The Funky Bee

My own personal blah, blah, blah...

Tuesday, January 29, 2008

So, today is Tuesday and it's my Friday!!! YAYYYY.

The hubby and I are going to Florida tomorrow morning. We can't wait. My parents are down there vacationing and randomly asked if we wanted to come down. Some how both the hubby and I got off work for a few days and we're going to enjoy some margaritas and some beach time...I hope! Anything will be warmer than here right now but we can't wait!

I hope you all have a great week. We'll be thinking about you from Sunny Florida!

Thursday, January 24, 2008

Projects, projects, PROJECTS!

Okay, I am always working on some kind of project because, well, I don't comprehend down time. I think my brain works best on overload and when I'm under some kind of stress and time constraint. Yayy!

SO - currently I am involved in a few projects. Some of which may be quite enjoyable, others that will undoubtedly make me want to blow my few remaining brain cells out! Sounds fun, huh?

The first project I have "agreed" to undertake is one of magnanimous proportion. I have agreed to convert all of my deceased grandfather's old 8mm films into quicktime movies. I would explain what 8mm films are to the youngins but let's face it, no young people are reading my lame, old blog anyway...sorry ladies, no offense to you all that are still with me, you're just, well...adults, like me!

So, I am borrowing some equipment to work on this project that literally looks like The Unibomber made it. It actually came from a distributor in the UK somewhere and I swear this person is some kind of evil genius. I have already shelled out over $200 on this project for a sweet new external hard drive and software that the distributor/genius wrote. In as simple terms as I can muster I will explain what this weird set up does...

First, it is literally an old film projector BUT there is a switch on it that is also hooked up to a mouse, which you also connect to your computer (still with me?). Then you set up a video camera, essentially pointed at the projector - the camera is on but not recording - it's in monitor mode. You start up your software, start up the projector and the camera is pointing in the right direction then you flip the switch...and this is where it gets kind of amazing...the mouse that is connected to both the computer and the projector literally clicks itself on every frame that goes by and the software turns this into a seamless quicktime, or application of your choice, movie. It's fucking nuts!

Initially I think it's going to be fun watching all of the old films. Seeing my family in all of their 70's glory - tight perms, wings, short shorts, mullets, etc...but after a while I have a strong feeling that this is going to become extremely tedious and I'll want to hang myself with video tape! (so far, Christmas 1978 made me want to rip my eyeballs out...it's just the beginning!)

Below is a shot of the ridiculous looking set up I got going on and the box of films that makes me excited and want to vomit all at the same time...




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The next project is a table and chair set for my BIL and SIL's bun in the oven. I am hoping that neither of them is reading this because if they are they are going to ruin a huge surprise so they should stop reading now!!!



Moving on, we know that they're having a boy so that's helpful. They don't have a real "theme" going on in the room, which is good because I never make gifts that go along with everything people are doing for their kids - I kind of like my work to be a little unique you know? BUT, there is a lot of blue and like a cream/egg shell color going on in the baby's room so I decided not to paint the table blue. You can't tell in the pictures below but I am making it an alternating green - kind of like an apple green and I think the other, lighter color is called "cricket green". Whatever, it's cute and I liked it. SO - the parents are into music, they go to a lot of concerts, etc SO, I am doing a music theme on the table. Seeing at the kid won't be able to use this for some time, I thought it would be nice. I'll post pic's when I'm done and you all can let me know what you think.




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My third project...I have a feeling that everyone has either fallen over in boredom or thrown their computers across the room with this post :O)

So, as I was saying...my third project. The idea came when my SIL and BIL bought me a really cute belt for Christmas. Well, if you can see from picture on the right below, the belt they bought me looks rather similar to a belt I already have - it's got blue's in it and paisleys. Well, I emailed the small store to see if I could exchange it and those bitches never got back to me so I decided, HEY! I can make my own belts because I have nothing better to do with my time or the limited space in my house that feels as though the walls are closing in on me...oh, sorry, I got carried away.

