Wendy's Spoutings

Second Hand Lions

2003-10-12T19:55:00.000-07:00

You should see this movie. You will laugh, you will cry, you will feel all warm and happy inside.

The Fabulous 5

2003-10-12T12:37:00.000-07:00

Well, I didn't think it was possible, but Todd and I had a really good time yesterday in Waterloo, IA. We first went for a run and got totally rained on, but it was good run just the same. Then we went and saw another movie .. Kill Bill. Interesting, that is all I can say. I won't ruin it for anyone, but let's just say I had to come back to the hotel room and watch Toy Story for awhile to get the bloodspurting images out of my head. I was really sore, both from my run and from being so incredibly tense while watching the movie. Anyway... Todd talked me into going out to the lone gay bar in town, The Metro. The scene was not so great when we first got there. In fact, there was hardly anyone there so we played pool for awhile. We really didn't think the crowd was going to get any better and just as we were about to lose all hope for meeting some fun people, I decided to go put my coat in the car. On the way back in this group of 5 very attractive gay men were walking into the bar. They were so much fun. They were all in town for Homecoming - a couple of them lived in NY and one in AZ. We had a great time... lots of dancing (so I am even more sore this morning) and good conversation. We nicknamed them the Fab 5, cause they reminded us of the guys from Queer Eye for the Straight Guy - and they made an otherwise completely boring night in Waterloo, IA really fun. Only a week and a half left in this town and then I get to go home - not that I am counting down the days or anything.

Random Thoughts

2003-10-10T22:29:00.000-07:00

Mojitos are great, School of Rock rocks, and Waterloo sucks.

One more year gone

2003-10-09T21:20:00.000-07:00

Well, today I turned 29 - and for the 4th year in a row I have had the privilege of spending my birthday "on the road". This year, it was in Iowa. There is not as much to do here as there was 3 years ago in Atlanta when I went to the Cheesecake Factory with several coworkers (cheers to you Max if you are reading), but it was still a good day. It started pretty early when my mom was the first to call and wish me Happy Birthday - although I was drying my hair so I missed the call. Then there was a knock on my door and Steve came over to offer me freshly brewed Starbucks coffee from his newly purchased coffee pot (which he bought on this trip just to brew coffee in his room). Then I drove the lovely (not so much) hour from Waterloo to West Union to teach all about servers. We did test out a new route today which was quite lovely as all the trees are changing colors here. I was a little upset that I did not bring my golf clubs with me because it was 80 degrees today!! When I left here a week ago it was 50 for the high, so I assumed it would be the same... but I was wrong. We (Steve, Todd and I) then had a lovely class ... very engaged and nice people. We played with Steve's new CD burner, which burns a CS training disc in about 30 seconds! Nice. Todd showed the class a little cheesy networking movie, which I laughed a lot at. I especially like the scary annimated Ping Of Death character. I thought it livened up class very nicely, although I agreed with Todd when he said it reminded him of those sex ed videos you had to watch in like Junior High. Then after class Steve and Todd took me to a nice dinner for my b-day and I got to blow out a candle on my dessert so I was happy. It was also nice to talk to all my family members today as they all called at one point or another.

I will have to say that turning 29 has depressed me a little. Because next year I turn 30, I had to take a moment and reflect on what I have accomplished (or not) in my 29 years of life. It is a little depressing. Especially when I see my sister who just turned 30, is happily married and has 4 wonderful children. Me... 29, divorced, soon to be unemployed, no children, etc, etc. Don't get me wrong, I am very happy with my life, I like my job, I like my house, my big-ass TV, my family, my friends, etc. But, it is not like you can take the material stuff with you when you go - so what do I really have? It just makes me reevaluate my priorities. I do have a wonderful family and exceptional friends and I am very happy that I will soon be home for good and can start to do all the things I have been putting off. I see my friends and family too little and I am looking forward to spending more time with them. I am also looking foward to filling my fridge with perishable foods... but that doesn't really help me in the hereafter either.

Well, enough depressing ranting by me. Bottom line... I am now a year older, I have reflected, and I plan to spend more time keeping in touch with and seeing those I care about. So, please don't let me slack!!

