I had an unfortunate incident a few weeks ago walking up the stairwell at my work. I had almost made it to the fifth floor when I heard the little pitter patter of some sort of insect. As I got up toward the landing, I saw a cockroach and it was running right at me. It jumped down on to the step where I was standing (in flip flops!) and it almost landed on my foot. It immediately turned to face me almost like it was preparing for a stand off. Not going to happen, cockroach. You win! Before the cockroach could blink it's eye I was gone. The incident left me shaken up for quite a while. I'm not sure what was most troubling for me: the fact that there are cockroaches in my place of employment or the fact that unlike other bugs that run away from humans, this one charged right at me. I called the owner of the building to complain about my fateful morning. She was less than surprised about the incident. She said they've been spraying in the stair well every Thursday because there are so many of them. She assured me however, that they would start spraying twice a week for good measure. She then told me that they aren't really cockroaches, they're water bugs. I think she was hoping that this would soothe me (if only she knew that I pretty much hate all bugs anyway - especially ones that exceed the size of my thumb!). I asked her what the difference between a waterbug and a cockroach is. She had no real explanation except something along the lines of the term waterbug being a little more politically correct than cockroach. "It makes people feel better when you call them that." Hmm...what people? Not me. She went on to warn me about our office leaving crumbs on the floor or food in the garbage as this will only attract the cockroaches in to our office. I've spotted a lot of dead cockroaches in the hallways and stairwell over the last year of my employment, but this was the first live encounter I've had. And it was all that I need. What reminded me of the incident is that this morning I spotted another dead cockroach in the stairwell. It really creeps me out. I honestly get nervous walking up the steps now because I never know what I'm going to find (another employee recently said there was a mouse in the stairwell). I don't remember my job description saying anything about "must be willing to tolerate very large insects." Doesn't your work have an elevator, you might be wondering. Oh yes, it does. It's a freight elevator. Not familiar with freight elevators. Think of the demon drop at Cedar Point. It's like that except there are no seats and you're not only the passenger, but also the conductor. I'm not sure which is the better choice at this point since I can't even count on my hands anymore the number of times people have gotten stuck in the freight elevator. So unless Rapunzel suddenly appears at my office offering to let me use her hair as a rope up to the office (and since I'm afraid of hair, this doesn't seem like a great option either) it looks like it's a catch 22 for me. Looking at this from the "glass is half full" perspective, which I've never been good at, at least I can say that there's always something exciting happening at work? That's the best I can do.
Monday, August 25, 2008
Must love cockroaches
I had an unfortunate incident a few weeks ago walking up the stairwell at my work. I had almost made it to the fifth floor when I heard the little pitter patter of some sort of insect. As I got up toward the landing, I saw a cockroach and it was running right at me. It jumped down on to the step where I was standing (in flip flops!) and it almost landed on my foot. It immediately turned to face me almost like it was preparing for a stand off. Not going to happen, cockroach. You win! Before the cockroach could blink it's eye I was gone. The incident left me shaken up for quite a while. I'm not sure what was most troubling for me: the fact that there are cockroaches in my place of employment or the fact that unlike other bugs that run away from humans, this one charged right at me. I called the owner of the building to complain about my fateful morning. She was less than surprised about the incident. She said they've been spraying in the stair well every Thursday because there are so many of them. She assured me however, that they would start spraying twice a week for good measure. She then told me that they aren't really cockroaches, they're water bugs. I think she was hoping that this would soothe me (if only she knew that I pretty much hate all bugs anyway - especially ones that exceed the size of my thumb!). I asked her what the difference between a waterbug and a cockroach is. She had no real explanation except something along the lines of the term waterbug being a little more politically correct than cockroach. "It makes people feel better when you call them that." Hmm...what people? Not me. She went on to warn me about our office leaving crumbs on the floor or food in the garbage as this will only attract the cockroaches in to our office. I've spotted a lot of dead cockroaches in the hallways and stairwell over the last year of my employment, but this was the first live encounter I've had. And it was all that I need. What reminded me of the incident is that this morning I spotted another dead cockroach in the stairwell. It really creeps me out. I honestly get nervous walking up the steps now because I never know what I'm going to find (another employee recently said there was a mouse in the stairwell). I don't remember my job description saying anything about "must be willing to tolerate very large insects." Doesn't your work have an elevator, you might be wondering. Oh yes, it does. It's a freight elevator. Not familiar with freight elevators. Think of the demon drop at Cedar Point. It's like that except there are no seats and you're not only the passenger, but also the conductor. I'm not sure which is the better choice at this point since I can't even count on my hands anymore the number of times people have gotten stuck in the freight elevator. So unless Rapunzel suddenly appears at my office offering to let me use her hair as a rope up to the office (and since I'm afraid of hair, this doesn't seem like a great option either) it looks like it's a catch 22 for me. Looking at this from the "glass is half full" perspective, which I've never been good at, at least I can say that there's always something exciting happening at work? That's the best I can do.
