Confessions

A simple question for my blog readers: What is your guilty movie pleasure? For example, I have a few that I normally would be embarassed to say. But I recently told some and a few agreed with me. So I'm going to share them and you are welcome to share your guilty movie pleasures too.

Now before I do I need state a few rules so no one gets hurt.

1-You can laugh but you can't be rude. "that's funny, but you've got to be an idiot to like that movie." Don't be rude friends.

That's my rule. Ok onto sharing!

My guilty movie pleasures are:

Blast from the Past-"He's a baby man"
Strange Brew-"Hey you got a credit card? Geez travel eh?"
Home Alone-It's comforting and makes me go to sleep.

And anything MST3K The best of the worst movies made funny. Good times.

So what's yours?

Winter Blue's...Grey's and Purple's!

Color this season isn't just brown's and grey's. Well depending on what winter guard you see. If you're asking what winter guard is, don't worry my friends, I'll tell you. Winter guard is associated with the color guard you see marching with the band during half-time. What makes them different is the season. Once football season, or marching season is over, the flag line moves indoors for more of an intimate perfomace.

I've been involved in this for years. So many that I teach now. I create the shows, design the costumes, flags and equpiment work. It's a lot of work, I don't recommend you do it. Unless you have staff to help. And this year I do.

We each have a responsibility. One guy designs the show and costumes. One girl cleans and writes flag work. Another girl cleans and writes the movement and sabres. And I only have to clean and write the rifle work. Why didn't I do this with all my other guards? What was I thinking? Dealing with 12 crazed kids all by myself is not as glamerous as others in the activity think it may be.

The season has started and it's an exciting time. Some guards from my past are doing great and others aren't. Show concepts are all original in their own sense. Basically everything has been done. Some group just might alter it a bit to make it their own. Or flat out copy a past show and lie about it. That's a good way to get your guard noticed.

But we all have our favorites one way or another. Some are based on show concepts, colors, uniforms, difficulty of equpiment work, etc. What usually sticks in my head are colors. In normal culture (non winter guard world) you don't pair black and blue...right? Apparently it's ok in the winter guard world. The more outrageous the color combination the (apparently) more 'creative' the designer is. Just because your girls are wearing blue and pink doesn't mean your show has depth. It means they look stupid. Especially spinning orange and white flags. But since these colors are so outrageous, I'd probably remember the show.

Last season I atteneded the regional over in So. Cal. I saw a lot of guards. Some really great, some really bad and many in the middle. I remember the really good one and the really bad ones. But Woodbridge was one of my favorite in the Scholatsic A class. And they did really well at WGI (Winter Guard International). They created a musical montage of all Alfred Hitchcock's movies. And when I saw it for the first time over at the SoCal regional the sabre entrance with the music from Psycho was so thrilling, I got goosebumps. They did eventually change it to this final product. But it was still my favorite part of the whole show. I hope you enjoy it too.

If you look at their uniforms, it's the outline of A.H. face! Great GE!

The Air Drill is for Professionals

The easiest way to update your living room is to change up your curtains. That's why I told my Target pharmacist when I was buying my new curtains. "Hanging up curtains?" "Yep!"

I don't just chat it up with my Pharmacist at Target, I was actually picking up a prescription. Since I had a small basket of items, I decided to check out there. But the Target Pharmacists are nice enough to talk to. Unlike the *Marathon-hater.

Having a Saturday project is fun especially when it's easy like hanging curtain rods and curtains. I was excited. I got home and showed Justin my curtains. He thought they were cool. We have rich, dark red walls in our living room and I got a stainless steel rod with deep red velvet curtains and 2 tie back rods. I know that might be too much red, but I knew it would look good against our black couch. Plus they were on sale too, so I really couldn't pass it up.

So using the air drill, which was a pain in the ass, I marked and drilled holes according to their directions. However when I put my little grey plugs (to hole the screws in place) the holes I just drilled were too big! A little annoyed that I just drilled into my dark red walls and dust flying everywhere, I did what any girl would do. Asked for help from my husband.

"Juuu-stin! I think I've ruined our walls! This was only supposed to take me 15 minutes tops and it's not."

