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.
its that time again, folks! yes, time for me to get my butt in gear and get back to rambling. but what i really mean is: time to summarize north dakota in the news!!
so this became news a few weeks ago - grand forks olive garden's review. wait. thats not right. the review of olive garden in grand forks. or grand forks olive garden. yeah, that works. i have a headache. anyway, this was the best summary, in my part. i mean opinion. what is wrong with my brain????? aggghhh!!! anyway, this was really big - a client in ohio emailed me to say that this woman writer was his aunt's best friend or something like that. how crazy is that??
this article is about the housing boom in nodak and compares it to living in large cities.
housing in nodak is big! cnbc says it is the best market in the country. check it out here.
i had a weird trip to nola a few months ago and met a guy who can only be described as a d-bag. he made fun of me being from north dakota after knowing him for like 2 minutes. then he said "its too bad you're from there - no one ever talks about that state." au contraire, monsieur le douche. au contraire. just check out this article that talks about how great nodak is numbers-wise. so there.
i want to be asleep in one minute. considering i'm sitting on the couch in my room in my clothes with all lights and the tv on tells me that that is not going to happen. damn. 11:00pm. its definitely not going to happen.
sigh... ok, so i'm tired, as well. i got 5 hours of sleep last night, flew to ohio, had meetings all day, went to tea with my coworkers neighbor, then had dinner with a bunch of people and am now in my hotel (sweet suite) room. i need to go to bed. but first! i finished another painting!
what do you think?
my coworker picked this picture out of my north dakota book and so i painted it for her. i gave it to her at work yesterday and (now that i'm not in town), she IMed this to me today:
JL [4:27 PM]:
i cannot tell you have many people have stopped to comment on your painting
its sunday afternoon - LEAST FAVORITE MOMENT OF THE WEEK. i am at the point in my day where i have not gotten anything done i want to (write cards, blogs, do expense reports, PAINT, exercise, yoga, etc) and have just a few hours left... what do i do?? where do i start? i've decided i want to paint. so i am going to set that up and for inspiration, i just watched this video (can't imbed - stupid). i love the thing! it reminds me of that game my best friend growing up, erin had. the cryptograph or spiralograph or something. i never had one (woe is me) so i would have to play it when at her house. do you know what i'm talking about?? the thing where you add colors and it makes a drawing basically just like the turntables did. for the turntables - i think the main question is: what RECORDS were they playing???
yes, i'm going to paint. and listen to audioslave. or france de gresien. gresien. hmm. something like htat. which one do you prefer?
or should i do some good ol' the xx?
Wednesday, March 21, 2012
i'm feeling really exhausted. i was at work from 8 am until 9pm tonight. AND the one MAIN thing i needed to do, i didnt get to... something kind of major came up at work and i spent 90% of my day dealing with that and then had to stay late to finish everything else i was supposed to do. the main project will take so much time, i did all the little things after work (while at work). it was such an emotionally exhausting day. i had a nice salad for dinner, which was good. i wanted to paint tonight but... no way jose. cannot do it. way too tired. i was also going to do yoga and walk on the treadmill. nope. didn't get to do those things either.
ok chopped is over so i'm going to bed.
first, this article caught my attention. how come we only hear bad things in the news about catholics and mulims? you never hear anything bad about hindus or jews or buddhists. food for thougtht...
i literally could not remember if i had a post for today or not. weird. a ramble. anyway, a-rambling we will go.
last weekend i did something bad. good, but bad. i invested in some art. i know, i know. silly of me to do since i can now just MAKE my own art, but i can't photograph and photographs are what i bought (the price is the bad part - dont ask). i can't wait to have a place where i can hang up all my art. i'm starting to really amass a collection. i got this picture that my aunt gave me framed (professional framed - paid quite a bit of money for it!) and got some fargo pics framed (which i posted earlier and am too lazy to go back and put a link in here of those pictures). and i got this really great idea of some art that i'm going to start painting one of these days when i get my act together...
anyway, last weekend, i went to this art and design fair called ad 20/21 or something like that. i mostly went to get ideas for my own art and, of course, found the french booth and started speaking to the photographer in french and then went and spent my life savings on some pictures. not at all what i planned! so this dude, alain, has spent the last 7 years taking pictures of the word "hotel" across 20 different countries and amassed 20,000+ photos. he told me that he takes pictures of things that anyone can see, but people choose not to. so he might take a picture of the shadow of the word hotel or the word hotel on the pavement or in the reflection of a window. on his site he explains how the word hotel is disappearing because with the advent of internet, people have less reason to need to SEE the word "hotel" when they are looking for their actual hotel. and you use gps to find the place, you aren't wandering on the street looking up for the sign that says "hotel." its an easy concept and anyone could do it. but no one else has.
