Finally some serious progress

Woo Hoo... we finally have some serious visible progress with the house and most importantly the scraproom.

Saturday we got our long awaited carpet installed. Yippie. The color is a bit lighter than I expected, and will be hard to keep clean, but I totally LOVE the look and feel.

Saturday night we got all of our bedroom furniture set up. We still have to hang the mirror, pictures, and unpack the cloths...but we were able to sleep in our bed (off the floor) for the first time in almost 3 weeks.

Sunday morning we started bright and early with building the furniture we got at IKEA last week. I am so impressed by those Swedish Engineers who figured out how to design and package their furniture. It did take us over 10 hours of work time yesterday to build the furniture, but for the most part it went smoothly. The directions (all pictures) were better on some pieces than others but once again I would say they were fairly good if you take the time to go step by step. All together we build 4 chests of drawers, 3 wardrobe cabinets, a table, a nightstand, and several floor lamps. The wardrobe cabinets were the hardest. They are bulky, heavy, and the hinges for the doors were a little hard to align. With the exception of the table all the other pieces are laminate covered press board...not exactly top of the line quality furniture. However I was really happy with the thickness of the wood and the overall look once they were put together.

So my scraproom is now very close to having all the furniture. I have two small chests of drawers under on window. Three wardrobe cabinets lined up on the longest wall of the room. The center piece of the room is a HUGE and I mean freaking HUGE table. I must not have read the dimensions correct because it was much larger than I thought. I actually bought 2 of them but there is no way that two will fit. So I am planning to take back the 2nd table. So the two most important things to me in a scraproom are work area and storage space and I now have BOTH!!! I'm sure the units will fill up quickly but right now it just looks so spacious.

It has almost been a month since I scrapped. All of my stuff has been in boxes for over 3 weeks now and I am going through some serious withdrawal here. I wanted to force myself to get the rest of the house unpacked and organized....because once I start in my scraproom I know I won't come our. After seeing all my new furniture I am even more excited to get started. So after I get the remaining cloths for the bedroom unpacked I should be ready to move on to my scrap stuff later this week. I so wish I have more time off work to stay home and get this done.

As soon as I find my memory stick adaptor I will post some pictures of before and after the scraproom!!! I am excited to share the pictures.

I've been "Faruked"

This is now the most commonly used phrase at my house. Faruk (Fa-roo-k) is our carpet salesman. Jim and I were so excited about getting the old gross carpet in the bedrooms ripped up and replaced with the new stuff this weekend. When we called on Friday afternoon to see what time they would be starting on Saturday, Faruk informed us that the carpet was back ordered and they didn't know exactly when it would come. So now the term Faruked or Faruk is used in place of another commonly used F term.

Talk about a major bummer. We have been waiting to get that carpet installed to move anything into the bedrooms and planning on using this long weekend to make progress.

It looks like the carpet arrive until tomorrow so we are scheduled an install for Friday afternoon. At least this will give us both days next weekend to unpack the bedroom stuff.

3 posts in one day!!!!

Is that even allowed?

Since I still don't have internet at home and all my scrapbooking stuff is still 100% packed away I attempted to get my sb fix last night by looking through the latest issues of Memory Makers and Creating Keepsakes. Over the last year I have gotten into a very bad habit of not reading or even opening my magazines. I was getting so many of them that I just couldn't keep up, so I just stopped looking at all of them - except for an occasional glance.

As a result I have decided to scale WAY back on the number of magazines I subscribe to and take the time to read them or at least look at the layouts. I am planning to drop all sb related magazines except for CK and MM. I will buy others from time to time but those are the only two I am going to keep subscriptions to.

It actually felt really good to look at the new magazines. I didn't realize how much the sb world was changing again. It seems like that ultra simple look that was so hot about 6 months ago is being replaced with a little more detailed looking layouts. I am loving the look of all the curves and swooshes, doodling just makes me happy, and I am so glad to see that the layered paper look is not out for good. Right before we moved I bought the Pazzels mini cutter and after looking at the magazines last night I am more excited than ever to get that unboxed and set up. I can't wait to make pretty flowers and connected titles....ooohh that is going to be so much fun.

More good news for me is that I ordered my scraproom furniture from IKEA this weekend. I am hoping that we have it delivered within 10 days or so. I was very disappointed that I will not have it for this coming weekend. After the carpets are in on Saturday we have two full days to unpack (with the presidents day holiday)...it would have been great to use this time to get my sb room organized, but I didn't order the furniture in time. Of course there is plently of other stuff to do, but I know you all will understand how much I want to get moving on my scrap room.

