edmonton) and have a laugh or two. It was nice to be back with my friends and in a familiar locale. It was intern night at the HnD and we reaped the benefits ($5 pitchers, free wings, pop music) despite our lack of intern status (damn those paying jobs!)

The crush of the moment failed to show up as did DCboy. Both too busy/exhausted to make the trek out. I was bummed, but honestly didn’t miss them only because if they had come, I would have had to be “on” (read: charming, cute, funny, etc) and all I really wanted to do was relax and have fun with my friends who I am not trying to charm their pants off.

The rest of the week was short lived as it seemed like I got home, unpacked did a bazillion loads of laundry and packed back up so that I could head to NoVA and PA on the weekend to celebrate Sally’s birthday.

Now this is where all the fun (and my lack of sleep) comes from for the weekend:

Sally “Tigress Woods” invited (or did we crash?) us to her Friday Night Golf Happy Hour at a local golf course. We prepped it up and were ready Friday at 7 to be picked up at the Springfield Metro so that we could make our entrance to the club fashionably late.

The special for this HH is free balls (haha BALLS) to those that want to practice their swing in front of everyone else. It was an enjoyable time and we spent way too much time there despite the downpour and lack of youngish men (anyone that was under 30, basically). The classic moment of the night was when Jane learned, from me, what exactly a “pearl necklace” is. If only I had my camera to capture the look of shock and horror. Almost as good as when she had to explain what the “shocker” to someone else.

Then it was off to Sally’s apartment for pizza (“I’ve never seen so much meat on one piece”) and movies. The plan was to watch all three Mighty Ducks movies in preparation for the trip to Hershey to see the Bears play (a surprise trip for Sally). Much to our dismay, Blockbuster (ticketmaster’s bastard son) didn’t have ANY of the MD movies, not even D3! We couldn’t believe it! Not sure what we were thinking, but decided on Date Movie as the replacement. Um…I feel stupider for watching the entireity of that movie. The one funny line was “How do you say your name? Just like it’s spelled, Fucurdaughter”

Saturday morning was spent watching Sally coach her 5 year old soccer players (ADORABLE) in their last game of the season. SO cute and so much fun to be outside doing something other than working, drinking or sleeping. The kids were hilarious (they do say the darndest things!) and the parents were very sweet to us random adults with no children.

the only place we hit traffic, Dillsburg, PA.

After the game it was off to Hershey PA for the Birthday Weekend Getaway. It took only a couple of hours to get there and we spent the time belting out to 80’s music , talking about guys, cars, beer, hockey and generally having a good time. Including the following tidbits of fun:

Jane: “Hey Woodside! I went to Woodside High!”
C$: “woodcock?”

Sally: “I am now going to play the #1 reason why women have unreal expectations about love and are bitter and alone…” Wonderful Tonight starts to play.

After dinner at Outback (Sally wanted meeeaaaaaaaaaaat) we had a quick shower session and we were off to the Giant Center. But, of course, before leaving the Ho Jo’s (we’re high class!) we each chugged a beer like champs and headed out the door to the Giant Center.

“I was worried that when he slowed down by Giant [grocery store] that I hadn’t been specific enough. Then I realized it was a red light.”

The game was uneventful except for two events. The first one, beer at the giant center is ONLY $4.25!!!! Jane even did a little jig to celebrate. And secondly, during the 2^nd period intermission they have Sumo wrestling on the ice. Maybe it was the boredom setting in from the lackluster performance of the Bears, or maybe it was the drinking (mixed drinks and several beers already) or maybe it was actually that funny, but we laughed for a good 5 minutes watching these two guys go at it, I’m not sure why it was funny and don’t really care.

What we didn’t understand was the crowd. A good mix of hockey fans and families, decent ratio of male to female and such, BUT either there were Penn. Dutch or Amish folks in attendance. Sally was quite upset at and for the young women who had to wear traditionalish dresses/sneakers and the little bonnet but the guys were able to wear normal clothes: “I don’t get it. She has to wear that and he gets to wear jeans and an USA Hockey t-shirt.” And later on in the night: “I don’t know what God you worship, but I’m pretty sure He wouldn’t want you to wear sneakers with that dress.”

After a couple of more beers and a call to the cab company we were off to Shakey’s (“Sharkey’s, Shockey’s, Shocker’s…whatever”)….

You can't quite tell here, but we'd been waiting for over an hour for a cab.
The Giant Center was long shut down and just tourists were stuck outside. .

That’s it for this post….got to get back to work and this is a semi-good stopping point for the night. Back with more….

