"I'll be home for Christmas, you can plan on that"

It's hard to believe that Christmas is in a few weeks. This was probably the fastest three months of my life, but then again maybe I say that every year. I'm not sure if I'm more excited for Christmas and my birthday or for the week off of work that I'll spend in LaGrange. It's snowed enough up here to make it seem like Christmas is actually coming. Now that it's been a few days since the snow first came it's not quite as treacherous to drive in. This is Wisconsin, you would think "they" would know how to handle snow. Yet, year after year the streets of Milwaukee barely get plowed. I don't understand it in the slightest.

I put up my own Christmas tree and, although a little pathetic, it looks pretty good.

Every time I think of something really good to write about, my Internet never works when I get home. That has happened many times in the last week or so. I wish I remembered what all those ideas where now that I can finally update. Oh well, guess this is all you get for now.

This is what being the assistant is all about...

Favorite Christmas song of the moment: Christmas Canon

Today at work my boss was standing outside my cubicle for a little while, looking as if he was thinking real hard. I must have turned and gave him a "what are you doing?" kind of look because then he came in and asked me what was the most unique thing I've seen. I continued to just kind of look at him funny I think. We talked briefly about the Scion and Prius and how they are ugly cars. Then he moved on to ask some other people. He had explained how he's got this idea he's working on and he needs some ideas. He didn't elaborate what this "idea" is. So I spent the last hour of work just kind of staring at various things at my desk thinking of things that might be "really unique," but not having any real direction of what kind of things to be things to be thinking of. After awhile I thought of the Segways, and after spending 10 minutes trying to remember what they were called I walked over to his office to tell him my idea. After trying to describe what I was thinking of, he figured out what Segways were (which I must say because my description was horrible). His response: "That's a good idea. That's a really good ideal. Wow, thanks. Let me know if you come up with anything else." I must say, for such a stupid thing, I really did appreciate the compliment. About half an hour later he came by to ask someone else because he still needed one more idea. I still don't know what he's doing, but he needs to be able to show pictures of these "unique things."

He really thinks I should work on writing a book. In fact he suggested why not start now. I had told him eventually some day I wanted to. He said some day could be now. I've been putting much more thought into it lately and have come up with a few ideas. Then again, all of this could become a book if you think about it. I might need to elaborate on some stuff, but hey you never know.

Today's entry is brought to from my cubicle

Working the day before Thanksgiving is useless. I have no work to actually do and half the office is gone. I've successful done about an hour of work so far today and now I am out of work to do. It's super that I still have three and a half more hours of sitting here doing nothing.

This past weekend was the start of deer gun hunting in the fine state of Wisconsin. This is something that I will never understand. It is not limited to gun hunting, just hunting in general. Why anyone would want to go sit out in the woods, in the cold, for hours on end and not making any noise is so far beyond me. I have no moral qualms with hunting, especially deer hunting. There is after all a mass overpopulation of deer — might as well shoot them. My problem with hunting is that I simply can not begin to fathom how it is fun. I doubt I ever will understand it either, unless of course someone kidnaps me and forces me to hunt and I miraculously have the best time of my life. That of course is doubtful, very doubtful. Besides not understanding the “fun” involved in hunting, I don’t like it because I absolutely hate having to drive behind the car that has a deer strapped to the top of it or hanging out of the bed of a pickup. Kill all the deer you want, but don’t force me to have to look at it for 20 miles while I drive behind you. I saw at least 2 cars on Monday driving home from work that had deer attached to the back.

This past weekend was also the start of Christmas season in Milwaukee. When I got into my car on Thursday after work and turned on the radio my ears were greeted by the sounds of Christmas music. I enjoy Christmas music as much of the next guy, but pre-Thanksgiving just seems too early. However, that has not stopped me from listening to it since then. Mostly I think I’ve been listening to it because the station that plays it is the one that I find the least annoying in the morning. After all, beggars can’t be choosers. Thursday night was also when they lit the county Christmas tree in Milwaukee and had a big Christmas light spectacular kind of thing in Pere Marquette Park. Saturday was the Holiday parade. I guess this way it doesn’t take away from Thanksgiving on Thanksgiving weekend, but if you really think about it doesn’t starting all this Christmas hoopla before Thanksgiving take away from turkey day anyway?

