times are a changing

I have decided to give my blog a new angle and feel. New posts coming soon.

Observations... on Houston

This is the end of day 2 in Houston, here is what I've observed so far. Bullets for your reading pleasure.

• At dusk, there are about 1M crows flying around downtown just waiting to shit on your car. Thank god I drive a rental.
  
• Nice cars!! Maybe because I live in the Galleria area I see many of these, but damn I have never seen so many 7-series, Range Rover's and Porshe's in my life. (For the record, I know the 7 is a shitty car, but it sure is pretty).
  
• All chicken tastes better here.
  
• People shiver and wear parka's when it's 60 F out. I would lay out by the pool in this weather.
  
• The weather folks say "we're in for a chill..." when it's going to be under 50 F during the day. In February! HA!
  
• Randall's is almost as good as Whole Foods.
  
• I saw my first real cowboy today.
  
• My corporate apartment f'n rocks. With the exception of the witches at the front desk who lost my MacBook. We have free personal trainers! How awesome is that?!
  
• Not everyone is fat. At least not in the Galleria district.
  
• I could possibly live here which surprises even me. (But we're only on day 2, so we'll table that one.)
  
• The tunnel system confuses me. Does the inclement weather get that bad?
  
• GPS's don't work downtown. Too many buildings.
• Once again, I don't get Bravo. The TV gods hate me.
  

More observations to come. Stay tuned.

around the world, around the world

After spending a week with my foreign friends, I have determined that my life is boring as shit. My priorities are way out of whack. Work, work, work... Who the hell dies and regrets missing work. All my new pals from school travel. To good places! What they hell am I doing wasting away in North America. I am so over this.

I have decided to focus on me, and make seeing the world a top priority. I guess all these years my mother has been telling me to pack up and run away to Paris was sound advice.

Here is my (tentative) list of places I want to visit in no particular order:

• Blue Lagoon, Iceland
  
• Stonehenge
• Dublin, Ireland (pub crawl)
• Patagonia
  
• Madrid, Spain (you are my host Alvaro!!)
  
• The Azores, Portugal
  
• Cape Town, South Africa
  
• Cairo, Egypt
  
• Morocco
  
• NZ (backpacking & beaches!)
• Australia (more backpacking & beaches!!)
  
• Florence & Milan
  
• St. Petersburg & Moscow
• Thailand
  
• Tibet
• Buenos Aires
• Alaska
• Northern Canada (to see the Northern Lights)
  
• Back to Yugo (Belgrade, Dubrovnik, & Montenegro)
• London (Jimmy & Nicole watch out)

I am open to any more suggestions anyone has.

at work and play

I just spent the last week at my company's training facility. At each level, we have intensive training that lasts a week or two. The entry level training is like a frat/sorority drink-a-thon. Lots of training, alcohol and sex as expected. I guess those of us one level up aren't that much older, but I wasn't expecting what I saw. There were people taking their wedding rings off once they got off the plane.

I get singles hooking up. I even get committed but not marrieds hooking up if that is there thing. However, married people hooking up not in open relationships? WTF!

Perhaps I have some arbitrary moral threshold, that when you actually marry someone, you keep it in your pants from that point on. Isn't the point of marriage commitment? I think people go into it with the wrong perspective. When you get married, or so I believe, you aren't promising to not look at anyone else. You're not even promising to not want to sleep with anyone else. You're promising not to ACT on it.

Holiday Travel

Ugh... As I type this I am half in the bag at DFW (that's the Dallas airport for those of you not in "the know"). I have been trying to get back to Boston for 24 hours, with no luck. Let me recap the last24 hours of my life.

12/26 7AM MST: Woken up by Kira, sadly after Daddy and I went to bed after drinking MUCH too much wine.

12/26 9AM MST: Load Spore which was a Christmas gift from D. Played until 11:30AM even though I was NOT packed or close to it. I curse him for buying me this since he knows how addicted to shit like this I get.

12/26 2PM MST: Leave for the airport, with a pit stop at the baby mama's house. Laugh at the purified vomit in the driveway and drill the digits "867-5309" into Kira's head.

12/26 4:05PM MST: My 5:05 departure has been moved to 6:30PM

12/26 4:45PM MST: Say good bye to my lovies and wish them well en route to the Midwest.

12/26 4:47PM MST: Learn Midway has been closed.

