Not only do I like to move a lot in real life, I like to move my blog, too.
I just moved www.DailyDoseoDonna.com from Blogger to Wordpress. The domain will now point there, however I'll leave this blogger blog (http://randomthoughtsfromdonna.blogspot.com) up for a little while incase people have it bookmarked the blogspot address ... so, please rebookmark the URL www.dailydoseodonna.com to always get to the new, current blog.
I saw a Times Leader insert at work on Monday about the Top 40 Under 40 in Northeast Pennsylvania. I flipped through the pages and with each turn of the page, I was like, "Wow...." Over the years I have worked, attended school, or was a part of some community project with many of these amazing folks. One is even my dentist. And one is the Co-Founder/CEO of my company, Solid Cactus-- who I am so proud of for earning this award because I see his efforts every day. One has my last name. One is even in a position I used to hold at a local radio station, even though I don't know him, I thought that was pretty cool. I am just so super proud of these folks, some I knew since they were college freshman! It's just awesome to see them have such success-- but even better yet- making such a positive impact on our community.
Then I remembered that three years ago, I pitched a story idea to the Weekender about profiling some local, civic-minded young professionals - downtown Wilkes-Barre was on the upswing finally, and many of these folks played a role. It was a cover story, which is shown above. (That was a fun photo shoot on the roof, too!) Today, three years later, three of the people were named Top 40 Under 40. You can click on the article below to see what they had to say three years ago! I just reread it and was inspired! So many of the things these "kids" were excited about working on are done-- downtown is happening, the river project is here-- things have changed and a lot has to do with what started three to four years ago with the new administration in the city!
Here is some more information about this cool Top 40 Under 40 program:
Scott's post on the Solid Cactus Blog
Official Times Leader Site
Link to the PDF of the Weekender story I did
Congrats ladies and gents!
Yay! I am stoked. I was accepted into the MFA in Creative Writing at Wilkes University- I'll be finished with the MA in Creative Writing in January, and with a dozen or so of my writing pals, we're continuing on to the terminal degree and I'll be done in January 2010. The MFA differs from the MA in that it's a terminal degree, like a PhD. I am excited about having the higher degree and would love to teach a class or two part-time once I am able, but I am most excited about more creative writing residencies and being a part of this creative community longer. Write on!
Maybe it was my childhood obsession with pen pals, Ed McMahon and dreams of being an actress with thousands of fans, but I LOVE mail. Real, postal mail. To this day. I used to have pen pals that I found in my Teen Beat magazine. When I moved away to Oklahoma, I corresponded to friends with letters. I loved when we received Publisher's Clearinghouse packets because I loved scratching off the sweepstakes stuff and taking one sticker off one insert and sticking it on the proper place on another. I loved tearing out the stamps for the magazines I wanted and licking them, and placing them on the envelope. And finally, I always wanted to get fan mail. I dunno. I just did. I swore I'd write back to anyone who wrote me a letter because sending mail was fun, too.
Mail isn't as fun when you are an adult because it's mostly bills, or junk. But, I still get excited. I recently placed a few orders for myself and for Christmas gifts online, so today when I saw a white package in my mailbox, I got excited. I wondered which company it was from, and I secretly hoped it was the shirt I ordered for myself from Wet Seal. But it wasn't. I was a Christmas present for someone who shall remain nameless because he, she or it may read this. I am stoked about giving this present, too.
Which leads me to this being a very different Christmas. I am single. The longer you are with someone, the higher the budget is for exchanging gifts. And on year five, we were getting up there. This year, I have hardly anyone to buy for. I have a small family, I don't have a lot of close friends- more like a ton of acquaintances- so this year is very different. Cheaper, yes. As fun? I dunno. I don't remember what it's like to be single on Christmas actually, so we'll see. Maybe I will just buy myself an iPhone, finally!
I was looking for quotes about Nature vs. Nurture to include in my book because I thought it would make a nice touch between the dedication and acknowledgments, since that is really the underlying theme. In my web search, I was given a page full of Plato quotes-- none of which had to do with Nature vs. Nurture- but there were some that I never saw before, or at least forgot about. A lot of these hit home, or made me think of certain people in my life, or certain experiences I've been through. It's amazing to think how long ago these words were uttered, yet they still apply today. It shows that no matter what civilization or century- we're still human. Here are some of my favorite Plato quotes- some are witty, some are beautiful and most are just smart:
At the touch of love, everyone becomes a poet. -Plato (I like this because I have been in heated moments where I immediately felt like writing poetry, and I am being serious, not sarcastic.)
Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle. -Plato (And I always am! My philosophy sometimes is I may be the first person that was nice to someone, or the first person to smile at someone that day!)
He was a wise man who invented beer. - Plato (He really said that? Wow! Love this guy!)
Human behavior stems from three main sources: desire, emotion and knowledge. - Plato
Necessity: the mother of invention. - Plato (So, so true!)
There are two things a man should never be angry at, what he cannot control and what he can. - Plato (Again, love this one. I try to be laid back at all times. Why waste energy getting mad?!)
Music is moral law: it gives soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination, and charm and gaiety to life and to everything. - Plato (Ah, so true. So many friends I have that are so into music that would love this one.)
And my favorite:
A few weeks ago, on Black Friday, I headed to work and en route, stopped to get a McDonald's breakfast at the Luzerne location. When I pulled up to the order speaker, something was very different. There was no menu. None. There was just an empty, metal, red circle thing which I am guessing held the menu. I felt at a loss intially, so I just ordered a coffee with three creams and a hashbrown. I mean, I know what McDonald's carries, but without the menu, I felt a tad lost.