Since I’ve been listening to Christmas music for almost a week I’ve heard that Christmas Shoes song a handful of times. The song is nice enough and I guess tells a good story, but in my book it is the worst Christmas song out there. It is the most depressing song I’ve ever heard in my life. Christmas should not about being depressed, though that’s what it is for so many people; it should be about happiness and celebration. The hippopotamus song is another horrible song out there. However, this song is bad simply because it is annoying. The singer’s voice is annoying, the lyrics are annoying and its ability to get stuck in your head for the entire day is super annoying. Just thinking about it has it stuck in my head now.

Merry Christmas! Oh wait, it’s only Thanksgiving … I forgot. Happy Thanksgiving!

Deadline driven

In my line of work you would expect deadlines to be a very present detail. I am the kind of person who needs deadlines to work efficiently. I need structure to what I do. I need to know how long I should be writing something and when I need to be done with it. Surprisingly, this is not how it seems to work at the magazine. I'm told my stories should be between 1,200 and 1,500 words, but if i need more or less space I should just say so. When I don't have enough information to keep a story going for 1,200 words that is a useful guideline. However, many times I could keep going with a story for pages and pages. I need more structure than that. I also only know when the whole magazine needs to be done by, but am never told when the deadline for my stories are. I've managed to create deadlines for myself, but that still makes it hard because I know that it's not really a true deadline. I need the stress of a looming deadline to work. I always have. In sense, it's why I got into this and stuck with this. I thrived off the stress and pressure of getting something done and to the printer.

Sidenote: I was watching Gilmore Girls this week and one of the characters wrote a book and had it published. I think one day that is something I'd like to attempt. We'll see.

Traveling girl

Wednesday morning I left for my very first business trip. Four of us drove to Grand Rapids, Mich., for the Industrial Woodworking Midwest Expo. To describe the trip in one word, it was interesting. I was really worried about the drive up there and wanting to kill one of the people that went with. However, the 5 hour drive went surprisingly quickly and for the most part he didn't get on my nerves. The show began on Thursday at 9. So from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. I was pretty much on my feet. I was warned that my feet were going to kill no matter what shoes I wore and I would have blisters in places I never had blisters before. I didn't believe the blister part as I've had blisters in every possible area on my feet. Running will do that to your feet. I opted not to argue though and just took the advice for what it was. I expected my feet to hurt by the end of the day, and I even figured my knees would probably be bothering me. What I didn't expect was the intense soreness I had in my hips by the end of the day. It was like nothing I've ever experienced before in my life. Luckily, I spent the 3 hours we were at the show on Friday sitting at our booth. My legs are still hurting today. Hopefully tomorrow I am fully recovered. Over all the show was a good experience. It was a little hard for me to get into the swing of thing because my job consisted of walking up to random people, introducing myself and handing out my business card. It was a lot of shmoozing, which is not my strong point in any way shape or form. It is simply not something I am comfortable with doing. I imagine it will get easier in time when I am going to these things more, but at the same time it just is not appealing to me.

Sidenote: The number of overweight children disgusts me. There is really no reason for little kids to be so fat. A few random chubby kids is normal, but the majority of kids I see are fat and that's not normal.

