I usually LOVE Christmas. Well actually, I love any holiday where I get paid NOT to work. But this year, I have no idea where my Christmas spirit went. And it's been getting worse and worse every year. I used to start wearing my Christmas earrings on December 1. I had a gift list that's 2 pages long. I went to Target/the mall every day to go Christmas shopping. I bought tons of wrapping paper and spend hours wrapping presents. I pulled out my "Alvin and the Chipmunks" Christmas CDs (yes, I have 2 different Alvin Christmas CDs) and played them full blast while decorating.

This year, my Christmas earrings are still in my jewelry box. My gift list has gone down to 6 people (which includes the gift exchange at work). I did all of my Christmas shopping online and I haven't wrapped a single present. As far as I know, my Christmas decorations are in a storage closet in Stephen's office. We're not even getting a tree this year.

It's not like I'm affected by the economy (Stephen and I are doing better than ever this year, yay for no state income tax!). I haven' t lost my love of shopping (I've been shopping like crazy all year). I'm getting paid not to work on Christmas Eve AND Christmas. I'm going to get to see my family more often than the occasional funeral. My dad and I are finally attempting to repair our relationship. This should be the greatest Christmas ever. But yeah...not so much.

Blah.

Stephen & I went to dinner at Kimchi Bistro (a small Korean restaurant in Capitol Hill) again tonight. Although the food there is very good, I miss so many things they don't have on the menu. I wish Federal Way wasn't so far away so that I could go more often and eat Korean food every day!!

I would make a huge list of all the Korean food I miss, but it really wouldn't make sense to 99% of you.


On a sidenote: I have the new All American Rejects song stuck in my head. It won't go away.

Sometimes when I'm super bored (like today), I go through my MySpace and Facebook friends pages and look around. It makes me sad. Once upon a time, several of these people were close friends. We used to get together all the time, we used to confide things to each other, we used to have fun with each other. Now, it's like I'm looking at someone else's life and someone else's friends. I know that I can't be best  friends with everyone forever, but I always thought I'd made a few friends for life.

Last Christmas, I felt terrible for being such a bad friend and sent text messages to several of my formerly close friends to wish them a happy holidays. I got at least 4 messages back from people that basically said "I don't know who this is, but thanks. You, too." Those were the only responses I got back. I've had the same phone number for the past 4 years. I guess no one really cared enough to save my phone number.

It's partly my own fault. I don't leave enough comments on MySpace. I don't write enough on  Facebook walls.  I don't call everyone on their birthdays, Christmas, Halloween, Valentine's Day, Arbor Day, etc.  I should write more letters and send more e-mails and keep an updated blog.

As we from city to city, from state to state, I find myself really needing a support system that I don't have anymore (or maybe I was delusional and never really had one in the first place). I haven't really had a place to call home in the past 4 years because as soon as I get comfortable, we move again. And now, I don't have anyone that I can call a friend either.

::sigh::

I WANT ONE!!!!



http://www.cbsstore.com/detail.php?p=62254&v=cbs-ipods-cat

I got the job I interviewed for! I start on Monday!!!!


I'm super excited, so Stephen and I are going to go celebrate with some Fleet Week activities, sushi (hopefully), and Pike Place Market-ing. Yay!!!

 I'm mailing in my application for the Library Technician II (basically the same job I had at BCPL, except part-time) tomorrow. I hope I get it!!!

Yesterday was beautiful...63 degrees, sunny, a few clouds in the sky. We drove into the city, saw the Space Needle (didn't go in. did you know they charge $16 for admission???), and watched a movie at Brian Douglass' theatre, the Pacific Place 11. His theatre is gorgeous! It's decorated like a cabin in the mountains, with dark, rich colors and wood paneling everywhere!  We even got a rare, clear view of a snow-covered Mt. Ranier.

But as beautiful as the weather was, I couldn't pull myself out of this mood I'm in. Most people would be inspired by the trees and the fresh air, but I get hit with waves of homesickness. It's so intimidating when I think about how I have to learn my way around a strange city all over again. Even though I was never really a big fan of Baltimore, I miss the familiarity of it all...the guy from the bagel place knowing my order, the layout of the Towson Barnes and Noble, knowing the quickest route from my house to work, seeing familiar faces every time I go to the movies. I know that I'll eventually get that here, but it seems like every time we move, it takes more and more time to get acclimated.