so here are the two photos that i bought:
the first one is of a placard on a hotel that is so shiny (polished) that you can see the reflection of the street behind. i love it because it is typicmment francais! (typical french) the french sign, the french car, the clothes the french people are wearing, the portfolio the dude is carrying. love it. love it love it love it.
the second one i love because the word "hotel" isn't straight and its in a bright color AND... as i asked the photographer "ou est le dix-sept?" "where is the 17??" does this hotel just not have a room 17?? its so curious to me! that is of a hotel in nice, france.
what do you think of my new purchases? what other pictures do you like from his site?
not sure if i'd like to stay there, but i think its so fun! wait. i WOULD like to stay there, but then i would flip the bed spread so the white side was on the colorful side and vice versa.
this next thing is super creative, but i'm pretty sure i would not do it.
i can't sleep. that is making me blue. (ha! reference to the song i'm listening to right now. love that)
i hate not being able to sleep. its part new bed, part new noises, part being alone, probably part the bubbly i had earlier tonight, and part restless leg syndrome. AGHHHHHH. restless leg syndrome is the WORST. its the evening (morning?) after st patricks day (night?) and i can hear the fake irish in the streets yelling. i imagine they dont realize there are people trying to sleep. i'm at the point where my eyes are watering they want to be asleep so badly. AND i really wish i could pull my feet up towards my knee - like in the front. kind of like what you would do with a barbie. remember she had those bendy legs and you would move them because it was weird and kind of mean? i feel like if i could do that and give myself bendy legs i wouldnt have restless leg syndrome. and i have that need to stretch. oh i got new pajamas today. they're super cute. preparing for my hawaii trip. woot woot! i can't believe i just typed that. i dont really get what it means. am i meant to say it? do people really pronounce the t's at the end? i feel like it should be woop woop instead. is that very 90s of me? perhaps. i am getting old. and i have restless leg syndrome. i wonder what i look like right now.
yeah, that is not pretty. i just did photo booth. eek.
ugh! why is no one up to keep me company? og right. most people dont have restless leg syndrome!! so stupid. maybe i'll put on a movie on my laptiop. i cant really see the screen very well. not sure what i'm typing.
they're back!!! and its totally fate!! i can't even believe it. what a ... twist of fate. omgosh. my psychic told me i was on the line between fate and destiny or something like that. is this what he meant?? i think he was talking about my professional life, though. maybe i'm meant to be a garbage groupie!! aghh!!
so tonight i stayed at work until after 8pm. i got a TON done, but not the main thing that i was supposed to do. which was fine, i decided to reward my hard work for the week with some sushi and then work from home on the project i keep putting off. so i take the t (which i NEVER DO) to get sushi. i get home and have my drinks (glass of wine, glass of water, and some tea - i have to drink in multiples) and sushi while watching 30 rock. then i settle in to work on my project and i ordered some more painting supplies instead. oops! so i have some tv shows on in the background. i wasn't REALLY watching. so then i look to go through my dvr and get rid of things and i see shirley manson (LOVE HER) on chelsea lately - it was just starting. normally, i just ff to the celeb and see if he or she is interesting. tonight, i thought "hmm... shirley must be in some new tv show" and figured i would watch the whole thing in real time to see what was up. i NEVER do this. and she announces a new album!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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and obviously there has to be a tour to that. so i zip over to the garbage website and find they're coming to boston in may! its like FOR MY BIRTHDAY (practically)! and i even have someone to go with!! i just now have to get tickets. what time do tickets usually go on sale? 9am? 10am? eek. i HAVE to get these. who knows how long they'll tour... maybe i should go to nyc and see them. and then toronto. and where else could i go?? this is awesome. this is 100% making my night! my week!
in honor of that, i am posting some of my favorite garbage videos here.
oh, and maybe this is some sort of link to their new single
not sure what that does. ha.
omgosh. you can type garbage with just one hand. i love that.
right ok. so i'm starting to feel a little better. took massive amounts of drugs last night so i could sleep. almost couldnt GET to sleep - tons of helicopters and sirens (boston is on fire, btw - or was, last night, that is) and just general awakeness. then i got to sleep and slept well. am forcing myself to go to work because i have a kazillion meetings today. dinner with kc tonight and then home to bed for some more r&r.
its official. i'm sick. its 346am. i woke up at 257 and couldnt sleep because i was stuffed up. i took a claritin d and have been doing stuff online since then. UGH. i even purposely went to bed shortly after 9 last night because this happened the night before, as well. DOUBLE UGH. i am
NOT
PLEASED
i have a board meeting tues night, so that will 1) force me to go to work and 2) force me to stay late at work since i'm hosting the meeting! TRIPLE UGH. i just want to sleep...