Happy Valentines Day!!!

Happy Valentines Day everyone. I hope everyone has something special planned for this very lovely day. Jim and I are planning a nice romantic night at home. Basically what that means for us is we are going to stop obsessing over the house and all the giant to-do list and just enjoy spending time together for one night. We decided not to exchange gifts this year and since all of my scrapbook supplies are still well packed away we are not even doing cards. Honestly after that past few weeks I don't think either us need that stuff to show the other person how much we truly love and care about each other. I am so lucky to have Jim and I can't imagine loving him anymore. He is my true valentine.

It's been a week already!

It's so hard to believe that one week ago today at this very time I was doing the last minute packing before the movers came. I don't know what on earth made me think that once we were in the new house things would calm down and we could work at our own pace. That is such a joke....it's actually more crazy now than before we moved. This time it's all a good craziness, and we are starting to see real progress.

I will admit that I have never been a very patient person. I am always the first in line for the new CHA releases...in general I just don't like waiting for anything. The attitude is following me with respect to all the upgrades we want to do on the new house. Before moving in Jim and I made a list of all the things we wanted to upgrade. Of course now that we are in the list has grown quite a bit. Originally we talked about doing the upgrades in many phases over the next 2 years. My problem is I don't want to wait. I want it all done now. I know this is just not possible either logistically or financially, but it doesn't stop me from wanting done now.

The great news is that after this weekend we will be done with phase I. This included painting the bedrooms, new carpet in the bedrooms, new baseboards in the bedrooms, replacing the nasty toilets, and putting a new roof on the entire house. Even better news is that our bonuses are a bit higher than we expected and will be paid in less than 2 weeks. So this allows us to start phase II right away. This will include a complete retrofit of the family room (tear down the wood paneling, replace sliding glass doors with French doors, replace the wetbar with a closet, add a fireplace mantel, add baseboards and crown molding, repaint, and recarpet) along with completely gutting and rebuilding all 3 bathrooms (the third bathroom is just a tiny 1/2 bath that will be fairly quick to do). I have spent the past few days looking at marble flooring, countertops, cabinets, and most importantly the whirlpool tub (yippie). So things are moving forward and we are already able to see the results.....that feels so good.

I am planning to take some pictures very soon and should be able to share a few before and after on the bedrooms next week.

McBain on the Brain

Yippie, we are finally moved and getting settled in the new place. Our new street address is McBain...and even though I am back at work all I really have is McBain on the brain. I just keep thinking about all the stuff we have to do and all the upgrades we are going to make. It's all good happy thoughts but does make it a bit hard to concentrate at work.

The move went as smoothly as could be expected. The only major snafoo was that we didn't get the right key to the door at the closing, so we ended up calling a locksmith to get us in the house on Monday night. After we were in and had the doors re-keyed we were off and running. On Monday night Jim and I made 6-7 runs between the old house and the new house (taking valuables and breakable items). Lucky for us they are less than a 1/2 mile apart so there was very little driving time. We worked until about 2:30 in the morning when I finally told him I had to go to sleep. We only slept for about 4 hours and then got back up to finish a few things before the movers arrived on Tuesday morning. By 1:00pm the truck was loaded and we were on the way to the new house. At 4:00pm the truck was completely unloaded and the movers were gone, leaving us with weeks of work ahead of us.

Since we are having all 4 bedrooms repainted and carpeted in the next two weeks we decided to put all the furniture and boxes into the remaining rooms until those upgrades are finishes. So it is sort of like we are camping and not really moved in....but it is still loads of fun.

Even though we are not exactly unpacking yet we got so much done in the past few days. If I was this productive all the time I would be so on top of everything. We moved, scheduled the painting, ordered the carpets, had the washer and dryer delivered, the phone guy came out, the cable guy came out twice (and needs to come back one more time), had the gas turned back on, and bought a new kitchen table that was delivered last night. So it really is all coming together, and after we can get stuff moved into the bedrooms we will have our work cut out for us.

The only major gripe I have is that the kitchen was left NASTY. It was cleaned by a cleaning lady but she didn't wipe out the cabinets or clean the appliances. So Jim has been scrubbing his fingers to the bones getting that all cleaned up....he is so good!!!

