Showing posts with label Holi-daze. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Holi-daze. Show all posts

Monday, December 28, 2009

I'm starting to understand Mother?

Happy Holi-daze season!

I just want to update my six readers with the banter from my holi-daze.

Christmas Eve, the gaybors invited me over for Christmas Eve dinner. It was pretty cool. I somehow ate too much, but not sure how as I barely ate anything. Dessert was AWESOME! They went to Swinging Richards afterwards, but I declined that offer.

Christmas Day, I spent with my friends Kurt and Heidi. I used to work with Kurt a few years back (he left The Suffix quite a bit before The Suffix decided to lay me off -- He's also a HUGE Star Wars geek). It was fun catching up with him, and Heidi made an AWESOME dinner and I made my pineapple bacon pound cake. It kinda fell apart a little, but it still tasted AWESOME!

There was one amusing anecdote from the evening. Straight married men are so funny when they get trained that everyone is apparently married. He kept asking me questions in plural ("Where do you two live?") and I kept responding in singular ("Well, *I* live over off of..."). He didn't quite get it.

On the first day of Kwanzaa, Eleven and her husband hosted a Kwanzaa party. It was awesomeness full of non-PC-ness. I mean, we had a catfish fry for it. We would have had watermelon also, but it's out of season. Also, there was a Caucasian Pachyderm Gift Exchange. I brought the same thing I brought to the office Caucasian Pachyderm Gift Exchange: A Flush Light. The funny thing is it was actually STOLEN during the gift exchange by someone when their turn came up. I was highly amazed at that. I first had a Wolf in Sheep's Clothing hat that apparently came from China. It was a wolf hat that had a sheep level that could be put up there. Or you could be a sheep in wolf's clothing :) It got stolen from me and I ended up getting beard trimmer in the end. Which I did post-trading to get some Glitter Star thinggie from Pier One.

After all this, though, the scariest thing happened. I began to understand Mother a little. See, she calls all her bar friends her brother or sister or mom or dad. It's quite disturbing. Anyways, after spending the holi-daze with my close friends, I realized they're like family. It (in a small way) left me into the idea that Mother views all her "bar family" as really close friends and that's why she calls them as family names. Of course, I don't quite go to the level of calling my awesome friends as "My Brother" or "My Sister", but they're like my little extended fambly here in Georgia (and in Louisiana 'cuz those fambly members decided to leave me, but I digress).

So, Merry Holi-daze to my local extended fambly! I love y'all!

Wednesday, December 23, 2009

Way too quiet!!

So, as the year winds down, fewer and fewer people are in the office.

Today, on our half of the floor we have four people here. FOUR! Two of us are the Systems Team, so that means there's two financial analysts here. And they're really not doing anything*. I'm the point person for support on the Schedules until the first of the year. There's been a couple little things going on, but nothing major. I'm ready to fall asleep.

I did show everyone this year's picture with Santa!


Awesome, eh? Yeah, I had to de-red-eye both of us, but still... not bad for one of those regular digital photos. I do miss the Atlanta Humane Society doing their Pictures with Santa event. Hopefully when we get out of this "Economic Recession" it will resume.

Anyways, it's been quiet, so that is all the update you'll get now.

*Note: I do not know if they're REALLY not doing anything. They could be working their little hineys off. But there doesn't seem to be much going on.

Thursday, December 10, 2009

'Tis the season to be jolly!

It's that time of year. And I just completed my Christmas Cards (did I miss someone? It's probably because I don't have your address and therefore YOUR fault! :)). At the end of the everything, I totaled it all up. In total, I spent about $100.42* in sending out cards. That includes everything from the sitting fee for pictures with Santa, the actual photos themselves, the cards, and the stamps (good GOLLY stamps... I remember when they were 23 cents!). Oh wait, there were some 8x10s in the photo prints fee, so it's probably closer to like $88.28*.

Anyway, I was talking with our Admin and she said $100 is way too excessive to do for Christmas.

But, if you break it down, I sent out 68 cards (which means I have 12 stamps left and can send 12 more out as I have about that many cards left also). So, 88/68 = $1.30 per person in cards.

It doesn't seem so ridiculous when you hear that number. Until you break out the percentages of what is what.

Stamp = 41%
Photo = 29%
Card = 30%

It's sad to think that the smallest item in the whole card ordeal costs the most!

Our Admin also insists that in future years electronic cards should be sent instead of traditional mailed cards. I have two problems with this:

1) My sister and I have a contest every year to see who gets the most cards mailed to them. Whoever gets the most wins Xmas!

B) There's something awesome about getting a physical card that you can display within your home.

Anyway, Happy Christmas to all y'all and if you don't think you're getting a card from me because I don't have your address, maybe you should use the Google Voice widget over there --> and leave me a voicemail with your address!

*And this does not include the awesomely printed label costs

Sunday, November 29, 2009

Ungrateful Craigslist Bastards!

So, I've converted from the "traditional" Christmas lights to LED lights.

Which means I have approximately 1200 lights to get rid of. (yeah, I'm a light whore on my tree)

I placed an ad on Craigslist for these used lights to help someone out. I figure they cost approximately eight cents a light based on retail prices, so that's about $100 in lights I'm trying to get rid of.

