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June 30, 2005
Camping it Up!!!
OK!! It's getting REALLY Close to our camping trip!!! I just got all excited because we typed up our grocery list/camping necessaties list. Jena and I decided that maybe we should do our shopping ahead of time (not together Tuesday morning) and instead we can go to the mall to buy skirts because we are both looking for cute skirts for cheap. ;-)
Jena Winterton i have marshmellow
Jena Winterton i have a half a box of graham crakers too
Beth Brownstein Awesome!
Jena Winterton but we might want more
Jena Winterton and i liked the box wine
Jena Winterton but the small one
Jena Winterton no way...big one...u r getting drunk
Beth Brownstein We probably don't need that much because I think Alex might bring stuff for them too
Beth Brownstein LOL
Jena Winterton oh, well then don't get anymore graham crakers
Beth Brownstein We might just want to have a special stash for us during the really bad craving time ;-)
Beth Brownstein OK
Jena Winterton lol, sounds good to me
Beth Brownstein :-) I just make sure to get lots of Hershey bars
Jena Winterton oh yeah
Jena Winterton extra
Jena Winterton lol
Beth Brownstein Extra
Beth Brownstein LOL :-)
Jena Winterton should i get my parents cooler too
Jena Winterton or do u think we will be good
Beth Brownstein Hmmm...maybe
Beth Brownstein Hmm
Beth Brownstein No
Jena Winterton ok, i will bring it
Beth Brownstein I have like 3 coolers I think
Jena Winterton big ones
Beth Brownstein Let me call my mom...
Jena Winterton lol, k
Beth Brownstein OK we're covered on the coolers my mom has three big ones
Jena Winterton SSSSSAAAWWWWWWEEEEEEEEEEETTTT
Jena Winterton I'M so pumped about going
Jena Winterton i'm so happy u r going
Beth Brownstein I'm TOTALLY PUMPED too!
Beth Brownstein I can't wait.
Beth Brownstein Well I kind of am nervouse
Jena Winterton nah......no need
Beth Brownstein but we'll be so drunk I won't care ;-)
Jena Winterton exactly
Jena Winterton wohoooooooooo
Posted by beth at 05:08 PM | Comments (0)
June 29, 2005
I feel better
I feel better...I just had a chat with Susan, another co-worker, and she is feeling the same sadness and feeling of great loss over the news of Keith leaving. It's good to know that we all have connections with him and that he was that good of a manager to have his employees remorsing his departure.
I also want to give a shout out to Susan because I trapped her into reading my blog by sending her pictures, and therefore getting her hooked on the DRAMAAA of www.bopsbeth.com! She says:
I NEVER read these types of things, (Side note from Beth: I mean who really does? Right?!?! Ohhh Yeah!! You all do!! Wahooo!!!) but I find Beth's blog so entertaining, that I have become addicted, and I think that Beth should do something further with her writing - Susan from LMNK
Thanks Susan! That means alot to me, and it makes me happy that I have you and all my other avid fans reading about my daily life ;-) So thank you to all of readers out there that I know tune in daily or weekly...(Special shout outs to Shelly, Elizabeth, and Steph in Texas, Erin and Kevin in New Hampshire, and of course Susan, Alex, and Seymen in Rochester...and Chrissy too, I think she secretly reads it even though she makes fun of me for it too ;-)
OK I'm off to get beautified by the vietnamese hairdresser!
Posted by beth at 04:18 PM | Comments (0)
Soooo Saddd
We found out today that my boss Keith is leaving the company. He's moving to Utica for a position as director of distance learning. I was so sad that I went into his office afterwards to tell him congrats...and ended up calling him a ditcher ;-)I"m so sad...Life will DEFINITELY not be the same with Keith gone...and it just makes it even worse since Carrie's gone too. Ohhh woe is me...But I am very happy for Keith. He seems excited for this opportunity, and it an excellent change for him. I know that his new co-workers are lucky to have him.
Posted by beth at 02:46 PM | Comments (0)
Rarin' and Ready to Go!
Hi! I'm feeling rambunctious today. I'm in a fightin' mood...so WATCH OUT...This morning has not started out very good. I think my mood definitely changes with the weather. It's all gray and gross outside. Even staring at my Lucy pictures isn't kicking me out of this mood. I'm ready to BRAWL!!!
I think I really need to go on vacation. I don't know if I can make it through the next 2.5 days of work. I might go CRAZY since we are so close to a WEEK OFF!!! I think maybe I'm kind of sad because Chrissy is leaving this morning until Sunday. She's going up to our cottage in Canada for the weekend. I'm gonna miss her. I don't know what I'm going to do when she moves back to Buffalo in a few weeks! I was going to go up to the cottage this weekend too, but Seymen didn't have time to go get a visa this week, and with the camping trip and Arizona trip, I thought a few days at home without working would be nice. We have now planned a pool party/bbq for monday afternoon. Since it's been so hot it should be fun. My mom just bought some more floaty devices, so it's MUCH more enjoyable just floating around in the pool. But it should be fun...good food, friends, playing with the puppy, sitting in the sun.
Seymen talked to Eric's mom in Tucson (Yea, I realized I've been spelling it wrong) the other day. We are going to try to get together with her and his dad since he won't be available while we're there. I'm excited for that, since we've heard so much about his parents but never offically met them! We've made our Spa selections...now I just have to call and make appointments. I'm definitly thinking we should get it all done early on...so that way when we are all sun burned, it won't hurt so much during the massages! That's some smart thinking ;-) We're also tossing around the idea of driving up to Scottsdale one night to go to a Brazilian steak house. Seymen and I were researching it last night, and found that the closest one is in Scottsdale, 30 mins from Phoenix. We're still trying to decide if it's worth it. I'm so excited to actually get there. If you've never been to La Paloma Resort, you should REALLY GO! It's awesome!! I can't wait to lay by the pool and have FRENCH FRIES brought to me!!! I LOVE IT! Ohhh I love french fries!! :-)) Yummmmmmmmmmyyyyy!!!
So tonight is part two of the Beth Makeover. I'm going to get my hair cut...by a professional. Chau and Maki are going to come with me to consult. Maki thinks I should get my hair colored and permed. I'm thinking maybe just cut. :-) (We go through this every summer...Maki wants me to color it and perm it, and I have a hard time just dealing with a cut!) But supposedly, this guy is really good, and he can just look at your face and stuff and make your hair look "Young and Active" (according to Chau). I'm very excited. I have to leave work early to go pick them up! (This IS a major event you know).
