I guess I am the lucky one...

I found out today that the Fiz (Fziomed, the company I used to work for) laid off 12 more people (in addition to the 7 that were laid off with me). Apparently, the panel meeting on July 15th did not go as well as planned and they have about 6 more months of work to do before they can get FDA approved. Sadly, the company will run out of money in September, so they had to get rid of people. C.R., my dear lab rat friend, was one of them, as was the VP of research and development (that was a shocker b/c my old boss was not laid off and he was lower on the chain than Dick was).

Obviously, I was very upset to lose my job (who wouldn't be). However, I am glad where the job loss put me because I am actually pursuing my dream with full force right now. And when I evaluate whether I would have preferred to be laid off today or 3 months ago, I can say with 100% confidence that I am glad it happened in April. Hopefully I'll never go through that again, and neither will anyone I love because IT SUCKS!!!

Something my boss told me after I was laid off (he did not do it, Dick did) was that I was one of the lucky ones to get out now and not be forced to hang around until the bitter end. Funny how old guys are usually right. Thanks Sam! You're the best :)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY KATIE!!!!

See above :)

The dry spell has ended

Hahahaha, back to blogging. I know you missed me.

Since it's been so long since I've updated, I have a few things to share.

1. New embarrassing moment: Was walking to get a newspaper for my mother with JS. After putting the coins in I pressed the open button but could not get a newspaper b/c it wouldn't open. After tyring again, my brilliant JS discovered that I was hitting the coin return. Needless to say, I rolled around on the concrete for about two minutes in shear embarrassment. Thank God for engineers.

2. This decoration to the left is maybe the coolest accidental thing I've ever seen. What on earth is that, I hear you say. Oh, just a decorative flower made from used artichoke leaves (and by used, I guess I mean eaten). Ok, I lied a little. It wasn't entirely on accident because I pointed it out to JS (the artist) after about a quarter of the piece was finished, but still...it's freaking cool looking!!! Who says math geeks are not creative? Just kidding JS :)

3. Echo took over Gabie's bed while Gabie was out of town. He was so cute while he was rolling around on it, making squeaking noises (I had no idea cats squeak) and purring.

Yeah, he's a bit small for that size bed, but he certainly thinks he's bigger than he actually is. FATTY.

4. Cutest kid ever. Can you believe this is her camera face? I almost died from cuteness overload. Her name is Maia (and don't quote me on the spelling) and she's one of three adorable kids belonging to my best friend's older sister.

5. Onto a more serious note, I have fully accomplished all I possibly can for nursing school applications as of now. Go me.

6. Summer school's out for summer (almost)!

7. FYI, I will never dress up as Donkey Kong. Period.

I <3 Jiffy Lube

Now I have not always felt this way, mind you, but today's Jiffy Lube experience was quite possibly the most amazing experience I have ever had when servicing my car. From now on, I will send all my business (within reason) to the Jiffy Lube on the corner of Mary and El Camino Real in Sunnyvale, CA. I arrived to this location at 10am to a very short line of cars (meaning only me) and a friendly greeting from a young man. He told me there was coffee and magazines inside and they would be meeting with me shortly to discuss my coche. When I was called a few minutes later (by a woman, mind you), she informed me of the additional stuff I should have done (I think it's called a coolant flush) and then told me my air filter could probably wait another 3,000 miles. That's a first, I thought, since every time I go anywhere I feel like the man who's helping me is trying to swindle me out of my money for every little lame ass thing that could or could not be done on my car. I also had 2 coupons to use on my oil change and random other servicing. And she told me my windshield wipers were torn but I could wait until the rainy season to fix those. Seriously? No nagging sales person trying to get me to spend more money at their location!!!

I sat down to wait for about 20 minutes, and this nice young lady asked if she could get me any water or coffee, and then introduced herself as Lauren and told me to feel free and ask her any questions I may have. Is anyone else noticing a trend here? This exceptional service is coming from mostly women. There were three working there and they were extremely nice to me. Maybe they know what it's like to be treated like an idiot at any car service place just because you're a women. Let's be honest here, I am an idiot when it comes to my car, but it was nice not to be treated like one.

Now onto the best part. When it was time to pay, I got about 20 dollars off due to my coupons AND the opportunity to have Jiffy Lube send me a $10 gas card! All I have to do is send in my receipt with their form and they'll send it to me in the mail. Seriously, could this day get any better?

Yes, it did. I went to the post office afterward and another very friendly lady offered to help me pick out the right envelope to mail off my 30-day sub permit. And there was no line.

Today rocks!

