about me

My photo
Denver, Colorado, United States
i'm 33. i live with my husband, baby daughter 2 dogs and 1 kitty. i'm a chemical engineer with an MBA and work in technical sales. i tend to bite off more than i *think* i can chew and end up with a full bulging mouth for awhile before i can finally swallow. i thrive in chaos, but strive for order.

6.23.2005

birthday wishes from my bro

so i know my baby brother reads my blog.

well, he's not really a baby anymore.. since he's 22, a foot taller than me, just graduated college, and has an adorable girlfriend. i am so proud!

anyhow, he sent me the best birthday card*!

it said...

on the front - "for your birthday, sis, let me give you some advice mom gave me..."

on the inside - "i sure as hell won't be using it!"

thanks for the laugh, fuzz!


*except for the cheap shot he wrote about how close I was to 30

si to the rescue

i have to say that i have the best boyfriend ever.

he does awesome things for me!

like coming to my softball game on my birthday and bringing a rolling cooler full of beer and ice cream cake for the team!

how cute is that?

6.20.2005

it's my birthday and i'll snooze if i want to

so this is the first time i've ever gone to work on my birthday. and i'm not thrilled about it.

growing up, a summer birthday always guaranteed that i wouldn't have to go to school.

when i entered the work force, i couldn't bear to give up my free birthday days. for 3 years i was able to take a personal day or, ahem, call in sick. then last year it fell on a sunday (which was also fathers day, but that's a WHOLE other story for another day).

this year my vacation is all wrapped up in the 2 week cayman island vacay i have planned for august. (which i'm not complaining about at all - although a rant about only having 2 freakin' weeks of vacation a year will probably show up on this blog in the near future). and i already took a (legimitate) sick day last monday, so..

do adults play down their birthday because they really don't care, or because they think they should? everyone must get a little twinge of excitement on their birthday - why squeltch it?


i know getting older is a little depressing (HELLO late twenties here!). and i can't tell my boss "um, i don't really want to complete this report for you today, because it's my birthday and well, i just don't feel like it".

even though getting older isn't a picnic, your birthday is still your day and you should milk it for all it's worth. when else can you get a free dessert?

so happy birthday to me

and may the rest of my quickly dwindling 20's slow down so i can enjoy them!

6.16.2005

born lippy

so i have a horrible chapped nose due to my cold/allergies/spawn of satan stuck in my respiratory system.

yes.
my nose is chapped.
ick.

so to heal it, i did what any resourceful girl would do. dig into her purse for some lip balm.

in my case, it's the body shops "born lippy exotic passionfruit lip balm".

and i am SO glad i found that one instead of a horrible menthol one - because now i smell exotic passionfruit with every breath i take!

6.14.2005

i'm it

looks like i was tagged by rambling girl. thanks. really. because i really need an excuse to not be working!
anyhow. here's the game:

Pick 5 of the following questions and then complete the sentences. Then pass it on to 3 more of your blog friends! (No tag backs allowed.)
If I could be a scientist?
If I could be a farmer?
If I could be a musician?
If I could be a doctor?
If I could be a painter?
If I could be a gardener?
If I could be a missionary?
If I could be a chef?
If I could be an architect?
If I could be a linguist?
If I could be a psychologist?
If I could be a librarian?
If I could be an athlete?
If I could be a lawyer?
If I could be an inn-keeper?
If I could be a professor?
If I could be a writer?
If I could be a llama-rider?
If I could be a bonnie pirate?
If I could be an astronaut?
If I could be a world famous blogger?
If I could be a justice on any one court in the world?
If I could be married to any current famous political figure?

If I could be a musician?
i would play the bass or drums. i would randomly invite fans backstage and the ticket prices would be cheap! i would totally eat up all the attention and be thrilled that people paid to see me work on their time off. i would play in small venues and play a lot of charity shows. but i would never want to end up on trl.

If I could be an inn-keeper?
i would set up a little place on an island in the caribbean. the rooms would always be fresh looking with cute comforters, artwork, and accessories. every bed would have a down comforter and plenty of pillows and you would never get the creepy feeling that the bedspread was covered in god-knows-what. there would be enough lighting in the bathrooms, central air conditioning that didn't blow the drapes open, and free cold bottled water in the mini fridge.

If I could be a gardener?
i would do lots of research on the special needs for each plant and try to accomidate all of them. i would love working outside every day and watching things grow. plus i would have a lot less work in the winter and could snowboard during the week!

If I could be a chef?
i would never worry about gaining a few pounds because no one should trust a skinny chef. i would use all organic, fresh ingredients and serve proper portion sizes.

