+ Massage, good. Speeding ticket, bad.

Monday, January 18, 2010 - 6:53 PM

Well this morning started off great. I had my monthly massage scheduled, and it was warm enough to actually go outside and get some exercise. But then, on the way home from said massage, I was flagged down by a police officer for speeding. The thing is, I wasn't speeding. However, I was in a construction zone, so I wasn't driving in accordance with that speed limit. Grrrr. I didn't need that money anyway, right? At least the cop was very nice about it.

But at least the massage wasn't the only thing I've treated myself to lately. My aunt called on Friday and asked if I would like to go see either Avatar or Sherlock Holmes. I have had zero interest in seeing Avatar, but I really wanted to see Sherlock Holmes. I read all of the short stories and novels when I was younger, and I was thrilled to see a new take on the eccentric detective. Since Shawn was gone the week before, I pretty much just told him I was going to the movies instead of running it by him, not that he would have objected anyway. The movie was fantastic. Guy Ritchie (as always) did a great job emulating Holmes' essence into a new story that kept you guessing until the end.

I did have one funny incident before the movie started, though. A young girl (teenager) tapped my arm and asked me what the movie was about. I answered, "Sherlock Holmes." She said, "Who's that?" I said, "I guess you never read any of the stories?" I also wanted to ask what rock she had been living under to have never even heard of this detective. She said no, so I just told her it was about a detective who solves murder mysteries. I have no idea if she liked the movie or not. She probably knew I was silently mocking her. And sorry dear, but you deserve to be mocked.

posted by Keri
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+ Post Office Hate

Monday, January 11, 2010 - 7:00 PM

So frustrated with the PO right now. My brother-in-law was going to buy my iPod Touch from me, and since I trusted him to pay me, I went on ahead and mailed it to him. I bought Delivery Confirmation to ensure it would get there as well. I checked the tracking status online, and it says it arrived there on Saturday. After talking to my sister, it most definitely did not. They called again tonight to say that it still isn't there. Right now I have no idea what to do about it because I've never had this happen before. I have a feeling that if I go to the PO about it, they'll say there is nothing they can do because according to their computers, it did arrive there.

We're going to wait a couple of more days to make sure that it isn't just some mistake, that it is on its way. There's also the possibility that it went to the wrong house, which really upsets me if it did and that punk decided to keep it. But maybe they put it back in the mailbox. I hate the waiting game. I hate it almost as much as I hate the post office.

If anyone out there has some advice, I'll take anything at this point.

UPDATE: My brother-in-law received the iPod yesterday (Tuesday). We still have no idea what happened, but we're just thankful that it got there safely regardless.

posted by Keri
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+ Week from Hell

Friday, January 08, 2010 - 3:13 PM

This has been the craziest week I have ever had, and the northern temperatures have not helped AT ALL.

Unfortunately, it's also been a combination of productive and unproductive. It's been very productive in terms of organizing my life. I had a set to do list of things that really needed to get done, and this week I decided to tackle them. I probably should have chosen a week that Shawn was in town, because I ended up being very unproductive in terms of work.

For starters, I decided to put most of my cel collection up for sale. Like an optimistic idiot, I first opened up my gallery for offers to the cel forum and clearly stated that certain series were not for sale. Well apparently either people can't read or they don't read, because the only offers I got that day were for one series that I will NEVER sell. After a day or so, legitimate offers came in, and I've been dealing with counter offers, finalizing sales, shipping, etc. I'm never doing this again without Shawn home. In a couple of weeks, I'm going to close offers and put everything on eBay for set prices. No auctions. If it sells, it sells. If it doesn't, oh well. This isn't a fundraising expedition, it's a I don't care as much about this hobby so it's time to get rid of this crap sale.

Then I decided it was time to get serious about my impending E3 trip. I called my Mom and asked if she could come for that week and help Shawn out. She fortunately had nothing scheduled for that month, so Gabe definitely now has a sitter and Shawn will not have to miss any work. Then I booked my flight, which took a few hours of research trying to find a cheap flight to LAX. The short answer is that there really are not any. It ended up being more expensive than I originally thought, but it was nowhere near as high as the most expensive flight. I booked with Orbitz on the off chance that someone will book a similar flight for a cheaper price and I'll get some money back. Yeah, I'm not holding my breath on that one.

So yay, E3 is practically settled. My boss at Kombo books the hotels for us, so all that's left aside from getting there is registering, which isn't open yet.

Next week I gotta get my head back in gear. I thought things would be easier since the science news project is over, but it doesn't get easier when I find ten things to substitute one thing with. Story of my life.

I can't talk about one thing just yet, but everyone please keep your fingers crossed for me about next week. I'm trying not to get my hopes up, but I can't help myself.

posted by Keri
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+ Holiday Wrap-up

Saturday, January 02, 2010 - 7:06 PM

I can honestly say this has been the craziest holiday season we've ever had, and it scares me to know that it's only going to get worse. And if we have another child, it will worsen exponentially.