Everyone keeps telling me how much they love Seattle (even more than San Diego!) so it can't be all that bad. I just hope I can pull myself out of this funk soon.

Sorry I haven't updated. The hotel we stayed at in Sheridan, WY claimed to have wi-fi, but it wasn't working. =( It's crazy how dependent I am on the Drudge Report and Facebook.

Unfortunately, we didn't make it all the way to Butte on my birthday. We didn't even get close! It was pouring rain for most of the day on Thursday so we weren't quite flying across the highway. I ended up falling in and out of sleep for most of the drive. We did get to see Mount Rushmore, which was fantastic! It was raining and cold, but it was still amazing to look up at this gigantic stone monument! We were running a little behind, so we opted out of driving the extra 30 miles round trip to see the Crazy Horse Monument. Instead, we pushed through to Wyoming. Didn't really miss much there. I was very disappointed, however, that I didn't get to see any buffalo along the way. There were a lot of cows and horses though. And because spring just ended, there were plenty of calves and foals everywhere!

Friday was a very long drive! We were so far behind on the driving that we had to push through and keep driving, no matter how tired we (well actually, just Stephen) were. Montana was gorgeous! We drove through the Rockies and saw snow capped mountains all around us. And despite all of the signs warning us to watch out for deer and other wildlife, there was nary a creature to be found. =( The Idaho panhandle was breathtaking as well! We wound through mountains and trees and these huge gorgeous lakes!

When we finally crossed the border into Washington, I was absolutely speechless! There are trees, mountains, rivers, lakes, and ponds everywhere! The closer we got to Seattle, the more beautiful it got! We didn't end up getting into Seattle until 5am so we really got a great view of the beautiful landscape around us. The area where Stephen's theatre is has trees everywhere. In fact, getting anywhere south of Seattle involves driving through some mountains and through an unbelievable number of trees. I feel like all that toxic air from Baltimore has been sucked out of my body just by being here for a few hours!

Now all that's left to do is find an apartment, find a job, and buy some more coats! I heard Baltimore is suffering from a massive heat wave. Seattle seems to be suffering from the opposite. It's about 53 degrees here right now and all I'm armed with is a pair of flip flops and a light spring coat. I'm freezing! ::teeth chatters::

I'll post pictures later, when I'm at home and not at the Panera in Kent. It seems that I'm taking up precious booth space in the restaurant right now. The busboy has walked past my table at least 5 times in the past 10 minutes. That's my cue to hightail it out of here and go catch my movie.

This is the longest road trip ever.

This morning, we decided not be delusional and set our alarm for a time we knew we would actually wake up. By doing so, we actually left an hour earlier than usual. After having a good lunch at the Brown Bottle in downtown Iowa City, we walked around town for a little bit and discovered that this week is the 75th anniversary of the local ice cream parlor, Whitey's. We stopped in to offer our congratulations (okay, we went in to take advantage of the 75 cent ice cream cones) and strolled around the town marketplace. It is a really well-built town with lots of cute local businesses.

As we were driving back to the highway, we noticed huge pools of water everywhere. They must've just had a big storm because everything leading up the highway looked flooded. The water levels of the river rose so high that they were almost level with the streets. That must've been really scary. But we said our goodbyes to this cute little town (go Hawkeyes!) and headed back on the road.

This road trip is really wearing me down. I haven't even had to drive yet, but I'm so exhausted! I ended up sleeping on and off the entire drive today. I was awake long enough to see the Danish Windmill in Elk Horn, IA and buy some cute little souvenirs. Did you know that the residents of Elk Horn raised over $100,000 to bring this windmill from Denmark to Iowa? Crazy.

We decided to stop a little earlier than usual tonight so that we could get a good night's sleep and start out early tomorrow morning. We're in Sioux Falls, South Dakota now and our next stop will be Mount Rushmore! I'm super excited to see Mt. Rushmore, as this has always been on my list of places to visit. Yay!

