Life 2.1

Today is my birthday lucky me!

OK, technically it was yesterday but I was far too busy celebrating to blog. Sorry, it’s the truth.

Celebrations began on Friday night, with my first trip to the Quarter as a New Orleanian. We dined at Crescent City Brewhouse, which was a great mix of New Orleans cuisine at a decent price. After the meal, our group, of about 17 or 18, headed to Pat O’Brien’s, because you haven’t had a trip to the Quarter without going to Pat O’s, so I have been told.

Anne bought me my very first hurricane, which was tasty but a little too sweet. But I could totally see why those are dangerous drinks!

Anne also doubles as my baseball roadtrip roomie

Leeann, me and Marley at Pat O's

Wendy and me holdin down the Pat O's patio

Nothing says 'happy birthday' like yeager- blech!

Mike is my baseball team yoda

After we hung around the patio area for a bit, the cold got to us and we headed inside to the Piano Bar, where they had two pianos going and they were singing/playing songs everyone could sing along with, which is always eventful in an establishment that serves adult beverages!

Nancy and me at Piano Bar

Kevin was also kind enough to serve as my driver for the evening

Me and Bean

TCG and MCL- it's an initial thing

Caitlin and the man who plays the silver platter at Piano Bar. (yes I said silver platter)

After our crazy week, JP and me totally earned our drinks Friday night

Since it was only Friday night, I had to wait until midnight to officially turn 26, and as it crept closer and closer, we all kept checking our watches. Finally, with 10 seconds left, the countdown to midnight (and 26) began.

The moment the clock struck midnight, after we all counted down

Wendy and I sharing a hurricane, which is a much better idea than having one all to yourself

So glad Lisa rallied on Friday

Post-Piano Bar, our group headed to Goldmine to dance up a storm, which Nancy and I did quite well. I also learned that I tend to dance with my middle finger down. Who knew?

Nancy and I rockin out at Goldmine

It was definitely a top night!

I followed it up with whipping up a snackin cake for myself on Saturday. The only thing is that it totally goes against my whole trying to eat healthy, because I’m left with a giant sheet cake and I live by myself. And to make matters worse, it’s called snackin’ cake because we all just cut off a little piece as we go, thinking it’s not that much, when really we should have just had one whole piece, because after you realize how many “small pieces” you hacked off as a snack so many times, it’s way more than one piece anyway.

{sigh} It’s ok. I’ll just have to take one for the team and eat it. No sense in wasting perfectly good chocolate cake!

6 Comments | In: Social Adventures | tags: birthday, Bourbon Street, cake, French Quarter. | #

This post is dedicated to KK, because there was a long period of time where she had to listen to every sentence of mine start with the above phrase

I am irritated. I would go for a run or something to blow off steam but it’s cold and my ears already hurt. No need to add to that.

I HATE where I live. Not the boot. I like the boot. I hate Cypress Creek apartments. Argh. I hate that there is no cable in my room, yet a jack exists but it’s not live (of course not–why would it be?) and that Cox wants $50 to come out and fix it. I hate that there is no screen on my sliding glass door and if I want one, I have to buy one from Home Depot. I don’t want to buy one from Home Depot. That requires me strapping it to the roof of my Honda or otherwise finagling it into/onto my car to get it home, then having to lug it up three flights of stairs, THEN installing it. By.my.self. And while I might be freakishly strong, somethings I just cannot help, like leverage over things bigger than me.

Like the mirror that is currently hanging above my couch. That thing weighs more than I do and I wrestled with it for a good 3 hours before finally propping it up on two of my bar stools and taping the wire to the back of the mirror near the top in the hope that it would catch the screw that I had drilled into the wall (that screwed nicely into the plastic anchor that I had hammered in previously because of course there was no stud where I needed to hang the 200-pound mirror) because I couldn’t lift the stupid thing high enough to have the wire catch without taping it in place first. Why? Because I couldn’t get leverage over the damn thing.

So why do I want a screen door, you ask? Because my house smells and I can’t air it out without fear of a giant flying cockroach coming in since I have no barrier between me and the aforementioned man-eating beast the size of my shoe.

