November 6, 2005Halloween 05
I carved my second pumpkin ever this Halloween. Ok, so maybe I cheat and buy those design books and carving tools, but I get to make really cool designs! This year I chose the bats; I seem to have a love of bats at Halloween, I'm not sure why.
Being safety conscious, I also found battery powered, flickering 'candles' to use in the pumpkin. The ones Michaels had are LEDs so hopefully they'll last a long time.
The Saturday before Halloween was the night for parties. The Hurds hosted their third annual Halloween Bash, which was a great time, as always.
They invited the whole neighborhood and had some pretty funny costumes this year. I didn't get any good shots, but Chris did. Yes, that is a guy dressed up as a woman. We thought he looked very much like Ms Doubtfire.
After spending some time at the Hurds we had to party hop to the Sos' who were also throwing a party. After spending so much effort on their new attic bar I don't blame them for wanting to get some good use out of it!
Lauren set up a voting station for a costume contest, and the Golden Girls won. Very cool costume idea. Oh, don't be fooled, Blanche isn't really wearing a sombrero.
As you can see from the pictures, Jeff chose not to dress up (the Mayor head was borrowed), and I was a punk rocker. And yes, all those clothes can be purchased in a real store, not just a costume shop. I actually just went to Hot Topic, knowing they would have to have something decent. Is it an insult or a compliment to make a Halloween costume out of someone's everyday clothes?
Either way, it was a lot of fun. The wig was a little outrageous, so I couldn't believe how many people asked if it was my real hair. That would have taken forever to wash out if it was!
Although I was able to pull out a costume last minute this year, I swear I'm going to start thinking about it earlier next year. I am! I really am!
Posted by Olivia at 11:12 PM | Comments (0)
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November 6, 2005October craziness is over
For as far back as I can remember (which isn't very far!), October has been one of the busiest months. I don't know why, and this year was no different. Three weekends out of town and one weekend with 2 parties didn't leave much free weekend time.
It doesn't help that work has been absolutely crazy busy. We're in the processing of overhauling the accounting/purchasing procedures and this has increased my workflow a lot already.
Right now the College uses American Express as the credit card of choice, and most departments have 1, 2 or more people with a card. This allows them to purchase items on their own, without ever having to get Accounting involved.
With all the new procurement guidelines that are being placed upon us, it's time to start cracking down on these people who can just spend, spend, spend. As of December we're switching to Mastercards and only issuing a handful. So all those purchases that people were making on their own are now going to have to come through Purchasing, and then to Accounting.
While this is putting more work on us, we'll be able to have more control over purchases made college-wide, and that's the way it should be. It does make for a busy day though and the feeling that I'm never caught up.
As you know, we celebrated our first anniversary a few weeks ago, and last week we finally received our album from our photographers. While it did seem to take an awful long time for it to arrive, the blame is definitely ours in taking an extraordinarily long time in choosing the pictures.
The album though, looks great! I haven't weighed it yet, but it's pretty hefty. The pictures turned out beautiful though. I wish I could print digital pictures that clear.
This week will be the end for my Tai Chi class. I have really enjoyed it and plan to take it again in the spring. And hope I haven't forgotten everything I've learned! In the meantime, Michaels offers a lot of crafty classes so a coworker of mine and I have been contemplating a cake decorating class. It's been nice to do something different at night other than watch tv.
Posted by Olivia at 11:37 PM | Comments (0)
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November 6, 2005Tell her what she's won, Rod
A new car!!
That's right folks, I have a new car. A few weeks ago I intended to blog about my search for a new car, but unfortunately never took the time to do so. I was even going to put a poll so you could vote on which car I should get. Yeh, that didn't happen either.
Jeff had been hounding me to start thinking about getting a new car for a while. The Cavalier is 7 years old and starting to show some age. I thought that with buying a new house and all, we shouldn't be spending the money on a new car. But when one of the brackets holding my muffler broke or came loose, I changed my mind. The constant rattle was driving me batty. Jeff even pulled out the (teal) zip-ties and ghetto fixed it for a while but they either melted or stretched out cause the rattle came back.
I went into the car search wanting something practical, yet fun. And I was really hoping for the color to be orange. So, naturally, I gravitated toward the Mazdas, specifically the Mazda 3 Wagon, and the copper red color it comes in. Also, the Wagon version reminded me of the old Civic Hatchbacks, which I really liked.
Jeff of course was leaning towards a Toyota (no need to explain that one), so I wanted to check out the Matrix as well.
The Scion tC was another car I put on the list too. I wasn't really looking for a 2-door car, but liked the look of the tC and wanted to check it out.
We test drove all 3 one Saturday afternoon. I was pretty nervous about that part at first. I've never particularly liked driving with other people in the car, especially strangers so I wasn't looking forward to the test drives. Luckily, both dealerships allowed us to take the car out on our own. I guess we looked like responsible adults, not just crazy kids. That was a relief, and made testing the car out and getting a feel for it easier.
