personal blog about various interests: fargo, north dakota, boston, finance and markets, travel, airlines and hotels, volunteering, nutrition, family and yoga and other things i like.
i'm feeling slightly anxious about today. i have planned to take a half day at work to take my little sister to the farm to pick strawberries. she has cancelled on me at least twice for this event - one time she had a birthday party to go to and another time she didn't know when she was graduating from 5th grade. i can't really fault her, she's 11 years old, but it is frustrating trying to coordinate with a young kid. typically, the big sister program tells big sisters to coordinate with the parents, but they have told me to plan things directly with my little. and there are ALWAYS complications: she forgets to call me back, her sister has her phone, and the new one from last night - her mom tells her she MUST bring her niece with us or she can't go. what am i supposed to do in that situation? i feel very much like a babysitter and thats not what this is supposed to be. i dont want to punish my little and say "well, then i guess we can't go." so now i'm taking my little and her 10 year old niece to the farm. this whole thing seems ridiculous and its stressing me out. i have to call the association and ask them to speak with the parents about bringing along a friend. sigh. there is actually a lot more going on, as well but i cant be bothered to write about it now. i just want to go to sleep and wake up and have no obligations. can i do that?? and i never have any time to get anything i need to get done. i need to have better time management and also not commit to so many things. i don't actually LIKE being gone / busy every evening. i would much prefer to veg. sigh.
after going to the farm today, which i am now dreading and did not want to dread, of course, i am going to play tennis with a friend. we have a date next week to play with this couple we met at our tennis classes 3 months ago. we have yet to play with them, and i really want to practice beforehand. i actually like playing tennis, so it should be fun. but it is another thing that is keeping me from all the other things i want to do. double sigh.
i feel whiny and i'm not trying to be. i'm going to end on a positive note. this is a video that is super cute.
eyeyeyeya. how do you spell that? hmmm... anyway, today is an interesting day. i will get really happy / excited about something and then... boom. the exact opposite. bleh. blah. blebity bleh blah.
soo... yesterday i went to donate blood. all was fine. i have not (unfortunately) been in europe for more than 5 years since 1996. i have not had a tattoo in the past 12 months. i have not had sex with a man who has had sex with a man who has had sex with a donkey in the past 12 month. i have not had a piercing or blood transfusion or been recently preganant. i am good to go. oh, i should preface this by saying that, in case i havent said it before, i have super special blood (as if you couldn't guess!). i am o negative, which is the universal donor (crappy for me i can only take o neg!) AND i have some sort of special thing in my blood that this woman at a blood bank once told me "ohhh you have such-and-such. that is REALLY important because we can only give blood with such-and-such in it to babies and burn victims." i felt really special. anyway, i looked that up and i think i am cmv negative. i think thats what it is. all y'all have the herps, but i dont. :) look it up.
so back to the story: i got an email saying the american red cross was super low on blood and urgently needed some. i have blood so i called up. i went to my appointment and went through all the motions - i clearly weigh more than 110 pounds, am of fine height and my iron levels were 12.8 which was decently high. i answered the questions on the computer (see above) and was sitting there waiting for someone to come back and put me on a bed. a new woman came over to me and asked what blood type i was. i said "o negative with the thing for babies." she suddenly got really happy "oh negative??! would you like to give a double??" i was happy to oblige. "sure." so she calls some dude over and is super excited. since i gave plasma as a part-time gig a few years ago, i know that having MORE of one person's blood is super lucrative. and then she sees my iron levels. 12.8. the hematacrit needed to be 13.3 for a double. she was so sad. i felt bad making her sad so i said "do you want me to come back later this week? i'm sure its just down today. i can make a new appointment." and she got super excited again! sooo... now i have an appointment FOR an actual double on friday. and i have to jack my iron up before then so after work yesterday i stopped at gnc to get some iron pills. i also stopped at the grocery to get some deli meat. turns out most deli meat is pork, which, since its not red meat, i'm not sure how much protein/iron is in it. so i got roast beef instead. i also picked up 3 oranges to eat with my roast beef (vitamin c helps the body absorb iron). oh, ALSO, yesterday was tuesday so we got our farm share. i now have TONS of leafy green veggies which is also high in iron. this morning i had an egg and an orange for breakfast. then i made a salad for lunch with leafy green lettuce, roast beef and onions (i didnt have red peppers). oh crap. do i have vitamin c to eat with the lunch?? crap. now i have to go find some. why is this important you ask? because the blood bank is worried about not having enough blood in time for the 4th of july weekend. i, singlehandedly, will save new england's blood supply. mwahahahahaha. i wish. but seriously, it seems important and i shall sacrafice my body for it. i might kill myself with iron overload, but gosh darnit! people will be living because of me!