Let's see...I'm having some major trouble with my contacts. For the past two evenings, the right eye has fallen out. Luckly yesterday I had remembered my eye drops so it wasn't as painful...but Monday when it fell out, I was at Shiki and had no eye drops, and no saline solution. I'm not so sure how this contact thing is working out...but it's so worth it to be able to wear sunglasses again. I broke my pink Texas bling-bling sunglasses over the weekend, because I sat on them. I was so upset that I almost cried. (I really loved my pink sunglasses)...but I went to Old Navy and found two pairs of cute glasses. I bought both because I couldn't decide which ones looked better. I ended up giving one pair to Maki since they looked better on her, and she was mad that went to Old Navy without her ;-). So I'm happy with my new glasses...It's just that they are not pink...so they don't get me all excited inside everytime I wear them :-)
Posted by beth at 10:12 AM | Comments (0)
June 27, 2005
Uh oh -- Jap Jie
Alex is mad at me...
tongmankit: I'm going to kill you
BopsB: WHY?
tongmankit: did you get my message earlier today
BopsB: Yeah
tongmankit: about your leftover
tongmankit: from seoul garden
BopsB: Oh no, I didn't get that message
BopsB: Uhh ohhh...
BopsB: I forgot it:-(:-(:-(:-(:-(:-(:-(:-(:-(:-(:-(
BopsB: I"m sorry:-(:-(:-(:-(:-(:-(:-(:-(
tongmankit: You left it in my car and I found it on Saturday afternoon when my car warm 130 degree hot
BopsB: OHHHHH NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
tongmankit: it stinked so bad
BopsB: I'm sooooooo sorry:-(:-(:-(:-(:-(:-(:-(:-(
tongmankit: I will never drive to lunch again
BopsB: OHHHHHHHHHH I'm sorry:-(:-( I"ll NEVER take left overs back again
BopsB: it's just bad news for me
tongmankit: sigh
BopsB: Do you hate me?
tongmankit: I hate your left over and the smell of garlic
BopsB: OHhhhhh:-(:-(:-(I feel sooooooo bad
tongmankit: next timeI will put a pot of curry in your car and let it sit there for 48 hour in a hot day with windows all shut
tongmankit: hahahaha
BopsB: LOL...Ohhh OK...Whatever you want to do you are allowed.
I'm sorry Alex!!! SOooooo incredibly sorry!!! Please don't hate me!! And please don't take S'more's off the camping menu as retribution!
Posted by beth at 11:22 PM | Comments (0)
Recount of this morning...
I just called my sister to see if she was coming home tonight, and to see what she was doing...She told me that she is coming home, and then asked if I was mad at her this morning? I was like...Nooo? Why would you think I was mad at you? She said: "Well, I came upstairs to bed at 6AM because the dogs were barking, and I knew that I woke you up, because you got up and went to the bathroom. When you came back I asked you when you are getting up for work. Well you said: I don't know. And then I said: You don't know when your getting up for work? And you said: NO. I don't know. LATER...and then you promptly went back to sleep. So I thought you might have been mad at me." Hehehehe...Well as you can see, I'm still not so good in the mornings...although, you have to give me credit because I've gotten much MUCH better.
That is DEFINITLY one thing that improved while living in Texas. I remember my first few weeks...or maybe months...I'll have to check on that with Steph...but she said that she knew right away not to talk to me in the mornings...I would come in and I guess I bit her head off a few times when she tried to converse with me TOOO early. She quickly learned to give me a few hours to warm up to people and then she would brave a few pleasentries with me :-) But by the ENDDDD of my stint there, I was able to walk in in the morning and join in on the "Good morning!! How are ya?!" or the "GOOD MORNING SUNSHINE!" Now, I really confuse the people I work with here...Jena will write to me in the morning to say hi, and I will write: "GOOD MORNING SUNSHINE"...and she'll always in turn write..."well arn't you perky this morning?" I think it kind of freaks people out that early in the morning here, being so friendly. Actually, now that I think about it, I usually won't talk to anyone with my voice until at least 10AM...Except Mondays when I have the 9:30 EIGRP meetings. But usually, I still don't speak until about 10, right at the end of the meeting.
One day last week, I was having trouble talking because of my cold, and I was loosing my voice. I seriously thought that my voice had gotten MUCH better. I think it was Friday actually. I even wrote to Jena and told her that my cough was gone and my voice was back to normal. So at about 10AM we met and took a break together. I opened my mouth to start talking to her, and realized that my voice was in fact NOT better yet. It was just that the voice in my head, that talked to me on my drive to work sounded better! ;-)
OK I gotta go. My mom just came in to talk. BYe
Posted by beth at 10:39 PM | Comments (0)
June 26, 2005
I'm Officially a Teacher
I'm officially an English teacher! Saturday was our last training class for the month. We were given our assigned Learners at the end of the morning on Saturday. Everyone was so excited. Three of the girls, Teriann, Deresa, and Maureen received learners from China. Kathy has a girl from Vietnam, and Ann has a women from South Korea. My assigned learner is from....(surpriseee!!) TURKEY! We all called our learners from the LVA but I was the only one who got through. Esra wanted to meet today, so everyone was SOO excited, especially since it was so soon for me. Near the end of class, we were doing a lesson planning exercise in the library, and a women arrived at the center. Turns out it was Ann's student who knew that Ann had called! We were all eavesdropping, and when the student left, we all started Cheering for Ann! She said she was so nervous! Anyway, they have their date all set up for next week. We are waiting to hear about everyone else via our e-mail list once they set up the dates and have their first experiences.
So, this morning I went to meet with my learner. She's very friendly, and I think we got along very well. We talked for about an hour since I didn't have a lesson planned. She has two very huge upcoming events in the next two weeks, so we will have much to discuss in our first official lesson. I am excited to have another meeting but we can only meet on Sundays, due to her schedule, and I am going on vacation for the next two weekends. It's probably better off though, so I will have an opportunity to see Maureen, and hear about everyone else's experiences and their tips as well. Then I will have a better opportunity to really plan my lesson for our first lesson. I did break down once and use one Turkish word...(We are not supposed to speak with them in their native language, and I didn't tell the director that I have been taking Turkish lessons for three years, just so she wouldn't be tempted to NOT give me a turkish learner!)...but I broke down and said: "caydanlik" during our chat, and Esra was sooo excited! Her face lit up and she said! WOW!! You know the turkish word!!! Anyway, I in turn am completely impressed with her.