"Hmm, I think we need spackle."

Off to Home Depot for some spackle. That store is only fun when you have projects, but when you don't it's the last place you really want to wander around. We got our spackle and a new set of bits for the air drill and went home. Justin spackled the holes and decided to put the grey thingys in the wall while it was drying. I would have never thought of that. And I'm the toolbelt diva in my house!

We let it dry for a few hours just to be sure. And guess what, it took me 10 minutes to hang those curtains! I love the new look. Our living doesn't look like every apartment we've lived in with just white blinds. This is our house and now we have the curtains to prove it.


*Marathon-hater: Some you come across on the street, either walking to work or walking home from work, complaining to you how they closed the roads down and whinning about how they can't get to work or home. This person might look familiar to you but you can't put your finger on it because you are running a marathon. Then come to find out this person is the rude woman who checks you out over at your local Target.

Hot Tip #4: Cleaning Products

Over the past few years, the whole cleaning process has been redefined to make it easier and somewhat enjoyable. With products like "Swiffer" and the "Clorax Ready Mop," taking care of the floors is simple, easy and not an all day process. Newly designed sponges and wipes make cleaning the counters a snap. And they are disinfected at the same time. Toilet brushes have changed too, but I don't want to talk about those. That's personal.

Commercials have gone from a satisfied house mom with a huge smile on her face when her floors are clean or when her counters are germ free. To womem and (shockingly) men having fun cleaning with things like the swiffer duster. I never thought cleaning was fun. I hated doing it, but I wanted that satisfied smile on my face. Sadly, I'd settle for a half smile. "Ehh, it's good enough."

However, I have found 2 products that made me smile bigger than any of those moms on tv.

First off my stove top. We have all gas appliances including the stove. I really love it, but I hate how dirty it gets. Sometimes the stove gets so hot that it bakes whatever spilled to a crispy lump. At that point, it becomes extremely difficult to remove. But Mr. Clean came to my rescue (as he does in his commercials) with his magic eraser. This thing rocks my socks off. It's like a sponge and all you do is get it wet, squeeze and scrub. But amazingly you don't have to scrub hard. It's like you are wiping up something you just spilled. Something that's not baked on. It really is magic.

I take a lot of baths. So the ring around the bathtub is frequent. I hate scrubbing it. It has to be the hardest thing to clean. Reaching over with a scrub brush and in the most difficult position, try to clean your bathtub. It's not possible. I actually considered getting the Mr. Clean bathroom thingy. It's like a swiffer, but for bathtubs, sinks, floors and the shower wall. I didn't and I'm glad I didn't.

Instead I bought some Bathroom & Kitchen CLR spray. I actually bought it for my toilets (we have hard water here, it's annoying). Worked great for that so I read some more about it. "Good for soapscum" Sweet. I started to spray it in one spot in the tub. This time I used a sponge instead of a brush. Holy Cow...it was like wiping up dirt. CLR made it so easy! I was amazed! I think I cleaned the bathtub twice last night because it was so much fun! It didn't need it the second time, I just want to see it sparkle and it did.

So I ended the night with a huge smile, knowing that I've conquered 2 of the most annoying problems in cleaning. And so effortlessly. Now if only getting Justin to put his clothes in the basket could be effortlessly, I'd be set.

Olympic Memories

The Winter Games are in full swing and it just reminds me of when I was in the Winter Games of Salt Lake City in 2002. Yes, yes my friends, I was part of the Olympics in 2002. I experienced thrills, excitement and disappointment that all the athletes felt during my Olympic times. It was as they say, a once-in-a-life-time experience.

When I interviewed for the internship I didn't know what I was getting into. I just wanted to get it so I could say "I can't, I have to go to the Olympics tomorrow." How jealous would people be? Well they were jealous once they saw my cool jacket! With "Host Broadcaster" across the back, I was part of the crowed. The people who brought you the skating scandals and record breaking events...not NBC. They bought the rights from us (just a little known fact). NBC butchered it as they do every year, but that's a different blog.

My first shock was when they told us that we would have to sit in this room (in the International Broadcast Center (IBC)) for 12 hours a day and just wait for an assignment. 12 hours? Yep.