Both Jim and I are so excited about the new place. We keep finding more and more things that we want to modernize. The previous owners were an older couple that didn't do much in the way of brining the house into the 21st century. We knew about all the big stuff before we moved in, but as we look around we keep finding more and more little things that we keep adding to the list.

So now I just need to figure out how to keep my mind off the house and get back to being productive at work.....not likely to happen for the next week or two.

Tomorrow is the big day!!!!

Yippie....we are finally moving tomorrow. The movers show up at 9:00am and I hope to be in the new place in the afternoon.

This weekend was spent predominately getting ready for our move. I wanted to pack all of my scrap stuff myself as I don't trust the movers to do it right. Well I can honestly say that for the first time since starting the hobby I am actually embarrassed by the amount of "stuff" I have. OMG, I just kept packing one box after the other and my stash never seemed to go away. Over the years my stash has spread from my scraproom to the garage, to the hallway closet, and recently has taken over under my bed.....but I honestly didn't know how bad it had gotten until I saw how many boxes I needed to pack it all up. I have always realized I shop more than most....but even I was in shock at how much I have.

So I am going to make it my mission to do a big time purge. I have done this many times before but always stopped when it came to getting rid of older stuff that I still liked. This time I need to go deeper. If that means getting rid of the original basicgrey collection, that's what it means. Something needs to be done.

Zee has mentioned the idea of having a scrapbook related garage sale...and I need to take this opportunity to collect my older stuff and maybe recoup some money so I can by the new stuff of course.

The good news for me is that I finished that huge DT assignment and put it in the mail this weekend. Therefore, I have plenty of time to unpack in the new place. I am going to go through everything piece by piece and force myself to purge what is likely not going to be used anyway. I need some moral support with this one ladies....I know you all understand.

Tagged Again!

What scrapbooking lines/products/etc do you dislike?
I still have trouble working with really bright colors and simple geometric pattern papers. I am much more into the muted colors and shabby style papers.

What is the hardest thing you have ever had to scrap?
About a year ago I made a heritage album that has a number for pictures of relatives who I never meet. I found it difficult to scrap these because I didn't have any personal memories or stories to share.

What technique do you use more than anything?
Right now it is probably covering chipboard letters, bookplates, and frames with pattern paper.

Ever been published?
A few times.

What's the smallest scrap of paper you save?
I used to save almost all of my scraps big enough to a sizzix punch, but my scrap pile got way too big. Now I basically just keep pieces larger than 6x6.

Ever had any scrapbooking-related injuries?
Nothing serious but I did strain my arm trying to pick up my XXL once but noting too bad.

Finish the sentence "If I wasn't a scrapbooker, I would spend my money on....."
A new car.....OK, I don't spend that much money but it's not too far from reality.

Give us your best storage or organizational idea
I finally got rid of all my old fibers and reused my floss boxes to hold my Prima flowers. This saves so much room over just keeping them in the glass jars.

You just won a week long scrapbooking cruise for 5. Who's going with you?
Wendy, Danea, Susanne, and my mom.

I got tagged!!!!

1. First time you got kissed: How was it?
I was 13 and in the 8th grade. I kissed my "boyfriend" Curtis in my best friends garage. I remember it being sort of nasty.

2. First time you drove a car: What kind of car?
When I was 13 years old my brother (who was 17) let me drive my moms Oldsmobile, Cutlass Supreme around the neighborhood.

3. First time you scrapbooked: When you looked at your page do you love it?
I was about 15 when I made my first scrapbook. I cut out pictures and articles from soap opera digest related to days of our lives (Especially Bo and Lars). My first scrapbook album made with my own (real) pictures was made in late 2000. I ordered one of those QVC scrapbook kits and just loved my heart shaped pictures and used a ton of stickers. At the time I loved it.....now is a different story.

4. First time you went on a date: Where did you go and with who?
This is terrible to say, but I don't really remember. When I was in middle school I has a couple of "boyfriends" but we basically just hung out in the neighborhood or at my friends house - not really dates per say. So I don't really remember my first official date.....sort of sad isn't it.

5. First time you fell in love: How did you know?
This is an easy one. I fell for the first time in between my junior and senior year of high school and dated the boy through my first semester of college. I knew it was love when we broke up for a couple of weeks and all I could do was think about him. We got back together and spent the next year almost inseparable. He was my first.

6. First time you cooked for someone: Was it yummy?
LOL....I am still waiting for this day. Lucky for me, my DH is a cook!!!