mad men is back (soon)! which means that hamm is out in force promoting it. woo hoo!
also, on sunday i saw kids with friends. wait. no. friends with kids. ha! ... anyone else see it? it was really good. def recommend for my whole family and all my friends.
grr. stupid spring ahead! i woke up this morning and looked at the tv clock "10:17" and i was like, "really?? i slept THAT long?? eh. whatever." and then i looked at the radio clock (which is not automatic) and it said "9:24." crap. i forgot we were springing ahead. knowing that we did just annoyed me. i dont know why. i'm also missing the 1030 yoga class on sundays that i like to go to. but thats probably a good idea because i havent done yoga in SO LONG that i am soo out of practice. i need to get back into it. i'll try and make the 330 class, which is also considerably easier.
also on deck for today: painting. i didnt get any done when i was in sacramento, despite lugging ALL of my paints and 4 canvases out there. frustrating. i was going to paint last night, but i popped in the wedding singer, to have on in the background, and i started to sketch what i would be painting and, of course, i just ended up watching the whole movie. its actually really good! much better than the 100th best comedy ever. check this link out. i might agree with holy grail, but the rest of the order is MESSED UP. i have, however, seen about 85 of those movies. wow. thats kind of a lot. pretty impressive, i'd say.
what else is going on? yesterday i went to see a movie - good deeds. it was really good! i think everyone should go see it. it is a tyler perry movie, but its a nice, heartwarming story. that sounds lame. just go see it. actually, this would be a good test. family: go see it and tell me if you don't like it. if you don't, then i will know you truly do have bad taste in movies. [ha ha, this is a reference to christmas where i dragged them to two critically-acclaimed movies and they didnt like either - i didnt like one, but the other one was really good]
oh! so weird... last night i dreamt that james woods was serving me food and doing cartwheels. and then he and i were speaking french. but he lived in milan. it was so weird. no one cool lives in milan. lake como or bust.
maybe today i'll do an expense report and a call report or two. that would be great if i could do that for work. get ahead of the game for this week. i am going to be leaving "on time" a lot this week - i have a lot of volunteer things that i need to do... i have a meeting one night to learn how to set up a lemonade stand with my little. then i have a board meeting another night. i should look into donating again, as well. i dont think i did it at all in february. eek. not good.
i'm feeling antsy lately. restless, even. and i have been traveling. not enough? other things i want to do? i'm not really sure whats going on, but i feel like i have to book trips to dozens of places: msp, pdx, nyc. why am i feeling so antsy?? i dont know... thoughts? maybe i should go to dc, too.
i also need a date to hawaii. who wants to go with me? all seriousness here.
i'm looking for some picture or video to end this dry ramble. can't really find anything. oh! my brother homie got me into draw something. its really fun! anyone else on it?
ok, here's a video. i like this song a lot. t he video is a bit too transformy for me:
ok, so i can't figure out how to get those video links to work. annoying. i'll try again later tonight maybe.
thsi week has been horrible. so many weird things going on. i can't even write about everything. and scary stuff, too. ugh. i feel so discombobulated! i just want more CLARITY. just to KNOW THE FUTURE. ugh.
anyway, have a ton of things going on in the next month or so... i can hardly think straight. arrrghaoice;aoien;awilfenao;ioweifnlawfuin!~
also, i need help deciding. because of my new ultra-cool status on delta, i get to choose an extra amenity. here are my options: Did you know that your 2012 status qualifies you to select one of the following Medallion Choice Benefits:
Four Systemwide Upgrade Certificates: redeem for travel on Delta flights worldwide and on the day of departure. Fare restrictions apply.
Four Delta Sky Club® One-Day Passes: use them for up to one year from the date of issue.
20,000 Bonus Miles: add them to your mileage balance and get ready for your next Award trip. Or, donate miles to a SkyWish charity of your choice.
Retail/Travel Gift Card: choose a $200 Gift Card from Tiffany & Co. or a $200 Delta travel voucher.
