2011 is flying by...

I can't believe it is March already. How did this happen? I got into the MS in SE program I wasn't so excited about and did not get into the program I was hoping for. I kept looking for another program though and applied to yet another school right before Christmas and I was very excited to learn in January that I was admitted to Southern Methodist University's MS in SE program beginning with the Summer 2011 term. I was very apprehensive to read that it is a conditional acceptance based on my completing a year of calculus by the end of the year. Yikes.



I cannot express how much time I have spent researching calculus programs since receiving that admission letter. Traditional classroom programs were out of the question. My employer also requires the school I apply to to be AACSB or ABET accredited. I haven't taken a math class in years so I am going to have to start with Precalculus. I think I finally narrowed it down to one school. I would love to be at December of this year and see if I'm able to pull off 3 calculus courses and 3 Masters SE courses by then.


The gluten free lifestyle keeps rolling along. It's easy and difficult at the same time. I'm constantly learning about the disease and (painfully) learning what I can and cannot eat. My job is a little volatile at the moment. So much uncertainty. All I can do is keep pushing on and see what life has in store for me around the corner. I'm hoping 2011 turns out better than 2010. What a year.

2011 is already turning into the year of baby. Four of my very good friends are curently pregnant. Can't wait to meet all of them and watch their personalities develop. I wonder how many of my other friends will pop up pregnant this year. It seems to be a popular thing to do at the moment. :)

Another trip around the sun.

My birthday is this week and I can't believe I'm another year older. Yes, I'm struggling with it. I'm really not where I thought I'd be in life, but I guess that's what keeps it interesting. I've expereinced some life changers in the last couple months as well.

It was confirmed last month that I have Celiac Disease and can no longer eat/drink anything containing wheat, barley, oats or rye. It has been quite an adjustment but I have fewer stomach issues. Gluten is in just about everything and I have to read the label of all I consume. I've been surprised by some of the places I've found it (imitation crab, caramel dip, sour cream, soy sauce). "Modified Food Starch" is a wheat derivative. Who knew? They say it can take a year for your intestines to heal once you give up the gluten so I can't wait to see how I'll be feeling a year from now. I think I have been experiencing gluten withdrawal symptoms lately. Sort of feels like the flu but I feel like I'm starting to come out of it. It has been a trial/error effort to figure out what I can and cannot eat.

People try to be encouraging but the most common misconceptions I've been told are: "You're so lucky! There's so many gluten free items now" and "you're going to loose so much weight and get in amazing shape." Um, no. Yes, I am fortunate that I have an array of gf options today. However, those options that are formulated as a gluten free alternative taste awful, spoil quickly and cost twice the price as glutened equivalents. They also seem to have a chemical aftertaste. As to the second misconception, "gluten free" is not carb free. I can still consume sugar, rice and corn and I seem to want more of it now to compensate for the lack of wheat in my life. Not only that, but it seems gluten free manufacturers have replaced gluten with increased fat content. Gee, I'd really like to purchase those crackers, but at 12 grams of fat per serving, I'm going to pass. Undiagnosed Celiac sufferers often lose weight because the digestion system is not working. Now that my digestion system is up and running, I now absorb all the nutrients (and fat..and salt) I wasn't before. B'ahhh. It's just an adjustment. I really am grateful to find out about this now and not after 20 more years of fatigue/stomach issues. Undiagnosed Celiac Disease can also lead to various cancers. It's 100% preventable...just have to avoid consuming gluten for the rest of my life.

I also received and accepted an opportunity on the C5 program last week. As I've felt at the beginning of any new job, I'm excited and apprehensive at the same time. I wish I could fast forward 6 months to that point when you're starting to feel comfortable in your new job. I'm in for a challenge over the next couple months. It has been a wild and crazy 2 years on the program I'm leaving. I hate to leave the program I've been on, but this is a promotion opportunity I had to pursue.

I was able to squeeze in one last trip to Canada for work. I visited Montreal, Ottawa and Vancouver in one week. I will miss my work funded trips to Canada and will always have a place in my heart for the country and the wonderful people I had the opportunity to work with. Because it was Labor Day weekend, I was also able to squeeze in a long over due visit with my family in Oregon on the way back. It was really nice to see everyone. I was also able to spend an evening having dinner with an aunt and cousins I had not seen in 20 years.

Hmmm, what else. I'm in the process of applying to two Masters programs majoring in Systems Engineering. I figure while I'm unattached and LM is willing to pay, might as well torture myself over the next 2 years and earn a technical masters degree. One of the programs I'm optimistic about getting into, the other is a long shot but I'm applying anyway. I hope to receive an answer from both programs within the next month. I'm excited that we're heading into the Fall season and I can't wait for all the holidays.