Pictures on Facebook...Until tomorrow!  

Deja vu...our alarm was set for 8am, but we woke up at 10. By the time we showered, packed, checked out, ate breakfast, and made it back to Easton to say hello/goodbye to the Easton team, it was noon. And by breakfast, I do mean Graeter's Ice Cream. =)

We had a great conversation with James Halloy, saw some former crew leads who became OCs during the 2 years we've been gone, and saw Tim and Adam. We planned on eating lunch at Flying Pizza and seeing Sal, everyone's favorite pizza guy, and leaving by 1. Haha. We left Columbus at around 2:30, after a quick stop at the Korean bakery for road trip snacks. Mmm...red bean.

I managed to stay awake for a decent amount of time, but dozed off again somewhere in Illinois. I woke up again after a few hours to a crazy lightning storm that lasted over 2 hours. We ate dinner at Culver's, the second best burger place in the country (In 'N Out is #1, of course!), and was stared at by everyone in the restaurant. Bloomington, IL must not get very many Asians coming through there.

More lightning illuminated the road all the way to Iowa, where I found the greatest publication since Grit Magazine, Country Singles. This gem contains articles helpful to singles and personals from people all over Iowa, Missouri, Illinois, Minnesota, Wisconsin, and South Dakota. Best dollar I ever spent. See if you can make sense of this one:

"Maynard, Minnesota
The real Saddam Hussein is the 'king of the north' of Daniel chapter 11, verses 13-19. My text is always the beloved 1611 King James translation of the Holy Bible that was translated in the year 1611 by holy men of God. Hosni Mubarak is 'the king of the south' of those same verses. 'And in those time there shall many stand up against the king of the south:...' from Daniel 11:14. The key word is the word 'many'. Meaning that many nations shall stand up against Egypt. So Iraq will have ally nations on its side when Iraq attacks Egypt. I'm a SWM, 42, who wants to meeet a SWF. I had a good time at Norsefest talent contest in Madison, MN on Nov. 12th. I got the correct answer when I squared a 6-digit number in my head without a calculator. That was my talent act that i did on stage. For background music: 'Cest la faute a la vie' by Patricia Kaas. It was recorded in 2003 in France. Another song that I like so much is 'Une question de temps...' Have a happy 2008 new year. I think so highly of Patricia Kaas. I've ordered alot more of her CD's including: 'Tour de charm'.

I transcribed this exactly as it showed up in the paper. Collection Development, look out for your subscription to the Midwest's finest singles newspaper. At $8/12 issues, it's worth every penny. =)

After driving for 10 hours, we realized we were tired and decided to stop in Davenport, IA. However, we were denied a room because all of the motels/hotels in Davenport were booked for a golf tournament. Hmm...So we drove the extra 40-some miles to Iowa City, where we are staying at the lovely downtown Iowa City Sheraton. Also, I think I may be stealing free wi-fi from a local student. =/

Photos available on Facebook in "Road Trip, Day 2"

P.S.: The theme song of the trip seems to be "Low" by Flo Rida. We've heard this song in every state we've been in, most recently in the Sheraton lobby.

Last night, we ate our final dinner in Baltimore at our favorite Chinese place, Asian Kitchen in Owings Mills. My fortune cookie said that I would find happiness outdoors in a place with mountains and water. Good sign, right?

Unfortunately, everything seemed to go wrong today before the trip even started. We set the alarm for 6am, but woke up at 8. Stephen had more work to do, so by the time we ate lunch, packed up the car, and turned in Stephen's keys, it was 2pm. Hmph. Then Stephen remembered that he never pulled up directions to Columbus, but he figured he would just take the 70 West all the way there. But then he got distracted and missed the entrance to the 70. Then, we somehow ended up on the Pennsylvania Turnpike instead of cutting through Cumberland, like we usually do. With the way the trip was going, it looked like we would probably end up dead on the side of the road somewhere in West Virginia. I became especially worried when at the New Bedford, PA rest stop, the woman driving the gasoline tanker was smoking a cigarette while pumping the gas into the underground tank. We got the hell out of there before she had a chance to drop her cigarette and blow up the place.