ANYWAY, so I bought some ribbons that I liked and some closures and I have even cut my ribbons. All I have to do is put some stitches in it and Ta Da! Belts! So there belt company!!!


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Okay, I will shut up now. See...I don't post for months and then you can't shut me up. Can't win with me people. You just can't win!

Friday, January 18, 2008

WARNING...a lot of bitching going on below...

So, the differences with starting a new job and being comfortable in your old digs are starting to make themselves apparent to me....

First off, these people are just not my peeps like my old co-workers are. I mean, I don't even see anyone in this group that I would become "buddies" with. None of them are really "my type" if that makes any sense at all.

This is going to sound pathetic, but no one compliments me. And I know, this sounds like such a girl thing but in my old group, we knew each other and our style, as it were and if someone came in to the office in a cute outfit, which I feel I do often, then we would compliment each other. Hey, nice shoes. Hey, that's a cute top...blah blah blah. I get none of that here. I get the up and down look and the outfit check out but no indication as to whether I'm being admired or looked down on or perhaps it's jealousy...? Who knows. Actually, my male boss admired a sweater I wore last week. Typical. Only the man can be honest and unbiased...working with women is some times so trying.

I also don't know these people's personalities that well yet and that's difficult. I am a very sarcastic person and I am just not sure who I can joke around with yet and who will get offended.

Television is also a great way to get to know people. Well, I really don't know what these people watch. And god forbid I open my self up and talk about some of the trash I watch in case they are all like super geeks and get off on programs like Cross Fire or No Spin Zone, or some other shitty political rubbish...who knows.

There are also a few people that kind of rub me the wrong way and that is so hard to take! One chick, for some odd reason, NEVER answers my emails. It got to the point where I had to flat out ask her, "ummm...are you receiving my emails because it seems that I haven't been getting responses from you and I want to make sure they're not getting bounced back". It worked in embarrassing her a bit but still, nothing has changed. She is a little on the flighty side. Maybe she's just lazy? I don't know, but for fuck's sake I'm ready to bash her head in with a three hole punch!

Another co-worker is one of those busy body, know-it-all, has her hands in every freakin pot types of people. She loveeessss telling me how to do things, or better yet, how SHE would do things. She likes to get into every minute detail of every meeting. She loves to state the obvious to me and really, she just gets on my freakin nerves. She's one of those people that always has the fake smile on her face where you just fake smile back knowing that all I want to do is stick a pencil in her eye.

Basically, it's hard to start a new job and try to get into the mix right off the bat. And I know that, I'm not quite sure why I thought this one might be a little different...I don't care that much because, really, I don't want to be friends with these people. When I leave work at night I just want to go home and be with my hubby and my pooch. But, in reality it just makes me miss my old crew. They were the best! Oh well...back to work. I need to send some emails that won't be answered...
Well, around 1pm yesterday afternoon we got a message from the administration telling us to use our discretion and speak to our managers before leaving if we chose to do so. So, I went home around 1:30pm to take the dog out with the caveat that I might not return. Well, as I slid leaving my parking garage my decision was made! Not to mention the fact that it was taking turns between freezing rain and snowing my whole way home...Then the main road didn't seem that bad so I thought, okay, maybe I'll head back. As I drove down the hill to get to my street I couldn't stop and I prayed that no one was coming the other direction since they don't have a stop sign. Thank god no one was coming because I finally came to a stop in the middle of the intersection.

I got home. I parked my car. I changed my clothes to go play with pooch in the snow!

She had a BALL! My dog is mental and she is full of energy on a normal basis but when it comes to snow she is beside herself with joy! It's just fun to watch her. I took a short video of the nut case. Please excuse my horrendous baby, doggie, slobber voice at the end...She just brings it out of me...


Thursday, January 17, 2008

Snow Blow...

Well...for once the weather men in our area were semi correct in their predictions...it is currently snowing. The bad thing is I'm at work. I'm supposed to go home soon to take the pooch out and if the roads are bad I am not coming back. I'm not sure how that will go over but I don't do snow driving. I consider myself a pretty great driver but I know my limits and things that I just can't control. Those things are snow and ice. I just don't do it. Why put yourself in harms way unnecessarily? I'll admit to being a wimp when it comes to driving in bad weather.

