It's been awhile...

...and not like the Staind song.*
Today, I am feeling office-y. I have been reading The Working Girl blog backwards, since I just started it and they've been writing for something like a year already. Plus I have more time than I know what to do with sitting here at work. Yesterday, I passed the time writing three obnoxiously long letters to my soldier boy in The Iraq**, and completely neglected my little blog. So today, when I went to start another letter to The Fiance, I figured I would direct my rage blackout at my blog. (Sorry in advance.)
So I know it's my job and all, so maybe that's why, but the sound of the phone ringing makes me want to scream and bang pots on my head or something. Maybe it's not so much the sound of the ringing, but the dread of what new idiot is going to be on the other end, both

• telling me that normally, he talks to Dude No. 1, but he's out on Vacay, so he told me to call Dude No. 2
• asking me about TPS reports and OSHPD documents, like I know what the f*ck he's yammering on about.

I told you, dude, the guy you want is out of the office. What do you want from me? I finally forwarded the moron to Out-Of-Office Guy's cell phone. I guess that's cool, considering he's out for a business trip, but it's not like he has all his regular stuff with him, so if the guy calling is a client with important questions, O.O.O. Guy is gonna look like an idiot if he doesn't know it off the top of his head. Anyways, that is my little rant of the day.

I'm gonna go maybe do some work...ugh.

More later (hopefully).

--Tiger Lily

*Mad props to Staind on their hit, but it's so overplayed. Yuck. I much prefer "Zoe Jane" now.
**Oh, Miss Teen South Carolina...

Coolest. Site. Ever.

Polyvore.com

Seriously, the most fun I've had at work in ages. And now I only have 22 minutes to go--I think I spent like half an hour making this "set". My account is username Smile28, so look me up.
This is my "Beach 2008" set, because it's pretty much what I wear every Saturday at the beach, with a few minor changes depending. There is a cute blue top that is long enough to wear as a dress, so I've been favoring that lately. The jeans come in handy for that stupid Marine layer though...
Anyways, go on the site, waste endless amounts of time, dream about the clothes you can't afford. :)
--Tiger Lily

Sickness in July

Whatever happened to *Christmas* in July? The only good thing about the whole of winter (I hate cold, it's not like it snows in SoCal, swim season gets hardest, and everyone gets sick) celebrated in the middle of the summer...

Well, I don't know where it went, but I definitely got the worst characteristic of that evil season in my favorite season--the head cold. And not just any head cold, but The Head Cold From Hell. Not enough to be strep, but just enough to be complete agony. A 101-degree fever for the first days, paired with body aches and a horrendous sore throat, followed by fatigue, more sore throat, and giant, painful lymph nodes.

So I'm finally back at work today (with Maven Moments galore), but my neck still hurts, my head swims periodically, and I'm pretty exhausted.

But, I soldier on...And Elmo helps me through it! How CUTE are these pictures of him with David Bekham, Heidi Klum, & Jenny McCarthy?!?!

This popbytes article has more on the 39th season of Sesame Street starting August 11th.

RIP

This morning, Randy Pausch, the author of "The Last Lecture", died after a long battle with Pancreatic cancer. The New York Times article is here. To watch the full original lecture or purchase a copy of the book, you can visit his website.

Randy was such an inspiring voice, and I really loved his book. I have passed it on to some of my family members, and they have, in turn, passed it on to others. Maybe his message wasn't anything new, but if it can catch people's attention in some new packaging, it's worth all the hype. This is not like Heath Ledger's "Oscar-worthy" performance in The Dark Knight--this is some good stuff.

Watch it! Read it!

Linkies!

For serious? "Isn't Canada part of the United States?" Good Lord.

Mom, be thankful I'm not THIS liberal.

HOORAY! I love Amy Adams.

I would SMACK a b*tch.

Oh NO!! Not the double cheeseburger! Mickey and I will be devastated!

...but then what we end up spending on food, we can save on THIS.

My aunt and uncle should have had this wedding cake.

Don't Papercuts Just SUCK?

What's worse than the papercut is the office healing process. I mean, if I was just bumming-it-up like last summer, I could leave my wound uncovered, open the fresh air and oxygen of the outside world, all the better to heal it with.
Unfortch, I am trapped in this dungeon they call "a job" and in order to remain professional and appear groomed, I have to hide my poor little finger under a moist--grossest word ever, bee tee dub--band-aid while it festers and swells as my sweat prunes my fingertip. Yuck.
Not to mention, the band-aid glue is so strong, it pulled off some of my fingernail polish. I've never had the nicest fingernails in the world, and I peel a lot of the polish off anyways in my infinite boredom, but that's one less thing I need from that asshole of a band-aid.