Life Goes On

I can't believe a year has passed since I posted. Let's see, what has happened over the past year. I still have the same job although I did get a new boss in March. I interviewed for a position in Ft. Worth, TX in January but didn't get it. I was told by management that I was put in for a growth promotion and then 3 weeks later, my corporation decided to cancel growth promotions. I recently interviewed for another position within my company and again, didn't get it. :) Between the housing market and the job market, it kind of feels like someone switched on the slow-mo switch and we're all stuck in the quicksand, just spinning our wheels.

I had a great time on a cruise in October to Cozumel with my good friends Jenn, Jason and Ms. Rachel McGuire. My job has sent me to Canada several times which has been awesome. I met up with my younger sister to spend Christmas in Las Vegas. Jenn and Jason drove over and met up with us and we saw the fantastic new Cirque show called "Viva Elvis." My coworkers and I went on our annual cabin trip in September. We tried the town of Blue Ridge this time instead of Helen.

Hopefully, another year won't go by before I post again.

Life

Le sigh....

...and the waiting is over.

Crisis averted. No major life changes in my immediate future.

...and the waiting begins

You know how sometimes life throws you a curve and it might be a good curve (then the change stress really begins), but then it might not be such a good curve and then the decision is easy, but you might not even have to decide and then you worried all this time for nothing? As a good friend of mine used to say "le sigh."

April Showers

A big storm was supposed to roll through Atlanta today. I happened to be inside during the worst of it. It was one of those ominous days with the stormy dark clouds constantly looming. I managed to talk Faisal, Joe and Jeremy into going to see "To Kill a Mockingbird" tonight. The Strand theater is in the historic Marietta Square. It was an old movie house that opened in the 1930's. After being closed for many years, it was recently remodeled and reopened as a performing arts and special events space. It opened around Christmas time last year. They just recently started showing a few select movies. The theater was pretty cool inside. They really took care to make it nice. It was retro but modern at the same time if that's possible. I'm glad we went. We went to a new BBQ place across the street called something Ephraim's. Everyone's food was just okay. Don't think we'll be heading back to Ephraim's any time soon.

Weekend

The highlight of my Sunday was running into Greg at Publix. Weee. Off to bake cookies to bring to work tomorrow. Hey...Conway Twitty is on Family Guy. Bonus.

How I Spent the Remainder of my Christmas Vacation

I had big plans for my Christmas vacation. I was going to organize and paint my second bedroom, paint my sunroom, sort out the pile of junk I have sitting in there, clean out my closet and fix the laundry room floor. I also decided a nice facial chemical peel would be a good idea to start the new year right.

I started with the chemical peel Saturday night. It burned like acid. Who would have thought? Anyway, the burning stopped after 10 minutes. Felt like I had a sunburn the next couple of days. The peeling started Tuesday. I went to dinner and an event at the aquarium that night with Dan and Jeremy. It started peeling that afternoon...well by dinner, my face was horrifically peeling. I don't know how they ate. I had to go to the bathroom and fix it to the best of my abilities. The peeling didn't finish until Saturday night!

I started cleaning the walls in my sunroom Monday night, they were filthy. It was like pushing dirt around the wall. That was followed by hours of caulking the wood frames around my 5 floor to ceiling windows that had pulled apart over the years. I also had to patch the 4,000,000 holes in the walls. Yes, 4,000,000. New Years Eve, I spent the day putting the first layer of paint on the wood trim around the sliding glass door, entryway and the windows. Grrr!

NYE was spent at the Seymours. Fun in pajamas was had by all. I spent a good amount of time the next day putting a second layer of paint on the trim, I also packed up a box to send to Tricia in Iraq. Friday, I met Natalie for lunch in Kennesaw. It was nice to catch up over 2 hours. Then I decided to hit the post office and all the After Christmas sales. I didn't get home until 8 or 9 that night. I started sorting through the heap in my sunroom. I spent most of Saturday cleaning and organizing my tool box, transferring paint, finishing the heap removal and deciding what needed selling. I also started a batch of limoncello. This is my first attempt, and it won't be "done" for a few more months so here goes nothing! Peeling 16 lemons was not the best way to spend a Saturday night.

Sunday, I went to church with Beth. Yes, church! I met a nice lady that had a similar religious history and it was really very nice to meet someone that's been through what I've been through and understands. We had lunch at Jason's Deli. I then went home, packed up some craigslist deliveries and then headed to Lenox. I was going to pick up a wedding gift but they didn't have anything on their short registry. Lenox was an absolute zoo! You would think that it was pre-Christmas.