I figured the Luzerne McDonald's just chose a holiday weekend when less people would be eating Big Macs to change/upgrade the order board. Then, fast forward today. I wanted a fountain soda. Bad. So, I pulled into the Luzerne McDonald's and again, NO menu. It's been a little while; you'd think they'd have it replaced by now.
I seriously thought of asking into the speaker box, "Hey-- what do you guys have here?" You know, throw them off a bit. Pretend I've never been to the Golden Arches before!
What is so funny about this situation is that most Americans would do just fine without even looking at the menu at the McDonald's drive-thru. Seriously! And that should scare us. We've been groomed to know what McDonald's serves, from the Big Mac to even lesser knowns, like the Asian Chicken Salad. We know about the fries. We know about the shakes. We know about the pies. We don't need the menu board. Yet, it's a source of comfort. It's pictures can perhaps change one's mind. It can help the indecisive, decide.
But really- I wonder how long it takes to replace a menu board. There may be someone in Luzerne county who never ate at McDonald's, and may very well need it.
I meant to write this post a few weeks ago, and in fact, even took a picture of my dinner to use in the blog post. For months when folks drove on upper Coal Street past Wegman's, past the big superstore that is ruining America and toward the arena, they were greeted with the old Uno Pizza building be remodeled, with a sign that said, "new concept restaurant coming soon." The owners teased us-- no one knew what was being worked on inside the old pizza shop.
Then, it was announced that it was going to be Lucky's Sporthouse. The logo is pretty cool, so even though I do not care for sports, I was interested. Then, two of my friends were meeting there one Monday for a game (something with a ball or stick, I am not quite sure) and food and beer. When I walked into the place, I was pretty impressed. Huge, open, airy, lots of TVs.... a real, super nice place. The bar was HUGE. The bartenders certainly have a lot of room to move around, which I am sure makes their jobs a lot easier. Lucky's Sportshouse has tons of beers on tap, which is great. Not as many as Arena Bar & Grill, of course- but that's the Arena's speciality. Lucky's is all about providing sports fans a more upscale place to watch a game and get some good eats.
The menu is fantastic! There's the token bar food, of course. Everyone at the bar seemed to be ordering pizza- Lucky's Sportshouse had a good selection of speciality pizzas. I opted for a real dinner. Something really caught my eye- Grits and Shrimp. I know- grits. Reminds ya of My Cousin Vinny, right? This prompted me thinking- is this a chain? I was pretty sure Lucky's was a local place because in my travels around the US, I have never seen another Lucky's, but grits? In NEPA? So I asked our extremely nice bartender (his name is escaping me, dammit- I knew I should have posted this that night), the scoop. Turns out one of the owners worked in the South for a while and learned just what you could do with grits while there.
This grits and shrimp thing was one of the most unqiue things I've tasted. It was two grit and cheese cakes- I had only seen grits look like a lumpy side dish before- but here, they were formed into cakes, either deep friend or pan friend until they were golden and crispy. Then, between the two cakes was spinach. All around the tower were pieces of shrimp and cherry tomatoes in this amazing cream sauce. I could barely drink my beer because this was so filling- I couldn't finish all of it, but did my best. It was just incredible. I'd order it again, but definitely want to try the pizza.
So- to all in NEPA who are looking for somewhere new to try, check out Lucky's Sporthouse. I am not a sports fan but still had a blast. The place draws a good crowd, has a really, really nice staff and just an overall great atmosphere.
Did you ever re-read something you wrote a year or so ago? I used to post a lot of articles on Associated Content- an user-generated content site-- where I also earn recurring revenue each month. I was really, really active there for some time. Things got busy with work and school, so I haven't posted anything new in nearly a year. However, my stuff still gets read and commented on. Today, I received an e-mail notification that I had a new comment on my article, "How I Gave Myself an Inner-Makeover."
I had to go re-read it. In July 2007, right after I left one job for another, I really made some changes. And, I still feel great that these changes are still in my life. I still live by "It is What it is." I am no longer in that relationship, however (I guess I kept on with the negative energy removal...), and yes, I succumbed back into meat eating- but everything else is still the same. It's just neat to go back and read something that you pledged to yourself a long time ago, and it feels great to know that I kept up!
So that's my shiny, happy thought for the day. = ) What can you do to change YOUR life for the better? What can you get rid of that's bringing you down? Small changes can be HUGE!
I haven't worked in radio for some time- geez, about six or seven years. It feels like yesterday. But at any rate, I felt it was time that I could actually call a radio station to win something. A local station here is giving away a holiday party- you qualify a few times a day to win a prize and then get entered in a grand prize drawing, yada yada. So anyway, I heard the Santa sounder and wanted to dial the station to try to be the Nth caller. When I realized my Q has a QWERTY keypad, I was in trouble. There was no way I could figure out what numbers spelled out the radio station name in time to win. Haha!
The other day when my computer was going haywire at home, I went to campus. My password to get on Wilkes was reset and saved on my home computer. I never memorized it, so I had to call the HELP desk, which is 408-HELP. I couldn't dial by number, again. So I called the main Wilkes switchboard and asked to be transferred.
Just a silly observation.
I had a nice little trip to the mall last night, ending with a massage from the new Massage Store, ran by authentic Eastern practitioners. (That's my PC way of describing the place.) I sooo needed a massage from my long work days and long work nights on the memoir draft the past few weeks- my neck and shoulder and arms were tight as hell from all the time typing and in the computer chair. It felt pretty amazing and I slept like a rock.