Oh... and just as a small side - thanks to Laurie Shuster, I now know what those damn little annoying pests that masquerade themselves as ladybugs and then bite you are. Check it out (probably only interesting to those in the midwest right now).

Oh... and Happy Birthday to Nicole today too!!! (If I knew how to say it in Italian I would).

Hi everyone, welcome to my blog

2003-10-06T12:47:00.000-07:00

Ok, so I have had this blog for quite some time (you know, a whole 3 months), but I have not posted a darn thing in over a month!!! So, I feel like I am starting over. I have no excuses for not posting, I guess I just figured no one was reading it. Well, I am back in the office and let me just say it is vewy vewy quiet in here. I am so sad so many of my coworkers left while I was on my last trip and that I did not get the chance to say goodbye many of them. Right now it is just me, Helena, and Dwight in the office. Crazy. Wednesday I leave for my last trip, I will be extemely happy to be back in town full time. It has been a LONG time since I have been stationary... I am not sure what I will do with myself. Oh wait, that is silly, of course I know. I have a list about a mile long of things I plan to do when I am finally in town. Of course, one of my biggests "to dos" is finding a job... but that is just depressing, so I am sure I will procrastinate on that one. I am very happy to be able to see my friends and family more. I have so many friends that I never get to see because that one week out of the month I am in town - they are busy. So, I have lots of catching up to do. Then, since my house just turned a year old in August, I might actually do some decorating. If anyone wants to do some painting, let me know! I also would like to build a deck. Of course I don't know anything about building a deck, so I will probably pay way too much to have someone build it for me. Well, I won't bore you with any more of my "to dos".

I just wanted to say to anyone who happens to be reading this blog... I am still here, I still read your blogs, and I will try to do better about posting to mine. Also, to all those ex-co-workers that I didn't get a chance to say goodbye to... I will truely miss you all and I hope that I will see you again very soon. You all made coming into the office fun and traveling bearable. There is always a room open at my place (way down there in South King County) if any of you want to visit. Keep in touch!!

Hotel stupidities...

2003-08-24T18:56:00.000-07:00

What is it with hotel staff being the dumbest people ever?? Why, may I ask, would a hotel manager hire someone who has absolutely no knowledge of the town they are working in... what is the point? Maybe I am getting burned out (ok, I have been for a while), or maybe it is just because I am sick and drove for 5 and a half hours to get to Keokuk, IA, but this hotel has already pissed me off. I am willing to look past the fact that there are no automatically opening doors when I have to drag in my backpack, giant suitcase, golf clubs, and canvas bag and that I have to drink my diet caffeine free coke out of a styrofoam cup, but I think it is unacceptable not to have any knowledge whatsoever of the town you are in. So, when I checked in, I first ask (as any health conscious traveler would), if there is a fitness room. She informs me that there is a "very small one". So, I then ask, is there a gym nearby? She has no idea... was going to look it up in the phone book. So, I say, nevermind, I will look myself. Then as I am walking to the elevator I take a glance at the "very small" fitness room and there is one treadmill (being used), a bike, and a stairclimber - I decided to look for other options. Naturally, when I get to my room I look in the hotel information book... do you think they have any info? Hell no. They can't even tell me where the ice machines are (it says, call the front desk for locations of ice machines), and next to high speed internet access the book says, "high speed internet is available". Gee thanks. No other instructions or a cable or anything. So, I check the phone book. There are two gyms in town, I call both, neither answer. I assume since it is 6pm on Sunday evening, that they are both closed, but an answering machine with the hours would have been nice. So, I decide I will just have to find a place to run. This town is right on the river, there should be someplace nice. So, I head back down to ask the front desk lady for a network cable and to see if there is a fee for this internet access. When I get there she is helping someone else, so I peruse the information rack (again, looking for some kind of help with my exercise needs). They have a lovely color brochure talking all about the town. All it says for bike/running trails is "numerous parks offer walking/jogging trails". This sounded encouraging, so I asked the front desk lady again. She stared at me like I was a big green bug. She had no clue that there were any parks in the town. She said she thinks there is one park, but doesn't have any idea on how to get there. She takes out a map of the town that is absolutely impossible to read and points to where she thinks it is, but she is not sure. I then out of curiosity ask if she knows where the library is (thinking ahead for tomorrow) and she again has no clue! She cannot give me any other ideas on a place where I could run. Well, with my network calbe in hand, I go back to my room and look up the town on-line. They have a lovely website that talks about all ELEVEN of their parks. Can you imagine? They have 11 parks and she doesn't have a clue. So... I found a couple that looked semi-promising for places to run and headed out. I did find the biggest park that had some paths, but I wouldn't call them trails. It did have a full 18-hole frisbee golf course, too bad I don't have a frisbee. Anyway, the park is right on the river and there are very wide streets all around with gigantic houses on them, so I didn't have a problem finding a place to run through the park and the surrounding neighborhood. Other than the fact that I have not left my hotel room (well, pretty much my bed) for the past 4 days because I have been so sick therefore I wasn't really in running shape, it was a pleasant run. The river was lovely as it was very near sunset.