Don't stop believing

It's been two days now since the greatest day of my life (going to the World Series, duh), and I still don't know if I have the words to describe the excitement and thrill of being there. It was an insane day, but well worth the gas and sleep that I lost and the cold I have now. I'm still trying to recover from not getting any sleep Sunday night, but I'm still trying to calm down from the excitement too. It would have been even better to be sitting with the whole family, but Mike and I had a ball sitting together. There were high fives all over the place, jumping up and down. Sitting in the cold and rain strangers became friends Sunday night on the South Side. It was even more exciting than being at the Marquette game when they won the game that sent them to the Final Four. That was more nerve wracking, but the World Series was by far a bigger moment in my life. There are so many more things I have to say, but I just can't come up with the words to describe it. Unbelievable. Go Sox!

Living room

Dining room

Kitchen

Changing colors

Fall is an amazing time of year. I have never realized just how much I enjoy the season. Perhaps it is because now that I'm not in school I have time to "stop and smell the roses." Or maybe it is because the changes in the season are coinciding with the changes in my life. Either way, I'm really enjoying watching the trees change. The colors of the trees are beautiful all day, but they are the most beautiful in the morning when the sun is just coming up. This morning the sun was this amazingly warm pink color and the way it reflected off the reds and oranges of the trees was perfectly calming. Everyday, lately, on my way to work I've been thinking about how I'd love to take pictures of the scenes I drive past, but I'm not sure that I want to do all that driving on a Saturday morning that early. I know it won't be the same later in the day. It's still beautiful in the afternoon, but it is nothing like it is in the morning.

So many people have made comments in passing to me about the fall being different from now on because I wouldn't be starting school. I admit that the season has been far from anyone prior to it, but I am really quite enjoying it. I'm not crazy about waking about at 5:45 a.m., -- really who is -- but I am loving that on Saturday I can do whatever I want and not feel guilty that I wasn't doing work. This past weekend was the perfect fall weekend, and I was actually able to enjoy it. There was no homework, work, cross country or anything like that to keep me from spending the day I wanted. It was great! I could get used to this.

Baby don't you want to go, sweet home Chicago

Since it is Friday and I did a lot of writing at work this week, I don't have the creativity inside of me to write something fancy. So take this for what it's worth.

Things I miss about Chicago:
1. My family and the comfort of home
2. Being there for this amazing run the White Sox are on
3. My Nazareth/St. Francis friends
4. The Monkey Lounge
5. Living above ground
6. Driving into the city and seeing a skyline, not just the U.S. Bank Building (it's the tallest building in Milwaukee you know.)
7. Good pizza
8. People who know how to drive.
9. Chicago news, for various reasons but mostly because it's not centered around the Packers
10. The Chicago Tribune

Things I like about being in Milwaukee/Wisconsin
1. The smell of the breweries
2. Traffic is never too insane at "rush hour"
3. Driving downtown isn't a death wish
4. Spotted Cow beer...I think it's my new favorite
5. Living on my own
6. Marquette friends are easy to find
7. Cheese is one of my favorite foods
8. The area along the lake
9. The trees/water/fog/fields on my drive to work (come December I will hate this)
10. Fishfries...don't knock it til ya tried it.

Things I don't miss about Chicago:
1. Rush hour traffic
2. Obnoxious Cubs fans (though there are plenty up here)
3. Wisconsin drivers (they are even worse when they are out of their element)
4. Feeling like a tourist in my "own" city
5. Madcow on Q101 (I was struggling to come up with a 5th point)

Things I don't like about Milwaukee/Wisconsin:
1. The various smells in the Fort Atkinson area
2. Packer fans
3. You can't turn left anywhere along Wisconsin Ave. downtown
4. The highway system....and more specifically the Marquette Interchange construction
5. It's not Chicago

Thank you and good night!

Run run as fast as you can...

This weekend Mike and I ventured back to Illinois to go watch Megan and Steve run the Chicago Marathon. The whole marathon experience is really quite amazing. Steve qualified for Boston, which amazes me beyond belief. It doesn't amaze me that he was able to accomplish it, just amazes me that someone I know will be running the Boston Marathon this spring. Megan amazes me even more though. I have no idea how she does these things. We both ended up with the more or less similar knee problems. I know I could never do what she did today. People always say you can do whatever you put you mind to, but I truly believe that Meg can do whatever she puts her mind to .