I stopped at Macy's to pick up another pair of Donna Karan New York -DNKY- jeans because they fit me better than any other denim product, ever! Love DKNY. I wish I had found them sooner. I also found a cute shirt to wear for the First Annual Turkey Day Pub Crawl, a term for tonight's festivities my co-worker coined. Then, I found this cute, gray Hilfiger sweater on sale 30% off!! Score.
On the way out of Macy's, something really cute caught my eye- adorable bottles of perfume with anime-looking character shaped bottles. The brand is Harajuku Lovers. I am a sucker for packaging so I perused over to the counter. I sniffed all the samples and found that I liked Music the best. Then I remembered that last week I spritzed on the last spray of Flirtasious, my previous perfume. I was in need of something new and I was in front of a very cute bottle that contained a very nice smelling perfume. So, I grabbed a tiny bottle of Harajuku Lovers Music for $25.
Today, I Googled the perfume to get a picture for the blog post and found that this is Gwen Stefani's perfume! This makes me extra excited because she's hot and talented and kind of a girl crush I have. The perfume was inspired by Gwen's first trip to Tokoyo in the Harajuku section, where people have their own style and attitude. The website for the perfume says Harajuku stands for "anything goes, outrageous, layered and eye-catching...." Apparently, there will be a float for Harajuku at the Macy's Day Parade... another Macy's connection there... The website is super cute and fun but has a lot going on and slowed down my PC.
A few weeks ago, I spoke on a panel called Blog, Blog, Blog at the Nonprofit Summit 2008, sponsored in part by CDS Creative, the company ran by my new friend Catherine Shafer. The CEO of my company, Scott, an SEO expert from my company, Jeff (and fellow blogger), Catherine and I talked about all the advantages of blogging for nonprofits-- not to mention how easy it was. I had a great time! After the session, I was interviewed for the video presentation-- check it out. You must wait until the very end to see me, but there's a lot of good stuff there pertaining to managing nonprofits-- if you wish though, you can move the dial up to around 5:00 to see my interview and B-roll footage of Catherine and the Solid Cactus gang. Click on the video for the '08 summit.
http://www.cdscreative.com/cdscreativevideos.htm
A few months back, I posted some funny keywords that showed up in my Google Analytics account. To those unfamiliar with the e-commerce tool, Google Analytics pretty much tells you everything about your site- where people are coming from, etc. I have it on my site just for shits and giggles to see how much traffic I get and how far visitors are from- but what I find most entertaining is HOW people find the blog.
There are some expected keywords, like my name (people search for me for some reason)- various spellings of my name and blog name, too. I also must have blogged about a few well-searched topics like Office Space, Green M&Ms being an aphrodisiac (about 40 different versions of a search for that appeared), expired driver's license and bars (almost 100 searches for versions of that), fecal matter in ice (about 30 different keywords phrases on that), lots of Pocono and Wilkes-Barre businesses since I blog a lot about what I do and where I go... But here's some strange ones-- somehow my content must have looked good to the search engines when people searched for:
are you supposed to rotate in a tanning salon
beer internet publicity tattoo (My comment: WTF?)
cats for cakes
cool laundromat names
dive bar dancer blog
donna l. white naked (My comment: Thank goodness is wasn't my name with naked!!)
elmo drink trucks
hoochies guitar
health issue, i smell a mold smell everywhere, my house, my car, my office (My Comment- that's a long search term!)
how to use a pooper scooper (My comment- freaking hysterical)
my cat is eating too much
my boyfriend caught me smoking
nightmare cat eating body
screw the banks
status orgasmus
where did okie dokie come from
Maybe I'm a complete dork- but I love this stuff!
I subscribe to a few e-mail newsletters from Advertising Age magazine for career reasons- lots of great info on trends in traditional and new media. I learn a lot.
Today's e-mail subject line was: Parents Television Council's Worst Advertisers; CW's New Sunday; Macy's Windows; It's Ad Age's MediaWorks.
The article I would like to focus on is Parents Television Council Pillories GM and Nissan. PTI isn't griping about the content of ads, but specifically where companies are advertising.
I don't have children, and as a child, I was exposed to R-Rated movies and adult content from the get-go so maybe I just don't get the whole censorship thing, but I really dislike organizations like these. As Ad Age puts it, PTI is shaming companies who advertise on risque shows. They discredit GM for advertising on the "most shocking episode" of Family Guy and also, Nissan for helping "fund the bloodiest episode of Dexter."
So the F what.
Children do not buy cars. Adults do. Adults like me, who watch Family Guy. And guess what? I am a GM fan. I like to buy American. I kinda like the Pontiac Vibe, in fact. So therefore, isn't it smart that GM and these other companies are advertising WHERE THE TARGET DEMO watches?
Ads on child-safe programming should be for things they will beg their parents for, like dolls, video games, toys and Disney vacations. Keep the car ads on the shows the adults watch.
So what are the Top Ten Worst Companies, according to the conservative PTI? Loreal, Pepsi-Cola, GlaxoSmithKline, Reckitt Benkisser (I have no idea what that is), Target, Kohl's, Verizon Communications and Toyota. This strikes me as interesting because I made the switch from Coke to Pepsi a few years ago, I shop only at Target when going to discounters, love Kohl's and have a Verizon Phone. So you see, these companies effectively advertised to me by choosing the right medium for the message.
Guess what? People who like sex, drugs, rock and roll, violence and other risque stuff really do buy stuff, too. And judging from the morals of America today, that's an incredible amount of people. I'd say these companies are just doing some smart business. = )
Ahhhhh.
That's a sigh of relief that my memoir draft is complete for the purposes of submitting it to the MA in Creative Writing Office, to then be sent to an outside reader. Of course, I still have a long road ahead of me to polish and rewrite and edit until it's truly ready to be submitted for publication. The past two weeks, I kicked it into high gear and just cranked out work. My housework as fell to the wayside, and now that I am done, I have laundry, dishes, floors to clean.
