That was tough

Man, writing that three page (turned into four) paper took forever. I liked the global warming paper better. Why would my instructor want us to spend so much time on an assignment predicting the future? The impact of developing nations on the United States in 2025? What did he expect us to do? Did he actually want us to think???

Did you ever have a bunch of stuff to do in the span of a few days? Like, you planned to have so-and-so accomplished by the end of weekend? And, as the seconds/minutes/hours pass, you find justification to cancel or postpone certain tasks for another day? Ugh. That's what I've been doing mentally this entire weekend. I had so many things I wanted to get done with school this weekend and I just now finished just one item out of five. And now I'm going to shift to work stuff and have to put school on the backburner. I can justify everything not done because of being sick. But, man... why did I have to be all mucused and illin'? So frustrating. Okay, enough blog. On to work and we'll see where I'm at by 8pm.

Friday after Thanksgiving

I'm trying to be very careful with how I spend my money. That includes going to far less movies than I have in the past. So even though I'm very selective with what I see in the theater, I still chose to see Twilight the day after Thanksgiving. I committed myself to that cinematic choice when I read the book a couple of weeks ago. The verdict? It was bearable.

I've seen three interviews with Kristen Stewart, the actress who plays the main character, Bella. I expected more from her in the movie since she's such a pain in interviews. She's so stand-off-ish in her appearances with David Letterman, Meredith on the Today Show, and Chuck the Movie guy (online interview). I'm forgiving of such attitudes because I expect brilliance on the big screen. Wrong. She "passed" in the role... but her acting wasn't anything extraordinary.

Robert Pattinson, however, was very good as Edward Cullen. He looks the part and is a good actor... especially when comparing his mysteriously cool vampire ways to the very humble, shy, and odd person he is in real life. I feel sorry for him having a crush on his costar. I guess that's the off-screen story between he and Stewart - even though she has a boyfriend. Dude... you can do better than obsess over somebody who doesn't want anything to do with what comes with her stardom.

I think this Pattinson dude will have quite a career. And to think... my fiancee was smitten with him as Cedric Diggory in Harry Potter. He's come quite a long way...

One last post for the day

I've rearranged my links on the right side to reflect the pages I look at.

1. There are the "People I Know" who blog somewhat regularly.
2. There are the "People I Don't Know" who blog regularly, are great writers, and know how to put their reflections into writing. Obviously, I don't know them... but they're great reads.
3. "Other Links" will be non-personal sites that I like to visit.
4. The "Friends with Inactive Blogs" will be the people I know who have a blog but just don't write in it anymore. Hopefully, they'll return someday to share their lives, thoughts, and anything else of interest.

I hope to add to these links in the future. For now, it's a short list. Like the short bus that they always joke about. "They"

Dancing with some people who are somewhat famous

Derrick Hough just won Dancing With the Stars... and, oh yeah, I guess his partner won too. If I was Brooke Burke, I wouldn't put up with Derrick's hogging all the glory. Sheesh. You'd think the professional dancers go through some sort of orientation where they're told, "Now, remember, the show is about the celebrities, not you, okay. Derrick? Derrick? Are you listening to any of this?"

...

In my Strategic Management class, I'm in charge of compiling the PowerPoint slides for my group. We have two presentations next weeek. On Tuesday, half of us are presenting an article regarding management at Google, Whole Foods, and W.L. Gore. On Thursday, the other half is presenting an analysis of Nordstrom. The first presentation is done and done. But our group is still working on the Nordstrom project. One of our team members just can't seem to be able to contribute. She can't research, think things through, or put together bullet points to speak on.

I just don't understand. Sure, she's an ESL student... but that's not an acceptable excuse in our 400-level class. (No, she isn't Asian) I know other ESL students in the class who produce excellent work. My teammate can't produce average work. It's frustrating because the rest of my group focuses on their areas, do their job, and send me what they have. That's that. But, for me, I basically have to do the work for our weak link. I'm forced to do so because we're graded as a group by the class based on our actual presentation. I can't let our group go down in flames - so I put in the extra work to make us all look good.

At this point in the quarter, I'm not really too upset about this issue anymore. I'm just disappointed and saddened that others have to take on the burden of her deficiencies. And when I say "others", I mean "me".

Oh, well. At least we have a chance to grade each other based on peer reviews. We had similar presentations at the end of October. For that round, my team gave me 39 out of 42... my other teammates scored anywhere between 35-38. But the weak link? She scored 19! I was able to figure out her grade from an online spreadsheet of everyone's grades in the class. I'm glad my team scored her similarly to the way I graded. She got the lowest score in the entire class for the peer review. Ouch.