I have finally figured out what I can do after this job... consult with hotels and tell them all the stupid things about their hotels and their stupid hotel staff members and how they can really "cater to the business traveller's needs" as they promise to do but don't.

The things we take for granted...

2003-08-21T15:50:00.000-07:00

I know, you are all shocked, two postings in one day! Well, I do have free high speed Interent access at my hotel... and I am sick and have nothing else to do.

We often take for granted the very things that most deserve our gratitude. ~Cynthia Ozick.

I felt this very strongly today as I tried to do everyday tasks with no voice! I literally cannot make a single sound right now. At about 4:00 when I started to get very hungry since I hadn't eaten anything today, I began to contemplate my options. The one that sounded the best was just sitting in my room and ordering room service, but wait, can't do that because they cannot hear me to take my order... they would probably think it was a prank call. I at last decided that I would just have to go to the store, but the only store I know about is about 10 minutes away across the river into Iowa. Now, I am sure there has got to be one closer, but how can I ask someone?? So, I drove out to the No Frills Supermarket in Council Bluffs to get some food. You just don't realize what you have until you lose it! People just expect you to talk! The produce guy who asks you if he can help with something, the lady who is in a cart standoff with you because you cannot say excuse me, the check out lady who just wants to know if your card is debit or credit and finally the guy in the elevator who comments on the "wet paint" sign and all you can do is grunt... he must have thought I was crazy. Then he gets off the elevator and says "have a nice day" and all I can do is mouth "you too". I feel like I was rude to about 5 people in the course of my half hour trip to the store and back.

Anyway, the moral of the story is... be grateful and thankful for the gifts that you are given and appreciate them everyday.

I'm still here!

2003-08-21T11:51:00.000-07:00

Sorry everyone. I know you have been EXTREMELY dissappointed not to have heard from me in while. Anyway, yes, I am still alive and all that, just been busy. That is what happens when I get back in Seattle, which this time was only for 5 full days. My time at home was filled up quite a bit by my new nephew!! Jake Warren Bennett was born on August 11th and weighed in at 10 lbs 4 oz, ouch. I realize I may be a little biased, but in my humble opinion, he is adorable. Otherwise, spent time with family (as my mom was also in town) and of course Whitney (who in my humble opinion, is also adorable). :-)