7. First time you got on a plane: Where did you go? Were you scared?
I was 8 years old on my first plane trip. I had a window seat and told the man sitting next to me that I had "waited all my life" to fly in a plane. I was so excited and not scared at all. I didn't know until we got to our destination that the reason for the trip was because my grandmother had passed away. So I went from being utterly excited about my first flight to very sad about my grandmother in a matter of minutes.

8. First time you shaved your legs: Did you cut yourself?
I was 12 and my older cousin showed me how to shave. I didn't cut myself too bad.

9. First time you put one make up: Looking back how did you do? Did you look good or like a clown?
I wore make for the first time on my first day of 8th grade. I did TERRIBLE, so bad that other kids made fun of me. I washed my face and didn't wear makeup again until 10th grade - after I got some application lessons from a friend.

10. First time you moved out of your home: Was it an apartment, house, etc?
I was not quite 18 when I moved from home to my college dorm. I lived there for 1 year and then moved to an apartment I shared with 2 other girls for the remaining 3 years of college.

A pure scrapping weekend in the middle of Chaos.

This weekend was supposed to be the start of our packing madness as our physical move will happen two weeks from tomorrow. However with all of this house stuff over the past 3-4 weeks I have gotten very far behind on a scrapping commitment I made long before we decided to move. Back in November of last year I accepted an assigment to make all of the layouts (~50) and cards (~75) for the ScrapGenie display at the Stitches show (the UK version of CHA), then a few weeks later I accepted another assignment to make a 15 page travel for a special edition book. Knowing that I had plenty of time I totally procrastinated my way through November and most of December. I had 10+ days off between Christmas and new year where all I would be doing was scrapping. Yah Right! Well right before Christmas DH and I decided it was time to move to a bigger house....and all heck broke loose as we have ventured through this journey. The great news is that we found a perfect house and will be in there in just a few weeks. The bad news is that I got seriously behind in my commitments.

So this weekend instead of packing I decided to dedicate the entire weekend to scrapping. With only a few hours of exception I did just this. DH was totally supportive and tried to keep me motivated. What's even better is that I made some serious progress on my projects. The travel album was completed and mailed a little over a week ago and I am now ~80% finished with the stitches samples. I made all my GinX, Chloe's Closet, Center City, Scrapworks, Chatterbox, and BasicGrey samples completed! Now all I have left is 7gypsies (3 layouts, 5 cards), Prima (1 layout, 5 cards), MoBe (2 layouts, 5 cards), and Savvy Stamps (5 cards).....with any luck I will have this all finished and mailed by next weekend.

This week the nights must be split between scrapping and packing. I have already found that I "need" a few things I packed up during my de-clutter phase. A few things I actually had to go dig out of the garage because there was no substitue.

So wish me luck to meet my goal of getting this finished quickly so I can focus on the important task of getting ready to move.

All systems are go!

After almost 60 views of our house we finally got an offer on Saturday morning that we promptly accepted. It wasn't quite as high as we hoped but for the piece of mind knowing we would not loose out on our future house it was well worth accepting below listing price. We are now 2 days into a 4 day contingency period.....Unless something dramatic happens in the next 2 days we will be replacing our "sale pending" sign with a "sold" sign after work on Wed.

All this good news does come at a price. The lady buying our house made her offer contingent on a January 31st close of escrow and a Feb 7th occupancy date. When I saw this condition my heart immediately sunk....I knew right away that I would have to bail on Wendy and skip CHA. I was so looking forward to going to the big show this year and sharing the experience with one of my best friends. So as happy I am about getting the house I am still really bummed about Vegas.

I am really glad that my daily life revolves around scheduling and deadlines or the logistics of this move would be enough to kill me. The people in our future house will not be out until midnight on Feb 6th and the person moving into our current house wants to be in on the afternoon of the 7th. So that gives Jim and I only the morning of the 7th to get moved. Since this is a weekday with such a tight schedule we will be hiring movers to help us. Good thing for us is that we don't have too much stuff (besides my scrap stuff and Jims books) so one truck load will be more than sufficient and should be quite doable in a couple of hours.

The one thing I really wanted to get done before moving in was replacing the carpet in all 4 bedrooms. Since the move timing is not going to allow us to do this, we decided to just stage our furniture and stuff in the living room, dining room, and sun room for a couple days until we can get the carpets replaced. Given that we don't already have any furniture for these rooms anyway it shouldn't be a big deal.