The little sis is the big 2-3

Happy Birthday to my one and only wonderful little sister. Now you know what it feels like to get old, like your arthritic big sis.

I am in the process of buying her some Brian Regan tickets (he is this excellent comedian that we both love). Because I am the most awesomest sister ever, I bought her a card and wrote that in it. Wen I was lighting the candles on the cake, I struck a match and it broke. The flaming match flew onto her birthday card and momentarily caught it on fire. Needless to say, her birthday was smoking.

It's official; I'm live-scanned and can submit my application to substitute teach. Watch out you little monsters! It'll be fun reacquainting myself with the ways of children. You never know what you're going to get.

Speaking of the above thought, I was awakened by a quacking duck this morning. It was running it's mouth for about 45 minutes. My dad came into my room this morning and I woke up (due to duck quacking). We exchanged a look, and then heard it. "Mommy, make it stop"! Alas, you never know how hilarious your neighbors little boy can be until he opens his mouth. Laughter is an excellent way to start the day.

Two Tributes: To Olive and To My Zit

Tribute #1:

Before I begin my tribute to the zit on my face, let me just say R.I.P to Olive Riley, the world's oldest blogger (at age 108).  For those of you interested, the link to her yahoo story is below.  I was shocked when I opened yahoo before blogging and that was the article I read first.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20080714/wl_asia_afp/lifestyleaustraliainternetblogging

Tribute #2:

ODE TO ZIT

When I was a greasy teenager
I had more than my fair share of zits
Those who showed their faces on mine
were tastefully covered with make-up

I longed for the day
these zits would no longer pester me

I am still longing.

I was informed that at the ripe age of 24.5
I would have clear, beautiful skin
like those air-brushed models
but for real

liars.

An interesting place to find advice

Happy belated birthday Dad! I am super lame for posting yesterday and not writing that important bit of information for the world to read. Good thing I went over to your house for dinner to make up for my tragic mistake.

Today marks the second second interview I have had in my entire life. It went just fine, and I'm pretty sure they are interested in me. I made the first cut; out of 7 people, 4 were asked to return. I'm still not that interested in the position but I will take what I can get at this point.

I was talking with their COO first and he gave me some spontaneous interesting advice: be in control of your own destiny. Let's be honest here, I don't know if you can control your fate (I'm pretty sure our world is controlled by mathematics, my favorite universal language). A discovery by an old stoner friend was explained to me through the example of an equation tree, ultimately concluding that math is the root of all science, and with that statement I agree. I can't even begin to describe his idea here for fear of butchering it.

Let me play with the advice; let's say you can control your future. Then I am not controlling my future in the direction I wish to go by accepting this job (if I get it, that is). True, I will take this job if I get it (I could really use the money/benefits). But I am side-stepping my real dream.

I am conflicted. Obviously I want a job. I am bored out of my mind and spend waaaaayyyyyy tooooooooo much time on my online classes. However, I just started this phlebotomy class and I would love to have the opportunity to use this new skill in a healthcare setting. Plus I need to finish pre-reqs for nursing school. The logical decision is to take the job and slowly finish the pre-reqs, but my heart says F-it, just finish the nursing stuff so you can get into a school.

It's funny to re-read this because I am assuming I will get the job. That may not happen, and then I can just go along with my original plan: Phlebotomy class to phlebot job to finish pre-reqs to nursing apps to nursing school to nursing job. Sounds like a plan.

Is it bad that part of me doesn't want the job? Too bad things in life are NOT free :(

Rachell Roll

You know it's a good day when you head out for sushi and there is a roll named after you!

Rachell Roll: Salmon, cream cheese, unagi, deep fried

I'm sure you can see why I didn't order it.

Why I love my lil sister

1. She actually woke up the past 2 mornings to go hiking with me. We had a blast chatting and exercising (with our coffee of course).

2. The name of her car is Tito. Seriously. She named her car for some pretty hysterical reasons. She thought if it had a name she would be more likely to keep it clean, which is working because she cleaned it today. Also, she said it had to be a boys name because she refuses to ride a girl. Corey, her boyfriend, refused to call it by its name, but now he is obsessed with it and says things like "are we going to take Tito today?".

3. I cooked dinner tonight because my mom is out of town visiting her white-trash "boyfriend". It was a random array of food, consisting of boiled soy beans, salad, frozen orange chicken, and Mexican rice. The rice was crunchy, and she loved it (actually it tasted like popcorn). I didn't even know you could overcook rice. Thanks Jue for making me feel better about my sorry attempt at a healthy meal.

I finally get to see Emily tonight. My life is complete.