Stephen must've driven like a maniac because we got there in record time (6.5 hours). It took me 8 hours to drive from Columbus to Baltimore during the move. We met up with John Gagnon at the Old Bag of Nails Pub in Worthington. It was nice to see him and hang out again. He filled us in on all of the Columbus gossip and told us about his new job. I still can't believe he gave up his cushy job in Ordinance to work in Narcotics again.

It started to get late, so we decided to head over to Easton before they closed. That has to be the world's greatest mall. Granted, it's not nearly as big as Tysons Corner, but it is so amazing. (www.eastontowncenter.com) It really made me realize how much I missed Columbus. Tomorrow morning, we're going to stop by Easton again to see Tim, Adam, and James and then we're heading out. Hopefully, we'll stay long enough to stop by Graeter's for the world's greatest ice cream. I read somewhere that Sarah Jessica Parker's favorite ice cream is their Black Raspberry Chip.

Pictures are up on Facebook, in "Road Trip, Day 1"...Until tomorrow!

http://stuffwhitepeoplelike.wordpress.com/ 


I can't decide what I like the most about it: that people think that this guy is being 1000% serious and are offended by what he has to say or  that it sounds like he wrote it about one of my co-workers.

My personal favorite: #11... =)

I've lived in several different apartments all across the country and I have to say that this place is the worst. The only good things about the place are the price ($969, one of the lowest for a 2 bdrm) and location (right across the street from Target and one of the only 24 hour grocery stores in Baltimore County).

The buildings are old and dirty. The floors are not soundproofed, so every time an upstairs neighbor takes one step, it creates this loud, obnoxious creaking sound. Management didn't address any of the repairs I listed on the move-in checklist until 2 months later, when I called repeatedly to address these concerns. I have had repeated incidents with mice and insects, even after two "preventative" visits from exterminators. On a quiet night, I can hear them scurrying inside the walls and inside the ceiling. Maintenance denied they had mice and claimed that "small birds" sometimes get into the building and get trapped between the walls. All mouse holes I requested to be filled were never filled. In fact, a mouse just ran out from behind a bookcase as I'm writing this.

 

At the height of the summer, a pipe that drains all air conditioning condensation for the entire building was clogged and leaked into our second bedroom. Who knows how long the water sat there before the exterminators noticed it during their visit. Maintenance's solution was to run fans for a week straight and then replace the wood on the floor. They left dirt and mud caked all over the walls after the repair.

 

All faucets in the apartment leak water. Bathroom tiles were dirty and moldy before move-in. Parking is atrocious depending on where you live in the complex. There are times when I have to park on the other side of the complex! Also, the towing company tried to tow my car even though I had a parking permit in my front windshield.

 

The leasing agents are inconsistent and are rarely helpful. Follow-thru on requests is somewhat lacking, as demonstrated by the mouse that I'm currently having a staring contest with.

 

There are only 2 washers and 2 dryers to be shared between 2 buildings (18 units). The electricity constantly flickers (the maintenance man tells me this perfectly normal), so I can always tell if my neighbors are home. Every time they turn on a light, my electricity flickers. Also, the circuits trip if they have to hold more than a lamp and a 1500 watt space heater.

By the way, what kind of apartment requires 3 MONTHS written notification before vacating the location???? Last time I checked, 30 days was standard. Hey rental office manager, just because your shitty realty company requires 3 months notification does not mean that it's standard.

The look on Eileen's face when she saw the cover of Craig Unger's new book.



And then she said "Let's see what shows he's going to peddle his crap on."










One of 3 conservatives in this stupid Democratic city. I love it.

Everywhere I turn, I freaking hear that song. It's on the radio, it's on TV (not only did they play Rihanna's version on The Hills the other night, they played a cover of it at the end of the episode!!!), and now Mandy Moore is covering it!

Anyway, according to LiveJournal, it's been 13 weeks since my last update. I've been enthusiastically reading everyone else's LJ updates, but I've been sorely neglecting my own. Maybe because I have to blog at work about books and technology.