One of the first projects I took on when I bought this condo was to remodel the laundry room. Since it was my first attempt, I misjudged the distance to the threshold and cut the flooring too short. It's bugged me for the past year. I spent a few hours Sunday night pulling that flooring up and replacing it, but it looks so much better and it's another thing to cross off my house to do list.

I need a vacation after my vacation!

Thanksgiving 2008

I should be in bed right now but it's Sunday night after 4 days off from work and I'd rather be on blogger than preparing for work tomorrow, well I guess it's today. :( This week has been pretty crazy. After picking up my and Dawn's race packets Wednesday afternoon for the next day's gobble jog, I went home and started making Thanksgiving pies. Dawn came over late that night to pick up her packet and have a glass of wine. Ran the Gobble Jog 5K Thanksgiving morning. Went home, put some cookies in the oven. Beth came over at noon and we went to Jeff and Danna Vach's for a Thanksgiving lunch. Salmon, lobster and crab legs, oh my. It was very good and their two boys were super cute. I came back to my place and Beth came in for a glass of wine then I packed up my pies and cookies it was off to Faisal's for Thanksgiving dinner. It was pretty cold out but I kept Fais company while he fried a turkey out back. His family and another family came to his place for Thanksgiving this year. The other family just got back from India that morning so they were pretty wiped out. It was a great Thanksgiving.

The girls and I had a paint your own pottery night a few weeks ago. I made a display plate for my sister and her two daughters. I had made her one last year with kitties and this one she can switch out during the holidays because it has a snowman theme. I painted the edge with a "snow" paint.

I considered doing my annual midnight trip to the outlets Thanksgiving night, but when I looked at the sales flier, most of the sales were all weekend long so I didn't see the point in going up that night to save an extra 20%. Truth be told, I started nodding off while reading the flier and thought after running a 5k and eating and drinking all day, driving at midnight wasn't a good call. Last year, the stores had some excellent 5 a.m. deals. This year, there was nothing special. I need a new DVD player but the few that were on special, had horrible reviews when I researched them. Since the weather was decent and it was dry Friday morning, I decided to tackle painting my front door. I put a coat of primer on it Wednesday between getting my hair done and making pies. I put the first coat of black enamel paint on it. It turned out pretty well, but oil based paint sticks to everything. I also bought a new deadbolt and handle set and while the mechanics of it seem simple, lining it up just right is another story. Very frustrating. 24 hours is supposed to pass between coats of paint and you aren't supposed to paint in conditions below 50 degrees or with high humidity. Since it was cold and rainy all weekend, I couldn't put a second coat on. I'm shooting for next week.

Faisal texted me and we saw 'Role Models' Friday night. It's pretty funny but you have to have a certain sense of humor to appreciate it. Saturday, I went for a run on the Silver Comet Trail. There was only one other car in the parking lot. Yes, it had rained that day but it was still in the low 50's and pretty nice running weather so I was surprised more people weren't out. Later that afternoon, I drove up to the outlets. It was clear I had missed the boat on some of the better deals as many racks were bare. I still picked up several good deals including two new pairs of running pants at Nike which I tried out on the Silver Comet today. There were quite a few people on the trail this afternoon despite the fact that it was even colder than the day before. I always thought performance sports wear was dorky but now I see the usefulness. It really makes a comfort difference if running or biking.



















After my run today, I came home and used my leftover pumpkin puree to make pumpkin muffins to bring into work tomorrow. I also put up my Christmas tree. It looks like a child's tree. :) A pickle, shrimp and geisha are displayed on my tree. The pretty tree skirt was a gift Beth made me. I had to have a star as my tree topper. Growing up, Christmas trees always had gold stars on drawings other kids made. An angel just wouldn't do. Had to have the star.

Work work work work

Hmm....what have I been up to? I've been working a lot. I'm working on a project that has to be done before Christmas at work. So, to make that happen, we've all been working crazy hours and weekends. I just hope I make it to Christmas. In fact, I'm pretty excited about Thanksgiving next week. A break will be nice.

I am fortunate to have two invitations for Thanksgiving this year. Jeff is an engineering manager that I met on my last trip to Canada. Jeff and his wife invited me over for cedar plank salmon which will be my first Thanksgiving dinner of the day. My friend Faisal is having his family's Thanksgiving at his house this year and that will be my second Thanksgiving. I think I'm the only non-Bangladeshi attending so I'm excited to see how this turns out. I'm making pecan and pumpkin pies (from scratch!).