Our first assignment was to work over at the uniform distribution center. Workers would come in and get fitted for they type of clothing they would need at their event. That was fun for the first 2 days and I had about 2 weeks of that. Then after the first 2 days, we were told we get one day off that week and that would be it...til the end of the Olympics. This was only January.

Holy Cow! I know the Olympics is this huge event, but when am I supposed to go grocery shopping? See my husband? Sleep? I realized that I was in for an "Olympic" job.

I actually hated the job I was given. It wasn't challenging or difficult but the other interns I worked with were doe heads. And when the driving crew came in looking for another driver, I jumped at the chance. And I got it. My new intern job was to sit in an even smaller room, a trailer basically that smelled like boy, and wait for a driving assignment. Sounds the same, but this time I got to go to all the venues.

This was a killer job to have as an intern. Since I was stationed at the IBC, I had an all access pass to everything. So I took advatage. I'd walk through all the Countries broadcast stations and check them out. I would get to drive up to where all the athletes were at the events. And if you asked ahead of time (and if the driving schedule wasn't busy) I could eat lunch at the venue (with all the other broadcasters and camera guys. And I could see the event from a non-spectator location. Couldn't ask for a better perk.

Another perk was most of the events were up in Park City, where my husband worked at the time. So after I would drop off my team, I'd have breakfast or lunch with him.

I saw the Canadian and Russian Pairs coming out of a press conference after the scandal at the IBC. I also saw a bunch of other medal winners leaving their press conferences. I got a massage a bunch of times, got a manicure, slept, ate lunch, watched the BNL on closed circuit t.v. (since I didn't have tickets) all at the IBC. And amazingly, no money was exchanged (except for food). Trades were made for everything else. It was the IBC Olympic way! Candy bars or lapel pins it...if we had it, we traded it.

My Olympic day's ended one week after the final medals were handed out. Tear down started immediately and my driving job was done. In that time, I had driven all over the valley and been to place I didn't even know existed. I'd gone through security about 15 times a day. I fianlly got to sleep in later than 5am. I also got a huge paycheck (I know I said this was an internship, but all the interns got paid. BONUS!) My cool jacket is still in the closet with all my Olympic memorabilia.

My medal is my identification pass. I looked cute and it said "All Access". It proves that I successfully completed my Olympic task. And with the memories I made, I'd say I won gold. Or lot's of green!

Welcome to My Cubicle

Re-post

I've had two jobs since graduating. Not too bad for finally graduating in December of 2003 (it took me some time, give me a break!). My first job was a video designer. I had an office with crazy blue walls and fun posters courtesy of my boss. It was creative heaven...somewhat. When I wanted to rock out to Barenaked Ladies, I could just shut my door and turn it up. I wasn't the only one rocking out. Sometimes all four edit bay's would have their doors shut with music blasting through the seams. One Dave Mathews, Barenaked Ladies, Ghetto-Booty and Techno.

My office was my place to go when people frustrated me. My office was a semi 'home away from home' even though I really didn't want to be there.

Office...I miss you! My new job put me in a boring brown cube...next to other people...who talk loudly on the phone...who try to talk softly when they are talking about someone...who are annoying. But I was told that I was annoying! How can this be? I've only been here 6 weeks. It can't be this soon. I guess it's a new record for me.

I listen to music. I'm a creative person. I have to have it. But I also don't like to cause uncomfortable drama. Working with other Women, it was just a matter of time before it got uncomfortable.

One person talks on the phone really loud. So instead of creating tension and making her hate me, I got noise canceling headphones. They work, problem solved. I get to listen to my music, not her and no one got hurt. That's just the way she is on the phone, there's no changing that.

However now that I use my headphones, I hum. Apparently that really annoyed some cube-friends for a while. I say friends because the ones it annoyed like me now and so it doesn't bother them as much anymore. I've grown on them. I've been friendly, helpful and useful to them. However, one person still doesn't like me and still doesn't like my humming. I found this out when she ICQ'd me:

"could you keep the humming down?"
"ya, np. sorry"

I thought about this for a second and then got angry. My humming isn't as loud as my friends talking on the phone. It's not like her roommate who sat across from me belting out phrases of a song and yet no one says anything to her. I don't complain when she turns her space heater (which by the way, no one is supposed to have) and it creeps over to my side. I don't complain. I deal. I put my headphones on and tune it out.

