I think work is going my way today. I have finally changed gears and am really busy, using my brain, and actually having fun. I am getting super excited about working in Peru and am not nervous to leave. Let's put it this way...today is the first day I didn't spend all afternoon job hunting.

I consider myself to be relatively intelligent but for some reason batteries and the way they work alludes me. I work with equipment in the field that can run on either ac or dc, by that I mean it goes both ways. But for some reason, I cannot wrap my brain around watts, volts, power converters, wiring, charging of batteries, what would constitute enough battery back up if the electrical power source is lost,etc. I don't get battery memory...like why is it better for my battery to go totally dead before I charge it than being safe and charging it every two days when there are only two bars left on the screen. It makes me feel stupid! When it comes to battery power I am no better off than the damn bunny.

Highlight of the Day: I came home from work the other day and pulled a bag of veggies I was snacking on out of my bag. My cat, Quinn, proceeded to jump on the counter and start rolling all over it, biting at it, picking it up and throwing it around. I don't know if the celery got him all fired up or what but he was freaking out. Why is that the highlight of today you ask? Because I just thought about it and started cracking up.

Lowlight: the fashion crisis that occurred this morning before I went to work. I hate those. They stress me out!

Today is a good day. I have been sufficiently busy at work which has a tendency to curtail my bitching. A busy "scientist" is a happy "scientist." The ivy leaguer is beginning to talk to me about a Ph.D program. I just don't know if I am ready but it's nice to get the offer.

I am begining to think that spending your free time digging a hole is not such a bad idea. It seems like a constructive way to spend time and it would inevitably end my stint of bad television and cheap wine. I could quite the gym because it would be a workout. I think of myself as pretty handy so I think I could tackle digging a big hole. I don't have a yard, though. Can anyone loan me their yard so I can dig a gigantic hole in it? Oh and by the way, I want 24-hr access to it and ,no, you can't use it. Thanks!

Highlight of the day: My "flu like symptoms" have gone away. It was a little touch and go this morning after I almost ate it in the shower but I am at nearly 100% right now. Beware of the Hepatitis A vaccine!

OR

the whole hole thing has got me pumped up and ready to dig.

Bands that everyone I know seems to freak out about and I don't so much like:

the Yeah Yeah Yeahs: I like "Maps" but the rest of it sort of sucks. Not to mention, I heard this interview with the lead singer and she definitely sucks. "I can't say that we're punk because that would define us. hehe (all of this being said while she plays with her terribly long fashion mullett which, by the way, was so two years ago).

Wilco: I don't like country (with the exception of Patsy Cline who is exception to any rule involving country music) no matter how you package it. This was a band I felt very obligated to like ("he's such a great song writer", "all the cool kids are listening to it", "that dude that plays that thing is really hot") but I honestly can't listen to it. Not only is it country, but it's that sort of pathetic country indy crap that I really can't stand! No, I don't like Necko Case either. I do like the new pornographers though.

Beulah: saw em' once on the recommendation of a friend whose musical taste I respect (even though he likes Wilco). sucked! no commentary...they just sucked.

The walkmen: had high hopes for this one. that sort of new york/brooklyn reemerging rock scene....disappointed. The Natural History is a band out of that same scene I am totally into though. They opened for spoon last I saw them and they were awesome.

Albums that I feel are overrated:

The Postal Service/ Give Up: Now don't stone me to death for this one. I own it but I don't think it is all that great. Give me Death Cab's/ We've seen the facts and we're voting Yes or Dntel/Life is Full of Possibilities but together it's just a little to sugary for me.

The Promise Ring/ Wood/Water: thought it was cool at first...you know something different...still real emo...but I just finished listening to it again today and I don't like it.

The Wrens/The Meadowlands: Now I had read up on this one and was really excited to buy it. It was the only single on my magnet sampler last month (or any month for that matter) that I liked. Listened to it and it's good but I catch myself skipping the first five tracts and then ejecting it after track ten.

Bands that are awesome yet no one else seems to think so:

Aereogramme: all their albums rock but their Thriller cover was a bit disappointing-regardless, they are one of my favorites!!!

The Constatines: They played at a local club and there were only a handful of people there. Come on now people! This guy has a great voice and it is just straight up Rock! What could you not love about that?

The Natural History: The best of the whole new New York rock scene in my opinion. They are fantastic live and not pretensious. No bad rocker hair and tight jeans, either. Just some dickies and a t-shirt not to mention a good pair of shoes.

