maybe you need to take 2 week vacations

my team was fantastic while i was gone- really they were, but there's still so much to do. plus with everything i had to do to prepare, and the fact that i was answering emails the whole time i was gone, it didn't really feel like a vacation.

i'm wondering if 2 weeks is the actual threshold of taking time off and being able to enjoy it, and not coming back to such a pile of stuff that you have to overwork yourself to catch up?

maybe the trick is to go somewhere that you can't get cell service? like fiji or the amazon or the antarctic or a cruise.

so the trick now is to save up a) enough PTO to take two weeks off and b) enough money to go somewhere remote for two weeks.

H-Pot and the Half Blood Prince (Spoilers)

very good.  very, very good.

my only complaints

1. i think even this one was too long to make in to just one movie.  

2. the problem for me is that i kind of sit there watching going, "okay are they going to show this part? how are they going to handle this?"  i actually think it will be better the second time because i know what they've left in, changed, and tossed.

3. for those of us who know that snape and dumbledore had a deal, the ending isn't as shocking.  for those in the theater who haven't read book seven yet, i bet the end of the movie was a lot better.  but for those of us (90%) who have, we know the score and therefore were making sure it all fell in place with what we know happens next.  and they put little nods and clues in there to items from book seven.  v. well done.

it was so beautifully filmed, funny, sweet, everything.  i'm so glad that not a single one of these movies has disappointed yet.  i know everyone has their favorite(s) but you can't really say that any of them has been bad.  

for a greener tomorrow

i've decided one thing for a greener tomorrow.  i am finally giving up buying actual CDs.  i have resisted this one for so, so long, for many, many reasons.  a) keeps graphic designers in business designing CD booklets. b) keeps physical CD stores in business= jobs. c) if anything ever happens to your computer you just re-rip the CD.

but i've finally decided that i don't actually need the CD, and downloading it from iTunes will be just the same.  when i have money again i'm investing in a backup drive for the "if something happens to your computer" factor.  now i've eliminated the piece of plastic from ever ending up in the landfill, the production waste, and the transportation waste from getting it to the store, and the waste from me driving there to pick it up. of course, i'm down to buying maybe 6 CDs a year, and more individual songs off iTunes, so its really only saving 6 pieces of plastic a year.

i look at everything in terms of it's (perceived) environmental footprint these days. i've been doing it for awhile, not just since the LEED test.  if i'm standing at the store and there are two products in front of me that are fairly similar, i pick the one with less packaging to it.  i like this one scent of method soap, but the one store i can actually find it at only carries it in the single containers, not in the big refill bags, so i don't buy it.  i buy the big refill bags (less plastic waste going to the landfill.)

the only reason you'll ever see me throw away a bottle or a can is because out here i know that homeless people go through every single garbage can there is to collect them for the bottle deposits. (btw- what a great way to make sure everything gets recycled.)

i see a lot of crap at stores that i think should be illegal to even be made, because it's cheap crap with a 2 week lifespan, and will just end up in the landfill.  i had to buy a new iron tonight, and i wanted to get an expensive one that i know will last awhile, but unfortunately i couldn't swing it.  so i ended up with a cheap one that i know will break in a year (see reason i was buying a new iron- another item going to the landfill.)

sometimes it gets tiring to think through every purchase this way, but at least someone does.

you don't even want to hear my thoughts on landfills.

damnit

believe me, i'd like to use a much harsher word above.

i just found a lump in my breast.  of course it's probably nothing.  but i'm all of the sudden extremely scared, and i can't sleep.

and of course, even if it does turn out to be nothing, i now have to deal with a series of doctors appointments i'd rather not have to go through.

the funny thing is i've always thought, "how would anyone ever be able to feel a lump?" well, i now know.  you can feel it when there's something the size of a pea in there. 

f*&k

Brilliant idea for a book

Or at least I think so.

"the germaphobes guide to being clean"

People are always amused by my cleaning quirks. Like the fact I take
clorox wipes to the laundry basket in between clean and dirty loads.
I could do an entire chapter just on doing laundry, and every
germaphobes wort nightmare- the laundromat.

I think if this book was written cleverly enough, it could be really
entertaining.

I think I would have to survey other germaphobes to get some more
cleaning tips- because I might not have enough quirks.

Chapters I've already thought of:
-the kitchen
-laundry
-pets

I'm going to put some thought into this.

i win!

i passed.  not with as high of a score as i would have liked, but it's a pass fail test so it doesn't really matter.  

my treat to myself is a ticket to see snow patrol in October.  Of course the pre-sale tickets went on sale on Monday, and I bought them then- because they're actually playing a smaller theater (yes!) and i didn't want to not be able to get a floor ticket by waiting.

so, now that's over.  you never have to read about LEED again, because i will never get a LEED project. 

unless of course (and this is what i think they're going to do, because they like to make money) is say, "all those who were accredited prior to july 1, 2009 have to be re-accredited under the new rules and format to qualify as the ID point on the project." i know they're going to turn this against us somehow.

but for now, this is enough. 

now to spend the rest of the weekend relaxing, and to throw away all my study materials, because come july 1st, none of what i learned applies anymore.  

fail!

i just took a new practice test online, one i'd never seen before and got a 63%.

i need an 85% to pass.  and it's too late to cancel.  even if i cancel and don't take it, i'd owe them $300, so i have to take it.  

this is the true meaning of blerg. 

i have a 4 hour meeting tomorrow, starting at 8:30, a ton of work to do before leaving the office at 1:15 for another meeting at 2 (meaning no lunch) and then from 3:30PM tomorrow to 12:30 saturday i'm doing nothing but studying.  NOTHING.