So...I'm just waiting for the word. I'm hoping the higher up's tell us to take off but it just might not happen. The corporate world is very cut throat people. Snow is just a little detail. Me...I'm no corporate player and I don't give a rats ass about business. I'd freely speak up and say, I'd rather be home in my peejay's laying in front of the fire than "taking care of business". I just don't care that much. My bad...

So, here's some pic's I took about 15 minutes ago. It's snowing pretty hard, nice big, fat flakes, which you can't tell in the pictures. And, it's sticking pretty nicely. Don't you think they need to let us go home? I feel like a kid in school complaining! HA...

Happy Snow Day Everyone - even if you're lucky enough to be somewhere warm and sunny...



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Tuesday, January 15, 2008

So, the weekend was great, as expected. We headed to NYC bright and early on Saturday morning. Hit no traffic and made great time. I think we got there in about 3 hours. For some reason, everything seemed to just work out perfectly. There were no time issues, nothing fell through, it was great.

When we got into the city we decided to try our hand at an early check in to our hotel and they were able to accommodate us. We stayed at this cool little (for New York - if you consider 16 stories little...) boutique hotel called Hotel QT. It was so cute and really funky. Instead of mini bars in the rooms they have what is fashioned to look like a news stand in the lobby where you can buy whatever you want for your room individually. They had everything there from little airplane liquor bottles to magazines and snacks to full size bottles of beer, liquor and champagne. They were stocked!

From where you catch the elevators there is a glass window that shows off their INDOOR POOL with a SWIM UP BAR that is open until something ridiculous like 4am!! It looked so cool. In the pool area were stadium style lounging beds/seats, a steam room, a shower room, a gym and then, of course, the bar area.

Our room was also very cool. Very New York and very good use of the limited space. Our king bed was up on a platform. Things like the dvd player were mounted under the platform, there were seating areas in the forms of benches and the bathroom was also very cool and spaced out nicely. Our bed was so feathery and comfy too and that was nice!

SO - anyway, we check in and go park the car so that we don't have to deal with it until we leave the next afternoon. That was also a great thing - we got hooked up with a garage that was only $25 for overnight! That is almost unheard of in Manhattan.

After checking in and relaxing for a bit we headed to Olunney's Irish Pub for a few cocktails. TSO was treated to a $30 glass of Whiskey (Scotch? I don't know - it was Johnny Walker Blue and I don't like whiskey/scotch so I don't know the difference) for his birthday from our good friend Steve who rode up with us. After our drinks we headed two blocks up to the Golden Theater where we had tickets to Avenue Q. If you don't know this show, it's great. You should see it. The hubby has wanted to see it for 4 years now, since it came out, and we've just never been able to make it work, so he was SO excited about this event. It was so funny. We loved it.

After the show we went back to the hotel to watch some football and get ready. Then we headed out to our dinner reservations at Blue Smoke where we met up with some of our other friends that came up to celebrate with us. The blood orange margaritas were going down really smooth! The BBQ was SO GOOD and I am still thinking about the mac and cheese! So creamy and delicious. I think I'll have to make some this week!!!

After dinner we headed to my friends place and pre-partied before the actual party they had planned at a lounge on 51st street. They had the entire place rented out for themselves. It was great!

Around 1 or 2am I had a brilliant idea to head back to our hotel and get in the pool. I mean, what a great thing to do! So, about 6 of us head back to the hotel and when we get there, boy were we in for a surprise!!! There were probably about 40+ people in the pool. There was a DJ, lots and lots of people...it was NUTS!!! I was instantly over getting in the pool. Especially because I don't think I would have fit. YUCK! I don't ever want to be that close to that many people that are half naked and wet.