Highlight: woke up late but in that good well rested way. not the frantic "i am going to be late to work" kind of way even though I was late to work. Only five minutes but I am a stickler for promptness.

Lowlight: I had to get a Hepatitis A vaccine yesterday for my trip to South America and I am now having a "flu-like symptoms" reaction that 1 out of 14 people get from it. Yuck!

Peru is on and I am stoked. So stoked I just wrote stoked. I sort of feel that this trip couldn't come at a better or worse time. See, the boy and I are trying to figure out our next step in life (i.e moving to a new place, where we will work, etc.) and he has some stuff brewin' that could potentially come to fruition while I am out of the country. I am also aggressively job hunting and wouldn't it just be the rub if I got a job offer while I was being kidnapped by Peruvian gorillas? So in that regard, the timing is a bit terrible. But...I also am at a breaking point with my job so maybe some field work will do me some good. If it doesn't the gap management team is sounding real good (insert ironic tone here). You think I am kidding but I sure would like a 401K and some god damn dental!
I do get to go to Peru though and considering I have never been out of the country I am very excited.

Highlight: Peru is on or...after my dog poops she kicks grass or dirt up with her back feet and tears around at a million miles an hour. Well, this morning's must have been a good one because she dug up some grass in front of the hospital with her back feet and then dragged me half way down the street running, jumping up in the air, chomping on her leash, and flipping around like a lunatic.

Lowlight: I have returned to my administrative duties for the ivy leaguer today and have been thrust into the extremely prestigious position of booking his hotel reservations for his trip next week. He knows I have a brain, right?

The boy's sister's wedding was a ton of fun. His family is crazy so I fit right in. As expected, I made it through the ceremony (that lasted approach. 20 minutes) before the heels were off and the flip flops were on. The boy's cousin's wife kept photographing my feet though. I have to be honest, it made me a bit uncomfortable. Does she have some sort of flip flop fetish, do I have such hideous feet that they need to be documented repeatedly, or were my flip flops that cute?

In classic family wedding form...we were asked over and over again when we were getting married. I have to say the boy handle it better than I imagined he would. He was very funny and patient with the onslaught. Suprising!

I have a minor obsession with reading music magazines. I am not sure what brought it on but it started about four years ago. I receive Magnet and read it cover to cover bimonthly. It's not that I have to be the first kid on the block that heard about the Strokes or anything like that. It's just that I am really into music. Really any sort of music and I get a kick out of reading about some band I have never heard of, going out and buying the CD, and having it totally rock. This isn't always the case. Many a CD has been purchased by me that gets the big ol' suck in my book! I think this obsession may be a bit unhealthy. I get sort of protective of my music mags. I wont let anyone look at them until I have and definitely finished reading every inch of it and I absolutelty wont let anyone borrow them. No exceptions! The boy will sometimes have to go months with out reading it because I hide it, take it with me to work, fall asleep reading it...and will not relinquish it until I have completely read it cover to cover. I would say that's a bit unhealthy.

Highlight: I am able to take a break from the never ending literature review I am working on right now.

Lowlight: Instead of working on a literature review I am stuck weighing filters in a climate controlled 5x4 room with no windows and no other people. This is a very tedious process that I am new to which makes it extra tedious!

I only have to work a half day today. That rules! I get to leave early to attends the boy's sister's wedding. It should be fun. I sort of love weddings. Not in the sappy "I can't wait to get married" kind of way (OK, that's a bit of a lie because I am a sap) but more in the "Yea! I get to drink for free" kind of way. These days I don't handle the sauce very well so I need to be careful. The last thing I want to do is make a spectacle of myself in front of the boy's whole family. But I sure hope someone else will! Here's the deal...I can't walk in heels. This just adds to me being the worst girl ever. I call myself this because...I can't pluck my eyebrows without them looking a little witchy, I can never get all the hair off my knees, ankles, or armpits when I shave, I don't know how to put make-up on, and I hate wearing uncomfortable clothes. So since I can't walk in heels I will be terribly uncomfortable all night and will have to walk very slowly everywhere I go. I may even bring fancy flip flops with me so when the feet start to killin' the flops will start to flippin'!

I named my blog "Occupational Health May be on the Line" so that whenever someone comes in and I shrink the window on my computer down it looks like I have been doing research in the field I work in.

I am a little over caffeinated today. This contributes in a negative way to my undiagnosed adult A.D.D


Highlight of the Day: the growing mullet is getting a trim today!

