Random Pictures From My Desktop At Work

While doing my rounds of fact checking, I come across some pretty interesting pictures, which I end up dragging to my desktop and putting into a folder at a later date. Unfortunately, because I'm not that organized, I can't fully credit where these come from, so I'll just say via the Internetz.

The Weird Week

There's something about the week leading up to my birthday that has always been, well, interesting. I don't know what it is, but it's never just been a normal week. And I never remember or think about it until I'm smack-dab in the middle of it. By the way, my birthday's Saturday and it's the one year I haven't been noticing every day how much closer I am to turning another year older.

26 isn't anything too exciting, though. I mean, what's the big deal about 26? Not that I need any more birthdays that are a big deal. Turning 18 was big, although I don't know why, other than the fact I bought a lottery ticket that night and wasn't carded, unfortunately. 20 was such a cock-tease of a year. 21 was awesome and I got drunk on Mango Margaritas and shots of Southern Comfort (my gateway hard liquor, I call it). When I turned 25, it hit me I was getting married exactly three months later...and I wondered what I needed to finish up.

I don't remember much about the weeks leading up to these ages, but I know I've always noticed things were a bit off. Maybe it's the transition into springtime. I mean, the reason Miss Rhode Island won in "Miss Congeniality" has got to be because she was asked to pick the perfect date...and she chose my birthday: "April 25th. It's not too hot, it's not too cold, you just need a light jacket!" Oh, Cheryl Frasier.

Who knows. Maybe it's all in my head. It probably is. Although, that wouldn't explain the office fire I helped put out yesterday.

We had sort of a field trip to help clean up the beach by where we worked, so we were out in the rain doing so. When we got back, my coworker and I had our clothes drying next to a space heater. Well, he decided to drape his sweater over the top of it, and then left a few minutes later to go to the bathroom. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw an orange glow coming out of the back of the heater. I grabbed the sweater off of it, then saw a flame inside. Well, I said something to the effect of "Oh crap, it's on fire." And started running to get the fire extinguisher. When I ran back, all the guys in the office were just starring at it, like "Oooh, fire!" Meanwhile, I'm practically dragging this extinguisher with two hands, when my boss finally says, "Oh, here, give me that." And he put out the fire.

But, what was funny was everyone was giving me the credit, including my boss. I think mostly because I didn't just stare at it in wonder. They didn't even know we had a fire extinguisher and was impressed I was able to find it so quickly. (Incidentally, it was by the door we all use.)

Following that rush, we got out of work early so the fumes could be properly handled. So, everyone decided to go for a drink. When I got there, they set up a game of pool, and asked if I wanted to play. Well, other than knocking in the 8-Ball on my third shot, I blew their minds. Granted, I've been around a pool table my whole life. My grandfather taught me to play. And I'm even better when I don't have to call what ball I want to go in. For some reason, I learned how to play left-handed, but that never seemed to hinder me. But the fact that I got to "impress" my coworkers twice yesterday, and at things that don't have anything to do with my actual job, made me realize I'm in the middle of my Annual Weird Week.

Oh, sure. Other stuff has happened a little out of the ordinary, but that was the adrenaline rush of yesterday I couldn't wait to write about.

Best. Wrestling. Promo. Ever!

Saw this at work, thought it was from the '80s or even he early '90s. However, no! This is new! Oh, Jimmy Hart, what the hell are you doing?

Top 10 Discoveries of 2008

iGoogle

At first, I was resigned to be completely against Google's insistence I sign up for iGoogle. I was happy having my simple Google search as my home page. Finally, I relented...and haven't looked back since. At first, it was the themes that got me. Then I began playing around with gadgets, then adding my other technological discoveries to my page, and now it seems I have the perfect iGoogle page, complete with a post-it note I update with projects from work so I have it at my fingertips. igoogle.com  

Dropbox

I hated having certain pictures and documents only available to me on certain computers. And I never remembered to e-mail myself files I would need between home and work. Finally, I downloaded Dropbox, an online archive of files that are easily accessible to any computer you happen to sign onto. This is especially useful for the random pictures I'll find at work and put into the folder "Work Pictures", which I'll forget about, but get a smile whenever I open at home. https://www.getdropbox.com/  

Blogger

Finally, somewhere to put the many thoughts I have during my two hours in the car by myself every day, going to-and-from work. blogger.com  