For those of you who don't know, I am now a resident of Towson, MD. That is just outside Baltimore and about 1 hour from DC. East Coast living is even harder for me to deal with than Ohio for several reasons:

(1) 265 homicides in Baltimore City last year. Fortunately, Towson (which is part of Baltimore County...yeah, the city is not part of the county) had ZERO homicides last year, so I feel safe. However, it sucks to live so close to a major city that has nothing going for it but a drug and homicide problem.

(2) Insects. I have never seen so many freaking bugs in my entire life. And they're sneaky too! Somehow, they manage to find their way into our apartment. So far, I've seen 4 different types of spiders, a carpenter bee, and about 100 crickets that look suspiciously like spiders except with long antennae.

(3) Weather. The winter wasn't so bad. I can deal with cold and snow. In fact, I rather enjoy it. Especially since I only saw snow twice for the first 21 years of my life. However, the summers are unbearable. These past few weeks have been in the low 90s everyday (except for the 3 days where temperatures reached over 100 degrees) and humidity is at least 30% everyday. I have trouble breathing sometimes because the humidity is so thick.

(4) No Mexican food. I would kill for a La Posta California burrito. Mmm....carne asada, guac, fries, and their homemade hot sauce! Unfortunately, "Mexican" food here is either Chipotle or a strange hybrid between Mexican, Equadorian, and Salvadorian. Ugh. So I have to survive off of Chipotle burritos until those new San Diego theatres open up and Stephen takes one of them.

But Baltimore isn't ALL bad. One of Stephen's friends from San Diego & his wife moved to DC, so we see them a couple times a month. And Stephen's old boss in Columbus lives in Virginia, so we see him and his girlfriend a few times a month as well. Right now, Rudy (Stephen's friend) has his kids for the summer and they are AWESOME! It reminds me of how much I miss being their age (9 & 12). I've been bonding with them over Harry Potter and other books. It's great to know that kids still read nowadays. Also, I just found out that Elizabeth Komatsu and a few other people from high school live in the DC area...I'm still trying to work out my and Elizabeth's schedules so we can get together! It'll happen soon, I swear!

Last but certainly not least, I have a fantastic new job. I work for the Baltimore County Public Library! I work in the Collection Development department, which is in charge of selecting all materials that are circulated in the branches. I don't actually select the materials, but I do have some input as to what is ordered. I've given a few suggestions and it looks like some of the books I've chosen will be ordered for the branches! This job has really brought out my love of reading and it really is thrilling to see all the books that are being published and to track the trends of the publishing world.

And the best part of the job...FREE BOOKS! Advanced copies, to be exact. Several publishers and book vendors send out advance reading copies of books they want to promote. We get hundreds of books every few months and it's a great way to see what's coming out and to get a feel for what is going to be the 'it" book of the summer. For us, it was A Thousand Splendid Suns and The Yiddish Policeman's Union (which I got an advance copy of 2 months before it hit the bestseller lists). And because I am in charge of processing these reading copies, I get first dibs on everything. My book collection has almost doubled in the 3 months I've been working for BCPL.

My boss is awesome, too! She's always encouraging us to go for training sessions and conferences that will teach us so much about the industry but are fun at the same time. A few months back, we went to the American Library Association convention in DC, where we scored all kinds of free swag (including an awesome Harry Potter tote from Scholastic) and met soooo many authors. I can't believe I met Judy freaking Blume!

So basically, my job is to read books, go online and read about books, flip through magazines and read about books, take home free books, and talk to my coworkers about what we watched on TV last.night. AWESOME! I only hope that if and when we move back to San Diego, I will be able to get a similar position with the San Diego Public Library system.

WHEW! That ended up being a lot longer than I expected. But that's what happens when you love your job, I suppose. I miss all of you so much. Those of you who are reading this on Facebook, you can see my phone number and address in my profile if we're friends. If not, e-mail me and we can swap info. For those of you on LJ, my e-mail address is gracie6894@yahoo.com. E-mail me. MySpace readers, send me a message. I would love to catch up with all of you. This will be my new fiscal year resolution (our fiscal year started in July)! =)

Love you all!

The Harry-est Town in America...


Yay, Harry Potter!