...

I'm watching KOMO news in the background. I had to rewind a live report that caught my attention. A reporter is on location reporting on school budget cuts:

Mary, good evening. School district officials have said they're facing a $24million budget surf... uh... budget... ummm... they need to make up that money for the 2009-2010 budget year...

That might not sound so funny but this is actually how it ended up sounding:

Mary, good evening. School district officials have said they're facing a $24million budget surf...

[long silence]

uh...

[another long silence]

budget... ummm...

[decides to give up on saying "budget surplus" and instead says]

they need to make up that money for the 2009-2010 budget year...

Solved!

I inherited someone's Rubik’s Cube a year ago when I moved into my office. I can make one side the same color and the adjacent sides have two rows of the same color. But I couldn't solve the final side. Thanks to the internet, I'm able to find a solution:

Rubik's Cube Solver

That’s just so amazing. Not matter the condition of your Rubik's Cube, you can solve the cube. What can’t you find on the internet?

Lame things...

I'm lame. I meant to text a friend that I wasn't going to make it to a church dinner. I remembered to text him at 2:30pm while driving. I didn't text him until after 8pm. Lame.

A friend of mine, who I haven't spoken to forever, said she would try a video chat with me at 7pm. I waited forty minutes but she never logged in. I text her to tell her I was logging off and wouldn't be online. It's after 10pm and she hasn't responded. She's lame.

Some friends came over for dinner last night and left around 10pm. That night was cutoff because one of them couldn't handle our cats. Her allergies were so bad. The other couple left because one of them was sleepy after waking up at 4am that morning. None of these people are lame. But I couldn't help but feel lame 'cause I very much looking forward to the evening and the night was cut so short. Lame.

American Music Awards are on right now. I like all kinds of music but man, the Jonas Brothers? Pussycat Dolls? Taylor Swift? So lame...

I've got all kinds of projects to work on for school but I'm being Super Procrastinator. I'm acting this way 'cause school is Super Lame. But, in reality, my work ethic is crappy. Hence, I'M lame.

Lame.

Thanksgiving Potluck

Company potluck today. Everyone made delicious dishes. I made a Chamorro side dish... Chicken Kelaguen: finely chopped chicken with onions, peppers, and lemon juice. There was a ton leftover... But I had actually made too much. That's what I tell myself to make me feel better that I have to take all the uneaten portion home.

I'm sleepy from not working on my report all night. Zzzzzzzzzzz...

Can't focus

Ugh. I just can't seem to focus right now. I need to finish one measly three-page paper for International Business and I can't get beyond the research phase. I just found a third article after a few hours of using every excuse to not work on this paper. I'm half sleepy, half not... I'm laughing to myself thinking, "Why must I always work under these conditions?" "These conditions" meaning slack-now-work-hard-later...

...

In the past couple of weeks, two different people sent me job openings which I felt I was unqualified for. One position was Accounting Manager for a software company... the other was Fiscal Coordinator for a local city government. I'm flattered that people think I'm qualified for these jobs - but I still need another year or so and a bit more exposure to these duties before I'm ready. I'm lacking on the budgeting and payroll areas. I've never had to deal with those topics. I'll have to push my boss to show me more so when I leave the nest, I'll be able to lay my own eggs. Or some better analogy than that...

Today at work...

When the oatmeal instructions say, "Microwave on HIGH 1 to 2 minutes," you should really go with the 1 minute option first. Otherwise, you'll end up spending ten minutes cleaning up your mess. That was diasterous. I should just stick with cold cereal.

...

I just passed an empty office and saw a dead body in it! The horror!!! Actually, it was a coworker of mine. Just napping on the floor. I'm all for mid-day naps but that scared the beejessez out of me. He needs to find some boxes to cover the window or something so people can't see him. Man, that freaked me out...

Six more drives to graduation....

I only have to drive to Lynnwood for six more nights and then I'll graduate. Two nights this week, one next week (thank you Turkey day), two during the first week of December, and then finals on December 9. I can see the end in sight... it's lookin so pretty!

Second "Mini" Project"

For my International Business class, I have to write on one of the following perspectives:

• The increasing price of imported oil will force companies to become more innovative in how they exploit international market opportunities and develop global partnerships.
• Developments in China, India, and other rapidly emerging economies will have significant positive or negative impacts on the U.S. economy.
• Technology and communication systems will continue to evolve around the real-time demands of the global marketplace.
• The means by which goods are transported globally will be substantially different from what they look like today.

