here's george jetson

modern technology is wonderful! there's something about working in bed, still in my pajamas, with the lights off, laptop on my lap and cell phone at my side that i love. with the exception of actually sitting up and moving my fingers, i'm practically still asleep. i'm being productive, yet i still get the strange sense that i've been able to sleep in. truth is, i did sleep in a little... hence the justification to work in bed. can't sacrifice the time it takes to get ready when there's work to be done!

and then there's IM (instant messenger for the layman). i have well over a hundred people on my IM list, consisting of old friends, new friends, current coworkers, past coworkers, friend's parents, my parents, siblings, in-laws, cousins, cousin in-laws... there's even people i don't really like and some i barely know. but once they're on my IM list, I just can't remove them. i have a bit of an obsession with hooking people up... not like "dating hook up" but just hooking people up with people that can help them with things they need or want. if you know me, you've probably heard me say things like "oh... i know this guy who could probably get you that for a good deal" or "oh... you should talk to this person, they can probably help you with that". and so, my IM list... it's like my personal little yellow pages. it's also an amazing way to stay in touch with old friends. my favorite is when someone pops online that i haven't talked to in months. "HOLY CRAP! Is that you?"

IM has also become my primary mode of communication lately because of work. i now work for an ad agency where everyone works remotely from home offices. this means that i can probably bet i'm one of at least a handful of my coworkers who are also working in their pajamas this morning. it sounds like it would be really lonely to work from home, but i am constantly communicating with people. yesterday, as a matter of fact, i spent 5 solid hours on the phone with my coworkers (thank goodness for speaker phone... another great modern technology). anyway, modern technology is great. someday though, life will be even better and i'll be able to wake up like george jetson... a machine will pick me out of bed, wake me up, clean me up, dress me, feed me breakfast and send me off to the world. i can't wait.

welcome to the wild wild west

so i just have to share this little insight into how weird i am. most people get credit cards from companies and could care less what they look like. as long as they can afford to buy a big screen tv or mid-sized vehicle with it when the going gets tough, they could care less what it looks like. but me... i'm weird. although, what's weirder is that a committee of people had to have sat around and decided that THIS design for a credit card was cool:

for those of you who are squinting to see the design... it's a team of horses and a carriage. i get the fact that wells fargo prides themselves on this team of horses idea... but i really don't want it on my credit card. something about the existence of "personalized credit cards" makes me fear the fact that some cashier somewhere is going to look at that card and think "wow... this chic must dig the wild wild west or something". anyway, so the fact that i fear that is weird... but what makes me weirder is that i called wells fargo and the conversation went something like this (after all the "press 1 for yadda yadda" crap):

agent: is there anything else i can help you with today?

me: well, actually ya. this may sound dumb, but i just got my new credit card in the mail yesterday and it's, well... really ugly.

agent: snicker. ugly?

me: ya... i used to have this cool one with mountains on it and it was black and white. can i get a new one with a different design on it? unless it costs money, then i won't worry about it.

(second one from the left... trust me... it's cool)

agent: it doesn't cost money. and i can definitely send you a new one.

me: good. 'cause this one is ugly. can i get the mountain one again?

agent: yes. confirming a bunch of my information.

me: thanks so much.

agent: enjoy your pretty new card when it comes.

i'm certain it will be coming in the mail any day now... and i'm actually anticipating it. like, everytime i have to pull out this ugly horse one, i cringe as i'm handing it over... "please don't judge me because of the stupid horses".

anyway, that's me... weirdly bothered by my credit card design. and really pleased with myself that i'm having them send me a new one.

gonna go postal

i hate my mailman... or woman... i'm actually pretty sure it's a woman. anyway, it's almost 6:00 PM and my mail still hasn't come! it's not always late or anything, it's just a lot of little things. but seriously, who hates their mailman? i think a mailman -- sorry, mailPERSON -- has to be really crappy for someone to despise this mystery person who puts their mail in the mailbox each day. but she seriously sucks. we have one of those small apartment mailboxes that is loaded from the top. and without fail, at least a couple of times a week our mail is literally stuffed into the box. i say that, and yet i'm certain that the mental image you have of my mail right now is nothing in comparison to the mess it actually is. sure, most of my mail is junkmail and bills, but wedding invitations, birthday cards, j.crew catalogs... they just don't get the respect they deserve from my mailperson. one time, i actually took a picture of my mail to send to the post office and complain about, it was so bad... but the problem is, you can't complain about your mailman. inevitably that stuff is not anonymous... it's like complaining about the kid making your Big Mac. you're just kidding yourself if you think nothing "out of the ordinary" is going to end up in your hamburger. your mailman just isn't someone you wanna mess with. anyway, all i want is my mail delivered at a normal time and neatly folded in my slender mailbox... is that really too much to ask? isn't that what my 39 cents is paying for? does FIRST CLASS mean nothing anymore!? :)

ok... i don't really hate her... i can't say that anymore since between the first and second paragraph i went out to the mailbox to get my mail and she was still there (sadly, i'm still guessing whether or not it's a woman, but for purposes of this blog posting i will presume it's a woman) and as she walked away i couldn't help myself and i said "thank you" and without looking at me she said "you're welcome" and walked back to her mail-minivan (random... i know this). anyway, so now we've officially spoken and although she was bizarrely awkward in her response, i just can't hate her anymore. it's too personal now or something.

what do i know about life, really?

"don't suffer a calamity before it happens"... my good friend's father said this. he was dying of cancer and didn't want people mourning while he was still on this earth. she told me that something like 12 years ago now, and i still think about it any time something really bad MIGHT happen. 'cause i'm one of those people who thinks about every possible thing that might go wrong... in fact, that's part of what i get paid to do at work. but in life, i've come to realize (after many lessons learned) that it's not the best way to go through life. i'm only 27... so what do i know about life really, but for now... this is what i think.

i think when the possibility exists that something really bad might happen, don't hang your hat on that. plan for the best case scenario (with the worst case scenario in mind, so you at least have a backup plan... you can have faith and still be prepared). call it faith, call it hope, call it stupidity, call it whatever you want... but i promise you that things will be much easier to deal with in life if you assume that the thing you want will happen. and when it doesn't, you deal with it and take the new door that opens. because a new door always opens if you're looking for it. and when the thing you want DOES happen, thank someone. be grateful. recognize the little miracles in your life when they happen. whether it's a miracle you wanted, or the miracle you got.

lederhosen

and first prize goes to... the idiots who squeezed themselves into their lederhosen! :) take a good look folks... I doubt you'll see burton in anything so tight ever again. so, after much debate and scouring the internet for the perfect costume, we went with the lederhosen; despite the fact that burton could not actually bend in the middle and had to spend the entire evening straight as a board... which made the drive to the party pretty interesting. halloween wasn't too bad afterall. but... was i right or was i right? my friend described the scene on halloween as being like a "lingerie store exploded on the city". while somewhat entertaining to watch scantily clad females running around the streets freezing their cute little tushies off, it is still a sad reflection of the moral state of society. i mean seriously, why look hot and sexy when you can look like overstuffed hansel & gretel dolls? :)

and what did i say... little toddlers dressed up like monkeys and chickens and stuff. aren't they the cutest things you've ever seen in your whole life? THIS is what halloween is about... dressing little children up like animals and cowboys and witches and goblins, and promising them candy if they don't throw a fit about it, and then dragging them all around town to other people's homes where you have to say "trick or treat" for them 'cause they really don't get the concept of WHY they're dressed up in the first place, and then you fill their bags with candy and have to live with the consequences for at least the next week. i can't wait! :)