Bare Escentuals

I was never one to buy real makeup. My cousin gave me some Cover Girl one Christmas when I was younger and I never thought I needed anything else. Soon, I was old enough to buy my own makeup, but I never really wore it except for special occasions. Then I got into the habit of putting it on in the car before work. For my wedding, I was convinced by one of my bridesmaids to go to Macy's and get Mac. Well, what I found out about Mac was it was invented by a drag queen, which I thought was funny. Then, I found out on our honeymoon how, even though the coverage was great, my pores were not as "fabulous" as they should. I blamed it on the Hawaii humidity, but I knew it was the makeup that made me break out. Soon after, my friend turned me onto Bare Minerals. I was hesitant at first to spend $50 on the starter kit, but she guaranteed it would take me weeks to even see a dent in it. To its credit, I went through the foundation in about three months, but I still have most of my original warmer and mineral powder, plus it came with the brushes. Soon, my breakouts were few and far between, and I was getting actual compliments on my skin--people thought it was naturally flawless. I thought Mac had great coverage, but B.E. was even better. And, after buying the first kit, I was buying the eye kits, and getting even more compliments--even from my Mac-obsessed bridesmaid! www.bareescentuals.com

Google Reader 

I began a morning ritual when I got to work, before I could really start working. I would check my e-mail; post my schedule on my iGoogle page; print out what I needed to work on for the day; check Mental_Floss and woosk; get a few pages done, then take another surfing break; check Dumb Little Man, Zen Habits, bits and pieces; do some more work; have lunch and surf some more, checking Miss Cellania, Cracked, Lovely Listings, Cake Wrecks; get back to work; take another break and check Vanity Plates, Fail Blog, MakeUseOf, Baby Squared (my cousin's awesome blog about her twins) Lifehacker; finish any work I need to; check Listropolis, Stepcase Lifehack, 43 Folders, Indexed; make sure I have whatever I need done for the next day.

Basically, I had gotten addicted to blog reading throughout the day. Of course, I would put work first, but I also never had a spare moment when I wasn't checking my blogs...I turned into the equivalent of one of those women who can't miss her "stories". Ironically, if you'll notice, a lot of the blogs I read are productivity blogs. Even though they all recommended Google Reader, I didn't think I read enough blogs to constitute needing Reader. I did have most of these blogs in separate Gadgets on my iGoogle page, but soon I wanted to simplify my page, so I succumbed to Google Reader. Now that I have it, it takes me maybe 10 minutes in the morning to go through the posts I've missed, and I don't have to worry about having to remember Web addresses, missing anything, or going through two weeks of posts because I've temporarily forgotten about the blog. Pretty soon, I was finding the RSS feed on every Web page I visiting, and adding it to my Reader. Now, I'll sign on in the morning and have at least 60 news posts to keep me busy in the morning, and more throughout the day. Imagine how much fun I've had on my vacation when I haven't been on the computer as much. www.google.com/reader

Baby Wipes

On one of my many blogs, I read about the makeup removing benefits of using baby wipes. I've fallen in love with Huggies All Natural wipes for my face. There are so many mornings (more than I'd like to admit) I wake up too late for a full face wash and grab the wipes and go.

Suction Wine Stopper 

Out of habit of my single days, I still buy the big bottles of wine, even though I've gotten to the point where I'm good after two glasses a week, as opposed to two glasses an hour after a hard day of work. We registered for a Rabbit wine opener kit that came with suction wine stoppers and I thought keeping wine fresh days longer was just swell! I still have a bottle from Christmas eve that I know will be just as good when I unstop it.  

Jott

I'll remember random to-do items at the wrong time, like when I'm driving, or when I'm halfway through something else or when I just don't have a pencil or piece of paper to write it down. So I started using Jott a few months ago. It's great, I'll set up text message reminders, to-do lists, alarms, all from my cell phone or computer (or, of course, from my iGoogle page). I have my dentist appt. today, which I wouldn't have remembered if I didn't Jott it six months ago. http://jott.com UPDATE: As of Feb. 1, Jott will no longer be offering a free service, once they are out of BETA testing. Hhmph!