Anyway, it's been a very busy weekend. Saturday after training, I ran right home to find Seymen, Maki, and Johnny waiting for me. We were really late for my step-brother Brennie's graduation party. It was a very POSH event, at the Oak Hill Country Club. They supposedly had an Elvis Impersonator since Elvis is Brennie's FAVORITEEEE! Anyway, we are all very proud of him. During the special ceremony for just the BOCES students, Brennie asked the superintendent if he could speak in the microphone. Of course they let him, and he started singing Elvis. :-) During the regular ceremony, they had someone walk across the stage with him, and told him he wasn't allowed to talk on the microphone :-) But he had his opportunity at his party. :-) Other than that, I had too much wine, Seymen had too many gin and tonics. We had to hang out until the END so we could safely drive home.
Today, we just hung out at the pool. Chrissy and I made dinner (a hodge-podge of food that consisted of Weight Watchers Friendly, and NON-weight watchers). Afterwards, we helped Seymen finish waxing his car. Well, Chrissy and both did 1 door (not each, shared it) and then we ditched him, and I think he's still outside doing the hood ;-) But he loves it. He started at 4PM and it's now 8:30. Anyway, I gotta go. It's girls night. We're watching Raising Helen with my mom and Chrissy, since Bill left for Vermont today. We'll see if Seymen sticks around or takes off as soon as we pop it in the DVD player ;-)
Posted by beth at 08:20 PM | Comments (0)
June 23, 2005
"Camper Girl"
agt53rd: Hi
Seymen At Work: hi
agt53rd: Is it OK with you if I go camping with LMNK people July 5-th to the 7th?
Seymen At Work: yeah sure
Seymen At Work: camper girl
agt53rd: I'm gonna share a tent with Jena
OK, I don't know what possessed me to do this, but I just agreed to go camping with the LMNK gang during shutdown week. I have been teasing Jena that the only way I'll go is if we can zipper our two sleeping bags together and make a double sleeping bag -- because it's cool. Well, today I started thinking about it seriously, and decided, Hey it might be fun!? (Right? Can you see me camping?) OK, so Jena promised to be my buddy. We're going to share a tent together and drive together. Alex is the organizer of the camping trip (this is the 3rd annual LMNK shutdown week camping trip)...so I IMed him:
Beth Brownstein: Hi
Beth Brownstein: I have a question for you.
Alex Tong: hi
Beth Brownstein: hi
Alex Tong: I'm not gay!
LOL :-) Poor Alex! So paranoid when I write to him! ;-) Anyway, he said definitely I can come. We are going to talk about it tomorrow during our weekly Asian lunch date. Anyway, my number one most important question to Alex:
Beth Brownstein: will me cell phone work there?
OK, so now the plan is...Jena and I are going to make a list of things that we need to bring! I'm so excited now! It's like CAMP! But better because I'll already know everyone there! And they are already my friends! The best of both worlds. The only problem is...I don't know how to camp. EKKK!! What if I don't know how to pitch a tent!??!!? Ohh gosh. I'm nervouse now! OK. OK. I'm calm. I can breathe.
Anyway, the dates actually work out perfectly...I'll have the weekend right before the 4th, and the 4th Seymen will be off of work...and then on the 5th when he goes back to work, I'll leave to go camping. We come back on the 7th, in the morning or afternoon...and then Seymen and I leave for Tuscan, AZ Thursday afternoon! And as I'm thinking about it...It's going to be PERFECT actually, because I'll not have slept in a bed for three nights!!! So I'll be DYING for a massage, and get 100% usage out of that!! WAHOOOOO!! Good choice Beth!! :-)
Posted by beth at 03:56 PM | Comments (0)
Long Lost Friends
So last night I met with Maureen at Magnolia and we ate outside on the street. It was such a nice evening, the sun was shining and people we're out running around just happy to be outside in some warmer weather again. As we were finishing up our dinner, I noticed a girl walking down the street who was bouncing up and down...I realized that I she was trying to look at me! And when I took a second look...it was my old college roommate Lindsey! I haven't seen her since we graduated!!! Anyway, she looked AWESOME! And we were so excited to have run into one another! We exchanged phone numbers, and this morning she sent me a text message just to say it was good to see each other and that we have to get together for a drink.
Anyway, afterwards I went to Fuji to visit Seymen...and managed to drag him to Barnes and Noble. We spent 45 minutes there. Thank GODD for Dan Brown and the DiVinci Code books. He's obsessed with him as an author, and he was able to keep himself entertained for the 45 minutes trying to decide whether to buy Deception Point or another one (not Angels and Deamons --He already read that one)...Anyway, it was a pretty productive trip and I was able to pick out two books, one of which I am VERY excited to read because it is a new book by one of my favorite authors. Unfortunately, my feet were pretty sore for some reason. Must have been walking around too much in the high heels during the day, that I couldn't really focus on choosing books. So I will need to make another trip to the bookstore before we leave for Tuscan.
Oh yeah, and we found out that our friend Eric who we were hoping to see, is unavoidably detained...So we won't see him this year. There's always NEXT YEAR!! He won't be able to come over to the resort and sit with us, drink margaritas, and get sunburned ;-) That also means, no cooking dinner at his place, and Beth getting all excited running to the patio, RIGHT through his screen door, breaking it...hehehehe :-) But it's OK. He knows that we can down to see him, and we loved it so much there that it is still worth it to go for a few days and just relax, get massages at the Elizabeth Arden Spa, and bathe in the sun :-)
So yesterday I was feeling all fustrated because I was bored. We are more than caught up on the two projects I'm working on, and "teasingly" I wrote to Seymen to ask if he thought it would be a good idea to tell my boss if he doesn't give me my new project that I'm going to quit again. Seymen suggested that I should hold off on that ultimatum...And it's a GOOD thing that I took his advice ;-) Keith e-mailed me not 30 minutes later, to tell me that a 2nd project had come down the line which I would also be allocated to...and the kick of is next week. This morning I came in to another e-mail saying that the first project is ALSO supposed to kick off next week. Should be interesting...Especially since the entire company is OUT OF THE OFFICE for the entire week the week after that ;-) But eitherway, I'm PSYCHEDDDDDDDD that I'm FINALLY getting my new project. It'll probably start up full force after Shutdown week. But it's sooooooo close that I can actually TASTE IT! ;-)
Posted by beth at 09:25 AM | Comments (0)
June 22, 2005
Puppy Pictures!!