tonight i'm having some peeps over to play ticket to ride. i LOVE board games. woo hoo. last night i went to a yoga class which was only mildly embarrassing. the instructor had us pair up with people, then do HANDSTANDS. not even HEADstands. HANDstands. it was super scary. i couldnt get up, so the instructor had to come over and help me and while she is holding my legs up she says "what are you afraid of?" and i said "falling on my head and breaking my neck!" which is true. but i did it. with help. but i did it. i should practice on my own. ha. like i'm gonna do that.
things are pretty serious in minot. (pronounced "my-not" not "min-aught") i haven't even paid as much attention in the past few days, but i have been collecting articles about the flood for the past week and figured i would post them here for you.
considering my love of all things cool, assymetrical, and bookshelves, you have to take one look at this and assume i love it. found here. i have no idea how you get in a bosun chair or go up, but it looks really cool
so my brother and i are always shocked that our youngest brother doesn't remember certain things from when we grew up. he IS 7 years younger than i (4 years from my other brother). so it makes sense that he doesn't remember 80s things. but we still make fun of him. and my other brother (who was born in 83) is kind of in both worlds - he knows my things AND he knows my brothers things. so they're all his things. so when i saw these videos, i thought "ohhh, the boys will love these!" and i hope they do.
it's significant that i mark my return with important news from the homeland. minot, my birth city, the birth city of my father and both brothers and much extended family, is under siege by mother nature. it is, in fact, worse than the flood in fargo this past year, or any other year. minot, which is the 4th or 5th largest city in north dakota, is also one of the hilliest. the eastern part of north dakota, where fargo is located, is flat flat flat. flatter than a pre-pubescants chest. bad joke. that wasn't mine. i think i saw that on a t-shirt one time. the west, where i was born, is hilly. or as hilly as you'll find in the prairie land. i lived in minot until i was 7 or 8 years old. i think 8. we moved when player was 1. we moved 5 hrs away to fargo and i grew up there, but minot is still a part of my blood. i still remember my first phone number and the addres. and if i am anywhere in minot, i can eventually figure out how to get to my old house. if you were to put me on ANY hill in minot, i could find my way home. i would go down the hill to the flat part of town (the middle) and then go east, near to out of town, and then head up past b&d grocery store. i'd drive up the hill and then take a right and find my house on the end of the street. my old house was on a hill, and presumably, out of danger at this moment. half of minot is not. there is a major river that runs through minot - the souris river. it comes down from canada, swoops into minot and then heads back up to canada. this same river, which means "mouse" in french, is overflooded in canada. all that water is rushing towards minot at this very moment. the low-lying levels of the city are being evacuated. tonight, on nbc nightly news with brian williams, they showed the city and the incoming destruction. they even interviewed the father of my best friend from when i was 5. they used to live across the street from me (and in a safe area) and moved when i was in junior high to the flat part of town. now they are packing up everything and heading out.
flooding is very sad. i've lived through 2 (kind of 3) major floods with no damage. for there to actually be damage and destruction to a place so near and dear to my heart is crazy. i can hardly comprehend.
at least two of my friends have texted me today to ask about minot. is all over the national news. my friend, chad, who shares the same birthday as me, twittered a link to these photos. the site is too crafty and i can't paste any pictures here for you.
in addition, here are some other articles about the destruction:
10,000 people were evacuated earlier this month and there wasn't much damage. but this has come back and come back quickly. now 11,000 people are told to leave. more info here.
before you ask... no one i know is in a low-lying area. everyone i know is on a hill and therefore safe. best wishes to everyone in minot.
i have been incommunicado for the past week because i have been practically without internet the whole time (slow internet does not count!). but i wanted to write a quick shout out to my father for being such a great dad on this special day.
this is recorded off of the tv, but here is my dad's favorite jb song:
i need advice. on a few different things. but now i can't remember them all. grr. ahh yes.