My house smells like gross-neighbor-who-smokes and it pisses.me.off. It’s musty and I can smell it in my guest bathroom and in my closet, since those are the two rooms/areas in which we share walls. My closet. Where my clothes are stored. I am going to smell like a damn Pall Mall and it will NOT conjure up good memories of dusting my grandmother’s house and being paid in creme brulee.

It is seeping in through the vents or something because I am currently in the Nook, where I thought I was safe (it being on the wall that faces out) but I can smell it wafting in. And I feel my blood pressure rising. I’m probably getting emphyszema as I type this. I mean, there are things one can do prior to moving in to make sure that the place to be rented is suitable. But how are you supposed to know your neighbor’s cigarette smoke will waft into your house ahead of time?

This rant all started because I bought a few pantry items today at the store, but ohthat’sright, I don’t have a pantry. I have a shelf. Technically two shelves, but some stupid cabinet maker thought it wise to make the second shelf so skinny that I can’t even stack two cans of tuna on top of one another. Awesome.

I mean, I just wanted a home for my triscuts. Is that too much to ask?

I had previously been resigned to the fact that I have to live here until October, at which point I will be moving and I have already been doing research and looking. But today is the first day where I have actually contemplated trying to break my lease. Then it occurred to me that by the time I move out, we will have started baseball season and I will not have time to move. Until May (hopefully June). When it’s a thousand degrees and moving is not awesome then either.

And in case I forgot, the train just went by to give me a little dose of home, in case I missed the feeling of an aftershock-sized earthquake. Phenomenal.

I am a ray of sunshine.

2 Comments | In: Social Adventures | | #

Dear Target Team Member,

Please do not bag my Windex with my milk. It freaks me out.

Sincerely,

A frequent Target Guest

7 Comments | In: Social Adventures | | #

I have to say that ever since I joined Facebook in July, I have re-connected with so many lost friends. Despite not keeping in good touch with them through the years, FB has served to at least reintroduce me to what’s going on in my friends’ lives. I’m also please to say that due to FB, I’m pretty sure that if we wanted to have a reunion of Mrs. Reynolds 6th grade class, I could do so via FB and have a pretty good turnout, I think.

At any rate, I was perusing FB on Saturday night (post-thunder and lightning storm, there was no way I was going anywhere that night–it had been raining for like, 5 hours straight!) and I received an IM from one Noah Needleman, who happens to be a friend from my high school days. While we weren’t uber close in HS, we had many mutual friends so naturally, our paths crossed and I remember him being able to play the guitar. For those of you playing at home, I heart the guitar. And the piano. I wish I knew how to play either/both alas, I hated piano lessons because my teacher made me cut my nails (aka talons, as Ted calls them) in order to avoid a certain clacking sound that should have only been a tickle on the ivories. But I digress.

So I get an IM from Noah and I find out he is in LA (not the boot LA but rather Los Angeles) doing his music thing. I asked to hear some of his music and whilst IMing, I listen. And am immediately blown away.

So talented!

I should have known it all along but I hadn’t ever heard his music before, save maybe a choir concert at Napa High once or twice. I’m totally diggin’ his music. I love that he plays the clubs in LA that I used to frequent when I lived in San Diego. On a random night of the week when I just wanted to have an adventure, I’d hop in the car and head to The Mint or Hotel Cafe, just to discover a new musician. At a place where I could have a beer with him or her afterwards if I wanted to. And now Noah is that guy.

I definitely suggest checking out his music and listening to a few tracks. I really enjoyed the songs he has posted on his site

They are going to be on his upcoming EP (his second!)

In the mean time, I loved Noah’s arrangement of Pure Imagination (from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory..you know the one) so I’m sharing it here.

He also has some songs on iTunes, which makes him extra fancy, and he’s a great lyricist.

Noah Needleman – Somewhere Between 

I’m bummed I missed out on his talent in high school and grateful he took a moment to shoot me a note last night. I really enjoyed catching up with him.

Noah and I chatted for at least an hour and he also turned me on to another artist, Caitlin Alise and I’m also in LOVE with her sound. Especially her songs October and Damages Unseen. I recommend them.

