aaand i'm back!

and i'm in a whole new state of mind called simplicity. i've been reading blogs such as Becoming Minimalist, Small Notebook, SimpleOrganic, and Zen Habits (and, of course, all of the other similarly-minded blogs branching off from those listed). so i've changed the look of this blog back to its minimalistic state (let's see how long this lasts), and i'm moving into a more purposeful stage of life -- one where i don't get bogged down in the stress of things that don't matter. anxiety is so 2010. it's a new year!

and i've discovered a new favorite website. similar to MLIA, but better! HERE it is!

and i just saw Inception for the first time last night. so well done! and here is my favorite DBPB.com post so far:

Dear Martin Luther King, Jr.,

I have a dream within a dream within a dream within a dream... Now what?

Sincerely,

Leonardo DiCaprio

NaNoWriMo!

today is november 1. november is National Novel Writing Month. this year, i am finally taking the plunge to participate in writing my very own 50,000-word novel. i only decided this about 4 days ago, so i'm really flying by the seat of my pants here. i have a vague idea about plot. i'm writing from the first person because that's what i'm comfortable doing (feels more natural, if you can believe it), and i'm taking my inspiration from this blog, The Office, Outsourced, notalwaysright.com, and mylifeisaverage.com. i think this is going to be fun. i got a decent start this morning (887 words) before work, and i'm really, really antsy to finish up the day with about 850 more (daily goal to get 50,000 words in 30 days is 1,667).

"Today, I was in my car and we passed a hobo with a sign that said "WILL EAT FOR FOOD!". I was hopelessly confused. MLIA"

The Bug Situation

today, thursday, october 15, 2009, will forever be known as "the day of the bug situation." here's what happened:

a bug fell from above onto a customer service rep's shoulder this morning. our office, like most offices in the united states, are mostly female. so, this rep was a female, and she did was most females would do in her situation: she freaked out. apparently, dead bugs fall out of the vent over her head all the time. so her neighbor suggested that there might be dead bugs in her hair. so she threw off her headset and shook out her hair. with the permission of our manager, she called the vice president of the company to investigate. they brought out a ladder, and there was some discussion about moving the vent by switching the ceiling tiles around... why do i never have a camera at times like these??

so, the vice president informed our front desk person that maintance would be stopping by to check out "the bug situation."

cue the maintenance guys, who brought in a ladder of their own and pulled out a little flashlight to check out the scene of the crime.

i cannot believe i left my camera at home!

anyway, we were discussing solutions to this epidemic. this is what we came up with:

• hang an upside down umbrella (ella, ella) from the ceiling to catch the intruders. but that's bad luck, so the idea was quickly rejected.
• hang a bedsheet to catch the dead bugs before they can contaminate our rep and her stuff. i like this idea because i had a rainbow brite canopy bed when i was young that i absolutely loved. it made me feel like a princess, and all those bright colors must have stimulated my brain to make me into the smart young woman i am today. so, yes, i very much support this plan, especially if the sheet has a pretty pattern on it.
• we're open to suggestions if anybody can think of a better idea.

word of the day: ungently

MLIA of the day: Sunday, at church, during the children's sermon the Pastor asked "What do you have to do to go to heaven?" Immediately one kid answers "Die." Everyone burst out laughing for the next five minutes. Greatest children's sermon ever. MLIA

random question of the day: someone brought in red velvet cake with white icing to celebrate the phillies' win on monday. why does red velvet cake make me think of a bleeding armadillo? 10 points to whoever answers this because it's going to drive me crazy until i can remember. it must be from a movie or tv show or book or something...

Jay-Z, the snake, and the office premiere

it was a busy enough day that i spent most of my day answering calls like a rep. it was nostalgic and a lot less intense than being the supervisor. i liked it. interesting things happen when you talk to nearly 50 people in a day.

today, i asked a caller for their first name. she said it was Jay-Z. i didn't even bother to clarify. i typed "Jay-Z" into my call log and let it make my morning. MLIA

random office situation: there was a snake found in the office. it was a little garden snake, and we took it outside at once, but i've been trying to figure out how it even got in the building, let alone into one of the perimeter offices... here is our theory, as told by trish:

it was originally in a tree, minding its own business, when a strong wind blew it onto the ceiling of our building. it found a hole, slithered into the darkness, and found its way into the building's heating and cooling system. when it found a little patch of light in the floor, it tried to go toward the light but ended up falling through the vent in the ceiling of one of the offices, hid under the desk until the next day, and when all the lights were on, it tried to escape. but the escape attempt was thwarted by the tall blonde lady who threw it out the back door and back into the woods - i mean, the evolve environment.

ok, so it wasn't a bat, and it didn't bite anybody and give them rabies, but it's darn close enough! too bad i didn't get a picture.

office premiere countdown: 3 hours! w00t!