1) cleaning people. i hired a cleaning person last summer. he was recommended by a former co-worker of mine. she uses him and his company at both her apartment near mine and her home in the suburbs. so we hire him. he's kind of expensive, but i feel like reliable cleaning people in the city are expensive. he comes every other week and charges $80 for a full (?) house cleaning. they clean the bathroom, kitchen, wash the floors, change my sheets, and (for the most part) dust everything. it saves me a ton of time and i can't imagine trying to fit in time to clean the bathroom. so here is the thing. luiz came the thursday i got back from new york (june 2). i knew he was coming because he comes every other week, and left out new sheets for him to change my bed, left out a check, made sure to put my clothes away so that he could properly clean. all was well. i get home last thursday (june 9) and see this massive line in the carpet. i was like "huh? luiz shouldn't have been here" and then i realized that my roommate had just pushed a tv out to the curb and the lines i was seeing were tv lines. then i walked into my room and it had definitely been touched up. my sheets, which i hadn't left out, had been changed. i was slightly shocked. i went downstairs to talk to higgi. "was luiz here today?" "he sure was!" [although i'm sure higgi likes having a cleaning person, he HATES when he comes home on those thursdays and has to rearrange the kitchen, the bookshelves, etc because the cleaning people have moved things.] "he wasn't supposed to come this week. he came last week." i was really annoyed. my first thought was someone screwed up. and i would have to pay. and that annoyed me. THEN, conspiracy theory me, i started thinking "did he PURPOSELY come on an off-week so that i would have to pay him??" [quick background story: we have been unconvinced for quite a while that this cleaning service is the best. the bathtub never gets FULLY white on the textured bottom. sometimes pictures are not dusted (which is easy to tell because we live in a brick apartment which means there is DUST and brick particles EVERYWHERE. so we have been wondering, for a long time, on how to get a different cleaning person. but neither of us want to fire him.] so i called luiz to ask why they had come. he didn't answer. i left a message and then, while in the midst of writing an email, he called back. of course then i felt uncomfortable being confrontational, so i didn't answer and sent the email. here is what i sent:
Hi Luiz - I just left you a message and thought it might be easier to reach you via email. It appears you and your crew stopped by today to clean. I'm always happy to see a clean apartment when I get home from work, but I don't think that this week was the correct week for you to be here. I know that you were here last week - is that what your records show? As nice as it is to have a clean apartment, this extra cleaning is not in my budget and I will not be able to pay you for it.
Please let me know if you view things differently. I can have a check for you next week to resume our scheduled bi-weekly cleaning. Feel free to call to discuss, as well.
so he responded with this:
Hi Danielle, Sorry,my wife didi a mistake,i see you next week,dont woorie about this clean,is free....i will be out from next week to end of july,any problem with the cleaning please be free to contact by e-mail.thanks lc
(he's portugese)
so now i feel badly. i was thinking that i should maybe cut the difference and leave a check this week for $120 (instead of $160). what do you think?
2) dry cleaning. i'm trying super hard to be green. and i have to dry clean my duvet cover. i haven't dry cleaned in the past year and its time. that, AND i need to clean a suit jacket that got red hair conditioner on it while in my suitcase (i hope it comes out!!). the dry cleaning down the street is expensive - the french cleaners. BUT i'm not sure its super green. there is a place that DOES use environmentally friendly practices here in boston, but its not at all in my neighborhood. i KIND OF go by this area (beacon hill) on my way to work, so i would have to get off the bus early, walk up a hill, drop it off, and then walk to work OR get the bus the rest of the way... its super inconvenient. BUT its more green. here is their website. is it WORTH the extra hassle? i NEVER dry clean anything. this will be my first time dry cleaning in the past year... i can't decide, but need to soon because i took my duvet cover off and need to clean it...