I finally posted pictures of Chesapeake! Look under the photo albums!
Posted by beth at 10:35 PM | Comments (0)
So MUCH news!!!
So last friday, Jena and I had an impromptu happy hour at Buffalo Wild Wings. Seymen and Nate met us there at around 7:30. We hung around until 8ish and then Seymen, Nate, and I went to Lola for dinner. Jena had to go home and meet another friend...So at Lola, I had an apple-tini and a champange and strawberry martini...Unfortuately, I broke the cardinal rule: "Beer before Liquor - Always Sicker"...Needless to say, it was a pretty bad night for me. Seymen has banned me from drinking ever again.
Saturday mom and Bill picked up the PUPPY!!! She's soooooooo cute! Mom and Bill went out to LeRoy and picked her up while I was in LVA training. Chrissy and Jake drove home from Buffalo to meet "Peake" too. We had a fun weekend spending time with her, playing, and watching her sleep. My camera's battery died so I haven't been able to download the pics yet...but soon :-) Seymen was helping mom and Bill put up a fenced in runner area for Peake, and managed to hammer his pinky. Poor guy. His finger was all smooshed and turned purple. On Monday he ended up going to the ER because his friends at work freaked him out, telling him his finger might fall off. So he and Maki went to the ER and they gave him a pinky splint. Turns out he fractured the bone a little at the tip of his finer. But they said it should heal in about a week. So he's been walking around with a metal finger now :-)
Meanwhile, I seem to have caught a chest cold over the weekend. Which totally stinks because I've been drugged up on cough medicine and turkish sudafed. It's been pretty difficult at work to have a fuzzy head and deadlines up the wahzooo! But I think we caught ourselves up yesterday so I'm feeling more relaxed today.
Anyway, tonight is my weekly dinner with Maureen from my LVA training class. We're going to Magnolia. We started a little e-mail discussion group with the rest of the women in our class. I sent out a contact information e-mail the other day, and now everyone is sending e-mails back and fourth. Hopefully we will keep up with that after our training has ended (this SATURDAY is our last class!!!). We also all talked last Saturday and decided that once we get our students, we want to have a Reunion, and meet together with our students and have a dinner, where we cook ethnic food, or go out to a restuarant. We can even make it into a lesson on food, but at least we get to see our fellow tutors, and the students get to meet other students. We are all so excited, but really nervouse about being a tutor. Last Saturday, I made Seymen pretend he was my student and I tried to teach him the word "Key", and "House Key" and "Car Key". But he didn't pretend very good. He just started screaming like I was trying to kill him when I showed him the key :-) He said he wanted to prepare me for a student that was scared of me! WHAT?!?!?$@
Oh yeah, the other good news...Chrissy is moving home this friday for a month. I'm excited that she'll be home with me, and I'll have a built in friend at home. We've decided that we're going to walk and bike ride and exercise together (because I can't do anything on my own)...and oh yeah, get this, we're sharing not only a room, but a bed! Yeayyy! That'll be really fun :-) Hopefully it'll work out...And it's only for three weeks. The last week Chrissy and I should be able to move into Seymen's apartment (hopefully!! Crossing our fingers!!) so we don't have to share a bed anymore...and we'll both be really close to work.
OK I just received an exciting e-mail...My eILT course that I'm instructing at work, for PowerPoint 2000 Level 1, is going to start July 11th! I am going to read the documentation about what I have to do :0) Yeayy! I'm going to be an Online Instructor! Wish me luck!
Posted by beth at 09:41 AM | Comments (1)
June 17, 2005
I'm FAMOUS!!!!
I found out this morning that I am famous!!!! At Guaranty Bank in Austin, Texas!!! Here is an excerpt from the notification I received from my friend/old cube mate Stephanie:
Funny you brought up the Nigerian scam. I took Essentials a few weeks ago and when Lisa came in for the security part we actually got to look at counterfeit checks and monetary instruments, and guess who's we saw...yep, yours. She even remembered your story :) See, you've made a name for yourself. I'm just glad it was stopped before it actually hurt you.
Yes, do you remember my Nigerian scam? Where I trusted a guy who's name changed from David to Bob or something. (I can't remember both of his names)...well anyway, I found out I was scammed, and thank god Western Union caught it before I lost $3000...I guess the worse part about all of that is that just before that occured, I helped write the SAR (Suspicious Activity Report) Training. Yes, I'm DENSE ;-) But it all worked out. Anyway, Steph went through one of the training sessions at the bank where they show examples of suspicious activity and scams...and NOW I'm FAMOUS!!! ;-) Every new hire FSR (Financial Sales Rep.) will know about my story!!! Wahooooo ;-)
**********Changing the subject*************
Here's pictures of our soon to be new puppy (Chesapeak - Or Peak for short) this weekend, and her Mommy- Honey.
(Sorry, I had to take the pictures down. They didn't looks so good)
Posted by beth at 09:12 AM | Comments (0)
June 16, 2005
Jena and the Amazing Asset
Jena Winterton um
Jena Winterton having some trouble with an asset
Beth Brownstein ok
Jena Winterton it's a CnS clickable graphic to sticky text
Beth Brownstein Yeah
Jena Winterton there is lead in audio
Jena Winterton and it keeps looping
Beth Brownstein OK
Beth Brownstein That's OK
Beth Brownstein That happens in the assets
Beth Brownstein It won't do that once it's on test site
Jena Winterton and then i clicked on the one image and i tried to stop the audio and then the text window kept changing
Jena Winterton the text window isn't suppose to have audio...does it?
Beth Brownstein Ohh
Beth Brownstein hmm...not if it's sticky text
Jena Winterton it won't let me close the window
Jena Winterton ahhhh
Beth Brownstein LOL! Ohh nooo
Jena Winterton it won't stop
Beth Brownstein LOL!!!