We went up to our room where we hung out for a while then decided to go down to the lounge/bar and check out the pool bar scene. It was utter madness. Being that I was a tad intoxicated at the time I couldn't decipher the scene completely but I am certain the whole atmosphere was a little shady. I think there were lots of gay men there (not that there's anything wrong with that). One indication...one of the girls with us decided to take me with her to check out the pool and during that time decided to ask the DJ if she could "Scratch his records" and his response was..."I like Dudes"!!! OMG I think I almost peed my pants I laughed so hard at that.

I also think there were lots of drugs being done down there. It was just a weird vibe. I felt like it was 1976 and all these people were tripping out at some kind of indoor pool commune. I think a lot of the people in the pool were European but I can't be sure. Maybe they were just gay...? All I know is that it was a definite scene and I decided that I would never go swimming in that pool...ever. BUT, the hotel really was cool and the people watching was enough to make me definitely go back there again. Not to mention the service was great, the rooms were cool, and clean and it was just a good experience.

On Sunday we slept in then walked around (god NYC after the holidays is GLORIOUS! not crowded at all), got some food and hit the road home. The ride home was pleasantly uneventful and the best part was going to pick up our pooch! She was so happy to see us. I wanted to eat her for dinner.

And that was our weekend in a nut shell. A good time was had by all. I'm including some random shots below. A shot of 45th street where we stayed, dangerously close to Times Square but not so bad since the holiday rush is over. Some shots of the pool area in our hotel during the day and before the mob took over. And the reason why NYC is so great. Did you know that you can toss your own salad for only $5.99?

Happy Tuesday Everyone!




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Friday, January 11, 2008

SO, I went home a little early from work yesterday. I chilled with the pup. I drank some left over egg drop soup. I drank a glass of Airborne and seriously, today it's like I was never sick! I had a little bit of a sinus headache this morning but seriously, my nose is not running, I can BREATHE! I can smell things, even my deep cough is almost completely gone. I think my one boss may think I'm lying about being sick, which sucks, but oh well. I don't really blame him. And yes, the self tanner on my face doesn't help my case either. I look down right sunny and chipper!

I have no idea how I made this miraculous recovery but I am not complaining. Now I can feel like ass all over again on Sunday after tearing it up in the Big Apple this weekend. Yayy!

I have been at work since 7:45 this morning for a meeting that ended up being cancelled at the last minute. I am quite bitter seeing as I could technically leave at 4pm but then everyone would be like, why are you leaving so early new girl? Uggh! So now I have to suck it up the rest of the afternoon.

Anyway, since I haven't posted pic's of the pooch lately I thought I would today. Enjoy your weekend everyone! I'll be back next week with updates about the trip...




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Thursday, January 10, 2008

Sniffle, Sniffle...

TSO's birthday was very fun and delicious! AND, even better than that, his parents picked up the bill for all 12 of the people in attendance! That was sweet action. And, leaves more cash for NYC!

I have literally had a cold/cough for the last 2 weeks. Well, yesterday it decided to turn into a full blown illness. I have the worst headache, ear ache, cough, sneezing fits, eyes watering, nose running, nasal drip...I sound like an old Nyquil commercial. It really sucks. And what sucks even worse is being the "new guy" at work. You can just call in sick when you've been here for 3 weeks. Although, I'm sure the people around me would prefer I keep my gnarly germs out of the office. Oh well. I had to put self tanner on my face this morning because I think if I didn't, I would look like a zombie! I may leave early if I can because I really don't want to be sick for our trip this weekend. That would suck meat balls!

I am currently obsessed with making "gifts" from my iPhoto. My awesome husband made me a calendar for my new desk for Christmas with lots of great photos of us and the pooch and our friends. I always wanted to do one for my parents and when I tried to do the costco one on-line it wouldn't let me upload pic's and I got frustrated and gave up. Well...after the holidays I got one of those apple emails about a sale on their photo gifts so I tried my hand at a calendar and now I am seriously addicted! I made my parents an AWESOME calendar, if I do say so myself.

