I know, I know. I've been a bad blogger. My workdays have blurred into my work nights and I have lost track of days and fallen behind on emails yet again. I will catch up eventually, I promise!
It was an interesting week in C'ville. I learned about the local animal population....oh boy, did I! It started with an innocent conversation in the middle of my office when I asked if there were poisonous snakes in the state. Certainly they had gardener snakes, but could they be deadly? The answer - oh yes! There are def copperheads and even rattlesnakes in this area. I ran this by another colleague who was quick to inform me that they had found 2 snakes in the plant over the past couple of months. One was a copperhead. Awesome.
I had to run home at some point last week to sign for a delivery...probably around 3pm. As I walked to my front stoop, I noticed a little lizard sitting next to my pot of basil. At first I thought it was a newt, but after closer inspection I determined he was a bit bigger than he should be. Needless to say, he did not want to hang out with me and took off running down the side of the house. When I got back to the office and asked if they had newts or salamanders around here, they said no, just lizards. Again, awesome.
After I vetted the lizard scenario with my colleagues, I struck up a conversation with a guy who was in the building for an interview. He was a very chatty fella and from the area. He was telling me that when he phone screened with us he had to delay the interview because he had just discovered a snake in his house. A cowsucker snake to be exact. Yes, you read that right. I am immediately assumed that I was being setup by my office mates who found my awe amusing, but alas, it was a true story. Apparently cowsuckers are not poisonous, but they hang out in fields. After further Googling, I have discovered they are also called rat snakes. But enough about them... I'm trying to eat my breakfast. Ew.
Then on Friday I went to the weekly labor planning meeting with our sr ops team, controller and gm. One of our sr ops mgrs comes in laughing hysterically over a conversation he just had with one of our employees about frog giggin'. Now before you cringe, think about the last time you had some nice, delicate, buttery frog legs. This is where they come from. Somewhere in the world, someone is going frog giggin with their little trident spear and pocket knife. If you are eating, I suggest you stop reading or hold on to your stomach because what happens next is kind of gross. So they catch a from in a trap and use the trident to pin down the frog and cut off its legs....while it is still alive. Apparently if you kill the poor creature first, it dries up their legs and you can't eat them. This lovely employee had fried frog legs for breakfast. Just think about that. Awesome.
I must have looked shocked because the gm and controller called me out...said I was rethinking my decision to come down here. If he only knew the rest of my week!
So that it what I have learned about the local animals. Besides being afraid of ticks, I'm now worried about cowsuckers and lizards getting in my house. But fear not, I do not believe that I will have to worry about frog giggin. Not a local tradition I care to experience.
I realize that I keep promising pictures that I have yet to deliver. You are probably thinking I only wished that I was Lady Liberty. By the way, they only call her Lady Liberty around here.... I've called her the Statue of Liberty and received some strange looks. Strange. Strange. It's kind of fun being the pale girl that talks funny. I'm actually kind of tan by my standards!
Monday, July 19, 2010
Friday, July 9, 2010
TGIF!
For a short week, it certainly lasted awhile! Another 11 hours in the books for the day and my head hurts. Was a busy, busy day at work. There are things about being the new kid that are tough. You never know what you aren't asking, but I continue down the path that I think makes sense. It hasn't failed me too terribly yet. The good thing about my company is that they are extremely accepting of risk-taking, change, and a different perspective. They stress that they hire you because you have an opinion and will literally ask for it all the time. This has really stretched me as it is now coming from all directions. It moves fast. I knew that it would. I was forewarned, but DANG they weren't exaggerating!
A few of you have commented on my somewhat depressed last post. It's not that I'm sad, really I'm not. I just have a lot of time on my hands and spend a lot of time appreciating the way that my life used to be. Not sure that I really did that before. I'm used to being able to fill my days and nights with endless activities and here it's just not an option. Most people that I work with all work a lot and really just want to go home to their families. It's really on the account that I'm single and not so much that I am in C'ville. But it will get better. These things take time.