12/26 6:10PM MST: Pay admirals club bar tab, and head to gate C37.

12/26 6:15PM MST: Get to gate, and wonder how a flight to LAX (that has not even deplaned) will board and take off in 2 seconds.

12/26 6:30PM MST: Grumble that my flight is delayed.

12/26 7:10PM MST: Grumble that my flight is delayed some more.

12/26 8:00PM MST: Flight to ORD canceled.

12/26 8:05PM MST: Confirm re-booking and head to collect bags.

12/26 8:55PM MST: Drops bags down the escalator. Yes, that really happened.

12/26 10:35PM MST: Back in Boulder thanks to a spare car & house key.

12/27 4:15AM MST: Back on the road to DEN thanks to my Garmin.

12/27 6:00AM MST: On flight ready to go.

12/27 10:55AM CST: Stuck in Wichita Falls, TX to refuel since DFW is closed.

12/27 1:35PM CST: Finally off the plane in Dallas.

12/27 4:55PM CST: Half in the bag, writing this post. Board in 45 minutes, god willing.

Hammer Time

Woo hoo! This woman from Hamilton (aka The Hammer) made it three days in the snow.

I love my hometown.

Joyeux Noel

I just want to wish all my people Merry Christmas and Joyeux Noel.

Much love - K

Obervations

Here is some things I've observed about Colorado...

• People are terrible drivers. I hail from Massachusetts, so I know bad driving. These people are worse. Thrown in bike lanes and strange blinking cross-walks and it makes for lots of fun.
  
• Bi-polar weather. Again, hailing from New England I have experienced unpredictable weather. One day it's -1 degree here, the next it's 30. WTF?
• No HD news channels. Comcast has no explanation for this.
  
• Excessive body odor. I am not being petty. Deodorant is optional here. It's disgusting.
  
• Homeless people. I think there might be more "homeless" people here than in Chicago per capita. I might add that these "homeless" people are quite well dressed. I find this annoying. Just because you chose to move out west, and don't have any money means you should panhandle. Take your nice backpack and hiking shoes and go back HOME. You are not getting my change because you chose this lifestyle.
  
• Old people with kids. Maybe there is something in the water here, but I have never seen more gray haired parents. It's kind of disturbing.

I am seriously counting the minutes until when I get back to civilization. Not sure I am ever coming back either.

What was the photographer thinking?

In the spirit of Christmas, I thought I'd share one of my favorite holiday pictures. This picture was taken when I was almost one or almost two. I really have no idea, but I was walking.

My darling Auntie took me to the local Sears for some holiday photos. She was not forewarned by my parents that I was already training for Olympic hide and go seek. I used to love taking off, and hiding in the clothing racks. I guess I took off and bit it before I made it to the rack.

I think it's great she actually followed through with the picture. Busted chin and all.

They're at it again...

I guess funding Prop HATE 8 wasn't enough for them.

Now they predict our president elect won't make it to office.

Give it a break.

Sour Grapes

There is a colleague with whom I've worked on and off (but mostly on) for just over the last two years. I am about to go ape shit on this person.

Today, for the third time in the last two years, this person thrown me under the fucking bus. WTF!!! I have been nothing but nice, helpful and understanding to this person. They, however, are selfish, untrustworthy and just a douche.

I won't go into any further details because god forbid they read this. I just hope they know that karma is a mother fucker.

Enough said.

Indiana confuses me more and more each day

Here is another good idea gone array. I am not quite sure who would the intended consumer is for Planned Parenthood gift certificates. Planned Parenthood hopes philanthropists will by them for low-income patients, but I wonder how that would get itemized on a tax return?

Why don't I fly Star Alliance?

Answer: here

Although, it does pain me to ding one of my countrymen.

Move Over Cleanliness

D. and I have had an on-going discussion about the plates listed in this article. When we lived in Chicago, we spent countless hours on the road driving to and from his parents house 5(ish) hours away. Now Indiana is a peculiar place. You have some towns that make you feel like you're in the deep south (not that I have ever been to the deep south, I imagine it would be like this.) And you have places like Bloomington (home of IU) which is liberal as all hell.

With a state fairly split (hell - it went to Obama) I am shocked that these plates are free. Indiana has a whole array of available plates. Here are some of my favorites: the abortion plate, the fancy Shriner sword plate, and about 10M college/university plates. Alllll the other plates have a fee, except the standard plate and the god plate.