On a much lighter note, I may have been craving burritos earlier, but Cam was not having it, so we went to In-N-Out instead. Although the burrito would have been divine, I was so hungry by noon that the always-wonderful No. 1, no onions, no tomatos, with a Dr. Pepper and a chocolate shake was quite satisfying. I may not have to eat dinner.

While as In-N-Out, I maven-ed it up, when I told Cameron about an article I'd read in the newest issue of Details magazine (James McAvoy on the cover*) about "That Guy". You know, "That Guy"...the guy who wears the freakin' Bluetooth--constantly. With the laws in California now, this finger-pointing no longer applies to those behind a steering wheel. But when you get out to buy your high-maintenance girlfriend her monthly cotton supply at your local Target at 3pm on a Sunday: take that thing out of your ear--you do not look cool. In other gadget-related "that guys," I was reading one of my new favorite blogs, called Working Girl**, and she referred to one guy's cellular device as his "Crackberry"--I'm totally using that. The "That Guy" we saw today in In-N-Out was "That Preppy Guy With The Huge Tribal Tattoo". His seersucker shorts were a size too small and his ankle-to-knee tribal was sooooo nineties. ("Good times for us, bad times for fashion.")

Earlier today, I was also the receiver of mavenly advice. My sister was showing me how to upload pictures here at work, and if you are in your regular "My Computer" or "Windows Explorer", select an image (or multiple) and right-click, choose "Resize Image", and then follow the directions. (If you want the original picture to be edited, not a copy made, click "Advanced" and check the box.) We aren't sure what editions of Windows have this feature, but explore yours. See what happens.

My last Maven for the day is the Black Mamba/Venom energy drink. Stay away if you aren't a big fan of "that energy drink taste", but it is growing me, so I like it. It's not an Amp (my fave), but it'll do. (And I might survive my last 2 and a half hours of work.)

Happy Thursday everybody!
Tiger Lily

P.S. I am obsessed with the "Labels" feature of Blogger...can you tell?

*Hell-OH! The only reason I bought the damn thing! He's so fine...Don't tell my fiance ;)
**see the "Chivalry Is Dead (But Only In The Mornings)" entry from today

Mavens and Marines

The reason I've begun this blog is because, through work-related boredom, I have released my inner maven, as defined by Malcolm Gladwell in The Tipping Point: "those who are intense gatherers of information and impressions, and so are often the first to pick up on new or nascent trends" (Wikipedia). As a maven, I highly recommend the book. I think I have plagued my family and friends with incessant emails for long enough, so I will put all my wonderful information here, give the URL out, and they can check it at their leisure.*

The other motivation for this blog is that I tend to be an emotional nutcase, and with my fiance and usual-sounding-board deployed to Iraq, I hope to relieve some of my current emotional constipation--yuck--with a little bit-o-bloggin', if you will.
And yes, a rambler, I am, as there a third and fourth, yet marginal set of motivations. One is to add my own cent or two to the Celebrity Blogosphere--I am a huge fan of Trent and Pink Is The New Blog. The second is to randomly and awkwardly gush about my two-years-in-the-future wedding plans...as my future MIL would say, "You're such a dork." Yes, I know.

I want to at least pretend like I'm working for a little while, so I will write up my next entry sometime this afternoon, or if I find anything of interest in the next hour or so...I can't wait til lunch. I'm starving. I just read an old blog of my friend Corey's about how they closed his favorite Mexican food place by his house, and now I am majorly craving a bean and cheese burrito (since I opted for the not-nearly-as-satisfying chicken enchiladas last night at Valerios).

Hooray! I actually have work on my desk now!

--Tiger Lily

*I will be adding asterisks a lot, I think, because I have millions of random off-tangent thoughts, and footnotes are required to elaborate...I love the phrase, "at one's leisure", especially from one of my favorite movies, Pride & Prejudice (the Keira Knightley/2005/film version, not the Colin Firth/1995/TV mini-series version), in which Donald Sutherland's character, Mr. Bennett, says in his beautiful, relaxed British accent, "If any young men come for Mary or Kitty, send them in, for I am quite at leisure."...I love the way the British say that last word...Why do Americans always butcher words and make them sound like awful noises--leeeeeesh-urrr...ew.