Jena Winterton driving me crazy
Jena Winterton ahhhhhhhhhhh
Jena Winterton OMG
Beth Brownstein Do ALT +CRTL +Delete
Jena Winterton can't take it
Beth Brownstein and stop IE
Beth Brownstein LOL :-)
Jena Winterton k, thx
Jena Winterton lol
Posted by beth at 04:12 PM | Comments (0)
Canker Sore
I have a canker sore forming in the bottom right corner of my mouth. It makes me sad, because I hate them so much. They hurt so much, and it hinders my eating. That's the bad news of the day I suppose.
I'm actually doing much better today with Lucy and Stephy being gone. I still can't look at her picture for too long with out tearing up, but I am doing much better. I don't think about them all day long. I have to watch myself though, because I have Lulu's picture on my computer desktop, and they are almost lifesize. So I am always tempted to kiss her picture, therefore kissing my computer monitor. I think my cube area mates wouldn't appreciate that. I think they already think I'm pretty strange. I haven't had that much time to actually chat with them. And actually, I have a lot of hatred for the guy on the other side of my wall. He talks so LOUD, about weird stuff...Like golfing, and his son's basketball team, and all this personal stuff that I really don't think is necessary for me to overhear. Unfortunately, he is so loud. Even through my head phones I can hear him yapping away. (And they always say that WOMEN talk too much!!) In addition, he is kind of disgusting. He burps all the time, and supposedly farts according to another co-cube mate. (I hope to never wittness that). Not that I should say anything, because anyone who's worked near me knows about my tendancy for hiccups, and occasionally a burp slips through before I can control myself...but whatever. I still hate him...and his damn phone. In my own way of retribution, I keep "forgetting" to turn my phone ringer to vibrate in the morning. So two days in a row, the Asian Jingle has been reverberating throughout the office :-)Too bad he wasn't at his desk for that. :-) All I can say is thank god for LaunchCast Radio - powered by Yahoo IM! (And just as I typed that, it crashed). OK the guy is cackeling now. HOW ANNOYYYYINGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG!!
So last night, my mom and I went to sign up for Knitting lessons together, but the store was closed (What the heck are summer hours?!?!?!)...so we were unsuccessful in that endevour...Because I decided to drive out to Irondequiot first, I missed the early window of opportunity for dinner before Maki's conference call with Japan. Instead, I had to hang out at hom until 8PM, and then headed back out to meet with her and Seymen for dinner. Her call didn't end until 8:45, and by that time Nate, Ed, and Johnny returned from golfing, so we spent another 45 minutes gathering people and deciding where to go eat. We didn't get to eat until 10pm, but it was worth it. We went to Olive Garden, and it was soooooooo YUMMMMMMMMMYY.
Tonight is my dinner with night with Maureen, my new friend from the Literacy Volunteer. We're going to meet at Shiki and eat there. Double YUMMMMMMMMMMMMYYYYY.
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OK, random change of subject. Janet just sent me a few informative e-mails that I think is knowledge that ya'll should read and add to your knowledgebase.
At the risk of sounding as if we have nothing better to talk about, today we undertake an investigation of the word drivel. The noun drivel is another word for "nonsense or inarticulate or foolish utterance"; used as a verb, drivel means to "talk stupidly or carelessly without due thought, knowledge, or consideration"; or "to be silly in manner or content of speech."
The verb drivel is as old as English itself; it dates back to before the 12th century, while the noun drivel came into being in the 14th century. But where does drivel come from? Believe it or not, it is thought to have ancient kin in the Old Norse word for malt dregs, the damp remains of malt after brewing.
Does this get you thinking driveling might have some association with negative effects of drinking? You might be right. The verb drivel has one now-obsolete transitive sense, "to let trickle like saliva from the mouth"; it also claims a now-archaic intransitive sense, "to trickle or dribble."
But while drivel still enjoys the literal sense "to let saliva drip or run in a thin stream from the mouth or mucus from the nostrils," most of us use it in its figurative sense. Which sense did Thomas Beecham intend in his blistering characterization of music critics? You decide. The 20th-century conductor dismissed critics as "hopeless drooling, driveling, doleful, depressing, dropsical drips."
So, is it better to spat food from one's mouth while speaking with a mouth full, or is it better to sit in a catonic state and drivel?!
do you know what "pedagogy" means? can you pronounce it correctly?
how 'bout "morose"? meaning? pronunciation?
pedagogy (pe da GO gy) the art, science, or process of educating or being educated
morose (mo rose) sullen, depressed.
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What else? Well...let's see...We have a new addition to our family! We are going to get a new puppy this week. My mom went to Dansville to check out a litter of yellow lab puppies. She of course fell in love with them today, and is planning on picking her up sometime this week. We're very excited for Cheasapeak (that's her name) to join us, and we hope that Bayley will love her too :-) Now Bayley gets to be a mom!! Well actually, more like a grandma...she's turning 91 this year!!!! She's soooooo old!!!!! But still sweet. And my mom keeps emphasizing that Bayley is TOP DOG. Now all we have to do is teach that to the puppy...and Bayley :-)
OK, well I better get back to assets. (Yes I'm going to poke my eyes out from being sick of reviewing assets...but don't worry. I'll be fine. I wouldn't REALLLLYYY do that! (Seymen would kill me because I just spent a "FORTUNE" <--According to him... on my contact lenses, and then I wouldn't be able to use them!!!
Posted by beth at 01:49 PM | Comments (0)
June 14, 2005
Emergancy Contact Situation!
Beth Brownstein HELP!!!
Beth Brownstein My contact fell out!
Beth Brownstein and I don't know what to do?!?!?!
Jena Winterton oh no
Jena Winterton lol
Jena Winterton did u find it
Jena Winterton bro
Beth Brownstein yeah, but I don't have any solution
Posted by beth at 05:13 PM | Comments (1)
Tough Start, but getting better
Today I had a really rough start...Stephy and Lucy had to leave this morning at 7:30. I gave Lulu lots of kisses and hugs. I was able to hold her one last time before she had to get in her car seat to go to the airport. When I was kissing her cheeks she kept turning her head to try to suck on my nose ;-) It was so sweet. Then I started to get teary (And I didn't want to cry in front of Stephy to make it harder) so I gave her a quick hug and basically ran to my car. My mom kept trying to ask me questions about tonight, and I could barely keep it together. When I was in the car by myself, I cried until I made it to the highway. :-((( I'm getting teary now just thinking about Lucy and Stephy leaving us.