At least the trip down to Houston wasn't so traumatic as it was when I drove down there in July. Gabe either slept or amused himself quietly, and we didn't have many problems with the snow so it was quite the uneventful trip. Then Gabe came down with a cold. Green snot everywhere. And constantly. And coughing. He didn't sleep well at all the first two nights, and therefore, neither did I. Fortunately though, we had a very quiet Christmas with just us, my parents, and my sister and her husband, so it wasn't as big of a deal for Gabe to be sick and crabby. Too bad he left his sickness with my parents as a parting gift, though.

While we were there, we saw three excellent movies that I wanted to see. Joe received The Hangover, which was so awesome. I'm not sure I remember the last time I ever laughed so hard at a movie. We're going to have to add that to our collection as well. Then my Dad received Star Trek, so I FINALLY got to see that movie, which was equally as awesome. That movie could easily become my next guilty pleasure movie that The Fantastic Four already is. Lastly, we saw Up!, which I brought. I had never seen it before, and while it was great, I wish someone would have warned me about how damn sad it is. I cried in the beginning and at the end. Damn excellent writers at Pixar. I had lunch with a friend this week, and she said she owned the movie but hadn't seen it yet, so I felt it was my civic duty to warn her about how sad it is. If only someone had done the same for me. *glares*

When we returned to Big D earlier this week, it felt like we hit the ground running. I never could get back into a decent routine, so I ended up not working for one employer all week. Thankfully she's very understanding, and I'm sure I'll make up for it next week. I also concentrated on wrapping up my science news project, which ended on New Year's Eve. I'm actually going to miss looking up science news articles every day, but I won't miss writing about them. I doubt I'll take any new projects from that employer again, because I really want to redouble my efforts with my two Examiner columns and focus on working for Content Solutions. One, they pay more, and two, I like the work far better. Oh and I want to really work on my strategy guide reviews site. It's coming along so well and I have a nice reader following that actually includes a few guide writers and guide publishers. I need to figure out how to make some money from it to keep it going, but I figure that if the Underpants Gnomes can turn underpants into big profit, I can do the same with my SGR website.

What didn't help with my routine was that the week was shortened even further by New Year's Eve. Some friends were going to come over with their young child, so I figured ah screw it. Just get done what I need to (science news) and have some fun. While I still begrudge them for not bringing over Rock Band 2, we had a blast. Our boys played really well together, and they both went to bed around 9, leaving us plenty of time to gab. During the gabbing, I think Laura and I agreed to go to A-kon this year. It may be my only con to go to, as my plans with Rin to go to Comic-Con came crashing down a couple of weeks ago. I still can't believe a con that isn't until late July is already sold out. I haven't finalized any other con plans for 2010 other than E3, so it will be nice to go to at least one anime con this year, especially since Laura is a con virgin. Hehehehehe.

I won't bore everyone with my New Year's resolutions this year, as they all focus on work. I would resolve to update here more often, but I know me far too well. Happy New Year, everyone!

posted by Keri
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+ My New Overly Emotional Side

Wednesday, December 16, 2009 - 12:15 PM

I have always prided myself on how well I can keep my emotions in check. I liked how people never knew what I was thinking and how sad things didn't get to me that easily. In college, I only cried when I was under extreme stress, when I was fighting with a boyfriend, or when one of my pets died, so it really wasn't that often. (Crying while drunk does not count.) I didn't even cry at my wedding or my friends' weddings.

So then I get pregnant, and my hormones are thrown all off balance. I cried at every little thing, a feat that stumped both me and my husband. Poor guy never knew what was going to set me off. When Gabe was born, I cried then too. I think people thought it was because of what I had gone through that day, but I was still on the epidural, so the tears from pain were long gone. I cried often for several days after for random events, and I was told this was normal due to my hormones shifting once again.

So why in the world do I still cry at every little thing? Are my hormones permanently screwed due to this new mother instinct or is it because I'm over 30? Two stories on SportsCenter last week made me cry of all ridiculous things. Granted they were quite sad, but something that removed from me made me upset enough to cry? And then today, while driving Gabe to his grandparents, the sports radio station played a song that one of the hosts wrote that was about thinking he heard his dead father's voice. The tears started to flow even then.

I absolutely hate this new turn my emotions have taken. I think my family loves it, because they have always complained that I'm too stoic, but arrrrgh I hate it hate it hate it. I hate that I never know what will bring on the waterworks. I thought SportsCenter was safe, but apparently not. Bastards.

I know I need to learn to accept this emotional side, but I think acceptance will come in the form of that drunk, loud uncle no one likes that always shows up at Thanksgiving, but everyone accepts him and loves him as family.

posted by Keri
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