At so many points the past few weeks I've been inspired to write a blog post, but then my mentor's words came into my head. I was a slacker. I lack self-discipline. I think a lot of writers do. But the thing is, with her pushing me and me ultimately finishing, I realize that I CAN write something that long. I CAN finish a book.
Now, I can get to work on all the other ideas I have now that I know I can do it. And since I have no looming deadline or due date, I can get back to my random blog posts and get back to doing some freelance writing.
I have to say, too, that I am so super proud of everyone in my program at Wilkes. On June 22, 2007 we met for the first time in Breiseth Hall at Wilkes- all eager writers with lots of ideas, but not all of sure where we wanted to focus our MA efforts, which genre we'd choose, which story idea we'd run with. Now, TODAY, we are all dropping off our final drafts. Wow. I cannot believe we've come this far. Many of us (hopefully I will be accepted) will be continuing on for one more year for the M.F.A in Creative Writing. I just want to be part of this community longer. I am not sure that I'd start a new project, as I may continue to polish my memoir... choices....
Last night, I received an e-mail notification that I had a new blog comment. It was from an anonymous reader who made the point that I now have an Internet connection at home, yet am blogging less. On the surface it doesn't make a hoot of sense. But, here's why.
I'm a slacker by nature, like a lot of creative people are. I realized that I was quite behind where I should be with my memoir draft- and with the help of my mentor I had to set a VERY aggressive deadline to get the draft done in time to graduate-- without having to take an extra semester. She made the comment that I blog a lot. If I had put this much effort each day onto my memoir, I would not be in this perilous situation. She's absolutely right. There are other, more personal reasons, I've been struggling with the memoir, but I wanted to check in and let the folks who read by blog regularly why I haven't had a new post in a while.
What's worse, is that as soon as I got my Internet connection- I was infected with something. I thought I fixed it- until today when the same thing happened. For that last hour and a half, I've rebooted six times. I think I am killing this computer in Office Space fax destruction styles. Or, if you watch family guy, the way Brian and Stewie destroyed the "Bird is the Word" record.
I keep the Internet closed, and Word up (haha, that sounded funny) to focus in my story. But the porn and loan and other advertisements still pop open. The only way to prevent this is to unplug my Internet. But in some cases, I needed research-- in going through the draft today, I wanted to add some stuff about George Carlin and "A Place for my Stuff" since that was a big part of my family's nomadic life. I wanted to get the wording just right, so I came to my blog where I had posted the video several months ago. That's when I realized that I no longer had flash. I tried to download it. Firefox wouldn't let me. Something must have happened when I wiped out all of my viruses and tried to increase my security settings. So, after spending an hour with help files, I got it to work. And that's how I came back to my blog- to see if the video was there. And then I decided, what the hell, let me take a break, vent and blog for a minute.
Please wish me well- I don't have much time to finish this. It won't by any means be publishable by next week, but it will have a beginning, middle and end and be able to get me to graduate. I have a lot of work to do to really finish this, but this is only the beginning.
I just updated my Facebook status to let the Facebook Kingdom know how happy I am that the map is getting filled up with blue states. So, I wrote:
"Donna is liking what she sees so far on the map that's getting colored in on CNN.com. Now if a small child could just come and eat that red crayon, it'd be swell!"
Then, just out of curiosity, I did some quick but thorough research and I found a little baby named Maddie who has her own website who is qualified for the job. This litle tyke will surely eat the red crayon so no more states get colored in with red this evening.
She only likes red. She will safely protect the periwinkle, the Cerulean, the royal blue, the sky blue, and the standard blue.
And here's a little tidbit of Binney and Smith trivia that has nothing to do with the 2008 presidential election but really everything to do with the election: BLUE IS THE MOST POPULAR SHADE of Crayola crayons. = )
A portion of Kingston Township in Pennsylvania is a whole lot cleaner, while a few co-workers and I are a little dirtier. I don't want to re-write the whole post, but you can read about the my company's Adpot-a-Roadway program here, and how a half-dozen of us volunteered the Saturday after Halloween to clean up some very strange litter. (Normal litter, too.)
However, what I could not share on my company blog was this photo. In a sheer moment of genius, I said to a pair of co-workers, "Holy crap, look at that big piece of trash. I've got that one boys!" So, I ran over and tried to bag it up. You can see it here, in Exhibit A:
Okay, so I didn't really steal the sign. Why would I incriminate myself anyway? But really, it's garbage. It's not even Red, White and Blue!
Consider this blog post a PSA. A lesson that the McCain/Palin signs don't belong in yards-- they belong in dumpsters.
Since I did not have Internet at home the past month, I was not privy to this lovely YouTube video that my coworker created from a collage of pictures from Solid Cactus E-Commerce Boot Camp, October 2008. For more information on upcoming Boot Camps, click here.
In the meantime, enjoy this little montage. I had to spread the word. And yes, I had fun as you can tell. = )
The lack of Internet saga got even better. I was notified Friday that my Internet was ready. I didn't have time to mess with it Friday since it was Halloween, so I got to it Saturday. I was so exctied! I thought all I had to do was plug in everything and install the software from Verizon. No signal. I went through all the trouble-shooting with no luck. I tried it on the three jacks in the house. No luck. So, I called tech support. I explained to her that I just moved and was patiently waiting for two weeks for this date, and told her that I was unable to connect, and that the DSL light was not staying static green, instead, just blinking.
After hearing that, her first question was, "When was the last time your Internet worked?"