Take me out to the ball game

As I sit here eating some left over pizza from Edwardo's (Chicago style of course), drinking a frosty brew (I live in Milwaukee after all) and listening to the Sox game on the radio (my heart is still in the city by the lake, Chicago not Milwaukee) all I can think is how great it would be to be in Chicago right now, and -- since that is not entirely possible -- how much I wish my cable was installed already. I guess this is what it was like in the old days, well you know except that I'm sitting on my couch typing on my laptop and using the Internet...and I used a microwave, another modern convenience, to cook my dinner. Otherwise, just like the old days.

I'm so glad my dad raised me right. What do I mean you ask? He raised me a Sox fan. He taught us early on the Cubs were losers, something that I will always remember about Dad forever. Those years we had season tickets were the best. Going to the games are some of my most vivid memories of my "childhood." I can remember the guys who sat behind us who bet with quarters. One time the dropped the cup or something that they were collecting the quarters in and I picked a few up that had rolled down to our row to give back to them. They let me keep them, which is a pretty nice deal for a kid who is in fourth grade or so. We would get so much food at the games. It's amazing we weren't all obese kids. I guess if we were going everyday we would have been. I could still go to the exact spot our seats were. Even Mom even got into it back then. I can only hope that she will be digging out her Lance Johnson jersey for old time sakes.

I wonder if we were all living at home right now if this run the Sox are going on would be as exciting as the Bulls run during the glory years. We sure ate a lot of pizza in those days. Again amazing that we are not the fattest family ever. It's really a shame I'm not at home because should it go as I'd like and the Sox win the World Series, I can't really go looting like we did for the Bulls. I don't think my neighbors, who I have yet to even see, would appreciate it like the Borkowskis did.

Oh well. You've got to roll with the changes I guess.

Just a little something to think about...

"The grass is not, in fact, always greener on the other side of the fence. Fences have nothing to do with it. The grass is greenest where it is watered. When crossing over fences, carry water with you and tend the grass wherever you may be. " ~ Robert Fulghum

Gas stations and library cards

Something that really bugs me is when you are driving on the highway and it says that exit such and such is a gas exit. So you're driving along driving along and your gas light goes on, you see the gas exit and you think "excellent! Now I won't get stranded in the middle of no where!" Oh, but how wrong you are. After getting off the exit you discover that the gas station is no where to be found. Apparently the highway people meant exit here and drive 5 miles to get to the BP. In 5 miles I would have been in the next town and could have exited where I knew where the gas station actually was, which conviently is right off of highway. Annoying.

Since some days at work I spend a lot of time reading the paper, my paper reading habits have expanded to include the business section and the book section among other things. This new discovery has resulted in wanting to buy a bunch of books. As we all know, books cost too much. When you factor that into not having much of a disposable income it gets tricky. Until of course that is you remember that place you used to go to when you were little that brought so much joy. Ironically, this same place brought a feeling of dread and stress when you were in college. The library. Over the weekend I figured out where in fact the library in this fine town was and made a plan to go after work. On my drive home from work, after the gas fiasco, I realized I wasn't entirely sure what I needed to get a library card. The last time I got a library card was when I was five. When I got home I rummaged around for something that had my new address on it, as I remembered that being something I needed back in the day in LaGrange. My credit card bill didn't have my address on it anymore because I sent it in already. Luckily, the folks at Merill Lynch keep sending me stuff about planning my 401(k). So, I grabbed my mail, my keys and I was off for a new adventure. While browsing through the books after I had my card I realized I hadn't taken a book out from the library to read for fun since whenever I stopped doing the summer reading thing at the LaGrange library. That's a shame.

I better get reading though because I only get these books for a week!

