hi from HI

Having a blast in Hawaii. Promise there are plenty of blogs coming from this trip...sunrise at the crater...Fraaaank and his bus tour..."biking" down the volcano....parking the jeep....navigating the highways...stay tuned for those.

Just didn't want y'all to think I forgot about you.

I do have one complaint...I suppose it isn't really about Hawaii per se....why, oh why does Marriott feel the need to put a down comforter on their beds no matter where they are. I mean, it is 85 degrees and sunny out like every day of the year - is a down comforter (the exact same one o get in Albany in January) really necessary?!!?

I Meant To Do That

It was mid-morning at work and I was a little fidgety. what better way to cure a case of the fidgets than to go to CVS, right? Lucky for me, there is one in my building, 9 floors below where I work.

I grab my wallet and hop in the elevator, push the button, the elevator doors close...I don't move. So, I hit the button again. Still, I don't move. I'm starting to mildly panic and start to punch the button over and over, faster and harder. Still, nothing. In a nearly full panic with the thought of not being able to get out in time for my wedding (2 days away mind you), I search for my cell to call someone. Of course, I left my cell on my desk. UUUGGGHHH.

I continue to push and panic when - poof - the elevator doors open. Standing in front of me is one of the guys I work with. He says, "why are you just hanging out in the elevator?" Well, that is a very god question. I had been punching the floor I started on (floor 9) over and over again, instead of the first floor - where CVS is.

Clearly, I need a vacation.

There's Been A Revolt!

My technology has turned on me, all at once. It is like they unified and decided to remind me who was really in charge.

On my drive home from work, I was in the middle of a very important work call (well, it had to do with upcoming dinner plans but I was talking to someone I work with so technically, a work matter) when my BlackBerry just turned off. I didn't think the battery was that low so I hit a button on the screen, and the key popped off, into my hand. I'm not on Best Buy's Geek Squad or anything but my diagnosis of the phone would be something like, "it doesn't look good".

Next, I needed to refill a prescription at CVS so I use my iPhone Google app where you just speak what you're looking for and it finds it for you. The search that kept coming up was, "See Vs Bar and Tin" instead of CVS in Barrington. Ugh.

I came home thinking the house could use a quick once over with the vacuum. I plug my iPod into my Bose so I can rock out nice and loud over the cleaning noise and my iPod has no music in it. My music has been lost in cyber space.

Feeling the need to retreat from this technological revolt, I grab my tried and true nook (Barnes and Noble's awesome, love, love, love it e-reader for those of you out of the geek loop), run a bath, and figure I will read while soaking my troubles away. I've had the nook since Christmas and this afternoon is the first time I've ever received the warning, "your nook is too low to function. it is critical that you charge it." Critical that I charge it?!?! Really? Critical. Fine, I will follow the nooks order, pop a bottle of wine and get on my laptop, connect with the masses.

You don't think that would go smoothly, do you? My laptop battery is dead so I dug out my cord only to discover that it will power up the laptop but the battery won't charge.

Here's what I'm thinking - if I want to talk to people, I will use a hard wired, home line. Does anyone have one of those? If I want music, I will learn to play the piano. Future reading will be done with an actual book and I should start publish my blog as a weekly Gazette using a hand powered printing press, distributed via the Pony Express.

You win technology, I surrender.

Scram!

Could someone please tell Precious, the neighborhood cat, to find another screen door to scratch. This single girl is about to be married so I think this cat should know that I will not be the neighborhood spinster with a thousand cats.

You're scratching up the wrong screen, Precious!

Mildred and Me

When I first started in my job, I was told to travel to Southern New England and get trained by one of the best in the field, a woman named Mildred. Really?!?! I mean - MILDRED - I pictured a 75 year old grandmotherly type who wore granny glasses, a sweater guard, used tissues jammed up her sweater sleeve and who smelled liked boiled onions (yes, I think that all old peoples' homes smell oddly like sweaty onions - you think I'm nuts right now but pay attention next time you are around old people).

As I climbed into my car for the 2 hour drive, I was plotting how to get out of having to eat lunch with Mildred. The closer I got to her office, the more distraught I became - here I was working for this amazing organization that I worked really hard to get employed by, there were young, fun, fabulous people everywhere (me being one of them, of course) and I was going to be stuck hanging with Grandma Mildred because we were the people who got paid to be nice to people while everyone else got paid to be cool.

Ugh!

Upon my arrival, the receptionist buzzes Mildred to let her know I had arrived. She replied that she would be right down. Shortly after, the door flew open, I heard my name and looked up to find a well dressed, pretty, young, hip chick calling out to me. Mildred's secretary, I wonder? Nope...Mildred...in the flesh.

She whisks me upstairs, saying hello to everyone, joking with people, introducing me - clearly this Mildred girl was cool and I just had to be her friend and just had to find a way to get her to go to lunch with me. When we arrived at her desk, I blurted out everything - how I thought she'd be old and smell like onions and be wearing a sweater guard and dirty tissues all because I thought she had an old lady's name. That's right, on our first meeting, I blurted right out that I thought she had an old lady's name - What is wrong with me?!?! Yup, I get paid to be nice, can't you tell?!?!?

Instead of being insulted or pissed, Mildred busted out laughing and we have been thick as thieves ever since. We spent that morning discussing our families, what we did for fun, movies, books - everything but work. Mildred took me to lunch where I had the most amazing salad that I crave on a regular basis. For my birthday that year, Mildred bought me a sweater guard which still cracks me up every time I come across it in my desk drawer.

Don't know what a sweater guard is? check out:

http://thesummer.files.wordpress.com/2009/10/il_430xn-95170004.jpg)

Stay tuned to read about some of CeeCee and Mildred's hilarious adventures - there have been many and hopefully, many more to come!

Summer Days Are Here Again...

...and I am thrilled about that but doesn't logic dictate that if the weather outside is 90 degrees, maybe we should take the down comforter that we used when it was 9 degrees, off the bed?!?!

I mean, I made the mistake of moisturizing my legs before I went to sleep and then I crawled under the covers, curled onto my side and slip, the top leg slid right off the bottom. I tried again. Slip. The heat and the moisturizer made my freshly shaven legs so slick I had to sleep on my back, legs flat on the mattress. That's not comfy.

I suppose, logic also dictates that I could have been the one to change the comforter instead of waiting for someone else to do it...we will just consider that irrelevant for purposes of this blog.