Duh! No listening skills whatsover. Then, she tried to look up my account info. She kept saying she can't find me. I repeated to her how to spell my name:
T-A-L-A-R-I-C-O
"Okay. I-R-C-O she said back," to which I corrected her again twice.
"I still cannot find you. Are you sure you ordered service from Verizon?"
"Yes. The number on the screen says to call you."
"Okay, it's T-A-L-A-I-R-C-O, right?"
I wanted to kill myself. She FINALLY got it right.
Then, she proceed to ask all the dumb questions like if my power was on (yes) and if I plugged the filter between the wall jack and the modem.
"No. I am not an idiot. I can follow directions, and plus, there is a huge red sticker on the modem that says not to use a filter between the wall and the modem," I told her back. "The problem where is that the DSL is not present..."
Thank goodness the call with her didn't last terribly long, but I was on hold for quite a while to get over to their dispatch department. I got to another lady who was able to help me. Luckily, Verizon has technicians that come out on the weekends. So, she scheduled me for Sunday, which is today. Chuck from Verizon just left and I know have Internet at home! The problem was that the inside line was not connected to the outside or something like that. A big thank-you to him for taking care of things!
So, I can now do all the things I couldn't do for over a month. I am so overdue on all those Facebook requests, e-mails that I needed to reply to that I didn't want to from my phone (takes too long), playing online word games, getting reconnected to WebCT for my MA at Wilkes, doing work from home, blogging, and more. I've managed to do some blogging from wi-fi hotspots, but no much else.
And the funny thing is- I am so tired from last night that I really want to take a nap instead of play online....
I wrote about this as a chapter in my memoir, and I just had to dig through all my pics to find these. I am not supposed to have them. I took them from my mom years ago to show someone and never gave them back. Inadvertantly, I lost them in a sea of other pictures. A few weeks ago, I found them on a whim stuffed in a photo envelope of some concert photos from my radio days. Thank goodness I found them! Now I have electronic copies and maybe will give these back to my mom. Maybe.
Saturday, I hibernated all day until it was time to get ready for A and C's annual Halloween bash. I'll post some pics later of that. Fun times ensued as usual. I reigned champion at Beer Pong, and then the Flip Cup team I was on also rocked. My friends may have had a pole, too. And you know what that means for a drunk Donna. There may or may not be videos. 
So much changed in Centralia since I first started going- a lot more has been torn down, but there was still cool stuff to see. I just really enjoyed the weekend. I was completely exhausted by Monday! But what a great weekend- a haunted house, a few bars, a great party, a cool road trip and still some good sleep!
October 30th. That's the soonest I can get hook-up at home from Verizon. Ugh. Who do I have to blow to get service quicker? Or how much extra do I have to pay? I'd do either at this point. Seriously! I can't stand this wait. I'll be living there about seven weeks without phone or Internet. My cell just doesn't cut it.
I came up to Wegman's today to TRY to do some work/play online. I was up unusually early today. Around 8:23 to be exact. I hit the sack last night right after work. I had kind of a late night Thursday and was just dragging all day. I knew if I took a nap I wouldn't wake up again to go out later, so I just caught up on sleep-- about 14 hours of it. So, I woke up and made scrambled eggs with cheese and whole wheat Eggo waffles and set off to run some errands during part of the week I always miss-- before noon on a Saturday.
I was amazed at how many people are awake before noon on a Saturday. I mean, really.... I just assumed everyone was lazy like me. I headed to the bank first, where I had to wait in line-- again, hard to think this many people want to wake up early on a weekend to run errands. I got my security deposit back from my old place and am stoked about that. Hello new washer and dryer!
Next, I went to Spirit Halloween store by the Wyoming Valley Mall and was helped by two friendly gals who helped me try on various costumes. I settled on Viking Girl but will absolutely need tights for underneath. Anyone behind me in the bobbing for apples line will thank me for those tights. It's amazing how small Halloween costumes are. I wanted to be Wednesday from the Addams Family because I really liked the wig, but they only had the outfit in a small and I am most definitely not a small.
Then, I needed a new lamp for my nightstand- I've been wanting something Eastern-themed with a red shade and I knew TJ Maxx would have one. So, I headed up to TJ Maxx and lo and behold, they had EXACTLY what I pictured in my head. I have to remember to get an extension cord, too. I can't wait to light it up and read by it. I can't wait to hang the rest of my Asian stuff up and have a really cool bedroom.
While in the aisle I saw these cool minisculptures that were inspired by Leonardo Da Vinci's Virturvian Man. They are a combination of art and history and a tribute to the way the human body moves. I went to a great lecture a few years ago at Wilkes by Leonard Shlain (who I also got to interview!) and have been since marveld by the combo of art and science. At any rate, I got one of the human hand making the peace sign, very fitting for me. I got one of a human foot with a wing on it, no doubt referring to Icarus and finally one of a man huddled up in the fetal position with wings- I will have to look that one up. But I think they are really cool and different. I was trying to find a picture of them online, but I don't remember the name of the company, but I did Google "Virturvian Man Collection TJ Maxx" and a Washington Post shopping editorial came up, but the page will not load here at Wegman so I don't know if it is about these figurines, but I'll link to it anyway....
