October 2, 2002Thursday. Rain, traffic, and a plastic cow.
My extended weekend was way too short. I got up early Thursday to get started on my 10+ hour drive to Kentucky, and got on the road by 8:30. Yes, that's early to me. It was pretty smooth sailing despite the constant drizzle of rain. But when I got about 10 miles from the Kentucky border traffic was starting to slow down. After a quick brake check (why do people insist on slowing down waaay too far in advance), I found that traffic was at a dead stop. We eventually inched our way forward. At this point it was 1:30-2:00. As we slowly creeped around a curve, I saw lights from a firetruck. I though, "ok, this is it, traffic will get moving soon."
Much to my dismay, the firetruck was only there to block traffic and force us into merging into one lane. Another 2 miles down the road was a police car out in the middle of the interstate. All interstate traffic was being routed OFF the interstate! I quickly grabbed my map to find an alternate route. Hmm...yeh, this was it. Two and a half hours, 4 stoplights, no cops directing traffic, rain, and a plastic cow in the yard later, we got back on 64, ONE exit down. And still no traffic coming from behind; must have been some accident.
Needless to say, that set me back a little. I called Christina to let her know what was going on, and we started talking abut directions, and how I was going to get there. Since neither one of us could come to a conclusion, I stopped at the welcome center to check out the big map. The lady there said to "look for the blue signs when you get to Lexington." Easy enough, right? Signs for the Blue Grass Parkway (BG) are blue. I can do that.
So I continue on, following MapQuest's directions. Some how I end up in the middle of town. I ended up having to stop at CVS to get help. Check out my little map to see why I was so frustrated. Eventually I got out of Lexington and headed towards Elizabethtown (E'Town) By then it was dark and raining pretty hard. From the BG I had to get to the Western Kentucky Turnpike (WK). Also not a simple task. With the rain, the darkness, road construction and detours, I ended up heading NORTH on 65. 20 miles later there was an exit, yay! No re-entry from where I was. So I made a u-turn in the middle of this dark, deserted road, and got by on 65.
To wrap things up, I get on the WK, find the right exit, turn onto all the right roads, and then drive past the house twice before getting there at 8:30-8:45. What a long day.
Posted by Olivia at 3:34 PM | Comments (5)
Find me in: Friends in Low Places
October 3, 2002Day before wedding craziness
Shortly after I got there Christina's friend, Dawn, arrived from Indiana. Dawn was one of her roommates in Hawaii. We stayed up talking until way too late, but it had been years since we'd seen each other.
Friday began the pre-wedding craziness. It started early by trying to download The Wedding March song. Stupid Windows. That's all I have to say about it.
The 3 of us eventually made our way over to E'town for a little shopping and last minute errand running. We found jewelry, flowers, film, and some other things I can't remember. Late afternoon we had to get back to the house to meet up with Christina's family who came in from all over the country. We piled into the cars and went to Ryan's for dinner.
Back at the house we mingled (12 people requires mingling) and eventually Christina put her dress on for all the women folk to oo and ahh over, and then fix. That's right, fix. The night before the wedding.
The lady she took it to 3 weeks ago to alter it somehow 'forgot' about it and then thought she lost it! So when it was found, she had one day to make some adjustments. And what she did almost wasn't worth it. In the end though it worked out ok. We only had to pin it in one spot. Pretty frustrating though.
Most of us didn't go to bed until 2 or 3, so when the alarm went off in the morning, yup, you guessed it, slept right through it. Doh! With 12 people and 2 bathrooms, I had decided to take a shower the night before. Good thing because Christina was anxious to get going. She and I left about 8:45 to run some last minute errands and pick up her friend, Jennifer who came in from Ohio. Jennifer is someone she met and went to school with in Hawaii. Isn't it funny how a bunch of us who met each other in Hawaii were now all in Kentucky? And that we lived close enough to drive to KY? Gotta love military life :)
We eventually got to the wedding location, The Brown Pusey House. It's an old Georgian house from like the 1860's or something. The wedding was to be held in the gardens out back. Since it had been pouring Thursday night and was pretty chilly on Friday we were afraid the weather would force us to move indoors, but it turned out to be a beautiful, sunny day.
A bunch of us started setting up for the reception with really no direction on what to do. I think we all just made it up as we went along. And so began the insanity. Rehearsal was supposed to happen around noon. The wedding was at 3, so that shouldn't have been too bad, just a quick run-through to get the timing down. Uh uh, didn't happen. At 1:30 Amanda (Christina's sister) and I were still wiring ivy to the arch to have outside. At 2 we finally made it upstairs to get dressed.