Turkey trot

Every morning I rise around 6 a.m. I shower, get dressed, make some coffee and I'm on my way by 7 a.m. I hop onto 94 and watch the city fade away in my rear view mirror. After about 20 minutes or so of driving, the city is a distant memory and I am surround be forest, farms and the occasional body of water. The fog is amazing that comes off the lake and some of the corn fields. I've never really seen anything like it. Around 7:45 I am almost to work and am usually getting off Rout 26 and getting onto Business 26. Today the drive was going as usual, except that the morning routine was a little rushed due to a malfunctioning alarm clock which resulted in me leaving about 5 minutes late. As I pulled onto the off ramp I began to slow down, but immediately had to slam on the breaks and avoid a wild turkey that had found its way to the road. As I starred in disbelief, a thought struck me. I had never seen a turkey -- a real life turkey -- in person. I've seen pictures of turkeys and I've seen turkeys on T.V. Never, though, have I seen a real life, living turkey. Apparently, I am more of a city girl than I ever knew.

When I arrived in the office I immediately shared my story about the turkey, still in disbelief. Apparently, the turkey hangs out over there everyday, and I have just not noticed it and it hasn't ventured to the road. Sadly, the turkey sighting was close to the most exciting thing that happened today.

It's just a football team people!!!

Tonight on the news the first three stories all were about the Packers. Three stories about the Packers before the story about a huge fire in an apartment building that left somewhere around 34 people homeless, before the story about a car that crashed into the Jimmy John's on Marquette's campus that sent 4 people plus the driver to the hospital, and before the story about the train in Chicago that derailed, leaving two people dead. People are dying and going to the hospital left and right and the Packers lead the evening news. This is so ridiculous it makes me sick. Plus, on top of those three stories there is always the "Packers extra" at the end of the news. This obsession bothered me all through college, but when there are so many big stories to include in the news maybe those should lead. And no Wisconsin, the Packers starting the season 0-2 and losing to one of the worst teams in the NFL does not constitute being a "big story," or least not a big story for the news portion. It's a big sports story, but then it should be in the sports segment!!! Argh!!! I guess I should prepare for hearing about it on the drive to work in the morning too since that was most of what I heard last Monday. Ooooh, the Bears were just on. The only thing better than a Bears win is living in Wisconsin when the Bears win and are doing better than the Packers. It gives you a sweet sense of pride.


I may be in Wisconsin, but my heart is and always will be in Chicago.

Rain rain go away

I think the rain makes the spiders come out. Luckily, I am pretty handy with a fly swatter and can of bug killer.

A huge storm blew through Wisconsin today around 5:30. A man in Wauwatosa died because he touched an electric line that was down, I think. There were trees and branches down all over the place. I think I might have actually driven past the area where the man died on my way home from anna's tonight. How scary.

I don't really mind the rain so much...but if the spiders could stay outside that would be great!

A trisctet a tasket....

I have a problem. I am addicted to Triscuits. I've only been living here for a little over a week, and I have consumed a box and a half of tricuits. On the upside, I do eat real food too and I don't just sit and eat triscuits all day long. It's just that I have some every day. Plus, I could be eating like cheetos, but I choose a slightly healthier snack.

I made a very delicious dinner last night. I marinated some chicken in ranch dressing and cooked it up and then had mashed potatoes and pees too. It was a dinner of all my favorite things! It was the first "real" dinner I made for myself, and because I am my mother's daughter, I ate by candlelight. Oh course, I had some triscuits and cheese as snack later... just adding to my favorite things!

I'm still trying to get used to living alone. It is getting a little easier, but it's still hard and kind of weird for me. In ways it is nice because I can watch whatever I want on the few TV channel I get and things like that. The hard part is having no one to talk to and not saying anything out loud for hours on end. Although it is hard to live alone, I am so glad that I am so close to Milwaukee. The drive to work is long every day, but I am so glad to have so many friends and Mike close.

Loving and missing you all.