My price? $20. (They're used!)

Anyways, someone calls me. We'll say her name is Rachel for anonymity sake (oh wait, that really is her name. Sue me!).

Anyways, she informs me I'm some sort of God-Send because I have these lights available for her. She asks if I'll send her some directions to my place and she'd come by Tuesday to pick them up during my work from home day.

Mind you, this is a savings of approximately $100 from retail for a used product. That's a savings of like 80%. Clark Howard would be proud.

Anyways, I send her the directions and several (7?) hours later she replies saying she will pass on the lights because she thought I would be closer to her.

The problems I have are as follows:
1) The ad has my location in it
b) She said she was in Douglasville. That's approximately a half hour drive from here
iii) I would like to think a half hour drive each way would be more than worthwhile to save $80. Gas prices aren't THAT high.

I swear, I hate Craigslist flakes!

Am I being a little excessive here? Or am I semi-in-the-right?

Wednesday, November 25, 2009

Happy Thanksgiving!

Not much exciting has been going on. Well, it has, but things I won't be putting in the blog. We'll see what happens.

The Grinch Who Stole Christmas was on TBS Sunday. I was all excited to watch it. I don't care if it's before Thanksgiving.

So, Eleven invited me to Thanksgiving tomorrow. I volunteered to make a pineapple bacon pound cake. For some reason everyone's all over it. It's in the oven now. I can't wait to see how it comes out because I'm working on perfecting the recipe.

I haven't decided if I'm doing Black Friday shopping yet. I usually do, but I haven't found anything I want yet. It's driving me a little batty.

Until then, MERRY THANKSGIVING!

Tuesday, May 5, 2009

Sink o' Mayo!

Happy Cinco de Mayo!

The day where everyone pretends to be a Mexican by drinking cervezas and partying it up. (Yet they don't do lawn work?)

Every Cinco de Mayo in the past few years, I'm reminded of a celebration we did.

Back when I was working at The Suffix, I was a member of the "Fun Team." We organized cheap fun events throughout the year to break up the mundane existence around the office. Sure we didn't want to see our fellow coworkers more than we had to, but getting a break every now and then was awesome.

Anyway, we held this Cinco de Mayo potluck lunch in the office. It was a blast! We had a (virgin) margarita machine, piƱata, and games. Of course, the game I was all about I had heard on the radio a year before: Sink o' Mayo!

On the radio, they had this giant sink filled with mayonaise and prizes (well, not the prize itself, but a card saying what they won). So I took a page out of their book and put prize cards in ziplock bags and dumped a couple Costco-sized containers of mayonaise over them.

The look on my coworkers faces was priceless.

Of course, everyone was afraid to even stick their hand in this gooey goopy gunk. It's not like there's a restroom nearby where they can wash their hands. Wimps, I tell ya!

Then we had one person go for the gusto! She reached her whole hand down in the mayo-filled bucket, slopped it around, pulled out a number of ziplock bags, put them back in, and got into it deep!

The smell was starting to get to me. I didn't realize how bad mayo smelled until you have it sloshing around big time with you.

Anyways, after about 2 minutes of just sloshing around the mayo, she pulled out a prize ticket and actually won the grand prize!

She went and cleaned off her hands and came back raving at how soft her hands were after her mayo manicure. She smelled like a rancid salad, but her hands were nice and soft.

Sometimes I miss those days, but it seems all the hilariously fun people have left The Suffix, either willingly or unwillingly. But, it also gives an opportunity for me to attempt to bring things like that to The Company!

Monday, December 29, 2008

'Tis the holi-daze season!

So, it's been a few days since my last posting. Sue me. I've been busy.

First, I need to announce that (thanks to me not opening all my mail) Sis and I tied for X-mas. Maybe next year I'll keep a closer tab for everyone. For those of you who are scratching your heads, it goes back to a Futurama Christmas (X-mas) episode. Hermes is delivering mail and Bender gets the most so he wins. My sister and I have a contest every year to see who gets the most cards. This year and last we both tied. (And for those of you reading this who DIDN'T send a card back, I know who you are......)

Christmas morning, Sis (and her family) and I opened gifts over the phone. See, I refuse to go up north when there's white stuff on the ground. Sis's husband won't fly and a 17 hour trip is too long when she has no vacation time (we'll ignore her getting laid off, but still). I think she, her hubby, and her children liked everything I sent her. From the adult incontinence product so she can Black Friday shop without fear to the gizmo thinggie that she can hook her video camera up to her computer and start making DVDs of her kids being really awesome in school plays and the like. (Psst.. someone tell her she can hook her VCR up to it too and record anything she's already done off).

Her kids were so cool. They each got a DS from Santa. What did they get from their awesome uncle? A game for their DS. Of course, they ask me how I knew they were getting a DS. I told them the truth: I talk with Santa all the time and Santa told me what they were getting.

Her hubby was given a PS3. He thought it was wicked awesome. Of course, she then had to go return the Mamma Mia DVD to buy the BluRay version since it's SO much clearer!