As of late late Tuesday night, I am back in Iowa. My flight was about a half hour late getting into Omaha, so landed about midnight. Then the Hertz Gold counter closed right about then, so I had to wait for the lady to walk all the way back to the normal counter with the key (which took about 15 minutes) and then I had to walk all the way to the garage ... which for those who have been to the Omaha airport, know that is a little walk. Anyway, finally got to the garage where my GIGANTIC Ford Expedition was waiting. I cannot believe how big that car is, I feel like I am driving a bus! My golf clubs fit in the long way in the trunk... and that is in the travel bag!! Crazy. Anyway, I manuvered my giant gas guzzler the wrong direction from the airport and took a bit of a detour to the hotel. What should have been a 5 minute drive took about 20. Anyway, finally got to the hotel, checked in, parked the beast, and got to bed about 1:30AM. Earlier in the day, I told Steve that I would get up and golf with him at 6:30 in the am! Needless to say, I didn't get much sleep. But, golf was fun and that early it was a very pleasant temperature, later in the day it got up to 102... before the humidity. Then I got back from golf and had to get ready for class. However, in all the late night travel (aka breathing in the constantly recirclated air on the planes and in the airports) and lack of sleep, and air conditioned everything cause it is so hot, I got myself sick. I awoke yesterday with a little frog in my throat. Then after talking in class yesterday and through the evening at dinner and such, I awoke this morning (at 4:30am) unable to breathe or speak anything above a whisper. Luckily, we are in Omaha and have good cell coverage, and I was able to send Steve a text message (since I cannot talk) and tell him that I could not make it to class. So, Steve and Edward graciously taught class alone today while I attempted to breathe (drugs help), and sleep, and rest my throat. It is now a little after 1PM and I am just getting out of bed. I still cannot talk, but thanks to drugs, I can breathe. I hate being sick!! In 4.5 years of doing this job, this is only my second time that I have missed a day of class due to illness. Since a lot of the times I am teaching alone, calling in sick is just not an option, however, I am lucky enough to be working with 2 other trainers on this trip, so I guess if it is going to happen, this is a good trip to have lost my voice. Luckily we now have a 3 day weekend, so I plan to lay low here in Omaha for a couple days before driving across the state of Iowa in my giant car to teach class in Keokuk on Monday. It is about a 5 hour drive, so I should only have to stop for gas 4 times.

Work Prayer

2003-08-06T20:18:00.000-07:00

You may have heard this before ... but this is for all of you who had as great of a day at work as I did today.

WORK PRAYER...

Grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change,
The courage to change the things I cannot accept,
And the wisdom to hide the bodies of those people
I had to kill today because they pissed me off.
And also, help me to be careful of the toes I step on today
As they may be connected to the ass that I may have to kiss tomorrow.
Help me to always give 100% at work... 12% on Monday, 23% on Tuesday, 40% on Wednesday, 20% on Thursday, and 5% on Friday.
And help me to remember...
When I'm having a really bad day,
And it seems that people are trying to piss me off,
That it takes 42 muscles to frown
And only 4 to extend my middle finger and tell them to bite me.

Veggie Burgers

2003-08-05T15:57:00.000-07:00

Just a little FYI... in Iowa... a vegetable burger is not a "veggie burger" as we all know it. Yup, that is right... it is all cow, but with lettuce and tomato. It floored me that there is actually a seperate menu item if you want something other than beef, bun, and cheese. Just a little warning for you vegetarians out there cruising around the small towns of Iowa looking for a non-meat meal.

I don't have much else to say because if you read the other blogs you will know that we all had a blast in Galena this weekend. However, what was not put on the other blogs was the midnight golfing. Ross, Helena, Leah and I decided about midnight that we were going to go hit some golf balls as we were staying on the golf course. Just a few tips if you are planning on doing this in the future:

1. Use glow-in-the-dark golf balls
2. Don't ask the clubhouse if they have any... as it is a dead giveaway that you plan to invade their golf course as soon as the sun goes down.
3. Stick close to the green, cause if you hit the ball more that about 20 feet you will never find it again.
4. And lastly, if you cannot see the cup (well, because it is very dark)... all you have to do is have Ross stand by the cup and moon you... I now totally understand how the term came about. But, you should only do this when you are far enough away that all you can see is the faint white glow. :-)