But, things started looking up when I arrived at work. I was finally a little EARLY!!! Which worked out really well today because we had an emergancy evacuation of the building at 8-9. So that was fun :-) and exciting. When I finally got started working, I opened a topic that the SME's sent back after their review (Fine-Tuning OSPF Timers was the topic that I storyboarded)...This is the comment that my SME sent back to me:
Elizabeth!
Call me by the phone (I'm taking this out so no one can call him) is you have any problems with my ideas, especially here at the beginning. Thank you for your great work. Some parts were really difficult to represent!
Sasa.
So, the thing to know about these SMEs is that they work for a company called NIL. They are all based in Slovenia, and they are total HARD ASSES. They are extremely knowledgable and one of the things that we struggle with is intpretting their feedback, and not taking their comments personally. They DO NOT give compliments unless you do something REALLY well, and with the language barrier their feedback seems very HARSH. (But in reality they are all really very nice and friendly in person...I spent alot of time with them before when I was working on DDMN in Boxborough). Anyway, I am so happy. Jeff was pretty impressed with the compliment, and I think that Sasa gave less harsh feedback to me in this topic because I proved my intelligence to him!!! :-) Anyway, I have to hop to it and get the work done, but I just thought I'd share my sad and happy stories.
Posted by beth at 09:14 AM | Comments (0)
June 13, 2005
:-*(
Lulu and Stephy are leaving tomorrow :-(((( I'm so sad. I didn't mention it in my earlier post because I didn't even realize that tonight is my last night for MANY MONTHS without my little niece. I'm feeling like I will definitely cry tomorrow morning. Tonight, Stephy and Mom went out to a jewlery party, and Seymen and I were able to babysit Lucy for about an hour. It went well, except a little hiccup when the cookies we're a little extra crisp because Lulu woke up at the same time that the cookies were ready to come out. :-) But Seymen saved the cookies, and I was able to bounce Lucy almost back to sleep. She's sleeping for good now in the room next to me. She was extra tired today because she didn't have very many naps...and she was kind of gassy. But Seymen found the cure...if I bounced her, and he held her hand, she would let out these HUGEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE burps :-) She's so cuteeeeeeee!!! :-)
Posted by beth at 11:25 PM | Comments (0)
Maniac Monday
Well, it's back to the grind for the day...and maaaaan what a busy day. I have barely slowed down since I walked in the office today! But anyway, I'm feeling really HOTTT today...Literally ;-) It's REALLY warm again, and I decided it would be a good idea to wear black pants, black t-shirt, black heels, and black hair clip...WHY you ask??? Welll...this weekend Seymen finally picked up the package that his parents sent him. He received a bunch of new shirts, and some pillow cases. Included in this special box, was a birthday present for me from his parents. WHAT is it!??!!? His mom picked out this ABSOLUTELY beautiful red leather Lacoste mini backpack/purse. It is sooooo beautiful. Anyway, Seymen gave me an informative lecture on fashion. "You are SUPPOSED to change your purse according to your outfit...so the Coach bag should not be worn everyday, because it may not match with your outfit for the day...Get it?!?!" OK, I get it now ;-) I am just lazy to be switching purses according to my so-called fashionable outfits everyday ;-) But I am going to start practicing that, because I am so scared of getting the Coach purse and this one DIRTY!!! (Which in reality means, Beth is going back to the fake Gucci until a special occasion arrises --hehe :-)
OK, enough of me pretending I am fashionable and stuff...This weekend was CRAZY busy...but lots of fun as always. Dinner friday was nice. I was so happy to have Chrissy home too...and we made it back to mom's early. Unfortunately, I was so tired I had to leave by 9:45PM so I could go to bed. I stopped by to say hi to Seymen at work, and then headed to his place for the night. He came home around 3AM...I was up and at 'em by 9:15AM the next morning...and yes, that was bad because I was LATEEEE to my 2nd training class for ESL!!! I decided that I was going to stand at the mirror in the bathroom until my contacts got in my eye. I woke up at 8, and I still hadn't gotten it in by 9:05. I was pissed, but of course would I give up and just put my glasses on?? Nopeeee! So I was late...but it was OK, they hadn't started yet. I did my teaching piece...(I taught my friend Maureen with the Subsitution method) I think I did OK, my teacher didn't run screaming from the room in disgust (of my teaching skills), and of course Maureen was able to understand my lesson (since she is a native English speaker)...but I was very excited because I had visual aids...and that made my day.
Saturday night we had a family clam bake. Seymen and Jake were there, and Leslie made it home from Conn. to join us. It was good, but we kept finding bad clams, and I sware to god I got one. Chrissy and Jake kept saying that I was faking it because I was paranoid...but seriously, it tasted like POOOOOP in my mouth when I chewed it. After that I could only force myself to eat one more. Then I had to go upstairs because I thought I was going to throw-up. Anyway, I didn't get sick so that was good...and the gross clam smell left the house by the next afternoon.
Pretty much all we did at home was sit around watching Lucy, watching Stephy feed Lucy, watch Lucy swim, watch Lucy crying...that's about it. Chrissy and I did go shopping at the dollar store for my teaching visual aid kit, and some toys for her internship...but then I had to go to the bathroom, so we lost interest pretty quick.
Anyway, I gotta go help Jena. Byeeeeeeeeee
Posted by beth at 04:31 PM | Comments (0)
June 07, 2005
HAPPY HAPPY JOY JOYYY!!!