If I could be an architect?
i would design homes that made sense and were unique. i would only design in communities that allowed one to walk from their home to a grocery store, coffee shop, restaurant, park, and public transportation stop..because who wants to get a cup of coffee on a saturday morning if you have to drive there, find a parking spot, and pay for parking?


i tag

ms. pan
kelly
jess

6.08.2005

hop aboard the mole train*

for those of you that don't know, i'm a chemical engineer. don't ask me why, it just kind of happened.

anyway, i work as an environmental consultant, and i've usually only had to do wussy chemical engineering stuff, like sizing a pump or figuring out head loss**.

but today i was asked to do some HARD CORE chemical engineering and you'd think, from my silent internal fuming, that my boss asked me to perform brain surgery with a rubberband and plastic knife.

maybe i'm not in the right career path when i get pissy about being expected to do the thing i was hired for.

* if you understand this title than you are either a big dork like me, or you also had mr. nelson for 12th grade chemistry.

**which i still had a hard time with intially, until i found a cool little website calculator that does it for me. hooray for technology!

6.07.2005

ahhhhh-CHOO!

that is all my coworkers are going to hear today.

that and a whole lot of sniffles and honk-y nose blowing.

because i am suffering from allergies like mad and forgot to take my claritin this morning.

good thing i have my own office!

6.06.2005

cashing in the karma points

so si and i and some friends went to see big head todd and the monsters at red rocks saturday night. i hadn't seen them in ages, so it was a nice flash back to college.

anyhow, we decided to grill* in the parking lot before the show. always a fun time. once we were ready to go in, i put our tickets in my back pocket and we walked (hiked) to the entrance. where i realized that the tickets had fallen out of my pocket. that's what i get for wearing low-rise jeans.

si traced our steps back to the car, but couldn't find them. on his way back, he asked a guy if he had seen any tickets on the ground. the guy said he didn't, but he had two extra ones that we could have.

wow! how often does that kind of thing happen???

so - thank you very much, random nice guy in the parking lot. we appreciate your generousity and will definitely pay it forward.

i love it when i'm justified in my belief that good deeds do eventually come back to you.


*and drink. lots.

6.01.2005

best band list

as i sit here, ahem, working, and listening to my ipod, it hit me that i have about 7 solid days of music loaded.

and since i can be a freak about the bands i like*, i thought i would share them with you. here are the bands currently in rotation on my ipod, in (slightly alphabetic) no particular order, except for radiohead which is my favorite and (imo) the best band ever in the history of music.

radiohead
pilate - awesome local toronto band. i think they'll be big in a year or two.
death cab for cutie
bright eyes
damien rice
elbow
doves
the frames
the fray - local denver band about to break!
guster - a favorite live show
interpol
iron & wine
keane - wonderful live! (and i convinced one of the cute british roadies to say "fluffy puffy puppy")
paloalto
pixies
placebo
the postal service
powderfinger - great australian band
remy zero
sigur ros
snow patrol
the streets - british hip hop-like - freakin' hilarious and catchy
travis
stereophonics
soul coughing
barenaked ladies - one of my favorite live bands

if you like this same type of music and know of a band not on my list that you think i might like, please let me know and i'll check them out!

*enough to spend $600 on two 2nd row radiohead tickets for me and si, who is the only tone deaf brit in america.

this is your second degree?

at the risk of sounding like a snob, i have to ask.. how do some people obtain a college degree, much less get accepted to and complete a masters program?

case in point.

i'm currently getting my mba. i just finished my first semester and am taking one summer class called "managing individuals and teams". it is a VERY easy class. the lowest ranking class in the mba program. so easy that our first assignment was to take a personality test so that we can be split into groups. so easy that the professor spent 2 hours talking about the 4 different personality categories and having us "guess" what category of people matches up with a certain profession (ie, engineer = "analyzer", nurse = "affiliator", artist="conceptualizer", fireman="activator")*

it went something like this:
prof: "how about a fireman?"
annoying student sitting in the front center seat (you know the type - the one that thinks they're super smart, but they ask a million dumb questions causing the class to go 15 minutes over and you to sit there rolling your eyes and looking at your watch): "affiliator"
prof: actually, they are an activator (thinking, i'm sure, "i just TOLD you this dumbass")
student proceeds to argue for 10 minutes on why he thinks his answer is right, even though the prof had just clearly given us an explanation of why a fireman was, indeed, an activator personality.

i just rolled my eyes, looked at my watch, and mumbled to the guy next to me "obviously this guy is NOT an activator".

*sidenote: these stereotypes didn't sit too well with me because i am a blend of all categories and also a tad anal, which made me annoyed that i didn't fit neatly into a category.