Monday, June 30, 2003
How to lose customers, Chinese restaurant style:
Restaurant owner: eyeing Sophie, "That girl?"
Proud mommy: beaming and preparing to launch into lengthy discussion about L'Enfant Extraordinaire, "Yes, she is!"
Restaurant owner: "Look like boy."
# posted by Amanda at 8:25 PM |
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How interesting. After nearly a year or perhaps almost two years, depending on the specific bad decision marking time, the lies and half-truths are still surfacing.
# posted by Amanda at 11:12 AM |
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Thursday, June 26, 2003
I'm beginning to think that every hair that falls out due to postpartum shedding is taking a little chunk of my brain with it.
Twice this week, I've missed the final turn on my morning commute. Also twice this week, I have gone to the grocery store - shopping list in hand - and emerged without one of the main items on the list (the same thing both times, no less!). And as if the constant itching and the urge to chew off my poison ivy-afflicted right arm aren't enough of a lesson not to garden without industrial chemical gloves, last night I discovered baby poison ivy leaves mixed in with handfuls of freshly yanked weeds.
On the other hand, a report I just finished at work is going to be submitted to a medical journal for possible publication. Not bad, considering that I've been on the job fewer than three weeks!
*** *** ***
(Speaking of postpartum losses, where the hell did my chest go?! I coulda sworn I had one just a few weeks ago...)
# posted by Amanda at 9:13 PM |
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Saturday, June 21, 2003
Step one to rebuilding Amanda: when in doubt, go blond(er).
# posted by Amanda at 10:34 PM |
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Thursday, June 19, 2003
Contrary to what I had believed, I am allergic to poison ivy. *itch itch itch*
# posted by Amanda at 11:35 AM |
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Wednesday, June 18, 2003
I still can't figure out my new employer's trashcan system. There are three (yes, THREE) trashcans in the kitchen: one for plastic and glass recyclables, one for "wet trash" and one whose purpose has not been explained to me.
I'm having a hard time with the concept of "wet trash". For example, what if something is soggy when I initially dispose of it, but dries while in the wet trash can? Will I then need to fish it out and deposit it in a recepticle designated for "dry trash"? Is that the function of the Mystery Can? This caused so much anxiety for me today that I ended up taking used paper towels home to be thrown away in my one-can-fits-all garbage process.
The complicated trash disposal system is not a prevalent practice out here in Southern MD, where a popular method of getting rid of unwanted garbage - particularly large items such as leftover construction materials, furniture and cars - is to deposit them in an out-of-the-way area of one's own yard. I'm becoming concerned about how people are disposing of their deceased loved ones... ("But Dad, shouldn't we bury Grandma at a cemetary?" "Heck no, we'll just roll her downhill into this ravine, along with some old mattresses!")
# posted by Amanda at 11:02 PM |
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Tuesday, June 17, 2003
Once again, and hopefully for the last time, there is a toilet in my garage.
A few months ago, we decided to replace most of the flooring on the first level of our house with Alloc laminate (the Winchester Oak style). Quite possibly suffering a certain degree of insanity due to New Parent Sleep Deprivation, we planned to install it ourselves. A few weeks ago, after a couple of months of ignoring the 35 boxes of laminate occupying half of the garage, we went back to the flooring store and arranged to have them install it. Amazingly, the installation price had increased by $700 in a matter of weeks. Fine, we said, as long as it's DONE.
Yesterday morning, the contractor showed up to begin the install process just as I was leaving for work. Several hours and a newly purchased tool later, the crew was ready to begin ripping up the floor. A few hours after that, Sean called to tell me that he was on the way to pick up 22 pieces of new subfloor, to be installed (for a fee) by the contractor...the next day. Fine, I said, if that's what they need to get it done RIGHT.
I arrived home last night to discover thick wood dust covering EVERYTHING in the house---all three levels, all rooms. There is a yellow haze in the air. This is very much not "fine", but it is part of the process. Apparently so is ripping out the wall trim, pulling off pieces of the kitchen appliances and dismantling the bathroom, which happened today in the course of installing the new subfloor.
Tomorrow will be Day Three of the flooring installation nightmare. It should - should - be the final day, wrapping up with a beautiful new floor fully installed and ready to be swiffered to gleaming perfection...just as soon as the wood dust settles.
# posted by Amanda at 10:11 PM |
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Monday, June 16, 2003
  Sophie and Sean on Father's Day. Sean is a great daddy, very loving and dedicated to his little "bean". She's the goodnatured type of baby that makes a person want five or six of the little buggers. Sophie was a good sport for this picture even though she had a cold (hence the red nose) and a fussy ride home after dinner. Should I be concerned that my 5-month-old knows to smile for the camera?