That brings me to here, Wegmans, where the Internet is unbelivably slow, just like when I was here last week. I am struggling to load pages in other windows right now. Last time I was here, I could not upload pics to my blog. So, for three weeks now people have not been able to share the rest of my San Fran pics or see my pics from Solid Cactus Boot Camp. This makes me sad. I may have to unplug and go to Panera Bread, but that place is way too small and always so loud and busy, and so is Dunkin Donuts. They just aren't the right atmospheres to be in to work. The cafe at Wegmans in Wilkes-Barre is huge and I have a private corner and access to a great coffee bar, sushi bar and more. And if you did not see the beer selection here- oh my goodness! I am happy they got the license to sell six packs. I am going to buy an assortment of beer when I leave - Harvest Moon by Blue Moon is out. Mmmm. So much good beer in the fall! And, I am surrounded by it all right now and I am getting thirsty!
Regarding the net, I asked for help, but the guy said there is nothing wrong. Wi-Fi works fast for me everywhere else so I don't really know what the problem is, but I am growing frustrated- for example, like last time I was here, it's going on 40-minutes for 20 pictures to be uploaded. It's insane. So, here I am. Still alive without the Internet at home, but it's like I am on life support. Barely breathing. Barely connected. I miss the Internet.
The title of this post is misleading, but that's really what headlines do. Not a real landmark, but the landmark I've been using for three weeks to find me new house. See, I live in the middle of a really long block. There's no real landmark to show you are getting close to my house. This will be difficult when I start inviting people over. So, I moved in the the middle unit of my buildling but one apartment in the house was still available. The "For Rent" sign was prominent in the year, easy to see from down the road.
Last night when I headed down my street, I totally passed out my own house because the "For Rent" sign was down. I had to turn around and go back. I guess I have a new neighbor.
Not one, but two phone companies have pissed me off this week. I like to be shiny and happy in my blog- usually. Today, while I sit on hold, AGAIN, I will vent. Mind you, not from my home computer because I STILL have no Internet at home.
Verizon Wireless Sucks The Big One:
I Don't Care How Many People Are Outside my Door With Gadgets
INCIDENT #1
We'll start with wireless. I recently had to change responsibility of my phone from the company into my name. Easy enough. Boom. Done. Okay, okay. I did have to wait for a while because the girl who serviced me at the counter at the Verizon Wireless location at the Wyoming Valley Mall in Wilkes-Barre had not done this before. Two weeks later, I am smack-dab in the middle of a company event where I needed to reach people. One second the phone is fine. The next, I get a message, "The phone you are calling from cannot be authenticated." WHAT?
Since I do not have landline at home yet, I dialed 611, which is really a great service to have- that you can reach customer service right away. I give them credit for that. I found out that the person who switched my account over left an employer or employee ID on my account-- the company phones were to be deactiviated on the 10th. Since my accounted APPEARED to be a company phone- even after I got my welcome letter about MY new plan. So, just like that, with the flip of a switch, my phone was shut off. They apologized and immediately turned me back on. So it was really less than 12 hours without phone- but since I have no landline and no Internet it was an eternity.
So over a stupid field, I missed out on meeting up with some clients because I had no phone to call or be called on.
INCIDENT #2
So I lost my charger. Left it somewhere and it was half-broken anyway. I went to the same Verizon store that messed up my account to purchase a home charger. I told the guy, "Home charger." He had to knock on the door to the office, swipe a card to gain access and go back to the stock room to get one. He peeked back out and said, "Home or car?" to which I replied, "Home." Speaking of home, I got home, opened my bag and saw that I got a CAR charger. Partially it's my fault- I didn't check the bag.
I went to the mall the next day with the intent to exchange the charger. The girl went in that same super-secure back room. She came back out and said, "Sorry. We don't have any of those." She told me to go to the Verizon store by Wal-Mart or wait until they were back in stock. I hate driving by Wal-Mart in Wilkes-Barre so I just walked away. I need to go somewhere soon though because I am borrowing a charger. Maybe I will just use the car one for now... but still... why can't they get ANYTHING right at this Verizon store in Wilkes-Barre.
THE LANDLINE AND INTERNET: Frontier Sucks, Too
Not the people. I talked to a really cool guy from Minnesota, a state where people think I am from for the way I pronounce certain words. But anyway, I called three weeks ago to transfer service. A year or so ago, Frontier Communications bought out our local phone company, Commonwealth (CTSI). After I explained my whole situation three weeks ago, the rep informed me that they do not handle service in 18074, which is less than five miles from 18708 where I was moving from. I was told to call a different office. But it gets better- I had to go through the whole queue again. I am busy and have limited time to do these menial tasks. I could not wait on hold any longer so I hung up. Since then, I was in San Fran, busy moving and busy with a work event.
Today was the day. I called again today, when I was connected with the nice Midwestern boy. I told him that I wanted to be transferred to the right person and told him what happened last time. He said, "Why would they send you to someone else. I can help with Frontier everywhere." I trusted the boy from the Viking state and carried on.
"Oh. I see what the other guy meant. I can't help you."
"See! I told you!" I couldn't get mad though. He was so nice. He explained the whole Frontier-buying-CTSI-but-TSI-gets-to-keep-some-local-jurisdiction. He put me on hold to come back with this, "Oh, Miss Donna. It gets better. The local Frontier you have to call closes at 6:00pm."
See- I knew that. But the main Frontier site says until 7:00 p.m. They really need to implement a map and you click on it to see which service center you need to call. I work in e-commerce- something like that can be done.
I hung up, but then I realized that I am still paying for service three weeks later at an abandoned apartment. I called back to cancel that service. Turns out, I still have the final bill. I have to pay that first before I cancel. So, I had to pay that via their phone service and then I have to call back to the OTHER number to get new service at the new place.
Mind you- when I signed up for service last time, I signed up online to avoid this PHONE CRAP. I was NEVER contacted even though I got an order confirmation e-mail. When I called, the lady laughed and said, "Oh yeah- you should never place an Internet order with us. That happens all the time with things getting lost."
