Tuesday, May 22, 2007

Overheard in Watercolor


Shaheen is always laughing
Originally uploaded by weezienyc.
Shaheen is always laughing......but at exactly what is she laughing? Probably at one of the many hilarious things said over the course of the weekend.

Unfortunately, here are the only ones I could remember and/or wrote down:

At the dinner table (where no pickles were present)
CF: Would you rather have a bad kisser or a bad pickle? (and she really meant pickle - like dill or whatever.)

At the pool
ZK: I totally want to destroy this guy's raft.
CF: And by "this guy" you mean that four year old?

About inside jokes
ML: Shares an inside joke
CF: Now that's an inside joke you can get
SS: Seriously, it's the worst when you tell an inside joke and no one gets it. Then you have to tell the whole back story and, still, no one thinks it is funny.
CF: Yeah, like you tell it all and there is nothing but a cricket riding by on a tumbleweed playing a harmonica.

Getting fired
CF: The first time I got fired was from volunteer work...showing cows at the state fair.

Sitting in the living room (my fave)
ZK: (eating ruffles chip) Man, these chips are so fresh.
ML: (trying a chip) They are fresh.
ZK: I mean these are the freshest chips.
ML: These chips are so fresh the have a born on date in the future.

Thursday, May 17, 2007

Last Day


job
Originally uploaded by weezienyc.

Today is my last day at Pokemon. I couldn't be more excited and ready for my summer of travel and leisure, as well as the new gig that kicks off this fall.

Since I'm a fan of lists, I made a list of the things I wouldn't miss (read: glad to get rid of) and the things I would about working here.

Check it.

Things I won't miss:
- The barber shop flyer man that steps in front of me every morning to give me a flyer I don't want
- The crowds in Times Square
- Having to take the stinky F train every morning
- Executive Managers meetings
- Stupid people and their stupid business decisions
- Sorregana
- HBX Report Builder Templates
- Pokedolls
- Angry Parents
- Fulfillment Centers
- Language Barriers
- Video Game Police
- Dealing with so much unnecessary bullshit

Things I will miss:
- Diane
- Lawrence
- My Team

Wednesday, May 16, 2007

Watercolor


line
Originally uploaded by shactheattack.

This past weekend I went to the beach in Florida with some friends. Court’s parents have this new house (totally rad – btw) in Watercolor…a private community next to Seaside (where the Truman show was filmed). It was a super weekend. I’d forgotten how relaxing it can be spending the weekend with people you love (that aren’t related to you…well - except cuz, of course) We sunned, played, drove around on our rental bikes (which I LOVED!) and ate and drank until our little hearts were content.

Here are the pics:


The last time I remember eating and drinking that much was two years ago in California with JSM. She was living in LA and I was headed to the Pokemon World Champion Trading Card Tournament. So I flew into LA and made her go to San Diego with me for the Nerd Prom 05. The tournament, as you can imagine, was totally boring. The only think mildly exciting was talking to William Hung (yes, he was in the tournament) and acting like we were fans. But when we weren’t interviewing dweebs for new product ideas, we were eating and/or drinking. We consumed so much that we began keeping a food diary, which I found yesterday while cleaning my office. Here is what it said:

Thursday
Lunch: Pistachios and beer (like two 12 packs)
Dinner: Pasta (JSM) and chicken (me) and pocketfuls of M&Ms

Friday
Breakfast: Cheese and meat omelettes, bagels and toast, coffee, hashbrowns, candy
Snacks: Caramel corn, fire cheetos
Lunch: McDonald’s nuggets, fries, and sodas
Dinner: Beer, margaritas, chips, salsa, guac, AND combo Mexican platters
Dessert: Ghiradelli’s cookie sundae and wine at the hotel bar

Saturday
Breakfast: Diet cokes and caramel corn
Lunch: Bloody Mary’s, Seafood Salads, Calamari
Snack: More Ghiradelli sundaes (I remember we got out of bed from a nap, went to get them to-go and brought them back to the room and continued watching Dirty Dancing and napping)
Dinner: Pre-dinner cocktails, three apps, bread, butter, a bottle of napa wine, steak, scallops, and fish. We had dessert and I think I remember it was crème brulee. We ate with a co-worker who said, "i've never seen two girls eat and drink this much" as he picked up the tab!
Post Dinner: another bottle of wine and 5,000 cocktails. That was before they closed the bar downstairs and we went up to clean out the mini-bar in my room and created our own party with these new friends we met.

Sunday
Lunch: Hooters wings and fries served by the World’s Dumbest Hooters Waitress (that is saying a lot)
Dinner: Pizza

I am grossed out. Totally.

Saturday, May 12, 2007

Me - on the way to vacay


Me - on the way to vacay
Originally uploaded by weezienyc.

First Beach Trip 2007

I'm on vacation with my friends. We’ve been so excited about this trip since we booked it months ago. I find it funny that people who live in New York do so because “they can’t imagine living anywhere else” yet they always seem to be dying to get out of the city. I am one of those people today. I just got back from the Bay Area last Sunday and I’d been dying to leave again ever since. But I think I am more excited to hang at the beach with my friends than anxious to leave New York.

Anyway, I almost didn’t make it on the trip. Our flight was at 6 AM. ML was going to meet me at my place so he and I could take the same car, which I scheduled to pick us up at 4:30. The plan was set! Yay! – except for the fact I woke up at 4:47…with 10 missed calls on my phone. I was like a crazy woman – running around my apartment, grabbing things and throwing them in the suitcase.