Lowlight of the Day: the impending meeting with the ivy leaguer that may put the cabash on my trip to south america.

I have always wanted to answer the questions that James Lipton asks at the end of the interviews on "Behind the Actor's Studio" really badly and I can't wait any longer.....

James: What's your favorite word?
Me: funny

James: What's your least favorite word?
Me: the c-word (I can't even write it but all you ladies know
the word I speak of).

James: What turns you on?
Me: booze (ha!)

James: What turns you off?
Me: boring conversation

James: What sound do you love?
Me: I love the sound of the turn signal in really big old people cars like Cadillacs or Lincoln Town Cars

James: What sound do you hate?
Me: the cat puking

James: What is your favorite curse word?
Me: Shitbag

James: What profession other than yours would you like to attempt?
Me: I would love to play in a Cuban provincial or mariachi band

James: What profession other than yours would you not like to attempt?
Me: Stay at home mom

James: IF heaven exists, what would you like to hear God say when you arrive at the pearly gate?
Me: Hey! You made it for the eternal unlimited chips, cheese dip, and sangria!

I feel better now.

I normally save blogging for the last hour of my work day but today is just one of those days. I can't seem to concentrate. I don't know if my coffee is too week, if the one margaritta I had last night has made me sleepy, if the dreary overcast weather has sucked my energy, or if I have a severe case of adult A.D.D. It's like the women in the commercial who can't concentrate during her meeting but different. I am not meeting with anyone and instead of doing the stack of work I have from the ivy leaguer I have taken to browsing the internet. I have looked at my favorite online music mag, browsed the sale items at Jcrew, emailed some people, laughed at the funny picture of the boy and the dog I have saved on the desktop, and now I blog.

I am growing my hair out and I am beginning to think it looks like a mullet

I haven't been answering my phone when people call me and then I don't return their phone calls right away. At the same time, I have been complaining to the boy lately about not having any friends.

I take the dog to a dog park everyday and she goes crazy. She is a boxer pitbull mix and she kicks ass. Not only is she steadfast and true but she can wrestle with the best of them. In addition, she is the most popular dog at the park. She's super rambunctious and active so all the owners lover her because their dogs get exercise from chasing her. All of the other dogs lover he because she KICKS ASS! My dog rules.

Why do I find listening to NPR depressing but listening to Nick Drake uplifting? Is it because I know that no matter what happens in my life I could never be as depressed as he was?

Why is gas so expensive?

Highlight of the Day: It's cold enough in my office that I can wear my favorite hoody over my t-shirt. This is a perk when you live where I do because this time of year in ungodly hot

Lowlight of the Day: My coffe is definitly not strong enough. I added too much water to the coffee this morning and now it is way too weak. Have I mentioned that my coffee sucks? Now I am going to have to go next door to the cafe and buy coffee from the super creepy, overweight, sweaty, twenty year old kid who can't even make eye contact with me due to his obsession with staring at my breasts. It makes me SO uncomfortable that I can barely make a purchase without running out screaming. Not to mention he has a strange odor that I cannot seem to define.

I have decided that listening to NPR at work may be making my work day a bit more depressing. I know, I need to stay abreast of the global political climate but, for christ sakes I don't think I can hear about prisoner abuse one more day! It's not that I don't care but I just can't listen to it anymore.

A ton of squirrels are killed outside my house every week. I don't know if they are making the leap from one huge oak tree to the next and just don't quite make it OR if people are just hauling ass down the street and plowing over squirrels. Either way, it is a bit disturbing.

Why is it that people you don't know very well don't notice things about you until it co-exists with something embarrassing. For example, the very nice person I share my office with complemented be on my necklace today. That's nice and all but did he complement my necklace because he likes it or was it because I caught him staring at the enormous chest zit I have that happens to be near the pendant on my necklace. Oh, don't be shocked. If you say you don't get chest zits you are lying and you know it.

Highlight of the Day: I finally turned of NPR this morning and listened to a CD loaned to me by the boy called Rock, Rot, and Rule. Listen to it! It is the official argument ending guide!

Lowlight of the Day: The aforementioned chest zit incident.

I am completely not able to spell regardless of how many times I have spelled the word before. For example, I have been working on a quite extensive literature review for a paper the ivy leaguer is beginning to write. No matter how many times I have to spell "epidemiology" I have to look at it on the paper at least ten times before I get it right. Not to mention I have to sound it out while I am reading it.