But of course by 3, we were all ready and waiting on the magistrate. (Who ended up being a little late). Confusion really set in when we couldn't get everyone who was helping set up, out of the reception area. Someone outside started the music, but we couldn't hear since we were at the other end of the house. The song for the bridesmaids was half over before we realized it. Then the flower girl got stage fright and wouldn't walk out there. The maid of honor tried to walk with her, but that didn't work, and in the process dropped the grooms ring in the lawn.
Agh! What a day it had been. After the ceremony, the entire wedding party, and guests were walking the lawn, trying to find the ring. Believe it or not, someone did! So we did pictures and went inside to eat. From then on it went pretty smoothly. Christina and Toby left around 6:30, so the rest of us cleaned up and headed back to the house.
We spent the rest of the evening talking, watching movies and looking at the pictures. Jennifer came over and brought her 2 little girls, Megan and Zoe. I had little shadows all night. :)
I ended up leaving Sunday morning about 10:30, and made it home in 12 hours. No rain or accidents made it a pretty decent trip. I'm really glad she lives this close, and now I know how long the drive is, maybe we can get together a little more often than every 2 years.
My advice to anyone planning a wedding (Lauren & Mike!): plan, plan, plan.
Lauren, I know you will have every last detail taken care of way before the actual day, and I say that is an excellent idea. Mike, give her a break let her keep making plans and arrangements so early on, because the more she does now, the less you'll have to do later.
Pictures to come later, since I won't get them back until Saturday.
Posted by Olivia at 12:17 PM | Comments (3)
Find me in: Friends in Low Places
October 7, 20023207 Friar's Walk Lane
Is anyone else as tired as I am? I think I'd forgotten how much moving can wipe me out. Guess I'm not used to it anymore. :)
After we closed on the 30th I thought there would be plenty of time to finished packing up everything. Guess I didn't figure on us running out of boxes, then running out of time. Saturday came before I knew it and when Eric showed up before 9 there was no stopping.
The move went really smoothly thanks to Eric, Chris, Paul, Brian, Mike & Lauren. We got everything out of the apartment and into the house by about 4pm Saturday. I think it was one of the quickest moves I've ever had. I guess when you have that many people it's easy. Everyone, thanks soooo much for coming to help. We couldn't have done it without you.
Jeff & I ended up going back to the apartment after dinner at Friday's, so we could take another carload and get Gizmo. He seems to be taking it pretty well so far. Definitely going to take a little while to get completely adjusted, but he'll be all right. I think he was having a lot of fun chasing all the flies that had come in the house.
We've got the kitchen mostly unpacked, the dining room set up and our bedroom cleared enough to move around in. There's still some random stuff left to get from the apartment; mostly all the food. I guess I'll go get that after work while Jeff helpd Eric install the microwave in their new house. He and Eric put ours in Saturday night. It's nice not to have it taking up space on the counter now.
The Lowe's guys came to install the appliances about 4pm. Now Jeff & I have to watch a video on how to use our washer. Guess I should do that soon, the laundry's starting to pile up! Jeff's going to take tomorrow off to wait around for the AT&T guy to come out. I had schedule them to be there on Saturday, but they came a little earlier than we expected, and now one was there. :(
The next few weeks should be interesting, trying to figure out where to put everything. Ideas? Anyone? Anyone?
Posted by Olivia at 11:55 AM | Comments (7)
Find me in: Home Life
October 14, 2002Family, trees and pizza
Could the weekend go by any faster? Lucky Jeff who gets to stay home today. Wish we all got the day off. Oh well. Even though hardly any unpacking was done this weekend we did get a lot of things accomplished.
Friday I left work early and went to the apartment to gather the last of our things. After about an hour of running up and down the stairs in the rain I guess my body gave up (hadn't eaten all day) and I ended up squishing my finger between the trunk and the box of cat litter. Didn't feel so good. So at 5 I left and went home to eat and unload what I had managed to get.
When Jeff got home we decided to head back to Lowes to return the 1st set of blinds we had purchased, an extra knob and the other dryer hose. When ended up buying more blinds in a different size and some shelves to put in the storage shed.
The post office was first on the list for Saturday so we had to get up early to get there and the bank before noon. With plenty of time left over before the Pollards were to arrive we started putting the shelves together. And what do you know, they got there early! I finished putting the basic structure together while Jeff gave the tour then we headed out to Mechanicsville.
Mrs. P's moms family was a having a reunion and it turns out that many of them live here in Richmond. So I got to meet great aunts, 2nd and 3rd cousins and a bunch of other people. Finally faces to put with the names!