Between the list of upgrades to modernize the look of the house and furnishing many rooms that we don't have anything for we are going to have our hands full for probably the next two years. At this point both Jim and I are very excited about the new house and the potential to make all the upgrades to exactly our taste.

So please keep those good vibes coming until Wed when everything should become official!!!!!

Frustrations of a home seller....

LOL, I know I am just whining but sometimes it just feels good to complain.

First a quick update. According to our Real Estate Agent our open house went well. Between the two days we had ~37 people view the house, and 2 people have come back for a 2nd look. In addition to that we have had another 15 or so people who came through last week and the first part of this week. So we have had a lot of activity but no offer yet. Our agent told us there were at least 2-3 people who were serious and that she is hoping for an offer by the end of the week. Jim and I don't want to get our hopes up too high, we are not the kind of people that have that kind of luck. So if you are sending us good home seller vibes, keep them coming.

Now back to my bitching.

I am so sick of preparing the house for show every morning. Ironically it takes me longer to get the house ready in the morning than it does to get myself ready. We have kind of got the routine down: Make the bed, fold and put the PJs away, close the closet doors, open the blinds, wet wipe the bathroom countertops, fold the blankets, and hide the non-decorative pillows that we use when watching tv, put the computer away (because the internet cord stretches across the room), and finally wipe down the kitchen counters and table. uuuuggghhh, I am so glad I am not a neat freak or perfectionist in real life. Making the house look unlived in is so time consuming.

We have this funky little closet that is under the stairs. It has a 4' door and is very hard to get in and out of. Jim and I have been hiding some of our ugly pillows and blankets in their during the day but will pull them out each night to get comfy and watch tv. Well Monday night as I was pulling our stuff out I stood up to early and banged my head on the thermostat. Out of frustration I then gave that darn thing a swat with my hand.....and yes of course I broke the darn thing. It starts buzzing really loud and didn't stop. So last night we had to have repair people come out and replace the darn thing and spent another $400 that I was not counting on. Lesson learned!!!!

I have also noticed that we are eating out more so that we don't mess up the kitchen, and I don't want to scrap unless I have at least 2 hours because it's too much to take out all the stuff for just a few minutes of scrapping and then spend all that time cleaning up. I really need to figure out how to get some scrapping done because I have a huge assignment due at the end of the month.

On top of all of this work is just crazy right now. The bad part about slowing down the last 2-3 weeks of the year is the download of stuff there is to do after we get back from the New Year. I have been asked (more like told) that my group will be expanding and I will have additional responsibilities and people to manage (not something I am really looking forward to with everything else that is going on).

OK, enough complaining and bitching for now. I promise my next post will be positive and upbeat!!!!!

Recent Events!!!

Yike this blog is is serious need of an update. I was all set to write a great entry about our Christmas trip to El Paso, all the cool presents I got (and additional ones I got for myself), and the nastiness of flying these days....until Jim and I decided to buy a new house.

Yup, for those who don't know already Jim and I decided while we were in El Paso that now was a really good time to sell our townhouse and get into something bigger. Something we have been thinking about for a few years and just never did anything about. So when we started the conversation for the umteenth time I just assumed it would end like all the ones before "I guess it's best just to stay put for now". But this time was different, this time we were both saying it's time to make the move.

The day after we got back from El Paso we went to a town about 30 miles north of San Jose thinking we could get more for our money. However after the drive out there we knew there was no way we could do that commute everyday for work. Plus you really can't get that much more for your money to make the commute even close to worth it. So we almost closed the door on the move once again....but decided to take a ride around our existing area first.

We live in a very nice area of San Jose (actually Campbell for those who know the area) and really wanted to stay in the area just get a bigger place that was not attached to the neighbors and where we had enough yard to enjoy the outdoors. So on Thursday 12/29 we took a dirve around our desired area and saw a few houses for sale. Only one of those houses was in our price range and from the flyer it looked cool. On Friday we made an appointment to see the house - it was exactly what we were looking for. On Saturday (new years eve) we meet with the loan officer who got us pre-qualed for a loan. On Sunday (new years day) we made an offer on the house contingent on selling our house in 30 days that the sellers accepted. On monday we listed our house for sale, and come home yesterday to a sign at our driveway and a lock box on the door.