Tomorrow's adventure will take me to Louisville. I believe that I am going to head to Whole Foods and maybe Costco. For the first time in my life it's appropriate for me to actually have a Costco membership and stock up on stuff. Before it was just pure excess. Here is it necessity, at least in my book. Yes, I need a giant package of turkey sausage and yes, I need some fromage blanc for the mini cheesecake recipe I am planning on making this weekend. I'm winning the hearts of my peers by working my way up through their bellies :)
I did crop some of the 4th of July pics and will get them up here this weekend. You will all be so proud of me. I didn't look nearly as ridiculous as I thought I would, maybe even kind of cute. You judge.
I may be venturing out on the town to night with a colleague from work. Maybe. Haven't decided how creepy he is yet. We'll see....hahaha
A few of you have commented on my somewhat depressed last post. It's not that I'm sad, really I'm not. I just have a lot of time on my hands and spend a lot of time appreciating the way that my life used to be. Not sure that I really did that before. I'm used to being able to fill my days and nights with endless activities and here it's just not an option. Most people that I work with all work a lot and really just want to go home to their families. It's really on the account that I'm single and not so much that I am in C'ville. But it will get better. These things take time.
Tomorrow's adventure will take me to Louisville. I believe that I am going to head to Whole Foods and maybe Costco. For the first time in my life it's appropriate for me to actually have a Costco membership and stock up on stuff. Before it was just pure excess. Here is it necessity, at least in my book. Yes, I need a giant package of turkey sausage and yes, I need some fromage blanc for the mini cheesecake recipe I am planning on making this weekend. I'm winning the hearts of my peers by working my way up through their bellies :)
I did crop some of the 4th of July pics and will get them up here this weekend. You will all be so proud of me. I didn't look nearly as ridiculous as I thought I would, maybe even kind of cute. You judge.
I may be venturing out on the town to night with a colleague from work. Maybe. Haven't decided how creepy he is yet. We'll see....hahaha
Tuesday, July 6, 2010
Tuesday that feels like Monday
It's hot. Not just a little hot that makes you sweat a little. Or hot that makes you want to grill out and sit outside with a cold beer. But hot that makes you want to sit in the air with your ice cold beer and blog about how hot it is out there and pity those without air conditioning. This place has heat like I've never seen. It's like mid-August, sticky, nasty Cleveland humid hot every day since I've been here except for 2. Miserable. But, in an effort to be a little cheery about it, I don't have to shovel snow and I don't have to worry about the humidity making my hair curl. What a lucky girl am I!
There is this interesting phenomenon that I am finding quite interesting and am having trouble coming to terms with. As I learn more and more about the people that I work with, I learn more about the local dating/marriage culture. So C'ville has an abnormally high divorce rate. I think it's somewhere near 70 % or upwards. They say the people here are really friendly - too friendly, in my opinion! Apparently some people are married, but only 'kind of married'. So by definition, at least to my understanding, is that they are married by law and wear the jewelry to go with it but are date on the side. Some spouses even consent to this. And it's not just a couple people. I've ran into a disturbing amount of people where this is true. What I don't understand is with this degree of openness and honesty, shouldn't the divorce rate be higher? And with 60 some churches around here, you'd think someone would try to wrangle them up somehow. Perhaps it's just me and my naivety. After all, I'm the equivalent to the town spinstress!
Been spending a lot of time thinking about my life in Cleveland. Not having all the things that you hold close to your heart really makes you think. I get sad when I think about my beautiful house on my quiet little street in the Heights. About the hours that my dad spent with me putting in tile or fixing something that I no doubt broke because I knew that he could fix it if did break. About the many friends and family that I left behind. Or even the ease of a life in a town that I knew like the back of my hand, where I could find anything and always had somewhere to go....the safety of knowing, of being a native, of having connections. Here I'm out on a limb, exposed to the elements. Here I'm looked at funny if I wear a blouse instead of a tshirt or have stretch marks from the freshman 15 (cough cough ;) ) and not having a gagillion children by the time I was old enough to buy beer. It's hard to be away from a place where I felt and was accepted and loved. I had a very good life, a great life in fact. And I still do. It just looks different and will take some time to get used to. Who knows, maybe I will grow into this place but deep down I know that it's not big enough for me here. I crave the people, the culture, the diversity and the depth that only a city has. And for as much as people knock Cleveland, it has all of those things.