I'm at a loss. I'm about to get two tin cans and a piece of string. Frontier needs 24/7 service to acommodate busy professionals who don't have 30-60 minutes in their day to deal with this.
So guess what. I am going for a beer. Thanks Verizon.. Thanks Frontier. Thanks for contributing to my drinking habit. Ugh!
--sorry for any typos- I am writing this irate and don't want to edit at the moment. (Again, the beer is calling!)
Not one, but two errors on Verizon's part.
After all that sleep, you can bet I was wide awake and hungry this morning. I made myself four Eggo Whole Wheat waffles and had some coffee and OJ and took a shower- which felt amazing. I headed to the mall to pick up the coat I ordered at B. Moss about three weeks ago. I have this cycle with B. Moss.The past three weeks have been unbelievably busy. I've moved. I was super sick. I went to San Fran for four days. I had a busy work week with our semi-annual Boot Camp. So, it really was the worst time EVER to move. I have a to-do list, a very long to-do list.
1. I still do not have internet at my new place. I've become a frequenter of the areas in Northeast PA that have free wi-fi. Sure I have internet at work, but I really can't use it for the personal things I need to, like watch porn. Not, just kidding. I mean, my blog, my Facebook and work in stuff for school. And in general, e-mail. The only link to the outside world when I am at home is my Q. But the mobile apps for the things I use suck. I really should have listened to my friends and got the iPhone when I needed to get a new cell phone the other week.
2. I still do not have a television at my new place. I made the concession in May when Dave and I split up to leave him the TV and then to NOT get a new one until I am done my memoir draft for the M.A. Turns out, I am quite lonely without a TV. Not that I ever watch it, but it's so quiet. Just for background noise, or news in the morning. Or to lure someone over to watch a movie... I will probably not get cable, but I think I need a TV. The TV stand is lonely. The DVDs and VHS tapes (yes, I have those) are lonely. And the living room just looks funny without one. Everyone is telling me to wait until Black Friday and thereafter to get one so I probably will. I trust the people who have more electronics than I.
# 1 and #2 make me feel like I am in the Stone Age. (But when I think about the Flintstones, even that prehistoric family and their neighbors had some kind of TV thing.) I get bored when I am at home, which leads to a lot more productivity at work because I work late. But when I am at home, I have nothing to do. I love to read, but sometimes I need a break. Sometimes I actually will call someone, but it feels so awkward talking on the phone these days.
3. I still do not have a washer and dryer in the new place. This means I must go to the laundromat. Ugh. I have only had to go once so far because I was between both places until last week. The good thing is that the one I must go to is a block from Hops and Barley's in Luzerne. Rather than sit there and watch the timers go, I went and put a load in the washer, went to Hops for dinner with two friends from work, went back to put then in the dryer, went back to Hops to have a few beers and then went back to the laundromat to fold the clothes. It made the chore less like a chore. Because of #1, I was dying for a laundromat with wi-fi. I will try to find one, but I highly doubt the ass-old laundromats would think of that, nor would the majority of the population who would need to use a laundromat would actually bring a laptop with them.
I would have Internet at home if it wasn't for the stupid hours Frontier has. They are only open until 6pm. I tried several times to call them on lunch, but I was on hold for 15 minutes once in the queue-- so I hung up. I rarely take a full lunch at work and I really don't want what little break I have to mean sitting there with the cell to my ear listening to crappy music. So, I get irritated and hang up. I usually work until 6-7pm, so by the time I leave work and try to call, I get the message that they are only available until 6 p.m. I forgot. Then, I did get a guy one day and after telling him everything-- he said, "Since you are coming from rural to city, you actually need to talk to someone else." I asked if I could be directly transferred. No. I had to dial back into a new number. Then, I was going away for a week and then last week was tied up with work events-- they told me I had to be on site to get the new phone and Internet hooked up-- well that just sucks. So, I decided not to call since I couldn't be available for two weeks anyway.
I really take being connected for granted now that I've been disconnectd for a while.
I am in love with San Francisco. I returned to Northeast PA late Friday night from the three-day trip to the Bay City. The Online Market World expo was great- we met lots of great people! After the day's work at the expo, we were able to check out some of the city. My favorite neighborhood, as you could probably guess, was Haight-Ashbury. We checked that out on Tuesday, our first day in town.
It feels weird writing this blog in this apartment. I feel like I am an undercover agent for some reason, stationed somewhere doing a survelliance. I am in a completey empty apartment with just a laptop and a phone. I have no internet or phone at the new place yet, so I left the laptop and my make-shift desk up here. Aside from a few odds and ends that I have to move, everything is in the new place. But, I was called out for no new blog post in a few days so I figured I should make an appearance. = )
I am exhausted! I didn't want to bother anyone to help with the move, so I've been moving myself little by little each day this week after work. Each day, I've made 2-3 trips to the new place. It helps that I already have stuff in storage so there wasn't much to move. I did realize how many books I actually had when I had to clear out my shelves and brings stacks to the car. I made about 9-10 trips in and out of the Shavertown apartment to my car, and then the same into the new Swoyersville apartment, which was worse because my office will be upstairs. That wore me out-- big time. As I handled all the books I realized that I have more of an obession with BUYING books than READING books. More than half were never read!