And, I never had photo albums made by our wedding photographers because it was going to cost upwards of $800 and forgive me, I think my wedding was an awesome event, one of the best days of my life, but I can't imagine paying $800 for an album of my pictures from that day, on top of the fact that we had to pay the photographer a fee already! So, iPhoto has a "book" option (I think all the photo sites have this option). It's a real bound book that comes in a really nice dust cover, etc. Well, I am making a few of these from our wedding. This will still probably run me about, I don't know, maybe $200 when all is said and done - we have a lot of pic's, and I'm thinking of breaking it up into like 3 or 4 books. But hey, lets face it, it's better than $800, I even think the $800 option was on the cheap side! Man, I went into the wrong profession...

Anyway, I need to go blow my constantly running nose now for the 16th time in 5 minutes. Gotta love the raw nose look...mmmmm! Nothing sexier.

Hope everyone is having a good day.

Tuesday, January 08, 2008

Today is the hubby's birthday. Since I already gave him his "gifts" I can tell you what they were...I got him the soundtrack to the movie Juno, if you haven't seen it I highly recommend it. And, I got him a gift that was a little self satisfying to be honest...I got him a classic toy that he and I always wanted as kids but our parents would never buys us. What is it, you ask?



Why, it's the Snoopy Sno-Cone Machine, that's what!






GOD I envied every kid I knew that had one of these when I was a child. Lame, I know, but it's always what you don't have that you want most, right? Now, I cant wait to have the miniature margaritas that my husband is going to make me out of this thing. It should only take about an hour to get any real slushy ice out of it, and by then it'll be basically just water. HA HA! We'll use this thing once and then it'll be in the attic with all of our other junk. Oh well...it's still be fun!

Tonight we are going out to a really yummy crab house in our area and eating some crabs with friends and family to celebrate. Then, the rest of the birthday celebrations will be happening in NYC this weekend. Those details are still surprises so I can spill the beans.

The weather has been unseasonably warm here the last couple of days and tomorrow is expected to be in the high 60's close to 70! It's January in Washington, DC people. This is unheard of. I could get used to this whole global warming thing...Okay, so it does scare me a little bit, but I'll admit, taking the dog for a long walk/run at lunch in a tee shirt and light pants, aint so bad! Wow, this can't bode well for February/March. I smell blizzard!

Anyway, the hubby will be eating crabs and experiencing a little taste of Spring for his January 8th Birthday. I bet he's never experienced that in all of his 35 previous birthdays...

Well, hope you all have a great day.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BABE!

I love you
XOXO

Friday, January 04, 2008

Wow, who knew working was gonna take up so much of my damn time...

I guess I should be glad I have things to do. Except for now, when time seems to be standing still and I'm doing NOTHING! But at least it's Friday and I will be home sipping on some type of adult beverage soon I hope!

Our NYE was great. We did pretty much nothing. We went out to this quite yummy Italian restaurant by our house with my parents and sisters for an early dinner then hung at home with friends. A few came over here and there and it was very low key and exactly what I wanted to do. I didn't want to make any crazy plans or pay an outrageous amount of money to go to some crowded, loud, obnoxious club with a bunch of dufus heads that I don't care to be around anyway. I didn't feel like getting wasted and being all hung over the next day. I didn't want to get all dressed up. I wanted to be in my sweat pants with my pooch and my husband! The friends were just a bonus. Wow...I am getting old! I like it.

SO, works going well. Lots to do. I haven't had great internet connection at home these days. We had to switch our service from Verizon to Comcast, which I am so scared about because, let's face it, they both suck! So we'll see what happens with that.

The hubby's birthday is next week and I have all kinds of surprises in store for him. I'm so excited. Of course I can't divulge because he's probably reading this and that would totally suck and ruin the surprises so you'll have to hear about them all after the fact. I'm sure everyone is waiting on the edge of their seats...

Anyway, I will be spending Saturday, hopefully, watching my Washington Redskins whip up on the Seattle Seahawks. If not, I'll be in a very bad mood, but I'll get over it.

Have a great weekend everyone.