American Heart Association Low-Fat Low-Cholesterol Cookbook

Because of my dad's medical history, my cholesterol was recently tested, although I didn't expect to have anything wrong with it. When I got the call saying it was on the high side of normal, I decided to lower it. When I looked in the dietary cookbook section of the bookstore, it seemed most diet books cared more about high protein/high fat/low carb diets (idiots) than about heart health in general. I finally found the shelf with the AHA books and sighed in relief. When I saw this cookbook, I picked it up and went to the kitchen right away (after spending an absurd amount of money at the grocery store...because we had a lot of junk in our fridge, and not enough good stuff). After cooking three dishes and packing them into easy-to-grab Gladware, I began the "diet". Before I knew it, I was losing weight without trying. None of the dishes are more than 400 calories, so I finally found the secret to staying on a 1,200 calorie diet and feeling satisfied. Plus, I get to accomplish my resolution of cooking more. Oh, and the Spinach Stuffed Pizza was AMAZING. Even my husband liked it! (Note: I have the 2nd edition, however the link provided is for a more recent version.) Amazon.com  

Gmail

Come on, if you haven't signed up for Gmail yet, what are you waiting for? Oh, sure, I had Yahoo! as my e-mail account for ages, but once I switched to Gmail, my e-mails because much easier to handle and deal with, plus, I've noticed a lot less spam. mail.google.com

Work Quote of the Day

“Sarah Palin thinks she’s all about foreign policy because she can see Russia from her house; I can see the moon from my house and that doesn’t make me a goddamn astronaut!”

Guess What I Found!

So, yesterday, I came across Fancast, a site where you can watch free movies and television shows. Needless to say, from noon until I was done with work, I watched (well, more or less listened to) eight episodes of "The Mary Tyler Moore Show".

New Addiction Alert!

The Great Sandwich Search

It all began with an e-mail:

"To Employees,

There is a six foot Sub in Conference room 2B. Up for grabs! First come, first serve."

So, around lunch time, we decided to look for it. Problem was, we didn't know where 2B was. It started with three of us and we went to the second floor. Then we ran into two more people from our office, also looking for said sandwich. We went through areas of the 2nd floor we didn't know even existed. When we came across other workers we knew, we asked where the big sandwich was and, of course, we got more people joining us, looking for the unknown 2B conference room. We had about 11 or 12 people looking for the alleged sandwich. We were like a giant game of Snake.

Finally, when we found room 2B (in a small corner of a part of the HR office none of us even knew existed), there were only three pieces of the Sub left. Instead of standing for another minute thinking about the sandwich, I decided to just be proud of the fact that we found the sandwich, and then I made a frozen meal for lunch.

Urban Dictionary Fun

So, we had a bit of fun this week with Urban Dictionary.

If you haven't looked around it before, I'll give you a few minutes to poke around...

Done? OK. So, here are the words we found:

• Texas Chilibowl
• Alaskan Pipeline
• Cheese Grater

Warning: VERY adult content...and a little sickening.

Best German Export?

There's a debate going on at work about the top three rankings of Germany's exports:

The Hoff


Heidi Klum


The Scorpions


Opinions?

Sometimes I Love My Job

What I had to look up at work:

Work Antics

This guy Sean has a police shirt he used for a photo shoot on his chair. And it has a patch that says "police" on it. So, one of the guys a few days ago added a piece of paper with the word "cock" written in big letters to the top so it says "cock police".

So, they just ran a tour through the office while Sean was out of his seat...and the chair was facing them as they walked in. And we all turned around to see them laughing at something and we couldn't figure out what they were laughing about until we remembered Sean's shirt. Oh, the antics.

Update: Sean just got back to his desk and we told him the story and he laughed, then paused and said, "Wait, it says 'cock' on the shirt?!"

Video Hit List

I've been rather slow with this blog this week. One of those too many ideas, not enough time-type weeks, I guess. But here are some of my favorite video finds. (Yes, it was a slow week at work.)

Now, I'm not a huge fan of those who love the silly cat videos. Sure, I find cats amusing. I think they are all neurotic, just like everyone else. But this started going around at work and I did have a good chuckle watching it.


If you like "Family Guy", you'll like this. Even if you don't like "Family Guy", but you've played Nintendo in your day (Ha-Ha! We have an old school NES and our old games at our house now! Just wanted to brag.):


It's funny 'cause it's true. I know, it's terrible to say, but maybe that's why someone made this "PSA".


A fantastic video for any girl.


And, what's a good video with a strong moral message without a parody of it?


And, speaking of evolution, I leave you with this. It was only a matter of time before a perfectly spliced up viral video became spliced into another:


No republicans were harmed in the making of this blog.

Blooper

Found this at work. It's now making the rounds:

Crazy Girl on a Train

Sent around at work yesterday as a way to beat the heat with laughter. Oh, this girl was nuts!