MY LUCY IS COMING TODAY!!!! I'm so excited! Everyone is in an uproar getting everything ready!!! We have moved beds around, cleaned EVERYTHING, received a donated cell phone (from Seymen) for Stephy! Borrowed pack and plays, and car seats!!! Bought diapers and wipies! I can't WAITTTTTTTT!!!! They get in at 6:30PM to Rochester!!! Sadly, I have planned too much stuff for this evening. I am getting contacts at 5:30-6:30. 7:00: I'm meeting my new friend Maureen at Spot Coffee to do our LVA (literacy volunteer association) homework, and then quick bite to eat with Seymen, hopefully getting me home to LUCYYYYYYYYY and STEPHYYYYYYY by 9:30pm. I'm soooooooooooooooo excited I might not be able to focus on work today :-)))))))
The other good news of the day is that I heard back from My Michael's mom (Wendy) and we've set a date to get together and catch up on all the hugs that I missed while in Texas (from Michael). I"m sooooooo excited for that. Since I've left, My Michael has started KINDERGARDEN! He is just finishing up his FIRST YEAR of KINDERGARDEN! To imagne, I met Michael (I was his teacher at Sunshine Daycare) when he was 1 year old!!! I bet he's soooooooooooooo big!!! I visited his step-dad at Buffalo Wild Wings and he showed me pictures and he's HUGEEEEEEE (compared to when I left). But Wendy said that she told Michael I moved back and he was very excited! (I was worried that he'd forget about me :-) --Not that he could because on my nights to babysit, I'd spoil him rotten ;-) Bring him over to my mom's house to play and then to McDonalds, and sing to him whenever he wanted)
OHHHHHHHHHHHHH I CAN'T WAIT FOR TONIGHTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT!!!! :-))))))
Posted by beth at 08:43 AM | Comments (0)
June 05, 2005
Supppper Boyfrienddddd
I realize that I must have become a LUSH since moving home :-) My friend Elizabeth called me Friday night on her drive home from work (to kill time in Austin traffic!)...I missed her first phone call because my phone was set to silent. When I listened to the message, she just said Hi!!! and that I was probably at Happy Hour, but she wanted to check in and see how things were going :-) Well, I laughed really hard, and called her back right away. I had just pulled into the parking lot next to Mex, to join Carrie, Adam, and Ari for HAPPY HOUR :-) Elizabeth knows me tooo well. :-) Anyway, she and I had a nice conversation until Carrie and Co. showed up. Afterwards, we sat outside (even though it started sprinkling) and I proceeded to drink 3 Apple-Tinis. The 1st was for Elizabeth, because I missed her and they are her "favorite" too. The 2nd was for me, and my cancelled birthday party @ Mex, and the 3rd was just plain stupidity and love of Apple-Tinis.
Around 8:30, Seymen showed up to pick me up. (And I DID need picking up...although I was very proud of myself, because I wasn't CRAZY drunk) We walked over to Matthew's Street (that's a bar, not a Street) and ate dinner with Nate and Johnny. Nate kept pushing me like those topple toys because it thought it was funny to see me wobble. When we left dinner, Thaun and Chau walked past, (later I realized that was planned) and walked to the East End Fest. I lasted 5 minutes, and then had to drag Seymen home because it was too crowded and Beth had too many Apple-Tinis. Well, the plan was for us to go home and I was supposed to sober up and at like 1AM we'd go back and pick up my car. (It was about 10 when we left) Around 1AM, Seymen woke me up (Yes, I guess I was snoring and drooling...EWWWWWWWWWW just kidding!!!!) and I was still too drunk to drive...Sooo he called a cab, and went downtown and drove my car home for me. I seriously SERIOUSLY felt soooooooo bad, and THANK HIMM PROFUSELYYYY, and even though he was kind of mad at me the next day, he still just kept say: "I'd rather of had to do that then have you drive drunk". What a nice guy.
So Saturday I woke up, with surprisingly no problems. I had to go to Tutor Training at 9AM! I got up and drove myself (in my car THANKS to Seymen) there. It was a great training class, the first of 5. I met some really neat women (all women) and learned more about Cultural diveristy, and how to work culture into our own lesson plans. It was very interesting. I also learned about the other women in the training and why they are doing this volunteer work. It's always interesting doing things and finding out why people are doing the same thing that you are. Anyway, a few of the women had dome some extensive travelling throughout Eurpoe and Asia, so they had some pretty amazing stories about cultural diversity, culture shock, etc. My homework is to write about my own cultural diversity experiences, but I'm kind of stumped. I know I've had them, but I just can't seem to come up with a good example to write about. I think I may have to dig back to my Spain trip...Anyway, we have a few assignments, and Maureen, one of the women in class, and I are going to meet Tuesday night to work on our project together.
Saturday afternoon, I dropped off lunch for Seymen and the guys at work, and went to dad's to hang out until he was ready to leave work. It was nice to spend some time with my dad. Georgia was out doing stuff on her own for part of the time, so Dad and I were able to have some good talks, and I got to "help" him by turning the hose on and off while he cleaned his grill. :-) <--That's classic right? Seymen called around 6:15, and gave me the OK to come to Fuji so we could leave for Buffalo. We drove up and had dinner at Fuji Grill with Chrissy and Jake. It was DELICIOUS!!! (But Shiki's ginger salad dressing is still #1--hands down--the best ever). I was so excited because they too served strawberry mochi-balls. I planned my whole dinner around saving room for dessert. Afterwards, we visited Walmart where we bought Balderdash for the evenings entertainment, and I was able to find the PERFECT birthday present for Seymen's mom. The deal for the night was, that Seymen could drink as much as he wanted and I wouldn't drink at all, and would be DD and drive us home. We stayed and played balderdash twice (since Jake thought that I was cheating ;-) hehehe, but I SERIOUSLY Wasn't...when someone says something about Wisconson, I AUTOMATICALLY think CHEESE!! And just because Seymen thought it too, and wrote EXACTLY the same thing as me...was PURELY COIENCIDENCE ;-) hehehee...Anyway, we drove home at about 1:00AM. I was SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO tired, but I refused to let Seymen know how tired I was. I was actually having trouble keeping my eyes open. My eyes were soooo dry, that even when I'd yawn, they wouldn't water. It was crazy. I had to pinch my neck from Palmyra all the way to the 390 exit. I think i have a bruise there now because I really had to stick my nails in my neck to keep awake. Anyway, we made it home SAFE and sound. I think I slept until 12 noon today.
It took us a while to get going, but we finally did. We went to Perkins for breakfast/lunch. Afterwards, we drove out to greece and test drove the new Mustangs! Seymen's been dying to drive one...and we set up our plan ahead of time, so he knew how to play it off well enough so it didn't look like we were just going for the test drive, and not really going to buy it. Anyway, he drove a red 5-speed coop. It was NICEEEEEEEEEEEEe. Definitely smoooooooooooth. I think for about a second he really did consider buying it ;-) But in the end afterwards, we talked and know that it's not worth it. After that fun, we drove to Fuji so he could go to work and I could get my car. I went home to mom's and worked on pictures, and walked Bayley. Seymen and Maki both came for dinner at mom's tonight too.