On the work front, I've started to sink my teeth into some projects. Need to get used to having assistants who support our team. Such a change for me. There's such a get-it-done attitude that I almost feel bad scheduling their time or giving them more tasks, but they expect it as well. Everyone chips in and puts in the long hours together. It's certainly a team environment which I suspect only strengthens as we head into our seasonal peak season.
In other news, my Lady Liberty name will live with me forever I suspect. I'm now addressed as such at our morning production meetings. At least I got a free Halloween costume from it! Pics to come, I promise.
There is this interesting phenomenon that I am finding quite interesting and am having trouble coming to terms with. As I learn more and more about the people that I work with, I learn more about the local dating/marriage culture. So C'ville has an abnormally high divorce rate. I think it's somewhere near 70 % or upwards. They say the people here are really friendly - too friendly, in my opinion! Apparently some people are married, but only 'kind of married'. So by definition, at least to my understanding, is that they are married by law and wear the jewelry to go with it but are date on the side. Some spouses even consent to this. And it's not just a couple people. I've ran into a disturbing amount of people where this is true. What I don't understand is with this degree of openness and honesty, shouldn't the divorce rate be higher? And with 60 some churches around here, you'd think someone would try to wrangle them up somehow. Perhaps it's just me and my naivety. After all, I'm the equivalent to the town spinstress!
Been spending a lot of time thinking about my life in Cleveland. Not having all the things that you hold close to your heart really makes you think. I get sad when I think about my beautiful house on my quiet little street in the Heights. About the hours that my dad spent with me putting in tile or fixing something that I no doubt broke because I knew that he could fix it if did break. About the many friends and family that I left behind. Or even the ease of a life in a town that I knew like the back of my hand, where I could find anything and always had somewhere to go....the safety of knowing, of being a native, of having connections. Here I'm out on a limb, exposed to the elements. Here I'm looked at funny if I wear a blouse instead of a tshirt or have stretch marks from the freshman 15 (cough cough ;) ) and not having a gagillion children by the time I was old enough to buy beer. It's hard to be away from a place where I felt and was accepted and loved. I had a very good life, a great life in fact. And I still do. It just looks different and will take some time to get used to. Who knows, maybe I will grow into this place but deep down I know that it's not big enough for me here. I crave the people, the culture, the diversity and the depth that only a city has. And for as much as people knock Cleveland, it has all of those things.
On the work front, I've started to sink my teeth into some projects. Need to get used to having assistants who support our team. Such a change for me. There's such a get-it-done attitude that I almost feel bad scheduling their time or giving them more tasks, but they expect it as well. Everyone chips in and puts in the long hours together. It's certainly a team environment which I suspect only strengthens as we head into our seasonal peak season.
In other news, my Lady Liberty name will live with me forever I suspect. I'm now addressed as such at our morning production meetings. At least I got a free Halloween costume from it! Pics to come, I promise.
Monday, July 5, 2010
Miss me??
Hello world! did you miss me? I'm sorry - took a little hiatus and watched too much tv. I'm well rested and starting to feel a little more at home in C'ville. Not entirely, but a little more.
I've been here almost one month. That's longer than a vacation and shorter than a lifetime. So I'm at the point where I am missing my friends and family. I had such a wonderful life in Cleveland, filled with wonderful friends and family. I always had something to do, whether it was just to order pizza in or go out for the night. I miss them.
By the way, the pitbull just came by and peed on my tomato plant. Maybe that's why it's not doing so well. I like dogs, but this is a bit much.
I started hanging out with some people from work. Had dinner at the little cafe and publically humiliated myself this weekend. So let me tell you about the 4th of July in C'ville. It's the biggest event in the COUNTY and everyone comes. Little did I know that I would have any part of it.