I haven't talked to my grandmother since Christmas, but I have talked to Mother. She's all ecstatic about her 8x10 photo of me, her grandson, and a drag-king Santa.

What did I get, you ask? From my grandmother, I got a JC Penny gift card. Maybe I can buy some of these awesome fashion products! Of course, I'm not a big JC Penny fan, so I'll try to find something. From Sis and her family I got some of my old stuff I had when growing up. And she bought me two really awesome RENT books and a RENT poster. Now, we won't discuss how she hates me because I already have the RENT books and I went and bought the poster while I was up visiting her. But I really liked 'em! She's so thoughtful!

That afternoon, I spent it with a former coworker of mine and his wife (and a bunch of straight people). It was.... weird. I never realized how strange straight people are until you see them congregated like that. I wore my festive Santa hat and had a good time. Until he brought out the Star Wars Holiday Special. I'm trying to figure out which movie was more painful -- that or Freddy Got Fingered.

Of course, Boxing Day and the day after were an adventure. I spent $1000 between those two days. I bought a sewing machine 'cuz I want to learn to quilt with Princess Sparklepants. I need a name for said sewing machine. My home computers are named after rodents. My plant is a RENT character. I need an awesome name for my sewing machine. I also bought a Home Theater Receiver (which BrandsmartUSA refunded the difference between their price with tax and amazon.com's price... I *HEART* them) and a desk for my new sewing machine, and some sewing materials. And a blender / food processor combination that was incredibly cheap. I can't remember what else I bought off the top of my head though.

Sunday was the best, though. I got to see my sweetie again (traditionally called "date boy" on Twitter -- I'm working on a totally appropriate nickname for him... give it time..). I gave him two Russ bears 'cuz I wanted to make someone happy. I also gave him a key to the house so he can come visit me anytime. He gave me a Sirius-XM Satellite radio and mentioned something about reaching under my dashboard.

I'd say in all it's been a great holi-daze season. I think my sweetie is the best present I got (sorry Sis).

Friday, December 19, 2008

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas....

Ok, I'm not being threatened with twelve inches (and definitely not in a good way), and outside is blah, but when the sky goes dark and all you see are Christmas lights in the neighborhoods, everything evens out. Except for the fact I've had to turn on my air conditioner the past few days.

It's no surprise to my loyal fan base of four (did I mention I have a new reader? No? I have a new reader) that I loathe snow. There's a reason I moved to GA and most of it involves the lack of snow.

Now, Georgia gets a few unexpected twists from Mother Nature, but they're usually short-lived enough to keep me happy. But, I will be honest. Christmas time is the time of year I'd really like a little bit. Just enough to cover the browning grass and make everything a consistent white. (And we have to keep traffic away to keep it from turning a disgusting black sludge)

I have my tree up (Ok, I didn't put ornaments up AGAIN this year. I did buy the hooks, but I lost the motivation to hang the ornaments). I have a few decorations out, but I'm not *quite* in the Christmas spirit. I don't know why. My biggest guess is the shakeup in my life that's happened the past few months.

I've been busy getting settled into the new job. The getting settled process made a huge impact around Thanksgiving. And I never recovered from that. On the other hand, I do feel very blessed. I've been hanging out with this really awesome guy for the past few weeks. He makes me feel all warm and squishy inside (either that, or I need to wear a diaper). I enjoy hanging out with him, and I look forward to where our time together is leading.

There's less than two weeks remaining in 2008. It seems like it just started. A lot has happened, and it's been an amazing year. I have a few plans for 2009. But, based on 2008, I don't know how much I really want to plan them.

Maybe I need to pull out A Charlie Brown Christmas and listen to Linus tell us what Christmas is all about to really get me in the Christmas Spirit.

Monday, December 8, 2008

Christmas Music!

Ok, we've all heard them -- and if you claim you haven't, you're lying -- those pesky holiday songs that are played constantly from Thanksgiving until Christmas.

The problem is I only like them when it's NOT the holiday season for some reason. I think it's more because they're forced on ya. I decided this today when I was working and someone had their speakers turned up to the point where I can BARELY hear it and I was annoyed. Yet I had no problems turning on Pandora to a holiday station and I'm happy.

But, I digress. That's not the reason for this post. I'm confused about a few songs.

First, we'll talk about "Winter Wonderland." The song goes:
In the meadow we can build a snowman,
Then pretend that he is Parson Brown

He'll say: Are you married?
We'll say: No man,
But you can do the job
When you're in town
Now, if you read a little into that, apparently the singer wants Parson Brown to do things that a married person would normally do. Follow my logic here -- one has sexual relations with their marital partner, so we'll jump to the conclusion that the song is talking about extra-marital sex!

Then there's "The Most Wonderful Time of the Year." Follow these lyrics:
There'll be parties for hosting
Marshmallows for toasting
And caroling out in the snow
There'll be scary ghost stories
And tales of the glories of
Christmases long, long ago
Now, where are these "scary ghost stories"? That is VERY Halloweenish! Now, I understand "A Christmas Carol" has ghosts in it, but it's not particularly "scary" -- at least as long as you're not a Scrooge. But, it also is plural... so that infers MORE than just that one. *shrug*