Late afternoon we headed back to the house to do a little work. The men hung the ceiling fan in the living room while the ladies finished the shelves, put it and all the stuff in the storage shed. Took the guys a little longer than the expected to get the first one in, so it was 7 before they finished. But they wanted to go ahead and do the 2nd one. Took less than half the time; I guess that's the way it always works.
After dinner with hundreds of middle schoolers (cotillion had just ended) at Arby's the Pollards headed out and Jeff and I went across the street to Wal Mart. We were still looking for the right size blinds, the first ones we bought were too small, the second too big. No luck.
We also went back to the apartment to get the things I couldn't after the 'incident' on Friday. Now all that's left to do is clean, and that has to be done tonight since tomorrow is our last day. I'm kinda sad to be leaving, but it's already starting to feel strange to drive over there.
When the race yesterday was delayed because of rain we decided to go out and do a little shopping. Back to Lowes for the blinds we had originally purchased. Sheesh. We also hit Linens N' Things, K Mart, Home Depot, and Bed Bath & Beyond. Picked up a few things, but the biggest purchase was the plant at Home Depot. It looks like a palm tree. Sort of. If I was at home I'd take a picture, but I didn't get the day off. :P~ You guys would have gotten a kick at us trying to fit it in the car. Ended up having to stick the top out the window and drive about 30 mph all the way home.
Dinner last night turned into a complete fiasco. I had a craving for Papa John's spinach alfredo (the only kind I eat from there). Since we were out we decided to pick some up and take it home. Unfortunately, the closest store we could find (after driving around in circles) was the one on Brook Road. And of course it turns out they no longer carry that pizza. Doh!
I made Jeff order one for himself since we had spent so much time and effort getting there. While waiting we called Dominos to order one for me (it's just around the block). And guess what, they were having a buy one get one free sale. Agh! So we ended up with 3 pizzas last night. I guess we won't have to go grocery shopping for a while! What a day.
Yawn. Now I'm tired and trying to get some work done. The more I work, the faster the day goes, right?
Posted by Olivia at 12:06 PM | Comments (3)
Find me in: Home Life
October 16, 2002When will it all slow down?!?
The minute I walked in the door today people started asking me for stuff. Seriously, I was just in the doorway, putting my umbrella down and within 2 minutes I had people standing there with questions. As you can see, work has been slightly crazy lately.
My division has been working on these presentations that we're going to give at other departmental staff meeting regarding what we each do. And as a visual aid, we're going to use our intranet site. Partly to help us out when we're speaking, but mostly to let people know that we do have a website and that it contains a lot of the answers to questions they may have.
Lucky me, being the web geek of the group, has been responsible for updating the site. No big deal. But with these presentations getting ready to start, everyone has something they want changed. And it's usually not just a little rewording of a sentence, it's moving entire sections from one place to another, or adding new stuff.
So on top of my regular work (accounts payable & receivable), I have to update the Financial Operations site, set up the equipment (laptop, projector, find out whether the new ethernet jacks work) for the meetings, and recently was given some more web work from the Security department. Security falls under FinOp, but they have their own inter & intra net that I'm also responsible for updating.
Agh! Brian and Jeff, I don't know how you guys manage all the web stuff that you do. This is driving me insane.
And if that wasn't enough, we have auditors here, auditing our Purchasing department. This means that they need a lot of payables files, which of course, i end up having to find. Oh, and don't forget the special requests people keep bringing me. "Would you please scan these [6 page] forms so I can add them to [insert document name that has NOTHING TO DO WITH ME!]"
I guess this is what I get for being so versatile and cross trained. Doh.
Posted by Olivia at 10:15 AM | Comments (4)
Find me in: Working Girl Blues
October 21, 2002A little too close to home
I arrived at work this morning a little after 9 and immediately went to the conference room to set up for our meeting. While I was in there, one of my co-workers came in and said somebody had been arrested in relation to the sniper shootings. Shortly after our upper-boss came around and had everyone close the blinds. Some security measure that we're required to take. (But come to think of it, we didn't do it on 9/11...)
So here I sit, feeling very closed in. I just finished watching CNN where all they talked about was the status of the victim shot in Ashland Saturday night. Way too scary. And now they're saying that the 2 men arrested this morning probably are not related to the shootings. Can you imagine being falsely accused of such a thing?
I wish one of them is/had been the right person, this is getting out of hand. The gas station they arrested the man at this morning isn't too far down the road from where I work. It's not like around the corner, but it's close enough.
I wonder how many businesses and schools will be closed tomorrow...