So I was at work the other day and the lady in charge of our float asked me if I would be Lady Liberty on the float. I laughed and kindly declined, but then an email came out that I was excited to do it. So I thought it was a joke and tried to laugh it off for the the majority of the day. Then the next morning, my colleague came in and stuck her head in my office to tell me that it wasn't a joke - oh they were serious. I was tagged to be Lady Liberty and it was announced to the senior leadership team at the morning meeting. Uhhhhhhh. what?
I couldn't really back out. And I don't really know anyone, so what's the harm? Then I found out they asked another guy to be Lincoln. Except our Lincoln was 5'5 and blond. Awesome. So we stood on our float for about an hour and a half waving at hundreds and hundreds of people. I didn't even think this many people lived in C'ville. They were lined up about 15 people back for about 2 miles. And the parade was huge. Every tractor, four wheeler, and horse was in the thing. Who would have thought there would be anyone left to watch it? But there was. And at the end of the day, I had a funny sunburn and my arm was tired from waving. I'm pretty sure that it will be in the newspaper and there will be plenty of pics to come. I don't have any yet, but will be sure to post them once I get them.
I discovered this cute little spa and treated myself to a massage and pedicure today. The pedicure was so-so, but the massage was heavenly. I was totally and utterly surprised by this adorable little lady. I feel like a million bucks. Wonderful. Simply wonderful.
I was downloading some photos today and came across a few gems, courtesy of my mama. See, she tries real hard but something the camera should be removed from her hands. But sometimes it's best to let her have at it and see what happens. The attached are of the camo car we saw at the gas station and of my adorable little man, Mo, while we were unpacking the kitchen. If you are looking for a photographer for a special event, my mom is available for bookings if you want memorable snapshots of time :)
I've been here almost one month. That's longer than a vacation and shorter than a lifetime. So I'm at the point where I am missing my friends and family. I had such a wonderful life in Cleveland, filled with wonderful friends and family. I always had something to do, whether it was just to order pizza in or go out for the night. I miss them.
By the way, the pitbull just came by and peed on my tomato plant. Maybe that's why it's not doing so well. I like dogs, but this is a bit much.
I started hanging out with some people from work. Had dinner at the little cafe and publically humiliated myself this weekend. So let me tell you about the 4th of July in C'ville. It's the biggest event in the COUNTY and everyone comes. Little did I know that I would have any part of it.
So I was at work the other day and the lady in charge of our float asked me if I would be Lady Liberty on the float. I laughed and kindly declined, but then an email came out that I was excited to do it. So I thought it was a joke and tried to laugh it off for the the majority of the day. Then the next morning, my colleague came in and stuck her head in my office to tell me that it wasn't a joke - oh they were serious. I was tagged to be Lady Liberty and it was announced to the senior leadership team at the morning meeting. Uhhhhhhh. what?
I couldn't really back out. And I don't really know anyone, so what's the harm? Then I found out they asked another guy to be Lincoln. Except our Lincoln was 5'5 and blond. Awesome. So we stood on our float for about an hour and a half waving at hundreds and hundreds of people. I didn't even think this many people lived in C'ville. They were lined up about 15 people back for about 2 miles. And the parade was huge. Every tractor, four wheeler, and horse was in the thing. Who would have thought there would be anyone left to watch it? But there was. And at the end of the day, I had a funny sunburn and my arm was tired from waving. I'm pretty sure that it will be in the newspaper and there will be plenty of pics to come. I don't have any yet, but will be sure to post them once I get them.
I discovered this cute little spa and treated myself to a massage and pedicure today. The pedicure was so-so, but the massage was heavenly. I was totally and utterly surprised by this adorable little lady. I feel like a million bucks. Wonderful. Simply wonderful.
I was downloading some photos today and came across a few gems, courtesy of my mama. See, she tries real hard but something the camera should be removed from her hands. But sometimes it's best to let her have at it and see what happens. The attached are of the camo car we saw at the gas station and of my adorable little man, Mo, while we were unpacking the kitchen. If you are looking for a photographer for a special event, my mom is available for bookings if you want memorable snapshots of time :)
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