It has been a whirlwind and it's just getting started. We really weren't ready to list our house but went ahead and did it so we didn't loose out on the house we saw. They are going to do an open house on Sat. and Sun. so there is still more that has to be done for that....mainly de-cluttering my house (hahaha, this is just a big joke to me because if I had a place to put the clutter I probably wouldn't be moving in the first place).

It's sort of funny how this just all of a sudden has over taken my life. Everything is taking a back seat to the house and I can't get focused on anything else. I do have a bunch of work related stuff that needs attention and a big scrapbook assigment that is way behind my original schedule. Yikes I just need a few more hours in each day!!!!

The next key event for us is getting a buyer for our house. We now have 28 days to find a buyer on our house or we will probably loose the new house we want. So keep your fingers crossed for me that we get a buyer soon....I am hoping for this weekend after the open house.

I'm done, I'm done

Woo Hoo....I finished my final Christmas shopping last night. All I had left were a few stocking stuffers for DH but they had been looming for days now. I also didn't have to go to the mall or target so the traffic wasn't too bad. I am way later than I normally am with shopping but still feel great to be done. There were a few items I wanted to get but could not find so I ordered them from Amazon.com and they will come after Christmas. I really need to remember to use amazon.com more next year....they literally have everything.

On a totally different subject. Our car got keyed sometime between Friday afternoon and yesterday. There is a clear key scratch that runs the entire lenght of our trunk lid. It is all the way down to the metal and just looks terrible. We don't know exactly where or when it happened. I am so mad that someone would do that for the hell of it. Why? DH and I are going to stop by the body shop on our way home from work today to get an estimate on fixing it. I'm still so pissed at this.

Random thougths for today

1. It was so nice to catch up with two of my closest friends for dinner last night. We hadn't seen each other in over 6 months so it was great to catch up and reminise. It was a great time.
2. I have the best DH in the world. Last night on the way home from work he offered to cook his specialty baked Zitti for Jeff and Danea to reciprocate for the wonderful meal Zee cooked for us this weekend. (Since I don't cook DH knew I was going to need help with this one....but he just came out and offered - what a sweetie)
3. My nieces and nephew will be celebrating Christmas without me. I wish I could be there with them.
4. Jim's Christmas gifts are still not quite complete. I have got to get that done tonight.
5. I am realy jonesing for a cutting maching. Right now I'm thinking about the wishblade but still looking at the pazzles one.
6. More HOTP paper came for me yesterday that will be perfect for the assignment I am working on. I also leared that my contact is the creator of the Sarabook. That's cool.
7. Only 2 more days of work left until the break. Then I am off for 11 days. Woo Hoo.
8. Two of my engineers have a management presentation to give in 30 minutes and I haven't seen it yet. I am slacking off and letting them present without looking at it first...the good news is they have both given a similar presentation in the past so it should be OK.
9. I have to schedule some interviews for the week after New Years.
10. It's only 9:30am and I am already getting hungry. It's going to be a long wait till lunch today!!!

Do you think before you speak?

My parents tired to teach me to think before I speak. Of course there are many occasions when even I am surprised at what comes out of my mouth, but for the most part I do OK. Especially at work. It doesn't take much, just a tiny bit of restraint to make sure all those random thoughts don't come out for all the world to hear. A little self filter, like the 3 second delay on tv. I could have made some serious career limiting statements if I just said what was on my mind all the time.

I swear sometimes people can say the such stupid things it blows my mind. I am still shaking my head at what someone said to me today. I started to write out the gory details of this mornings saga but quickly realized that it would probably bore anyone reading this to death. In summary one of my co-workers basically came into my office and announced to me and the majority of my team that overheard his decree, that all my group does is play around with excel spreadsheets and has no real impact to the company. I have never felt so professionally demeaned. What made it worse is that he was so loud the majority of my team heard him. This was so demoralizing to them.

I was just so shocked at his comment I got a little lost for words. I was able to get out that I thought he was being a bit presumptuous about what my group does, and that he clearly does not understand what we do or how much we influence the strategy of our department. He did apologize, but not in the loud voice he used to announce his opinion in the first place. It didn't really matter....the damage was done.

Of course, about an hour after the confrontation I now have the most eloquent and powerful comeback perfectly drafted in my head. He is long gone and probably has no recollection of the events of the morning and clearly no idea how his words were so disrespectful. Ironically this guy doesn't even know how much we actually impact the activities of *HIS* own group.