A Night of Relaxation

Oh, the joy of marriage. The joy of having someone to come home to. Someone with the same intellect. The same dreams. The same motivation (or lack thereof some days). The love that will always be there whenever anything comes along. But they never mentioned the little things that truly show loving all of a person:

The different tastes in music.

The different definitions of a "night in".

The different tell-tale signs of annoyance, anger, joy, etc.

The different little things that drive each other up the wall.

The sheer fact that I'm typing is driving him up the wall, I know it. So, the question is, do I type softer because I can see his hand raising to his forehead, pretending that I am slowly draining his work-ability with every stroke of the keyboard? Or do I continue, pretending to be oblivious that the spacebar has about twice the volume of the regular keys. Basically, the fact that he doesn't want to do his work right now is being channeled into being angry about the keystrokes. And I love him. I really do. I'm not doing something for work, so obviously, the lesson plans he's working on should be my main priority and I should be sitting on the couch in the other room merely reading my book I just got.

I tried to put on my new jazz CD, my one impulse buy during my $200 shopping spree at Wal-Mart the other day. With that, he turned and asked "what's that?" "It's jazz, you dumbass." No, I didn't say it outloud; I said the obligatory, "I'm sorry, does it bother you?" "Yes." And with that, he turned his back to me. Oh, because watching "Family Guy" for two hours and then saying "Whatever, I'm not doing this tonight, I'll get up early to do it" really gets in the way even more than "Moonlight Serenade".

But I do praise his motivation right now to learn grammar, albeit from an author who is 100 years old and doesn't adhere to what is the most recently accepted as correct. Whatever. Let him read a book by some pretentious grammar Nazi who was probably given a book deal to shut her up for a few weeks so she wouldn't correct everybody she came in contact with.

He just turned around to settle an argument we had weeks ago.

"By the way, [one of his favorite phrases to let me know something he just learned] it is correct to use both Joneses AND Jones' when talking plural and possessive."

I just rolled my eyes and said, "Don't get me started on what I already think of that author."

With that he turned around, confident he had some backup to his claim weeks ago.

Five minutes later, "Oh, hell no! She used an apostrophe in 1960s! I should just throw this book out the window."

"Is she talking possessively about the year 1960?"

(Scurrying to find the page again in the strewn book) "'the 1960's' One-nine-six-zero-apostrophe-'s'. No, she's an idiot."

"Someone gave her a book deal with shut her pretentious, over-correcting mouth for a few weeks," I said, proud to have what I had just written in front of me so I could get out that gem.

"Bet it didn't help."

"Probably not."

At least my typing doesn't annoy him anymore. And I understand the frustration he feels as an English teacher. Grammar and punctuation doesn't just come to people overnight; you either have a gift for it or you have to learn it step-by-step. And it's a long tedious process, for both the teacher and the student. I'm more concerned with letting him know, in teaching exclamation points, that two or more is ridiculous. Hopefully, they won't fall into the MySpace/Facebook trap of cramming their posts with excessive exclamation points.

Fact: Checked!

Jingle Bells Was Originally A Thanksgiving Song

This was said by a co-worker randomly. Doing my normal job, I had to check it out and found the following from howstuffworks.com:

"...the original music, composed by Boston Sunday school teacher James Pierpont, was conceived as a Thanksgiving song in 1857. Originally titled "The One Horse Open Sleigh," the song was taught by Pierpont to his pupils for a performance and was delighted to find that all 40 of them learned its lyrics almost immediately. Declared "a merry jingle" by a close friend, this holiday carol was fine-tuned and performed again at Christmastime, and quickly became a Yuletide classic."

Co-worker's Theory of "Jaws"

The Theory: "Jaws" is a Western, not a thriller.

Argument Given: "This bad-ass, gun-slinging-like shark comes into town, scaring all the locals. And the sheriff and his deputies have to get him out so the townsfolk can resume their normal lives! It's not really scary as it is a modern-day Western...well, as modern as the '70s can get, I guess."

My Take: "Hahahahaha."

Note: Picture found randomly on the internet, after a Google Search of "Cowboy Shark". Thinking I would end up having a boring movie poster of "Jaws" next to the generic John Wayne picture, I was almost squealing with delight at finding this picture worth considerably more than 1,000 words to add to this post. Thank you Keystone Light, or whatever the liquor was these fine folks had in them.