Silver Medallion Status for a Companion of Your Choice: select a companion who will receive Silver Medallion status — includes Unlimited Complimentary Upgrades, priority check-in and boarding and more -- through February 28, 2013. But hurry so your companion can enjoy Medallion status for as long as possible.
so what should i choose? i guess maybe the upgrade certifs? i dont really know anyone who flies enough for the silver medallion to be worthwhile. the sky club one-day passes, i dont use that often because i often fly so early they arent even open. the gift card - nope. don't care. so i guess its between the upgrade certifs and the bonus miles... thoughts?
i cant even begin to explain how bizarre this week has been so far. i am totally off my game. i have been running from this to that with no time in between to do what i have been planning on doing! case in point: i was giong to explain what happened to me last weekend in today's ramble. of course, no time for that!
so, instead, i will provide these really really interesting and helpful healthy videos.
i'm in a jimmy buffett state of mind lately. i know why, but i can't tell YOU why. so there.
i spent my whole flight from bos to msp listening to oldies, but goodies from jimmy - one particular barber (love those picky hair stylists!), hot water (favorite!), volcano (2nd favorite!!), coconut telegraph, etc.
and my father sent me this video so its def on my mind. we need to go to key west. i've never been. maybe thats what we do for xmas next year...??
i'm not loving the song - a bit too contrifried for me, but i like the pictures! looks like a great place from where to paint!
so much to say! i'm on a flight from bos to msp (final destination: smf). am tired but couldn't sleep so i decided to quit faking it like all the other people around me and just wake up. didn't get much sleep last night. was at kc's house for a party. meant to leave around 10, but actually had some great convos and didn't leave until after 11pm. got home by 1130 and then had the presence of mind to cut up my veggies that i won't get to eat since i am, all of a sudden (kinda), heading back to cali-forn-i-a. now i just have to have the same presence of mind to use them when i get back. :)
what's new? lots has happened. and lots of weird, random things.
i was witness to a robbery the other night. it was actually really really freaky. i was leaving cvs at downtown crossing (on winter street) and there was this massive commotion at the dingy video game store. there was an explosion of people all of a sudden. 4 guys came rushing out of the store - one kid slipped (it was raining) and FELL and ROLLED on the ground up to my feet. the other three kids ran the other way. the owner chased them. the kid that fell grabbed a cardboard box and took off running toward the park. i wanted to chase after him, but i really thought someone might've had a gun. the owner/manager dude came back and pushed some guy back in the store and then locked it. it was really bizarre. i was with a coworker and we were both startled and had racing hearts after that. not fun.
something else weird happened that day at work (can't remember what now) and my coworker was like "be careful tonight! its such an odd night!" and i had to go to my art class from 745-945. i took the bus, which i wouldn't normally have done. it was our last class and we presented our artwork. everyone was talking about how much they got from the class, which, considering i had never painted before, i guess i did, too, but i mostly feel like there is SO MUCH more for me to learn and experiment with. but i dont really have the luxury of experimenting too much these days. want to work on that.
another weird thing happened this morning. first, i went to bed around midnight. woke up a little after 2 and had to go to the bathroom. i did that right as my roommate was coming home. i put the tv on because i prefer to have noise when i'm going to sleep. i'm not sure if i ever fell back asleep. but i also didn't feel awake the whole time. so i must've. anyway, my alarm went off at 434, so i got up and took a quick shower. here's the weird part: i called a taxi - the same taxi company i ALWAYS call - and NO ONE ANSWERED. how bizarre is that?? i hung up and called back a few minutes later. i'm sure the number didn't change in my phone. it was quite frustrating and creepy (cab companies don't just go out of business, do they??) so i had to look up a new company online, which took quite a bit of time. this made me nervous i would be late for my flight. then, i get to the airport and why are the security lines SUPER LONG?? i went through priority, so didn't have to stand in the ID checking line, but did have to wait in the security line.
THEN there was a woman with a baby in front of me. actually, there was one woman in front of me and the woman with the baby was in front of her. she was on her own, so the woman in front of me helped her put her luggage on the security roller thingie. (thingy?) we all go through security, and the woman with the baby went through faster because she didn't have to do the cancer-giver thing. i get to the other side and her suitcase was there. but she wasn't. i told security that the luggage was for a woman with a baby. we looked around and couldn't find her. i gathered my stuff and headed to my gate. around the corner is the woman with the baby. i said "ma'am, do you want your suitcase?" and she looked shocked. she really forgot about it. so i went back and got it for her. she was really appreciative, but as i was walking away, i couldn't help conspiracy theorizing... maybe she PURPOSEFULLY left it there! what if she is a terrorist and a really good actress?? i mean, i doubt it, but i hate that our government has made me think about things like that.
ugh. at this moment i am not pleased to be awake.
[listening to treat her like a lady by jb on the volcano cd. this might actually be one of my favorite songs by him, but i never realized that until now. love the change in tempo around the 3min mark]
[so i wasn't going to comment on that video and then i realized maybe you think i think the video is cool? i mean, i guess it is, but i'm happy about the fact that the video is out there for people - a new resource.]
the next video i love because of its message and also because my brother is the one who shared it with me!
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