Caitlin Alise – Unseen Damage

Caitlin Alise – October

All of this couldn’t have come at a better time, as I was in the market for some new sounds on my iPod. Great additions and seriously hoping Noah and Caitlin come out to my LA to perform soon.

1 Comment | In: CL's new beats | tags: acoustic, Caitlin Alise, Music, Noah Needleman. | #

It’s no secret that I have always wanted to be on SportCenter–sitting right next to Stuart Scott, exchanging hilarious and witty anecdotes and one-liners. So it won’t come as a surprise to everyone that one exceptionally slow Saturday night in Napa a couple years ago, I was home and perusing the ESPN website when it occurred to me to check the job listings, just for fun.

I ended up applying for about five different positions, none of which were SportCenter or Baseball Tonight anchor person. Instead, I took the realistic route and applied for things like “Assistant Online Editor of ESPN.com-Baseball.” So I got my resume all polished and shiny and M. Colleen sent it off.

Fast forward to 4 months later, when I got the following email in my inbox:

M.,

Thank you for taking the time to submit your resume for our opening.

While it is never easy to narrow a search and select a final candidate, we have recently completed the process. The position has been filled with the candidate we feel best meets the qualifications for the position at this time. Please note that while more than one applicant may meet the minimum qualifications of a position, the candidate selected is determined by overall skills, experience, and other relevant elements of professional background.

Other employment opportunities are available and we encourage you to review the vacancies posted on our website, www.espn.com/joinourteam. Again, thank you for your application and interest. Good luck to you in your search.

Sincerely,

Staffing Dept.
ESPN, Inc.

Now, I don’t know about anyone else but that is the most ridiculous automated response I have ever read. If you are going to send an automated response, let’s not try and make it warm and fuzzy like you’re trying to pull a fast one and convince me that it is not an automated response. As I see it, there were two faux pas in the above email. First of all, I love when rejection letters are addressed to M. I totally feel all tingly, like they genuinely are sorry for declining to employ my alter ego M. And two, their touching letter was tainted when they closed with the following footnote:

“Please note that this email address does not accept replies.”

So I crafted the following response, which may have accidentally been posted on a message board for ESPN sports jobs (since clearly I couldn’t email them back):

Dear E.,

I appreciate you taking the time to reject my application for employment via automated response.

While it is never easy to receive such a rejection from an email address that does not receive replies, I certainly understand your position. Please note that while I may have not been the best candidate for the position for which I had originally applied, I assure you that, based on my overall skills, experience, and other relevant elements of professional background, I can write a better rejection letter than had been sent to me. While I did have a chance to browse the suggested job posting board you had previously referenced, I did not notice any openings for rejection letter writers, which I am sure was an oversight.

At this time, I would like to offer my writing services, with a specialty in rejection letters, to your company. As the rejector, I would even be willing to make my correspondence personalized to each rejectee, because that is the high standard to which I am sure you hold your current employees.

Please let me know if you are interested in such a skill set, as I am confident that such a working relationship could be beneficial to both parties.

Sincerely,

M.

Please note that this email address DOES accept replies as I am not a person with a hollow tin chest and I actually care to hear responses. Thank you and good day.

Now, many of you had already read this letter that I crafted to ESPN, but I thought I would share it with everyone again because today, there was a response to the original posting and basically, it’s just too comedic not to share. The following was sent by Christa, a middle-schooler, who also seemed to have a bone to pick with E: *note: the following was not edited in any way, shape or form. Because then it would lose its humor.*

Well hello espn. My passion is cheerleading, and all i see on espn is football.I believe that you should put more shows on espn about cheerleading or make a show.Many people i think will watch this like my whole cheerleading team and way more. People will whatch this because cheerleading is a sport and its very exciting.If i were to have one wish in my whole lifetime is to have my own show on espn or any station about cheerleading and how to do stunts and to teach a dance and to teach cheers.My dream is to have this, And if this could happen it would be great. so please look in to this. I will explain more about what i am thinkning about. Please try and make this happen for me. write back** Thankyouuu.
-Christa.z and sms cheerleading

Looks like ESPN just found their latest employment candidate for research and development.

1 Comment | In: Sports, because, have you met me? | tags: ESPN, jobs, SportsCenter, Stuart Scott. | #