The final countdown

2003-07-31T18:36:00.000-07:00

It is very strange to me that I only have 3 trips left after this one! Yes, I am back in Iowa... and all my trips will be here. I also just realized that this trip is my last trip with any installs, after this it is all Content Server training. Kind of a strange feeling. Anyway, I do appologize to those who have religiously been checking my site on a daily basis awaiting my next post... YEAH RIGHT. That is just what happens when I am anyplace other than Iowa... I seem to find more interesting things to do. I took a little vacation last week and went on my annual family campout. This year we went to Orcas Island in the San Juans. For anyone who has not been there... you should go. It was absolutely beautiful. The ferry ride over is a little pricy, but worth it. We stayed at Moran State Park. There are 5 freshwater lakes and 30 miles of hiking trails with the most spectacular views. If I could store pictures on this stupid thing, I would show you some. We camped right on the shore of Cascade Lake and went swimming and cliff jumping. The weather was perfect... mid 80's but the whole campsite was in the shade of the trees. I even saw a pod of killer whales (not in the lake of course, but in the sound on one of our hikes). You can hike up to the top of Mt Constitution (2409 ft) - or drive if you are a wuss - and see 360 degree views of the San Juans, Mt Baker, Mt Rainier, Bellingham, Anacortes, Canada, etc. It was a great trip. Plus, I got to spend 4 quality days with my family which is always good - although my poor sister was only 2 weeks shy of her due date!! That's a long walk to the bathroom for a 9 month pregnant woman in the middle of the night. Anyway, I highly recommend going there sometime.

But now... I am back in Iowa. However, I did bring my golf clubs and Ross and Helena have put up the golfing challenge this weekend (ok, it was Helena who wants to bet). We and several others are renting a house at the Eagle Ridge Resort in Galena, IL for the weekend. All the librarians today seemed very jealous that I am going there this weekend so it must be good. Next weekend looks like a big gathering in Iowa City for all that want to join!!

Why I love Washington

2003-07-20T02:34:00.000-07:00

I seems like I had a lot more time to write posts when I was in Iowa... hmmm... wonder why that is? Yeah, so, anyway... here in Seattle it is a BEAUTIFUL weekend!! I was really hot today though - I am currently watering my lawn, I am determined to have it look nice. I wanted to share with everyone a wonderful hike that I found (well, ok, my dad found it). I have lived here my whole life and this hike is only 20 mins away and I never knew it, amazing. The hike is called Poo-Poo Point (don't laugh). The trailhead is in Issaquah where all the hang-gliders land, right off of the Hobart-Issaquah road. It is a nice workout.. you climb about 1600 feet in approx 1.5 miles. Once you get to the top the views are amazing. There are two jump off points (for the hang gliders) and one of them overlooks all of Mt Rainier and bits of Puget Sound. Then on the other side, you can see Mt Baker, Lk Sammammish, Lk. Washington, Bellevue, Seattle, and the Olympics. It was gorgeous. It is now my favorite hike for short, hard, close-by, with excellent views at the top. You can also sit up there and watch the hang-gliders take off. However, since my dad and I went very early on Friday morning, there were really only a few other people on the trail and none of them were hang-gliders. My second favorite hike is still Rattlesnake Ledge in North Bend.. also amazing 340 (can't quite see all the way around) degree views of the cascades. Rattlesnake is also pretty gruelling.. 1200 feet elevation gain in 1.3 miles. Of course I have many other favorite hikes in the area, but these two are very close, very hard, pretty short, and having amazing views. Happy hiking!

Oh yes, and I finished Harry Potter... it was good. Now I have moved on to East of Eden, thanks to a recommendation by Luke.

Back in Washington!!

2003-07-16T20:35:00.000-07:00

I made it back from Iowa... it is refreshingly NOT humid here. But, sadly enough, I got back to my house and the grass in my lawn is dying once again. I fear this is a neverending cycle. I nurse it back to health and then I have to leave for a week or two and it starts to die again. Also, I find it amazing how dirty your house can get in 1 or 2 weeks when no one is even there!! Crazy.

Well, I really just wanted to send out a thanks again to Luke for helping me get this blog set up and showing me how to maniplulate it and make it better. I have a long way to go.. but it is fun. It is amazing to me how much time can get sucked up just trying to change a color or a font. So, I am not going to spend hours on this tonight... I am finally at home with Whitney and we are going to go watch Tombstone, "I'll be your huckleberry". And Luke, Tombstone is WAY better than Wyatt Earp (or should I refer to it as Waterworld in Arizona)!