(Speaking of photos ad nauseum, I just posted some new pictures of The Girl. It is amazing how much she has changed in only 5 months!)
# posted by Amanda at 10:35 PM |
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Saturday, June 14, 2003
Haven't done the online tests in a while, but I couldn't resist the Harry Potter Sorting Hat test. Whaddaya know!
Slytherin! You're classy to the core, favoring the traditionally finest things the world has to offer. While you may or may not be evil *wink* you certainly have the power and attitude to get what you want. You're clever as all heck, and tend to be a couple steps ahead of even the most astute Ravenclaw.
A More Unique Hogwarts Sorting Quiz
brought to you by Quizilla
# posted by Amanda at 11:10 AM |
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Friday, June 13, 2003
I almost made it home from work yesterday evening before the severe thunderstorm hit my town. Driving along the waterfront through gusting wind and torrential rain was plenty harrowing, and then I had to drive through heavily wooded areas to get to my house. By the time I got to my street, I was in a panic about trees falling and landing on my car.
About half a mile from home, I watched a tree fall into the road maybe 30 feet ahead of me. It was close enough that I didn't have time to brake and had to do a quick swerve to get around it.
*shudder*
# posted by Amanda at 11:41 AM |
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Wednesday, June 11, 2003
The summer party season is upon us in full force, and I must admit that the concept of the pity invitation confuses me. What's the point of undoing all the thought and planning that goes into creating a list of well-chosen and wanted guests by coming back later and - out of guilt or a misguided desire to "keep the peace" - adding in people who aren't held in the highest regard by several of the previously invited folks and/or the issuer(s) of the invitation, and who have no clue how to conduct themselves in social settings requiring shirt, shoes and, well, PANTS?
# posted by Amanda at 11:38 AM |
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Monday, June 09, 2003
With the first Company X-free weekend happily behind me and the "detox" (or "delousing", as a friend and former coworker calls it) process well on its way, it's time to post about the last day at Company X, the first day at the new job (which will be referred to as Company Y), and everything in between.
I will, of course, miss my friends at the old job---I promise to try to stay in touch and send pictures of the 'bina. Keep sending the Good Ol' Company X Tales my way, they're always good for an amazed chuckle or two!
I will not miss the 4th floor executives who used to leap into the elevators and frantically slap at the buttons to close the elevator doors before anybody else could enter. Also not missed are the neverending meetings, and the recurring thought of whether it's possible to develop sudden onset Tourette's Syndrome due to extreme boredom. Almost more than anything else, I will absolutely not miss the ineffective, apathetic HR department, especially Ms. Fakity Fakemouth who listened to my exit interview (basically, 3.5 years of top shelf X-tales) with a perfectly blank expression on her face, and who had probably stamped my employee file with a big red "NUTCASE" before I even left the HR offices.
Friday was good. We went to Rehoboth Beach, introduced Sophie to sea and sand, did some shopping, enjoyed people watching. The rest of the weekend was less noteworthy.
Today...today I started my new job, doing more or less the same thing I did at the old job, but with a cuddly office dog and a better overall work culture (even though there are specific restroom policies in the employee handbook). Too soon yet to say how it's going to turn out, but it looks promising so far.
# posted by Amanda at 8:15 PM |
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Wednesday, June 04, 2003
Only one more day left at Good Ol' Company X, and the Snoopy Dance of Happiness has officially begun! All of my projects are as finished as possible and everything has been transitioned to the interim project managers, so there's not much more for me to do here except continue adding to my manifesto (read: "notes and suggestions" for HR) and refuse to attend meetings that ceased to be relevant when I gave notice two weeks ago.
# posted by Amanda at 12:27 PM |
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Tuesday, June 03, 2003
How's this for timing? After a month or so of feeling really sorry for myself as more close friends prepare to move out of state (we're losing them to Minnesota, can you believe that rubbish?!), this past weekend we received a message from long-time friends who are moving back into the area for a few months while awaiting the birth of their first baby. Miracle of miracles, they will be living relatively nearby in LaPlata!
# posted by Amanda at 12:14 PM |
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Monday, June 02, 2003
Weekend highlights:
- Weeping Radish weizen (ohh, that's good shtuff...)
- brunch at Spoons in Baltimore
- a thoroughly impractical, outrageously expensive but incredibly adorable white petticoat for Sophie, who will probably christen it with spectracolored spit-up the first time she wears it
- working on the Montreal photo essay (almost ready, just working out some ethical considerations)
- phone calls with friends, and plans to look forward to
- if not sunny skies, at least the absence of rain
# posted by Amanda at 12:01 PM |
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*scream* Was everyone whittling behind the wheel this morning?!
# posted by Amanda at 8:16 AM |
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