my greasy lover, bacon

i wonder if you really could travel back in time ...

good boy, jerry

welp, after entirely too much concentration wasted on work endeavors, i had to check yahoo one last time before hitting the sack tonight. on the main page, yahoo! finance was featuring an article called "The 5 Best Low-Cost, High-Mileage Cars", which conclusively and with authoritative finality answers the question, "what car would you buy that is well made, gets good gas mileage, and doesn't cost much?".

of course i had to check out the lineup. and guess who's number one, friends!

i couldn't agree more: jerry, you're awesome.

(in case you wanted to ask: no, i don't know who else made the list. i got carried away in celebration for my boy and stopped reading at #1.)

been around

when i was talking to my mom the other night, she said she had a great idea to set me up with a guy she works with.

only problem is ...

... i already went out with him.

like 5 years ago.

man, i've been around too long ...

a mutual error

i was in chicago for work, participating in a team-building activity called "planks" at the time the 2-hour house season premier aired. the activity was kind of an interesting puzzle thing, and i like puzzles, but my team didn't win or get any prizes. *and* i missed house.

i was so annoyed.

so i got home from my trip around midnight on monday this week and turned on the tv to catch up on my house-watching, only to find that direct tv had recorded the episodes but wouldn't replay them! can you believe it? what's the point of recording the show if it can't be replayed? the dvr just sat there "searching for authorized content" for 5 minutes, then asked me if i want to delete the show.

uhh ... no! i don't want to delete the show! i want to *watch* the show! seriously, people.

i answered "no", and tried again. but same thing. and again.

i was even more annoyed than plank night.

but -- what can you do?

[grumble]

so tonight, i watched house online. my first time online. kinda cool set-up: fox.com posts the full episode 8 days after initial air. means i have to wait a week -- but it's not like i have oodles of time to just sit around watching house all day anyway.

the only really annoying thing, i suppose, is that each full episode is sponsored by a single advertiser -- which means that each regularly scheduled commercial break consists of only one commercial -- but it's the *same* commercial every 15 minutes. and you can't skip or fast forward or anything.

in tonight's case, the advertiser was northwestern mutual. life insurance. blah-blah.

on the third time through this riveting juxtaposition between baseball and blah-blah, i noticed something interesting in the commercial: the company can't even spell their own legal name right.

ha ha.

well, in all fairness, their tagline is, "put our strength to work for you." they said nothing about putting their spelling skills to work for you.

okay.

what i did this summer

in case you haven't noticed, i haven't been blogging much. not for lack of things to write about, but for time to write about them. not only has work swallowed me alive, but i have been insistent that i wouldn't allow work to consume all my waking hours.

lately i have taken advantage of the opportunity to use some of my pto before work gets even worse and i am completely unable to take the time off. and i have been busy!

so, in honor of school starting up again, i thought i'd do a quick, "what i did this summer" post for all.

• jun 6 - 7 visit woodworths in tahoe, ca
• jul 2 - 9 visit all kinds of family in ogden, ut, and eagle, id
• jul 30 - aug 5 visit inge & jared in houston, tx
• aug 8 - 9 california all-state ysa conference in santa monica, ca
• aug 14 - 15 becky's wedding in las vegas, nv
• aug 21 - 24 visit woodworths in san jose, ca
• sep 3 - 8 bumbershoot in seattle, wa
• sep 11 - 13 help mom & dad pack in ogden, ut
• sep 20 - 23 annual training for work in chicago, il
• sep 23 - 28 visit eden & clint, et al, in boston, ma

i'll elaborate on the details in the coming weeks -- when i find time to post some pictures. because a picture-less post is hardly worth the read, let alone the write.

chegou!

finalmente.

:)

recognition

got the following email from a client today, at the end of our 2008 audit:

"Had a good time, too. Next week I'm visiting my proctologist and I'm sure that will bring back fond memories of the 2008 GT audit. LOL"

thanks, dude. it's nice to get a little recognition for a job well-done.

computer expert

every morning, when pat asks me a computer question, this is actually *precisely* what i do.

lookie!

okay, ryan -- hope this is enough to tide you over until i find another 37 seconds to post more.

enjoy.

i am.

p.s.

oh, yeah. this is what else came in the mail ...

well, i mean, *i* didn't come in the mail.

just the ticket did ...

but, you got that.

right?

snail mail

i haven't opened mail in over a month. i haven't had time, people! lately i get home from work, grab my mail off the table, walk it to my room, and *lovingly* place it in the "mail pile" on the floor in front of my dresser before crashing on my bed.

(incidentally, the mail pile sits right in front of the clean-and-folded-but-not-put-away-because-i-still-haven't-had-time-to-unpack-from-my-utah-idaho-texas-and-vegas-trips clothes pile. i am considering implementing a new no-flying-until-you-unpack-from-your-last-trip rule. but then i might never get out of this place.)

so today after church and church, i came home on a mission. my mission: to open and deal with everything in the mail pile. the clean-and-folded-but-... clothes pile would have to wait for another day.

but it was definitely time to get through that mail pile. i mean, for all i knew, my long-lost lover had written me the most beautiful, poetic, sugary, sticky love letter pen ever put to paper ... so ... obviously ... i couldn't keep him waiting any longer.

it took me about an hour, but i made it through the whole stack. the mail pile brought adventures and intrigue. behold:

• 3 surveys. people want my opinion! they do!

monitoring the future survey, from the university of michigan. (been filling that one out annually since high school.)

equal employment opportunity survey, from cal state northridge. (to be a part-time instructor.)

customer service survey, from my bank. (i bank online; why can't the surveys be online, too. i'd probably get to them faster that way.)