My fingers are not fast enough

2003-07-14T21:13:00.000-07:00

So, I started to write an entry about what Luke and I did tonight... but he totally beat me to it! So, you will have to check out his blog. By the way... it is totally fun to tell librarians that we can find out all sorts of stuff out about them on the Internet. Along with the arial photos that Luke mentioned, it really freaks them out when we show them that all they have to do is type in their phone # in Google and they usually get their name and address back. Their reactions crack me up.

League of Extrordinary Crap™

2003-07-13T19:59:00.000-07:00

I just need to refer you all to the earlier posting by Luke about the movie League of Extrordinary Crap. Luke and I thought this was a very funny review of the movie (actually titled League of Extrordinary Gentlemen). Never in our wildest dreams did we think that while we were watching this movie that we would be saying the exact same things to ourselves. We felt at one with MaryAnn Johanson, the writer of said review. I recall the exact moment in the movie when I said to myself, "Right in the beginning and for maybe the first half hour or so, I thought, 'Oh, this is gonna kinda suck, isn't it? . Anyway, this really was not a good movie. I don't know that it was meant to be a comedy, but Luke and I sure had a good time laughing at some of the most terrible acting ever, extreme predictableness (is that a word?), and utter uncleverness (again, is this a word?) of this movie. I guess I am saying I don't recommend it. Which is too bad, because Sean Connery is about as cool as you can get... he has let me down a little. But, since he was already so high up there in my ranking of cool actors, he is still high above all others.

Interesting article

2003-07-13T15:03:00.000-07:00

Gretchen's post about the tanker explosion in Seattle made me decide that I should check and see what else is going on back home. Anyway, came across this interesting article about the Gates Foundation.

Omaha

2003-07-13T11:27:00.000-07:00

I just thought I would share a little bit about the fine place that I am staying on this trip... Omaha, Nebraska. I think I can wrap it up pretty easily by saying, Omaha sucks. Now, I know that several of you may be thinking to yourself, "Self, why don't you plan a summer vacation to Omaha?" I am here to tell you that would not be a very good idea. It is hot, humid, and it smells kind of strange. On top of that, there is really nothing to do here. It is one of those cities where everyone leaves after working hours. Ok, it is not all bad. I hear they have a nice zoo (but I have not been to it yet) and the University of Nebraska Omaha campus is nice, and there are one or two fun looking restaurants downtown, but that is about it. Did I mention that it is hot? I say this because I got back from a run outside about 30 minutes ago and have since been sitting in my air conditioned room, yet I am still sweating! The only major plus to this stay here in Omaha is that I get to be at an Embassy Suites, my all time favorite hotel chain. I got up this morning and went down to the free cooked to order breakfast and had a nice omlet. Now all that is left to look forward to today is the open bar from 5:30-7:30. :-) I really shouldn't complain.. at least I am in a large city (relatively speaking) and the sun is shining outside, and I am healthy and all that. But above all the best part about this trip is that it is only a one week trip and I get to go home on Wednesday! Yeah!

As a side note.. I am reading the new Harry Potter and I am 300 pages into the 900 page book and nothing has really happened yet. What I am trying to say is that I find it a little slow... anybody else share this view? Does it get better? Also, I saw Pirates of the Carribean on Friday, it was very good - I recommend it.

2003-07-12T23:27:00.000-07:00

Alright, it is now 1:15 in the morning (Omaha time) and I am STILL working on this thing. But, there is good news, I got the comments to work, so if anyone is actually reading this blog, you can send your comments. :-) Again, big thanks to Luke for helping me out. I think I am now going to get off this blasted computer and read a little Harry Potter so I don't end up dreaming about HTML tags... that could be scary.

2003-07-12T22:26:00.000-07:00

Ok, I think that I just added a place to add comments, but Luke says it doesn't work... so I am adding this new post so that he can test it out. Cheers Luke for all your help!

2003-07-12T17:31:00.000-07:00

Hi This is Wendy. And this is my first post