One week has come and gone and I'm still alive to tell the story....

Well, I survived the first week albeit it was a short week. I was told at work that I was doing a really good job and my managing editor said she was really impressed on how quickly I was able just take things and go with it. I was amazed becaues I still feel totally clueless. That can be my little secret though I guess.

I bought a DVD/VCR last night after I realized I had no plans to go out and there was only so much TBS I could watch. I had originally planned to wait until my first paycheck, but desperate times call for desperate measures.

I'm getting a little bit more comfortable living alone, but I have become a person who talks A LOT when I finally get someone to talk to. But like my mom said today, maybe in the long run that is a good thing.

Working girl

Well the first two days on the job have come and gone and I am alive to tell the story! The drive is a little bit insane, but it is actually a rather relaxing drive, well until I hit Milwaukee rush hour traffic on the drive home. Back to the job though. Life at work sounds like it is going to be busy busy busy. Because the staff was so short until I came, things are rather behind and as a result a little unorganized. It should be interesting. Hopefully, at the start of the new year we can change all of that. The editor in chief is basically a figure head and more or less uselss, except that he's buddies with all the guys in the industry so he knows stuff. The managing editor is going on a trip for the magazine to Germany for 10 days at the end of the month, leaving me more or less alone to get things done!! That should be an interesting challange, but I think I will be up for it! I also will be traveling a bit with this job, with my first trip being in November. I'll be going to Grand Rapids, Mich. for a trade show. I only wish I was a better schmoozer, since that is basically what the trip will entail.

I'm slowly getting used to living alone, but it is a HUGE difference from living with five other girls. The hardest part is just that it is so quiet. I keep my TV on most of the time, even if I'm not watching it just so there is some other noise.

Well that's all for now.

Getting settled

I got a lot of organizing done today and this place is actually starting to look like a place that someone lives. There is some random stuff that still needs to get unpacked, but nothing that I need to function really. The kitchen is finally all set up with dishes and food put away. The living room no longer has piles of stuff in it and the piles of stuff in the extra room aren't so bad any more. It's not so much a pile any more as much as boxes of the random stuff. My bedroom is pretty much all set and my closet is all organized.

I picked out my first day of work outfit already and printed up the directions to work. I also read some of the articles from the Websites Jackie sent me to help me prepare for the first day! I'm very curious to how the first day is going to go. Will I be thrown right into working, or will it be a day full of filling out papers and learning how to use the phone and such?

Once my apartment is totally ready I'll post some new pictures so you can see what it looks like with furniture!

My bedroom 

The other side of the extra room 

The extra room 

The bathroom in my bedroom 

The main bathroom 

And this is the kitchen... 

My dinning room from the living room 

My living room from the kitchen 

All moved in....

Well, yesterday I made the big move back to Wisconsin. As all moves are it was kind of a stressful weekend, but I think we all survived. The apartment was kind of gross, so we had a lot of cleaning to do. We got some done yesterday after a trip to K-Mart and dinner at Edwardos. I did a whole lot of cleaning and unpacking today after my parents left. I still have a ways to go in the unpacking, but I made a really good dent and I will hopefully get the rest done tomorrow before it's too late.

I'm getting very nervous to start work on Tuesday. It's weird to think how come Tuesday I am going to be part of the real world. Scary.

Well, I should look at those Websites that Jackie from Wood Digest sent me to get me ready for Tuesday!!

Preparing for the move up north....

The idea to create this record of my life in Wisconsin came about because I could not leave a message on Beth and Bill's new blog about life in Boston without being a registered user, so here I am. After having to sign up, I though why not create something about my life out on my own in Wisconsin.

I haven't moved yet, but the gathering and packing has already begun. It's pretty crazy. I think its' going to be a pretty busy week coming up. I can't believe how fast this week went! It's weird to think that I will be a resident of Wisconsin in about 10 days, but it is kind of exciting to be moving out on my own.