I woke up this morning with one of the most ridiculous things ever in my head..."I'm a slave, I'm a slave, I'm a slave to your lovin'". I am not sure if you recognize this but it may be from Real World L.A. when Tami tried to start a recording career. Then she wired her mouth shut. Nope, SHE is the most ridiculous thing ever!

I spend the first two hours of my day at work job hunting. Is this a sign?

Why is it that when I am sad I just want to listen to sad bastard music? I sort of torture myself to the point of being in the fetal position on the floor and then I feel better. Other people do this, right?

Why does it seem like everyone I know in the universe has moved to New York?

Why do 30 year olds get cancer?

I leave for South America in two and a half weeks. I speak very broken Spanish and have never been out of the country. If I don't make it back I would say there is a good chance that I am never coming back but you can visit me on the beaches of Peru or the cloud forest of Ecuador where I will have taken up basket weaving, cocoa leave chewing, and have a penchant for Peruvian rum.

Highlight of the Day:
My jeans came out of the drier this morning and they fit just perfect!

Lowlight of the Day:
The never ending literature review!

I am about to give up on blogging. True, it is only the second time I have ever blogged (not including all of the blogs I have written that disappear when I breath wrong on my computer mouse and I get shot right back to the blogging homepage-by the way the count is 2 in the last 20 minutes) but I keep loosing all of the blogs I write. I am not sure how this keeps happening but somewhere out in the black hole maintained by my server is a brilliantly eloquent and hilariously funny blog that I will never see again.

Highlight of today: I woke up to go to the gym this morning. When I came home, my dog was flipped upside down (she does this a lot and the boy and I call it "upside down dog"- pretty fucking creative, huh?) with her butt and feet sticking straight in the air and her back against the boy. Her legs had twisted into a pretzel and she was totally snoring with her lips flapping every time she breathed.

Lowlight of today: I awoke to the sound of my cat puking next to my bed. This is possibly the worst sound ever!!!! And the worst part about the puking is it never happens just once with a cat. They have the uncanny ability of puking at least three or four times in one session. I am beginning to think my cat is a highly evolved anorexic sorority girl minus the UGH boots and terrible mini-skirt (thank god for that!). I think the only thing worse than the sound of the cat puking is that inevitably one of the pukes of the three to four puke series always occurs in the boys office chair.. I mean cleaning cat puke off the floor is one thing but off a cloth chair is a whole other thing.

I feel that my job may be detrimental to my occupational health. No...I am not exposed to radiation (anymore). I don't really perform any heavy lifting. I just generally don't like my job. I guess that's the deal though, right? You grow up, finish school, and dislike your job. I guess you could call me a "scientist" by trade. But what I have really grown up to be is a personal assistant from and overeducated ivy leaguer with not a clue. This is the kind of person that thinks a weeks worth of work should take a day, that everyone can afford health insurance regardless of the crappy wages my team is being paid, and who is the first to blame someone else when this person screwed up. I know these are the same gripes most people have about their jobs. I know I am not the only one but it is all a little new to me and a bit of a downer. I started life ready to conquer the world and I'll be damned if someone with a degree from "Cornell, Yale and Harvard" is going to beat me down because I have a graduate degree from a public university. I am not on a road to mediocrity. Although, I have taken a liking to some bad television. I mean BAD television. This is sort of a new thing for me. It happened once I met the boy and finished my career in academia. I made the huge leap to a crappy job and tons of bad television. Everyday I tell myself I am not going to go home and plop in front of the tube but it's like a drug. It calls to me after the end of a work day and a long trip to the dog park. I sit back while the boy cooks dinner (I hate to cook-if he didn't we'd both starve) and am lured into wondering things like....What ever happened to Toni Tony Tone?, Who are the top ten metrosexuals out of 100?, why does Carmen Electra love Dave Navarro so much? She's seen all of his crappy tattoos, right? These are the questions I start to ponder at about 7:00 pm every night. I also wonder if I could be the next millionaire? I am pretty damn good at that game. SO much so I may have to get it on my cell phone (not really but I'll be damned if I don't shout the answers out at the top of my lungs. My neighbors think I have turrets). Don't get me wrong. I am not some slob who does nothing all day but watch soaps and eat bon bons. I work out. I have a good sense of humor. I have been told that I am pretty (not just by my mom either. She tells me I am "attractive." that's her passive aggressive way of telling me that she hates my tattoos). The truth is that I just like to watch some bad television. Some people are addicted to smack. I have a mild addiction to bad BAD BAD television. Is that so wrong?