[song from tears for fears because 1) i'm still young despite being in a new decade and 2) i need advice]
today is the first day of his 4th decade on this planet... my fabulous roommate is celebrating his 30th birthday today. happy birthday higgi! if you are a frequent reader of this site of ramblings, you know that higgi and i have been on some crazy adventures and one might argue that we should perhaps not be allowed to live together. :) yet, we do, and its fantastic! in honor of his birthday, i am going to post some videos of songs that make me think of him.
so today was pride. which, i'm not sure if i have to specify that that includes a parade, which was "set up" right in front of our apartment. i wasn't feeling super well this morning, thanks mostly to the fact that i went out with kc last night and had a few drinks. so, after running unsuccessful errands, i took a nap. when kc showed up at 1145 they woke me up and i got out of bed. it was one of those naps where you are in such a deep sleep you can hardly move; once you do move, you have sheets imprinted into your body and oops! you've drooled all over your pillow. one of THOSE naps. so i got up and went outside. it was pouring rain. there were ... idk... 6 or so? other people outside (aside from kc, higgi and i) all sitting on our stoop. we had a big plastic bin in our entry way full of ice and freixenet (bubbly) and pitchers of orange juice to make mimosas. i had a drink, then two and so on... kc and i sat under the mini little overhang at the top of the stairs. we also had umbrellas. directly across the street from us was a white pickup truck pulling a flatbed blaring music and full of nearly-naked people. there were beautiful, buff, shaved men wearing teeny white shorts and a black arm band. the girls (of whom there were 15 or so and only 5 men) were all totally in shape and wearing the same teeny white shorts with black tank tops, the same arm band, and WHITE wigs with a black headband. everyone was dancing, and i presume drinking. they had these MASSIVE balloons - multicolored, of course, for pride - and since the parade hadn't started they were just having fun not really doing anything. NO ONE on our stoop minded that they were there for 20 min in front of us. it was a float for 42 below, which i guess is a vodka company. i will DEF be buying their vodka. if i can remember it. the parade lasted about an hour and it stopped raining as hard about half-way through. we all went inside (the 9? 10? of us) and had some more drinks and put on britney. it was a super fun day.
if you remember, i was supposed to take my little to the farm in western mass to pick strawberries. i called her on thursday to talk about what time i would pick her up and she asked if she could bring a friend. i told her i didn't think that was such a great idea (bcs 1) we're not supposed to have people with us all the time and 2) last time we met we brought her friend along), so she asked if we could reschedule for sunday. i said we could but i had to get back early because it was my roommates birthday party. she was also going to a friends house for the whole weekend for a birthday party. we ended up just rescheduling for 2 weeks from now. i was slightly disappointed, but in the end it worked out for me so i could go to pride, so i wasn't horribly upset. i, technically, have the right (as the big sister) to force her to keep plans we've made, but i don't really want to be mean about it. if she has other plans with her other friends, its not a huge deal to me.
oh, just for prosperity, i should mention what i did friday night. i went with kc to the ICA, a museum in boston. there was an event for members and we are all members so we went. it was open bar, which really meant 2 drink tickets per person, and then there was a film about women art revolution. the film was interesting, but not fabulous. it was a documentary about - you guessed it - women in art. the point of the movie was "name 3 women artists." go ahead. try. i couldn't do it either. its about the fact that the art world is dominated by unforgiving men who don't care about women. after the movie, we went to a new bar - forget the name but its where ivy used to be - and it was kind of a dud. the decor was awesome, but the clientele was weird and the music was bumming. could've been better. took a taxi and went home.
anyway, in honor of pride, i thought i would paste this flash mob. enjoy.
i awoke this morning before my alarm went off and heard the pounding of rain on our patio. i was elated! and, if you know anything about me, you know i
hate
the
rain.
except when i hear i'm only happy when it rains. but thats besides the point.
i was happy to hear the rain because 1) its effing hot out. its like 80+ and going to get to 100 today. and 2) hopefully my softball game will be rained out. don't get me wrong, i have been looking forward to embarrassing myself on the pitch, but they want me to play catcher and (as i said before) its going to be 100 degress today. thats hot. i mean, thats really really hot. i might die of exhaustion. or dehydration. or my fair skin might just burn and fall off. none of this is a pleasant picture. its 10;35 and no word on if the game is canceled. since i've written this, it probably means it wont be. damn it.