Week One

It’s been almost 2 weeks since my last post, so I will do my best to recap everything that’s happened, as I think it’s quite entertaining.

Week one (until June 6th)
I spent 6 horrible days in the ATL for work. I don’t know what it isa bout that city, but I despise it on every level. There is not one thing that I can point to that would justify my hate for this city, but I think it has something to do with the fact that NOTHING is actually in Atlanta, and instead, is in Buckhead, Perimeter and every gosh darn suburb that’s 15 or so miles out of the ATL.

No bars, clubs or good places to grab some food are anywhere to be found within city limits (or I should say, within walking distance of any downtown hotel). If I were to ever go back, I would DEFINITELY not stay in the city and maybe opt for Buckhead or something like that. It’s a beautiful area but not tourist non-car driving friendly.

Work itself was interesting. I worked at an information booth for a conference of roughly 25,000 medical professionals. We were in a building that was almost a mile from end to end, so there were lots of tired Docs pissed off that we made them walk all the way to get to some lecture or to hear Lance Armstrong speak. I think my favorite saying from the week was “they don’t teach that in doctor school,” only because we were asked some of the STUPIDEST questions EVER. For example, if you are on level four of one building and go down an escalator to another building what level do you think you are on? Logic tells you (or at least me): “I’d be on level three.” However that is not the case with Docs, they were convinced they were on level one and refused to believe me, even questioning my honesty and genuine concern about their inability to read signs and count.

When I started at the Firm I joked with my friends that by the time I left I’d be able to cure _______ (disease that cannot be mentioned) with all the stuff that I was learning. Well, I can read, write and add so I think I’m well on my way to curing it!

My info booth was staffed by an older, retired woman from Georgia who was sweet as a peach but dumb as a pit in a peach. She didn’t know the area at all and I spent a good portion of my time looking up directions and names of places/streets on mapquest or google. What’s the point of having a local she doesn’t know a thing about the area. But she was sweet and I enjoyed talking to her for 11 hours a day. Although, I have a feeling she might have thought I was ‘playing for the other team’ if you catch my drift. I had spent some time talking about sports and my attempts to organize a group of Firm staff to go to a Braves game. A couple days later, when we were “closer” (how close can you get to a stranger, pretty damn close after 60 hours together) she asked this out of the blue:

Georiga: “So C$, you are 23 and aren’t married, do you have a boyfriend or something…?”
C$: hahah “ummmm, no I don’t have a boyfriend”
Georgia: “oh”
C$: “but I do have a crush on someone, a friend of mine.”
Georgia: “ooooh okay” (sigh of relief and a smile) “that’s nice to hear. Tell me about him.”
C$: “well……”

I’ll never forget the tone of voice or the smile that she gave me once I told her that I liked a guy. I think she came thisclose to getting out of her stool and praising Jesus that her sweet city girl liked the penii.

In regards to staff at the Firm, I don’t think they like me and I’m not sure why. There were a few instances at the staff party (open bar baby) that I was talking to people and they would turn around mid-story or not really pay any attention to me at all. As far as I know, I’ve done nothing to offend them and have been nothing but nice. I thought the trip to the ATL would help me broaden my work friends, but I don’t think that’s the case. Maybe I had a sign on my forehead/back/chest that said “I’m a bitch” or “I’m judging you, don’t talk to me” or something along those lines that made people not like me. Or maybe it’s not me and they are just all losers.

Yeah, that’s it.

It was an interesting trip and I’ve never been so happy before to see the monuments as I flew into DCA. Things I missed about ATL:

1. public transportation: I hate the metro as much as the next guy, but it’s something you can rely on and actually use to get place to place
2. police presence: for the most part, one can only go so far before seeing an officer that can arrest you for one thing or another here in DC. Although I’m never really doing anything bad, it’s nice to know they are around. However, in ATL I saw so few and actually was afraid to go walking about. People, I live in SOUTHEAST DC and I was scared, something is wrong here.
3. food food glorious food: for a week, all I really ate was red meat at every restaurant I went to. Limited choice on all menus and choices of establishments SUCK in ATL. So glad to know that I can get just about anything I want anywhere around here.
4. city planning: it’s taken me some time to figure out all of the intricacies of DC but one thing is clear, numbered and lettered streets is ingenious.

I’m sure there were more things that I hated about ATL, but a weeks distance between the hate and now make everything seem a little stupid and petty.

Glad to be home

And I-66, no sweet tea for you or for me. You’ll have to settle for me being home :)

one for the money, two for the road

an update is coming, just haven't had two seconds to sit down and think about it all. maybe that'll be my commute goal instead of completeing a soduku puzzle.

damn you soduku