Tension has been created. And until she moves, it will be there. I will continue to hum when I want but I will be more conscience of it and the next time she complains, I'll suggest she buy some noise canceling headphones. I'll even tell her how well they work.

"You'll never hear me hum again! Girlie!"

Post Removal

Dear Friends,

Some of you may have noticed that I removed yesterday's post. With the state of affairs here at work, I've decided to save it in my drafts and I'll re-post it in the future. Basically I'm chicken shit and I don't want to get in trouble or possible worse, loose my job. I don't think I said anything negative or hurtful. But some of you know who this is (by the art of deduction) and I don't want it getting around that I'm a trouble maker.

From one drama queen to another, she should be glad that I did this.

Don't worry, I will re-post it with no additions or anything taken away from it. Now's just not the time for it.

Thanks friends for understanding. And for those who did get to read it...let me know what you think about it and me pulling it.

Thanks!
JF

Trip Tik Itin

Trip Tik Itin. This is my new phrase. It's fun to say and it makes me feel organized. I'm not as bad as Clark W. Griswald but I have my trips planned and organized.

First trip is actually this weekend to California. Since I'm visiting 3 different schools for winter guard shows, I needed three different maps from mapquest. I could have done them in color, but decided against it. Each one is in the folder under different tabs. In order of where I'm going. Then I have the hotel confirmation and show schedules for all the shows I'm attending. This is all bound in a nice, neat folder with a cover page that says "WGI", just incase I forgot what I would be doing this weekend. It happens.

It may sound geeky and a little obsessive but it makes for a much safer and enjoyable trip. Try it sometime. You don't have to go overboard on the trip tik itin, but if you keep all of your trip information in one location, you'll know where you are going. And that's important when you go on a trip...with a trip tik itin.

Visit your local Office Depot. They have a great varitey of tabbed folders for your very own trip tik itin. Jazz it up with pictures throughout your tip tik itin or fun facts about the places you are going. Make your trip tik itin fun!

Or you can just go on your trip without one. To that I say "Good Luck!" You might not think you need one, but you'll come crawling back. Well you might have gotten lost because you didn't have a trip tik itin to help you back. Now you're really on your own. Good Luck!

The Takeover

With my new job, I have new people to talk to. Most of them already know me because they know Justin. But since I work here now, they are learning more and more about me. Including my obession with bean burrito's. I really hate to bring it up again, but last week was a highlight of my obsession.

On Monday I wanted lunch but wasn't sure of where to go. Justin and some of his friends were going to Rubio's. Sounded good. I got a bean burrito that, by the way, is comparable to my man's place, Roberto's. It was that good.

By Wednesday, I was craving it again. I asked Justin if he would go out with me and he said 'No'. So I asked a friend, she said, "I brought my lunch. Where do you want to go?" "RUBIO'S!" I explained to her how fantastic their bean burrito's were. She just laughed, as did everyone else around her. So she told Justin how much I wanted one for lunch. So he took me. And it was just as good as it was on Monday.

Thursday, I brought a bean burrito for lunch. It was everything I wanted it to be.

Friday...no beaners.

Saturday...no beaners. I was beginning to think my obsession had subsided for the week. Until Sunday. I really tried but the powerful craving overwhelmed me. I had two (yes you read that right) small kid sized beaners. I count it as two but really it was one. And man they were good.

Yes I know 5 times a week was obsessive, but I hadn't had one in a few weeks, so I was due. And when my new co-workers found out about this (because they ask now) they really saw that I was crazy. Well I'm glad I can entertain them the way I do. "How many this week?" One day they might start taking bets...I better get a cut of it. Since I'm the one eating all these beaners.

If I can keep it under 1 a week, I'm good. Don't worry my friends, last week was a freak of nature. I remember something in nutrition classe that we should all use: Moderation is key. Don't eat 5 beaners in a week.