so last night i went to a meditation class and did not meditate. it really sucked! i could not quiet my mind. it was horrible. i felt disappointed with myself. shamed. and a waste of money! oh, and i was late for it - google maps told me the wrong place to go. that was annoying. i might have been the youngest person there, too. or wait. i am 30 now. i keep forgetting that. there might have been some people younger than me there. but i look so young i'm sure i LOOKED like i was the youngest. :)
this weekend will be busy for me. i think thats partially why i was so mentally stuffed up last night. i kept thinking "after this, i'll do this and don't forget to do that..." tonight is the softball game which would be FABULOUS if it was canceled (again, it wont be). presuming i survive the heat and balls flying at my face tonight, i plan to work tomorrow. after that i am going to the ICA for an event - open bar and some movie. should be fun. i'm missing a fundraiser at my house which i feel guilty about. but since i dont know anyone there... saturday is pride parade, which i am actually 100% bummed about missing BUT i planned to take my little to western mass to pick strawberries. and i can't reschedule for next weekend because i will be in montreal. tomorrow is roomie's birthday, so i can't take her then. i'm feeling ULTRA guilty about missing pride. ugh. no plans sat night but i wanted to play ticket to ride. can two people play? i wonder...
sun i have tennis and a workout class and i might attempt yoga. at the very least i have to prepare for higgi's birthday dinner and the week ahead. next week will be BORDEL because it will be super busy at work. sigh. so much going on! and i just want to relax and have a fun summer.
oops. started this a long time ago. need to post. just got an email from american red cross. they need o negative. i am. just made an appointment. go out and donate, people! give your blood away. does a body good.
i am in quite a good mood today. i am not sure how long it will stay, though. i think work might get a bit hectic and there is a ton that i want to get done. that will not make me pleased. i was supposed to go to a zumba class for big sisters tonight, but i had to cancel because... dum dum dum.... turns out my farm share starts today! woo hoo! i will try to take a picture of it so ya'll can see. thats actually not the only reason - it starts too early and i won't be able to leave work in time. i think i might take a diff class instead. we'll see. i also need to go home and fold my laundry before my roommate freaks out about it. eek! i got some study materials for a test i'm taking this fall. starting mid-july i take a class once a week. i'm gonna really need to buckle down and study for this. i would hate to fail. i still need to decide about an mba, as well. should i get one? not right now, i guess. but soon probably. or eventually, rather. it seems so funny to be a student again, though. there are a ton of books i want to read, as well. i'm reading right now about being mindful and developing self-compassion. its tough. AND its taking me a long time to read because the book keeps telling me to stop reading and sit and think for like 15 min. !!! wasted time, i tell you.
here are my current goals: *set up a study plan *book trip to europe in fall *plan fun things to do for siblings when in town in sept *plan travel for the summer *finish at least 3 books *watch less tv *organize my checkbook and pay bills *blog about birthdays - which were all awesome!! (for memory sake since its been so long by now!) *bring in handbags to be cleaned/repaired, etc *bring in shoes to be repaired *actually cook my vegetables from the farm share *get better at tennis *start oil painting? *get into voiceovers? *travel to another state (only 4 left!! or is it 5?)
so much to do and so little time! what are your goals?
so my mom sent this to me last week and i thought it was quite clever. the subject of the email was that it was a medicine cabinet that i should get. i was curious because i dont really need a new medicine cabinet nor have i talked to my mom about her getting one. then i saw this and realized why it is a medicine cabinet.
after these pictures there was a list of ailments and prescriptions such as... disease wine daily does allergies pinot noir 1 glass hypertension sancerre 3-4 glasses
if you need specific scripts, let me know and i can pass them on. :)
my brother will be upset with me because i haven't spent any time this weekend rambling, like i thought i would. i DID do laundry, see two movies, play board games with friends, go to a workout class, play tennis and start a really good book. but no rambling like i would've thought. sigh. never enough time in the day!
instead, i'll post this video that my uncle sent me. it made me smile and wish i was creative like this (once again).
so this is super cute. i'm pretty sure my first kiss was with a boy named derek while i was at daycare in minot. that would be kindergarten/first grade time frame. but its not like my parents were there videotaping it...
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