• an apheresis award from the red cross. so i logged in to my account where i found out that i have donated 35 times since moving to los angeles -- 35 times! just imagine how many lives i have saved!! :P

  and while i was on that roll, i went ahead and called to set up a new appointment for next week.

• 1 check that i have been awaiting for about a month. hmmm. maybe i shoulda gone through this stack a while ago ...

• 3 letters from my car dealership, congratulating me on my purchase. i feel pretty special to have received 3 letters. no, none of the letters included a get-out-of-jail-free card on the car payment. drat.

• an official letter from the state board letting me know that i passed my tests! guess they didn't hear my joy. that's okay -- let's celebrate again!

and ... umm, that was it. with all that and a (large) handful of statements and credit card offers, i had dug it down to the carpet.

and there was nothing else.

no love.

no poetry.

no sugary, sticky.

what's up with that?

who even invented snail mail?

voicemail

i got a message today:

"so i'm standing here, washing dishes, minding my own business ...

and flynn says,

'mom, if you would be christianna, you would have crazy hair.'

so ... apparently, good thing i'm not you."

thanks, bud.

it's here!

now i just gotta figure out how to drive two cars home ... suggestions?

(more to come)

(and pictures)

sitting, waiting, wishing ...

i have wanted one of these for a while ...

• 0 to 60 in 8.2 seconds

• 2.0 L

• 140 hp

• 236 lbs-ft torque

• in-line 4 cylinder turbocharged clean diesel engine with common rail direct injection (tdi)

my little sister texted me one day back in april, asking if i would sell reggie to her. in the midst of recovering from busy season, her text only served to stress me out ... but, the more i thought about it, i realized that this provided the perfect excuse to do some shopping!

• tdi

• manual transmission

• blue graphite exterior

• anthracite interior (who names these colors?)

• sunroof (if i can negotiate a good price)

http://www.vw.com/ is so much fun! try on different colors ... check out the rear spoiler ... add an ipod hookup ... (create a child) ...

okay. so my sister lives in utah. as such, one detail of the sale would need to address reggie's transport across 4 states. the most obvious solution was for me to drive him up there ... and since i'd be up there and car-less ... the most obvious solution to that situation would be for me to buy a new car there and drive him home. sounds pretty perfect, right?

what's even more perfect was the timing: my other little sister and family were going to be visiting in utah at the beginning of july. *aaand* some good college friends were putting together a rocking reunion over the 4^th of july weekend.

i was soon in the makings of a pretty perfect plan!

so i went about seeing what was possible. found a utah dealer. check.

now, to find a car ... well, the color i wanted, proved to cause much headache. apparently there were no blue graphite in the state of utah. so ... the utah dealer had to transport the car in from portland or vegas or somewhere. whatever, i don't really care!

we'd leave socal after work on thursday, july 2. drive up to utah. spend the weekend with friends and family. drive back to socal with my new car!

ba-da-boom. ba-da-bing!

so ... last thursday matti flew in from utah to drive up with me. she called me as soon as she landed -- super excited to be a soon-to-be-car-owner. and i was super excited for her. and for me!

about a half hour later, i got a call from the utah dealer:

"hi, christianna. the car just got in," he stated flatly. shouldn't he be excited? i was.

"great!" probably shoulda tried to hide a *little* bit of that enthusiasm.

"well, kinda ... it's an automatic."

-- wha- what?? --

"you're kidding." please be kidding ...

"um, no."

-- pause --

-- didn't include this in my calculations --

-- pause --

he continued, "so ... if you'd like to take the blue graphite automatic, it's here and ready for you. or i've got a manual in silver and red. or, i can see if i can get a manual in the blue graphite from the east coast; the shipping would just be more."

"but ... umm ... -- can i call you back in a few minutes?" too much to think about. too much.

"sure. just let me know what you want me to do."

i hung up and immediately called my mom. no answer. called again. no answer again. grr! where could she be at a time like this!!?

okay, deep breath. what to do?

i then dialed up 3 other car dealers i had spoken to previously. none of them answered. none. -- what kind of no-work-thursday vortex had i woken up in??! -- i dialed 3 car dealers. i left 3 messages.

then i called eden. she always knows what to do.

she listened to me whine. she offered advice.

the other 3 dealers started calling me back. so began the stressful day ... ...

by noon i still had no answers. i called the utah dealer back and asked him how long it would take to get the car from the east coast. he checked and it would take 7 business days. which would put the car in utah a full week *after* i was supposed to have left.

around 230 i spoke to a dealer here in california. he found 2 -- one was marked "sold", the other wouldn't be available for 3 weeks. oh, man. well, i told him to see what he could find out. at least it was something.

he finally called me back at 530. (half an hour after i was supposed to have been on the road out of town.) the one marked "sold" was actually sold. so the other one ... could be here in 3 weeks ...

so ...

3 weeks it is!

now, we wait.

(it's already been 1 week ... so ... 2 weeks left!)

but i know i have good things to look forward to. and i'm getting a better deal on this one than the utah dealer was giving me. for the exact same out-the-door price, i am getting upgraded mats and trunk liner ... and a *sunroof*. i *love* sunroofs! (err, uhh ... sunrooves?? whatever.)

7 ate 9

i am in utah on vacation. heading home in the morning. i'll post stuff and pictures then ...

enjoy the anticipation.