I was out the door and hailing a cab at 5:06 and, finally, after three cabs refused to take me to the airport, I was in Omar’s cab at 5:13 on the way to JFK. I travel a lot, so I know that it takes at least 30 minutes to get there from my apartment. I also know that the flight closes 10 minutes before departure and that I didn’t have any cash with me. So essentially, Omar and I were both screwed. I was certain I was going to miss my flight. So certain that I’d already made a plan as to how I was going to somehow make the Crown Room feel like a beach while I sipped “mile-high” mojitos all day waiting to be re-booked.

But, alas, Omar came through in the clutch and got me to the airport in 17 minutes. SEVENTEEN MINUTES!!! I have no idea how this even happened as I was too busy working on my “Crown Room” beach plan to pay attention. And when I explained my cash situaion, he even agreed to let me send him the money…gave me his address and everything. I gave him a credit card – yeah, I obviously have no fear of identity theft – and told him that he could trust me, but just so he knew I was serious, if he doesn’t get anything from me in a week, he can use it. (it has a low limit and I never use it and I know it was a stupid idea, but my brain wasn’t on yet…remember I hadn’t even been up for an hour.) I threw his address in my bag and ran into the airport – with 20 minutes to get through security and to the gate to board.

I’m a professional traveler. So I pack just like the TSA tells me to and can usually fly through security. But it was today that the TSA dude needed to check my bag. I couldn’t imagine the reason – it was the small one that I always travel with, containing my laptop, little travel pillow, about 47 magazines, 5 charges, my DS Lite, and, oh yeah, a plastic bag of grits. Yup! He thought the grits might be drugs.

It was a pretty funny conversation, once I told him what they were. It went something like this:

Mr. TSA: You travel with grits? Now that’s a first.
Me: Not usually, but I’m writing a cookbook on Grits and I’m going to the beach (in…er… like 2 minutes) and I wanted to make them tonight for dinner.
Mr. TSA: What kinda grits are those?
Me: Yellow stone-ground.
Mr. TSA: Them ain’t real grits. Real grits come in a blue box.
Me: Those are instant, these take an hour to cook (why am I even having this conversation?).
Mr. TSA: I should make you some real grits. You want some real grits?
Me: (no – I want to get on my plane) Sure.
Mr. TSA: (walks over to counter, writes something down and comes back to hand it to me) Alright, well you call me when you’re back and I’ll make you some grits.

I think Mr. TSA was hitting on me – maybe I’ll invite him and Omar over for a fantastic grits dinner.

Tuesday, May 01, 2007

DOMYSTUFF.COM

Homepage flash banner reads:

"Outsource your: Research, Moving, Chores, Reservations...Life"

This is brilliant. It is basically a site for busy (or lazy) people to have other people bid on tasks that they want done. I signed up just to check it out and some of the tasks I’ve seen so far are:

Healthy Cooking: “The task is cooking for two people. We have a large kitchen with all necessary implements except for a dishwasher. The diet is basically defined as "healthy." We can talk specific recipes with someone interested. The location is corner of Grand and Forsyth in Manhattan. Less than a block from B/D trains. You would be responsible for groceries and receipts. Obviously, we reimburse you.”
Find my adopted brother: “My Mother had a child 5 years before I was born w/ someone other than my father. All I know is that he was born in December of 1979, and his name was Randall William Card, but I don't know if he was put up for adoption, and what his name was changed to if he was adopted.”
Dog Retail Store List: “I am about to launch a fun dog community website for dog lovers. I am seeking someone that can gather a list of all the dog retail stores in the 50 states. I need the list to be sorted to each state and into two categories: upscale and regular.”
Find a place that sells ketchup chips: “If you can find out where I can buy Ketchup Chips within a 30 minute drive of 94043, I'll pay you $10. I'll pay you after I have eaten the delicious Canadian chips. I'm only interested in Lay's or Old Dutch ketchup chips, like these:
http://www.taquitos.net/snacks.php?snack_code=369
http://www.taquitos.net/snacks.php?snack_code=1454”


These are the tasks I would have people do for me:

Buy stamps: My rent is almost always late. Why? Because I HATE to buy stamps. And when I buy them, I lose them. Which means I have to buy them again, which I hate doing.
Organize my storage unit: My storage unit is a mess to say the least. I hate going to the storage unit (which is only two blocks away from my apartment) and I hate it even more now that it is such a disaster. After carefully packing my winter coats in proper hanging bags for storage, I ended up cramming them into the unit and quickly slamming the door because I didn’t have the patience/interest to move things around to make room for them on the hanging rack.
Repairs: I need someone to send my watch back to Marc Jacobs so he can personally fix the leather that ripped. And my suitcase has been sitting in the corner of my room for four months since Delta tore off three of the four wheels. So I need someone to take it to the Samsonite repair location. But before it can be dropped off, I also need someone to call the repair shop and ask them what type of documentation one needs before dropping an item off for repair.
Apartment Decor: I need someone to hang the antique mirror I’ve had for 10 years and never hung. But before they can do that, they need to help me decide where to hang it. I can’t make that decision without determining what piece of furniture I want to go on the same wall where I want it to hang. I also need someone to wait at home for my new bed to be delivered because none of the available times work for me.
Laundry: I don’t need anyone to do my laundry. But after I wash my clothes and put them in the dryer, I have a horrible habit of letting them sit there…in the basement of my building…sometimes for up to three days. Likewise, I have no problem dropping my clothes off at the dry cleaner, but am so bad about actually picking them up…I’m expecting to see one of the homeless people sporting my ski jacket around the hood.
Anti-stalking measurements: I really need someone to call t-mobile and have a few phone numbers blocked. And then plan a fake going away party so my ex thinks I’ve already moved to San Fran.