I did get some help last night. I rented a U-haul and Dave helped me move my furniture- it was great. One trip and we were done, although I am pretty weak so it could have gotten done faster if I had asked someone else with some muscles to help. We were done before 8:00 and started around 6ish. So, I am all settled in-- just need to make 1-2 more trips with some things that didn't make it yet. My current landlord has been awesome with me leaving. They are going to look into what is causing the musty smell, which will be great for the next tenant. She is wonderful and if she had another property, I would continue to rent from her. But, I am happy with my new place. Two bedrooms plus kind of a secret little room off the office. I will probably throw a futon in there. I am just a few blocks from my old place in Luzerne and less than a mile from my favorite watering hole. I could walk home from Hops andBarleys if I need to. I am no longer 1.5 miles from work, but I am still under four miles and with the lights it takes less than 10 minutes. My rather large sectional barely fit in the living room, so that's a downer, but otherwise, it's the perfect size for me.It's all carpeted, too whereas this place is tiled floor so my new place is a lot cozier. I have about a thousand birds that live in the trees outside my bedroom window, so I guess I have a fully-equipped alarm clock, too.
In other news, I have the early stages of bronchitis-- not sure if it is a direct result of the mold or if it just made me susceptible, but my doctor prescribed me the Z-pack to nip it in the butt before it really develops. I am on day three of the five day prescription and starting to feel better- but yesterday was by far the worst I was. I had a client tell me he felt sorry for me because I sounded horrible! Yeah- that bad. I was struggling to talk. You know it is bad when I broke my perfect attendance streak at work- over a year and four months without calling in. I guess the medicine was kicking in and working everything out, but it was a hell day in the office, worse than Tuesday when I stayed home. Today was better- still congested but I didn't go through a box of tissues like I did on Weds. Hopefully tomorrow it will be gone and I can go back to being my shiny, happy self. There is nothing I hate more than being congested and sounding funny when I talk. I'd honestly rather have a stomach flu and be barfing all day than sound this nasally.
I don't have many pet peeves. I am totally open to all people and beliefs. Except cults. I'm not a fan of cults. I'm not a fan of cults who try to recruit me.
Today when I opened my flimsy screen door, a pamphlet fell out. Today is Monday. The Jehovah's Witnesses aren't supposed to be out today, but maybe it was stuck in my door from Saturday. Thank goodness I wasn't home.
The pamphlet asked if I wanted to learn more about the bible, if I wanted help in understanding the bible and if I was willing to spend time each week learning to understand the bible. They will even come to my home if that is more comfortable for me. Sorry folks. All the brainwashed Jehovah's Witnesses do is ruin lives. I've had personal experiences with someone close to me whose family was involved in the nonsense and I saw where it got them. That's a whole book right there!
All I want delivered to my house is my newspaper, my mail, my internet mail orders and surprise deliveries from Ed McMahon-- not religious propaganda from the Jehovah's Witnesses.
I was exhausted after the fair. Friday was a long night at the bar and even though I slept in on Saturday, I spent most of the day on Saturday outside in the sun watching my friend play rugby at Kirby Park (which by the way was awesome!). Long days outside can take their toll on you. After the rugby game, I headed to the Bloomsburg Fair, which entailed lots of walking. So needless to say, by around 10 p.m. I was ready to crash. So ready to crash that I opted to go home than go out again. Plus, I was in a hoodie and sneakers and not dressed to go anywhere, so when we made it back to my one friend's house for our cars, I just headed home, stretching a bit for some morsels of energy as I walked to my car.
I got onto the Cross Valley and as the highway ended and turned into 309 going into Shavertown, I saw the orange diamonds along the road indicating a sobriety check-point ahead. I freaked out. I was completely sober. However, by this point my hair was thrown up in a messy pony tail and my eyes were probably red from being tired (and not taking my contacts out for a few days, too). I never went through a sobriety check-point before, which made me even more nervous because I didn't know what to do. Do I show my license and registration and insurance? Do I just drive and only stop if they stop me? When I am nervous, I can have a tendency to mess things up so I was so nervous that my being nervous would make me look guilty that I go more nervous. Whew. That was a mouthful, but does that make sense?
As I turned the bend, I saw lots of bright lights. Firetrucks and cop cars from all the Back Mountain municipalities. I was directed to pull up to the first officer. Just like they do at the fair, he gave me those parking motions to "move up" and then "stop." My nerves were going insane because I didn't know if I pulled up far enough. Would that make him think I was drunk? The officer went over to a truck that was on the shoulder before coming over to my car. As I waited for him, I tried to be as alert as possible and not appear nervous. I knew that I looked like I could have spent a rough night out because of how exhausted I appeared. I hoped that he would notice my attire, and that he wouldn't think I'd wear an eight-year old Wilkes University hoodie to a bar. I also hoped that he wouldn't think a girl like me would already be going home at only 10 p.m. and that surely if I was drunk, I wouldn't have come home until much later.
I had my window rolled down and because I need to hold things when I am nervous because I don't know what to do with my hands, I cupped my coffee from the fair (which was still warm after an hour drive) and just waited. He finally came to my window and asked plainly, "Are you drunk?"
Like that, I froze. Of course I wasn't, but I was caught off guard with the question. I thought he'd ask how I was first, or something like that. Since I paused, I was sure he thought I was guilty. Crap, I thought to myself. This is going well.
I replied, "Oh no- I am coming back from the fair." I held up my coffee for whatever it was worth.
"They don't serve beer at the fair?" he asked.
"No- those are called fireman's bazaars," I replied- only someone from NEPA would understand the bazaars so if you are reading this and not from NEPA, sorry.
So, the cop chuckled and said,"Yeah, everyone is coming back from the fair. You have a good night."
Whew. I was thankful that I was way too tired to go out because the check-point surely would have still been going on later. As I drove, I saw several cars with people pulled over on the shoulder- I am guessing the people who did not pass.
I think that I'd have been less nervous going through the sobriety check-point a little buzzed to be honest.
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