Archive: June, 2008

A few weeks ago I saw a position on my company's internal job site that I was really interested in so I decided to apply. I've gone through 3 interviews (one with the recruiter, one with the hiring manager, and one with the hiring manager's manager). I'm supposed to find something out this week, but the waiting game is killing me. Everytime I have a break from my classroom, I go back to my desk with the hopes of seeing my voicemail indicator light on. But nothing so far. And now I've spent too much time composing this email, so I better go and check again....

Today is the first day that I'm sitting outside on the back deck after dinner, reading through email, and browsing through a knitting book. It's made me realize one of the things that I really miss about my house - being outside. Sometimes I would eat dinner out in the backyard with the late sun lingering, but not so hot as to be uncomfortable. The other thing that I often did in the evenings was sit on my front porch. I had the most awesome porch swing (doubles as a bench in winter) and I used to swing on the porch in the evenings with a glass of wine and a good book. I don't know about other people, but I knew the names of all the neighbors around me and all of the kids. I'll never forget the first week I was in my house and some of the neighbor kids asked if it was okay if they used my driveway as a turnaround point for bike riding and referred to me as "ma'am." Despite the inner-city Cleveland location, my block had a homey feel to it where you'd say hello and greet the neighbor by name who was walking down to the corner store for a newspaper. I kinda miss that.

Now starts the challenge of finding a Florida hotel/resort to have our wedding. Once I nail that down, I'll be able to nail down a date, find a dress, blah, blah, blah...

It's stories like this that can make me cry for the love of helpless animals.

http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/06/15/dog.swept.away.ap/index.html?eref=rss_us

My two aunts and my cousin came to visit this weekend. One of my aunts is an avid knitter like I am so I had to take her to a few of the shops here in the Cleveland area. First we hit Studio Knit on Public Square in downtown Medina. It just so happens that yesterday was world wide knit in public day and we saw lots of people knitting on Public Square. Of course we had to stop and see all the projects on everyone's needles. Next we were off to Cornerstone Yarns in Richfield. I hadn't been to that one before so it was new to all of us. My other aunt is not a knitter, but likes to do needlepoint, so hopefully she wasn't too bored. My cousin was wise beyond his years in deciding to stay home with Jeff. Instead of listening to non-stop conversations about yarn, he was playing Portal and finished it in under 3 hours.

All in all, it was a relaxing time and a nice visit.

I'm excited to say that I won my tennis match and it was a sweep (our team won all five courts). It was nice to kick some skirt and I felt like my game was really on last night. Let's hope the winning streak continues!

Wow... I hope they don't bring back bell bottoms yet again...

http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/06/10/vinyl.records.ap/index.html?eref=rss_us

This past weekend was packed with activity. A trip to Orlando included quality Universal time, a visit with my dad and Helen Ann, another Blue Man Group performance, and meeting some of Jeff's family. I'll be honest - I was a bit nervous and didn't know what to expect. Everyone has some sort of family issues (me included!) and Jeff's definitely had his fair share. My goal for the visit was to act as a buffer and diffuse any tension. I think the visit went well, but I could tell it still stressed Jeff out quite a bit. I didn't get the chance to meet his brother Jason due to his work schedule, but there's always next visit.

I know how hard it is for Jeff when it comes to interacting with his family and I hope that I made it a little easier. Our family situations are so different and it's hard for me to comprehend sometimes, but I try my best to respect Jeff's feelings and not press the issue. I'd like to meet his dad someday, but only when he's ready.

Few things in my book are as reprehensibly stupid as driving while intoxicated. I'm horrified at the picture in the article.

http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/americas/06/02/mexico.bikers.ap/index.html?eref=rss_us

For all you techies out there.

http://www.cnn.com/2008/TECH/ptech/06/02/blueray.sales.ap/index.html?eref=rss_us

I just wasn't pleased with the way the yellow baby hat was knitting up so I decided to frog it. [For those unfamiliar with knitting - frogging is the term used when ripping out a project.] I was using an acrylic yarn and it doesn't seem soft enough to be worn on a baby's head. I was making it for my co-worker, but I've decided to wait until she has the baby. Once I know if it's a boy or a girl, I can knit something appropriate.

So to take the place of the hat, I've started a bookmark using some of the leftover yarn from my ISE scarf.