The Mazda, outside, was just what I was looking for; I loved the hatchback rear and the spacious passenger and cargo areas. The interior detail however, was not so impressive. The seat fabric comes in 2 colors: black with blue accents or black with red accents. Neither were really great, and the fabric, I thought, was kind or scratchy, and cheap feeling. It was probably meant to be a durable, rugged look, but it just rubbed me the wrong way. Rubbed, get it? Fabric rubbed? Nevermind.
It drove and handled great, no complaints there. The dash layout/functionality left something to be desired. We never did figure out how to operated the radio during the test drive. It's this weird one knob does everything set up. I guess that's what they make manuals for though.
The next car we drove was the tC. Unfortunately for me, it started raining while I was on the interstate. But, it was a good way to test how it did in the rain. The tC had a more sportscar feel than the Mazda, but, obviously, it being a 2-door car, had less passenger/cargo space. And it didn't come in orange.
The interior however, was great. The seats were so comfortable and the detail out into the dash, and cup holders, even the change tray, was amazing. For a cheap car, it had some great features.
We drove the Matrix next, also in some rain. After driving the other 2 cars, I was hoping the Matrix would be the perfect blend of the functionalty the Mazda Wagon had, and the comfortable interior the tC had. Unfortunately, it had neither.
Yes, it is a wagon, but the rear passenger area seemed very cramped. The dash wasn't as 'fancy' and the engine was terribly loud. Overall, very disappointed in the Matrix.
Not having any other cars I was really interested in, I went back and forth for a long time between the Mazda 3 Wagon and the Scion tC and made (mental) pros and cons lists for each car.
...
Eventually I decided I wanted to pursue the tC. We went back to McGeorge and talked with our sales rep about finding one in the area in the color I wanted, Flint Mica, or just ordering one from Toyota. He indicated they were to get another allotment soon, so he would let us know what he could find out.
Last Monday, when Jeff called him, we found out that another customer backed out ona car that had been ordered for him so they had one sitting on the lot to sell. The only problem was it had a lot of extras we didn't want. The sales rep was going to talk to his manager about taking some of it off, and selling us the car.
By Friday we hadn't heard from him. Jeff called again to find out what was up and was told our car had been ordered and it would be in at the end of the month. Frustrated by this guy's lack of communication, Jeff called up McDonough Toyota, in Staunton. He had seen a Flint Mica tC on their inventory sheet and wanted to know more about it.
Turns out it was the exact car we wanted. We talked about it and decided to tell McGeorge to give us our deposit back and take our name off the car that was being ordered. We had given them a week to find a car in the area, and Jeff had even mentioned the one at McDonough. Not really sure what happened there.
So Saturday we drove to Staunton and bought a car.
As sad as I am about giving up the Cavalier, I love my new car. It has a double sunroof, radio controls on the steering wheel, and a little hook thing to hold the floor mat in place! I know, but it's the little things. :)
Having a 2-door car is going to take some getting used to, but I think I can do it.
Oh! Two more things, McDonough gave us $250 more than either McGeorge or CarMax would, for the Cavalier. And I got a $100 gift card to Sheetz. It was definitely worth the drive.
Posted by Olivia at 11:55 PM | Comments (3)
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November 8, 2005Car pics
Here are some pictures of my car that Jeff took on one of the scenic overlooks on on 64.
Posted by Olivia at 9:29 AM | Comments (2)
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November 16, 2005Vanilla Coke :(
Jeff shared some news with me a while back that sadden me greatly. As of December 31, Vanilla Coke will no longer be available in the US.
Yahoo article
Coke Press Release
This upset me so much I decided to write to Coke and tell them what thought.:
I just heard that Coke is going to be phasing out Vanilla Coke. As a big fan, that makes me very sad.I've noticed in recent months that it's hard to find in grocery &
convenience stores. Is that because it hasn't been very popular or is it the
reason sales have not been very good?Either way, I hope one day Vanilla Coke will make a return because it
is my favorite soft drink on the market.
Surprisingly, a few days later I received a real, yet some what canned, response:
Thank you for contacting The Coca-Cola Company, Ms. Pollard. We are glad to hear from a fan of Vanilla Coke and Diet Vanilla Coke and
apologize that you have had difficulty finding it in your area.Vanilla Coke and Diet Vanilla Coke will go on hiatus at year’s end,
but may be made available again in the future. The products will be
available for a short time but will not be in the market after 12/31/05.
The current availability of Vanilla Coke and Diet Vanilla Coke in your
area through 12/31/05 will be determined by your local Coca-Cola
bottler. If you would like to contact the bottling company serving your area,
you may wish to contact them at the following telephone number: (800)
222-8088.If necessary, they may refer you to a sales center for assistance.
Your loyalty to Vanilla Coke and Diet Vanilla Coke is certainly
appreciated. If we can be of further assistance, please feel free to visit our
website again.Janice
The Coca-Cola Company
Industry and Consumer Affairs
*sigh* Maybe one day they'll bring it back.
Posted by Olivia at 1:46 PM | Comments (4)
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