Posted by Olivia at 3:21 PM | Comments (2)
Find me in: Chit Chat
October 24, 2002Board games are getting cheesier
Last Saturday, Jeff & I took advantage of the buy one get one free board game sale at Toys R Us. Since we got there on the last day, the selection was pretty wiped out. Since they didn't have the new Trivial Pursuit we ended up with Life and Battleship.
Tuesday, after dinner with Jennifer at Trak's (mmm...*drool*), we settled in at her place to play Life. Board games sure have changed since we were kids. The whole way you end up with a career is different. Instead of spinning the wheel, moving your little mini-van, and getting what you land on, you pick from a deck of cards. This of course is after you decide whether to go to college or start a career first.
The only advantage to college is if you happen to pick a career card that says "Degree Required" you can only "do" that career if you went the college route (i.e. have $40,000 in bank loans to pay off!)
So once you pick your career, you pick your salary the same way, from a deck of cards. I think the salaries range from $20,000-$100,000. Jennifer ended up being an entertainer making $100K, Jeff was an athlete at $50k, and I was, yup, an accountant. Figures. Guess it was meant to be. Too bad I don't make the $90k salary I did in the game!
The next stop is the chapel, to get married. Funny how you have to get married. It's not one of those optional blocks, you have to do it. Just to spite the rules, Jeff ended up with 'Troy.' :) It was pretty funny. (Sorry Jeff, hope I'm allowed to share this!)
Jennifer and Jeff were halfway through the 'road of life' before I even got to the chapel because I kept spinning a 1! They've also added blocks that is you land on them you can switch your salary with another player. Jeff took mine. And then I ended up choosing the most expensive house; a $200k Victorian mansion.Yikes.
The game seemed to go by much faster than it did when I was a kid. And it's much cheesier. At the end there are two options: 1. Be a millionaire and try to win the game by adding up all your money and 'life' cards or 2. Retire at a country club type thingy. No more bankrupt or risking your entire fortune by placing your assets on the little cardboard strip and spinning the wheel in hopes of landing on the number you chose.
Oh well. In some ways the game reflects life in a more realistic way of life, but in others, it's really cheesy.
What childhood games have you played in the last fews years that seem really cheesy now or the company has changed so much that it's not the same?
Posted by Olivia at 4:43 PM | Comments (7)
Find me in: Get your game on
October 28, 2002Yay! New furniture! Yay!
Another fun filled weekend ends :( Let's take Monday off the calendar. Make it a "come to work if you want to" day. You don't come to work, you don't get paid, but at least you have the option.
This weekend started off when Brian and Paul rolled into town Friday night. Saturday morning Jeff and I got up early, debated for an hour, the decided to go ahead and drive to Charlottesville to pick up some of the furniture we wanted to buy (the rest was out of stock). We ended up getting the bed and 2 bedside tables. The dresser has been purchased, but won't be in until November 15th. We put the bed and one table together last night and did the other table tonight. It looks so good, I can't wait to get the rest of it!
After we got back, Chris, Paul & Brian came over. Brian and I fixed food for latyer while the rest of the boys lounged around. Shortly after the cake was iced we headed out to Eric and Kelly's.
After eating and watching Hocus Pocus, we settled in for a rousing game of Trivial Pursuit. Have I mentioned the 20th Anniversary Edition is really hard? Chris and Paul won with their smarts and a little luck of the dice. :)
By the time we got home it was close to 2 so Jeff and I immediately went to bed. We're getting old. Sunday we all slept in, but were up with enough time to grab lunch at Taco Bell before the boys (& Lauren) went to see Jackass. There was no way I was paying, or wasting my time, to see that movie. And from what I've heard, I made the right choice!
Instead I went to Pier 1 and the mall. I finally found another face plate for my phone. Since my phone's been discontinued, it's hard to find faceplates for it. I also got some really good deals on some to-be-Christmas gifts. I made it back home with a few minutes to spare before the rest of the gang arrived. Pretty sneaky, huh?
After everyone headed out Jeff and I spent the rest of the evening putting the furniture together. I sure wish we had three day weekends. I really could have used an extra day. And tomorrow (Tuesday), I have to go downtown for an all-day class. At least one of my co-workers is going with me, but unfortunately, I do have to be at work by 8 so we can leave. Since I usually don't even get up until then, it's going to be a long day!
Posted by Olivia at 10:50 PM | Comments (4)
Find me in: Richmond Geeks
October 31, 2002Happy Halloween!
Posted by Olivia at 1:23 PM | Comments (4)
Find me in: Chit Chat