Growing up, we didn't really "do" the church thing. I went periodically with my grandmothers, but my parents worked shifts so we never really went as a family. So.... I may be biased. BUT... why do the Native American's have to PAY??? Weren't they here before us???? I truly just want equality for all... and this isn't it.

Boob tube

So I was going to write an entry about how much TV has sucked these days, and then I came across this entry. I am totally convinced that the people who watch less TV work MUCH less than I do. When you're on all day, it's nice to come off, pour a large goblet of Cab and zone out.

Anyway - back to the plan. As you may know, I travel for work. I work long days, and I really like watching TV. Well, for some reason NO HOTELS IN CHICAGO HAVE BRAVO. Don't they know that Bravo is the shit? WTF. On a weekly basis they deprive me of Top Chef, Top Design, Project Runway (yes I know it's over, but I am making a point), and every variation of Housewives. I swear if I miss the Reunion episode and miss this I am quitting my job. Bravo aside, I am so far behind on Dexter, I don't think I'll be getting out of bed before Sunday. Sheesh.

Does one think cats can be trained to open wine? They can be trained to use a toliet, is this so far off?

20 tidbits about moi - part one

To get my 16 remaining posts (or, is it 17?) here are some tidbits about lil, ole me.

1. I like to take pictures
   
2. I prefer lemons to limes in all cases
3. I hail from the great white north (aka Canada)
   
4. I spoke Serbian before English
   
5. My ideal job would be clandestine spy work
   
6. I may be the only person in my age group who has never been to Las Vegas, nor cares to ever go
   
7. I was born on a Tuesday, which clearly make whoever wrote that nursery rhyme wrong as I am not full of grace - ha!
   
8. I am new to blogging, so sorry if this sucks
   
9. My car is purple (the Germans call it Sparkling Graphite Metallic, I call it purple)
   
10. I exclusively use Lypsyl chapstick (cherry or mint - only available in the aforementioned motherland)
    
11. Words I really, really dislike are as follows: morsel, tasty, nosh, & natch
    
12. The job I have now is nothing like I would have expected growing up
13. My favorite food is cheese
    
14. I didn't really have any pets growing up, which explains my slight aversion to them
    
15. I have been replaces in my dad's will by two cats (which only fuels the aversion)
    
16. I was at Grant Park when Obama won the election
    
17. Lint in my arch nemesis
    
18. I recently watched a documentary called La Corona and found it quite good
    
19. I really like wine
20. I am currently, slightly hungover due to #19
    

NaBloPoMo

In honor of NaBloPoMo, I am going to try to blog every day. We will see if that happens. BTW... I am working on an entry from Grant Park last Tuesday. It was off the chain.

My Life

I feel like the flow chart pictured to the right pretty much encapsulates my life and what I do for a living.

I have been stuck in suburban NY for the last few weeks with a bunch of folks I'd rather not be with. Most of them are Yankees fans to boot (adding insult to injury).

My job is so great that the last few weeks have really made me question my career choice. I mean seriously, who dreams as a little kid that they will be testing interfaces?? Not I. I was going to be a photographer or creating advertising.

Anyway... had to vent about the joys of project work.

The Great White North

I am back home for the (Canadian) Thanksgiving holiday which should be fun. It's always a treat to see my moms and the fam. I am pretty excited for a low key weekend, although I might have to work. Over the weekend. Again. Like for the fourth weekend in a row. Boo.

Anyway, back to work. I guess I am not getting paid to blog whilst listening to Lil' Wayne.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Barack Attack

D. is going to a Barak Obama rally tomorrow in Indy - and I am jealous. I will be toiling away in an office building dealing with retarded technology issues and the people that create them.

Link to the rally:
http://my.barackobama.com/page/content/inhome

I am watching the debate as I type this. McCain's pathetic cracks at jokes are so painful to watch. You know... I didn't hate McCain before this season began. I have disliked him since he chose that anti-choice, anti-evolution crazy woman from Alaska. Does anyone take her seriously? I often wonder if McCain even believes what she says. If the Red ticket wins - I am so moving back to Canada. Not a joke.

I don't want a president who is Joe or Jane six pack. I don't. I want my president to be smarter, wiser and braver than myself. I also don't want a 70 something year old man in the office either. His expiration date is quickly approaching. Don't let the younger wife and college age kids fool you.

Obama-Biden all the way!