I think I'll get a lot out of the second choice. I'll spend my lunch hour tomorrow looking up articles on this one. It's just a three-page report for only forty points (out of 400 points) but it takes me so much time researching and writing. I'm fairly sure I go overboard with prepping, writing, and proofing. Oh well... it's the only way I know how to write these things. I may have gotten more done this weekend if I hadn't read Twilight. But I'm not complaining... I thoroughly enjoyed reading that book yesterday.

Reading, reading, reading

It's almost 2:30am... Saturday night/Sunday morning. I woke up around 8:30am, Saturday morning and started reading. All I've done today is read, read, read. I think there were plans to go out shopping today. But that never happened. We just stayed home, watched some TV, but mostly read, read, read. I passed out on the couch a couple of times. I think I may have taken an hour and a half or two hour nap. The length of sleep doesn't matter... in the end, it's been a very lazy day. Just reading, eating, reading, TV, reading, eating, reading, relaxing, and reading. Well, now that I'm done reading, I can finally work on some school stuff tomorrow. Four different projects I need to get done by Thursday. It'll be good to get a good chunk of those assignments done on Sunday. Maybe I'll make time for some shopping. But no more reading. That's all done with. Good reading... very good reading. That was fun. ;)

Slow counters...

I'm sitting here, looking at the presidential election results online for the nation. Almost every states' precincts are close to 100% reported. But Washington state? It's two days after the election and 67% of Washington's precincts are reported. What the _____ ? We're the slowest in the country in reporting our results. Oregon is second to the last with 77% reported. Are the counters in the Northwest that slow? Thanks to Mr. Google, I was able to find out why. Here's are some excerpts I found from a 11/1/08 article in the Seattle Times ("Old equipment will slow King County vote tally"):

...King County — home to nearly one-third of the state's registered voters — expects to report only about 39 percent of its results by late Tuesday and early Wednesday.

...The county had hoped to use new, faster vote-counting machines. But a federal law requires that the U.S. Election Assistance Commission certify the machines before they can be used. That hasn't happened, a frustration that the state and county have been vocal about.

...the new machines should be ready to go by spring. In the meantime, the county is relying on its old machines, which were designed to count poll ballots, not mail ballots. Two-thirds of King County voters now vote by mail.

"We have made this work by nursing this equipment along and treating it very tenderly," said King County Elections Director Sherril Huff.

...They will continue tallying votes 16 hours a day for the week after Election Day to get 97 percent of the ballots counted by Nov. 11. Overseas and military ballots may take longer to count.

Many of the problems that slow down the department come from voters, Huff said. She urged voters not to write their names on ballots and to fill in the ovals completely using blue or black ink.

And there you have it. The problem isn't the state of Washington. The problem is good ol' King County... representing a third of the state's population. Hence, the number of precincts reported being 67%. Thank you Google for finding an answer to another one of my pressing questions... If I had read this article prior to the election, I wouldn't have written-in Jon Stewart for President...

El Presidente

I had been channel surfing since 6pm. From NBC to Fox News... from MSNBC to ABC... I've been looking for the channel who could offer me something interesting while waiting to find out who our new president would be in 2009. And what do you know? Who did I end up hearing the announcement from? Jon Stewart. One of the channels I was tuning into was Comedy Central. It happened so suddnely. The Daily Show and The Colbert Report combined forces to host a live special tonight. Once the 8pm polls closed on the west coast, the electoral votes from Washington, Oregon, and California went to the candidate leading in the presidential race. Jon Stewart interrupted Stephen Colbert to announce, "We have a new president elect... Barack Obama!!!"

That was just appropriate for me to hear it from Jon Stewart. I've become a political junkie the past few months. I've been turning into the Daily Show and SNL to get some relief from the political machine and all the crap that comes along with all this campaigning. I see nothing wrong with getting my news from shows with intelligent writers... able to poke fun at this craziness. I am so glad all the campaigning's over with. It's time for our elected officials to move forth and make the promised changes needed to recover our countries issues - the economy, the war in Iraq, healthcare, and anything & everything affecting our fellow Americans.

I can't wait to hear Obama make his acceptance speech. I'm not very religous but... here goes... God, please God, please help him along the way. He's got so much on his shoulders and, hopefully, he'll have the support of his cabinet, Congress, and all of America to put this country back on the right track.

And now... he speaks.