We were supposed to buy tickets for our July trip tonight, but we were distracted, so Seymen's going to call the hotel tonight and do that, and tomorrow I can buy tickets. We're sooooooooooooooo excited to go. We decided that we're going to rent a Caddilac Deville (Seymen's choice). He wants to drive a really COMFY BIG (OLD MAN's) car...and since he's the one who's driving, he gets to choose...but I do have to admit that they really are comfortable, and we are purposly flying into the Phoenix airport JUST so we have an hour drive to Tuscan to get GOOD use out of the rental car :-) We're staying here: The Westin - La Paloma. We are trying to make this an annual trip. We get to see Eric, and spend 4-5 days in the MOST COMFORTABLE room, with the Heavenly Bed and Heavenly Shower...Delicious food, swim up bars, waitresses that bring you french fries to you at the poolside (my favorite hehehe), and an AWESOME Spa.
Darn, I just looked at the clock and it's 11:25. Past my bedtime. I have to go to sleep...and check in with Seymen on his phone call to the hotel...if he made it...He received his Tushy cleaner in the mail today, and was VERY EXCITED to install it tonight...but that is another story for another night
Posted by beth at 10:51 PM | Comments (0)
June 03, 2005
Security
OK, well I thought I was being soooooooo smart yesterday. When I came home from work, I sat down and put more pictures of Lucy on my site. So my sister and I had a conversation about Lucy's pictures being on the internet, and how people try to steal them for BAD things...if you catch my drift. So, I thought to be safe, I'd disable the right click --> Save as picture functionality. I was so excited because it works!!! I showed it to Seymen last night to show off how savvy I am ;-) Well...two seconds later, he had broken it and showed me two ways in which he could access the pictures. **!^@%#$@$!!@...That's what I said to him... :-) So, I'm thinking about this...I have to remove the Lucy pics from my main site :-*( <--Me sad because they look sooo cute... and I am going to put passwords on my picture links. Soo...if you want to look at my pictures, or plan to in the future, let me know and I'll e-mail you the username and password for accessing them (This is all when I actually figure out how to do this...but don't worry. I will...and WITHOUT Seymen's help! ;-) I'll be sure to use him as my QA though ;-)).
Oh and more thing: Matt...You know I will always training you on storyboarding for Cisco ;-) all you have to do is come back to LMNK!
Posted by beth at 02:39 PM | Comments (0)
June 02, 2005
Happy June!
I can't believe it's already JUNE!!! May absolutely flew by. I've offically been home for a month now :-) I feel like summer too here finally. It's been 77 degrees for the past two days which makes me excited. I could actually walk around with my sweater off yesterday, and today I am wearing a tank top. When I go outside I can take off my jean jacket which makes me happy :-) The bad news is that I lost my saftey pin for my skirts that I bought when I first moved to Texas, so I can't wear them right now...until I find a new saftey pin, because they are too big, and they will fall down if I don't pin them. (That's good right?!? I haven't gain too much weight since moving home!)
Anyway, yesterday was a good busy day at work. I was training another ID, Jena on how to storyboard for the Cisco projects. She seemed to be picking it up, and I was able to let her loose yesterday around 3PM. I am currently having a problem with my lotus notes calander at work though. It doesn't notify me of my meetings, so I keep missing them or showing up late. :-( ITS is taking it's sweet time to stop by and fix it for me too :-(
Last night was Chau's birthday! Seymen called me around 5:30 to let me know. I worked until 6 and then went to Pittsford Plaza to buy her a present. They were having a Spring Sale on all pre-arranged packages at bath and body works, so I bought her a set. Unfortunately, the bag that I chose was 3 times the size of the gift. I think it looked kind of stupid because it was a big pink flowery bag, with a pretty small in comparison gift :-) We went to Shiki for the "surprise" dinner, and I had to ask Seymen if I looked like an *sshole with this big bag :-) Of course I received a smart comment like: "No different from usual" ;-P. But anyway, I think Chau was happy about the party :-) I met her friend Elvie, who is the CUTEST little Vietnamese girl! She and Thaun went to HS together and she now works as a dental hygentist on Westfall Road. She is so nice and very beautiful. I totally want to be friends with her :-) I need to learn her secret to incrediablly smooth blemish free skin. Chau, Elvie, and I talked about playing Tennis together or Badmitten.
When I arrived at home last night, I actually started a blog entry while my mom helped bill reinstall a light fixture in the kitchen, but they finished before I could finish my entry, and mom came in my room to wathc Law and Order together. That is definitely one thing that I love about living at home. On the "special shows nights" my mom always comes into my room and lays on the bed with me and we watch TV together. Just like in high school when we'd have family show night (ER mainly...oh yeah, and Party of Five). They only problem is that my TV is kind of low, so my mom's feet are always in the way of the bottom left corner of the TV :-) But it's always a nice way to end the night.
Tonight, grandma and grandpa are flying in from Florida. This is the beginning of the of Family Reunion week. It's always interesting holding a Ksiazek/Brownstein family reunion since my parents are divorced and remarried, and no one speaks to one another. Poor baby Lucy gets dragged into this already and she's only 2 months old. But the plan is pre-arranged and Stephy has organized the timing with my family, so they just tell me where to go and for how long and I can jsut show up. But tonight G&G are the first to arrive, for one night. They are leaving for Penn. tomorrow for a weekend trip to see old friends and family in Alaphant (spelling?)/ Elk Mountain area. Thus commences the beginning of Musical Bed's at the Evan's household :-) My mom is trying so hard to not displace me, with everyone staying at the house. I keep trying to give up my king size bed, so she and Bill don't have to sleep on couches in the basement. Last night we started a big debate, where I thought she might yell at me, because I keep insisting on sleeping on a couch when we have a full house :-) She even offered to sacrafic Bill to the basement while she comes and sleeps in my room! Poor Bill ;-) Anyway, my plan is to "move out" tonight after dinner into "Seymen's bed" in Bill's office. So if she and Bill CHOOSE to sleep in the basement, when there's an empty KING size bed, then that's their choice and I'm off the hook ;-)
Anyway, I'll let you know how the bed wars turn out. I just received a new "assignment" from Jeff. So it's back to work I go. Adiossssssss!
Posted by beth at 10:16 AM | Comments (1)