This kind of stuff happens all the time. People say whatever dumb-ass random thought they are having. It really does make me want to scream. "Please, think for 3 second before you blurt out another word"

Dudes, I am so glad it's Friday!!!

I'm Lucy!!!!

OMG, Wendy posted this on her blog (she is Schroeder) and I just thought it was too funny. I am Lucy

Here is the link to the site so you can see what character you are:

http://quizilla.com/users/anonymousnowhere/quizzes/Which%20Peanuts%20Character%20are%20You?/

Domain Spoofing

Yikes, I never thought I would be saying those words. In fact I didn't even know what that term meant until Monday of this week. Domain spoofing is when somebody hijacks your domain name and sends out spam that looked like it came from you.

Jim and I have a registered domain name. Several years ago Jim and I were thinking about starting our own consulting company and I wanted to develop a website. So we got a domain name and I started playing around with the website. We quickly realized that it was just not practical for us to leave our current company and go out on our own. So I haven't touched the website in almost 5 years, but I still use my email from that site.

On Monday morning I went to check my email and saw over 300 emails that were bounced back from various email accounts that were 'undeliverable'. They were all in reference to a message that looked like it came from "Christine" from my domain name advertising male enhancing drugs. Obviously I did not send out this message so I have no idea why so many of them were being returned as undeliverable.

After a call to my internet provider and web hosting company I was informed that my domain had been spoofed and there is very little that can be done about it. They told me that usually ~5% of the messages are returned to the sender as undeliverable. Since I got about 300 returns they estimate that ~6,000 emails were sent out with my domain name on them.

The good news is that it looks like the hacker only sent one message from my domain and has moved on. Some people will stick with a domain name and use it over and over until it is shut down. Since it is an illegal activity you can get the FTC involved, but since no money is being lost there is not much they will do about it. Especially since the majority of hackers are not from the United States they don't have much autharity to do anything about it anyway.

I just hate the fact that my domain name was used to distribute such spam, and hope that I am not spoofed again. I feel really bad for real businesses that rely on the reputation of their domain name - if they get spoofed it looks like some reputable company is sending out spam.

It's Female Rah-Rah time for me

Being one of only 2 females on our departments staff of 20 is sometimes a real drag. Since technical females fall into a special hiring class at this company there are a lot of special events and activities aimed at recruiting high level technical females to our company. When it comes to supporting these activities they always look to the current employee base. Since our department only has 2 female department heads the two of us always get roped into supporting this kind of crap.

Later this week I will be one of the companies representatives at this years WITI conference. This is nothing but a big female Rah Rah session. My biggest problem is that I do not support these kind of groups at all. As a hiring manager I want to be empowered to hire the best candidate for the job regardless of race, color, or gender. My current team is made up of 4 females and 6 males. This is a very good mix for a technical enviornment. However not a single one of the women were hired because they are female and I didn't have to do any speical recruiting to find them. I would hope I have my current job because I was the most qualified not because I am female....the fact that my company's policy on hiring makes me question this makes me so frustrated and mad.

So looking forward to this conference just puts me on edge. Yuck. I hate it. I did try to get out of it, and quite hard. In the end I decided not to make a big stink about it and just go ahead and attend. But I will basically just make show up make sure that I am seen being a "role model" and then I am headed back to the office to get real work done.

Here is a link to WITI so you can see the Rah Rah hell I will be living this week.
http://www.witi.com/

ooohhh I think the worst part of this entire thing is that I have to wear business suits for 2 days. Yuck.

CorrespondenceART

Woo Hoo. Another 3 pages were requested by CorrespondenceART for the Jan/Feb/March issue. The best thing about the request is that one of the layouts was a MMM entry (watch out world). So of the 5 layouts I did for MMM so far 3 of them are picked up. The second request is for a layout I did well over a year ago using one of the first collections of BasicGrey papers. This has always been one of my favorite layouts (my niece sitting on a vintage fire truck). The last layout they requested was a new one "remember this moment" with the picture of W and S hugging.

I am seriously hoping this magazine makes it. With all the publication and distribution problems I have my doubts, but darn I am really hoping they pull through. I know a lot of people who have stopped submitting to them because of the problems. I know this will hurt the quality of the publication if they don't get back on track quick.

Of the issues that have been published I have been so impressed with the content. They still seem to embrace the lumpy, shabby, vintage scrappers.....and I still LOVE that style. So the bottom line is I really hope they get things with publication and distribution fixed so I can see my pages in print.