Sunday, August 24, 2008
419 kind of girl
So September 1st will mark exactly one year since I moved to the "big city." You would think that after living and working here for a year, I would no longer assume phone numbers start with the area code 419. One would think, but one would be wrong. Just today, when filling out some paper work, I started to fill in the phone number and started writing 419-216...wait a minute..those are two different area codes. Old habits die hard, right? But to me, there is so much more to it than just an old habit. The two area codes represent the two major chapters in my life. The majority of my 24 years have been spent living in a 419 area code and a 419 way of life. What am I talking about? 419 way of life? You might not think there are differences between the lifestyles simply based on area code, but I assure you there are. Nothing specifically bad or good. Just different. 419 represents the easy way of life. The life where I was being taken care of by my parents. The college life which we all know is "the life." 216 represents the new chapter in my life. The "real world" chapter and the soon to be "for better or for worse" chapter. The other day I caught myself referring to something in Cleveland and I said "we" as if myself and the Cleveland community are a collective unit where as before I would have said "they." I don't want to read too much into it, but maybe..just maybe...I'm ready to start that second chapter of my life. While there are parts of the 419 life that I really miss (my family, my animals, very little rush hour) there is so much excitement here in the 216. My new house, my recent engagement, my future husband, career opportunities, and all the exciting activities that come with living in a big city with 3 major sports teams! I've never been one to handle change well, so it should come as no surprise that after a year I'm still in the "adjusting" stage. I will tell you this. I don't regret, not even for a second, moving to Cleveland. It was the best move for my relationship and in turn, the best move for me. I've learned so much at my job and have met a lot of wonderful people. That being said, I will always be a 419 kind of girl. You can take the girl out of the 419, but you can't take the 419 out of the girl. :)
Tuesday, August 19, 2008
To my brother
On a serious note, my brother would have turned 22 today. It's so hard for me to believe! July 30th marked 15 years since he died. That's even harder for me to believe. It's so great for me to have Pat's younger brother Michael in my life. Mike turns 22 in a month and gives me an idea of what my brother might be like. Even after 15 years, I can't say that I look back and think to myself, "Everything happens for a reason and there is a reason he was taken from us." I just don't think I will ever have that kind of outlook. What I can say, however, is that life is what you make it. Similarly to the attitude of "everything happens for a reason" (I'm not criticizing that outlook on life, I'm just saying it doesn't work for me. It leaves too many questions about what reason could possibly be good enough to take away someone's only son, someone's only brother, someone's entire life?) I believe that we have the opportunity to take any situation and make the best of it. It has only taken me about 15 years to get to that point. No matter how much I have healed over the last 15 years, I still miss my brother. I think about him today on his birthday, I think about him around the holidays, I will think about him on my wedding day, and I will think about him when I have children who will never know their uncle. Thanks for giving me the opportunity to be a big sister for 7 years and for being the sweetest little boy I have ever known. We all still miss you.
The Hills are alive
I have to admit, I'm very excited that the new season of The Hills started. Some people are surprised when they find out how much I enjoy trashy reality TV. Others however, aren't surprised at all. Yeah, it's fake and trashy and I love it. Some of it is definitely getting old, but I just can't seem to let my little friends from Orange County go. Monday's show followed the typical MTV format: eight minutes of the show and 22 minutes of commercials. I guess I should be used to that by now. Anyway, I wasn't disappointed with the show. Drama, drama, drama. I can't wait to see how the season unfolds. I can make a few predictions: Spencer will be his annoying, arrogant self. His sister will prove that anyone with the last name Pratt can't be trusted. Heidi will be annoying putting up with Spencer's crap even though we all know she deserves better (she's not perfect - but she definitely can do better than Spencer!). Lauren will attract drama everywhere she goes and will continue to chose the "bad guys." Audrina will get fed up with Lo and probably eventually Lauren too. Heidi and Lauren will become friends again until something happens again to push them apart.
I will say though, my friends and I think we've caught MTV blatantly dubbing a conversation, making the show even more fake than we already knew it was. It was during that awkward conversation between Lo and Audrina. Out of nowhere, Audrina just says "we'll never be friends." After Kari watched it a few times on her DVR...she is convinced it was actually Lauren's voice. Interesting. Not only are the characters shady but now MTV is too. If you can't trust MTV anymore, who can you trust?
I will say though, my friends and I think we've caught MTV blatantly dubbing a conversation, making the show even more fake than we already knew it was. It was during that awkward conversation between Lo and Audrina. Out of nowhere, Audrina just says "we'll never be friends." After Kari watched it a few times on her DVR...she is convinced it was actually Lauren's voice. Interesting. Not only are the characters shady but now MTV is too. If you can't trust MTV anymore, who can you trust?
Monday, August 18, 2008
Life in the fast lane
I'm really disappointed in the fact that I haven't written a new entry in my blog since March 6th. That's almost six months of inactivity! Life has been moving so fast that I have just let the time slip away. I haven't taken time for the little things in life that I enjoy so much: blogging, reading, and scrapbooking to name a few. I can only imagine that life is going to get more hectic the older we get so there's no time like the present to make sure that I'm not letting life pass me by! Sometimes I get a little bloggers writer block and feel like I can't make an entry unless I have something significant and witty to write about (although some may argue that I'm never witty anyway). But the truth is, my blog can be whatever I want it to be. Right? Some entries might be more significant than others and maybe some will be witty and some won't. But this is supposed to be an outlet for me to express whatever I want when I want. So that's what I plan to do. Here's to a new era of blogging!
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