Thanksgiving is one of my favorite times of year. Not only do you get to spend it with friends, but its the Christmas kick-off. I get excited about Black Friday. I pick up Thursdays paper and plan all the sales I want to hit. I'm probably going to make the ludacris trip up to the outlets at midnight followed by early morning hits at the best sales. I'll go home and crash...and then it's Christmas tree time. That weekend I fill out all my Christmas cards so they go out in Monday's mail. If I'm really feeling motivated, I make cookies or fudge to bring into work.

So, I'm pretty jazzed about the holidays. However, by New Years Day...I'll be ready to pack it all away again. :)

Single

Blah blah blah single...blah blah blah...sucks.

Airshows and other disasters.

After 4 years at an aviation university and nine years of working in the industry, I went to my first air show today. This is a big, free public airshow put on at Dobbins Air Reserve Base/NAS Atlanta. I almost didn't go because the guys at work told me the crowds would be insane. My friends guilted me into going and I thought...hey...stop being a crybaby, you can handle a crowd. On my way to meet everyone for lunch before the show, I got a text from Rich. You cannot just drive onto the property where the airshow is. You have to park at either Lockheed or Whitewater and be bused over. Rich's text message said that it took his family an hour and a half just to get on a bus. I told everyone at lunch that I was not going but they stole my purse and would not give it back until I agreed to go. We lucked out and as we drove onto Lockheed property, we were directed to drive onto NAS Atlanta property and park at Hanger 5. We only had to wait 15 minutes to get on the bus. Now, the airshow was just on the other side of the base but this involved driving off the side we were on, driving around to the other side and then sitting in a line of busses...which equated to another 45 minutes.

We walked around, met up with Rich's parents, met Joe's "friend" Michelle, watched some planes and decided to leave before the Thunderbird finale was over so we didnt have to wait for a bus. What a disaster the exit was. They had three large "areas" for people to gather in order to get on the right bus. The "areas" were poorly marked and crowd control was basically zero. There was no designated stop for the buses so they just stopped wherever the soldiers told them. More than once we were at the front of the line, then they would move the bus stop and we'd end up towards the back. We ended up splitting up our group just to get on a bus. It took another hour and a half for us to make it back to the car. I realize they probably had more people show up than they planned but crowd control was just a joke.

Oktoberfest

I just got back today from Oktoberfest. Myself, Jenn, Jason, Paul, Jimmy, Ashley, Greg, Rich Dan, Joe and Kelly shared a 12 person cabin in Helen this weekend. We left Friday about 1:00 and headed up. After checking in at the main lodge, we had to drive 2 miles to the actual cabin. It was pretty sweet. 3 stories, 4 bedrooms, each with private bath, pool room, grills, hot tubs. Neat. We soon discovered one of the hot tubs and one of the grills were out of commission. We were able to make due with the other working hot tub and grill. The first night we made the rookie mistake of bringing our A game. After a dinner on the grill,we decided to kick the night off with shots followed by games of flip cup and beer pong. Then we went to the game room for games of pool and an impromptu dance party. Late in the night I was taking pictures of myself and Ashley on the pool table and dropped the camera right on my nose. I didn't even realize I was bleeding until I went upstairs and everyone pointed that fact out to me. Apparently, Tuba ran through the forest at some point in the night and had random scratches on his arms.

Good times but the next morning was rough. I got up first, had a bottle of water and tried to chill out in the hot tub. Everyone eventually got up and made breakfast. Greg, Jimmy and Rich went up to the state park for a hike. Several of us went back to bed for a nap. After lunch Saturday afternoon, we made the hike into town. We had ice cream and then walked down to Paul's on the River for drinks. Spent a few hours at Paul's. We headed back to the cabin...except for Rich. Rich made a special friend at Paul's and we didn't see him again until later that night with a giant smile on his face.

Back at the cabin, we threw dinner in the oven. Joe, Kelly and I climbed back into bed after dinner to watch Mr. & Mrs. Smith and chill out before we went out again. Joe brought chicken to bed. Paul and Dan were done for the night and had already passed out downstairs. Seymour came upstairs and tried to talk Joe, Kelly and I into heading back to the Festhalle in town but we could not be convinced. We were having too much fun giggling and watching tv in bed. Jason, Jenn, Greg, Ashley and Jimmy hiked back into town to finish the night at the Festhalle. Joe, Kelly and I fell asleep for a little while. We all woke up at the same time and decided to pick up where we left off. The crowd returned from Helen and we got to hear of Rich's "adventure" in town. Rich and Jimmy decided it was a great idea to climb on the roof and check stuff out.

We slowly got up this morning, made breakfast, cleaned, packed up and hit the road. We all decided this should be a yearly event and I'm pretty sure everyone had a great time.

O Canada

I haven't blogged for awhile. I'm writing this from Greg's apartment. My ghetto internet connection is down at my place. I leave for a week of work in Canada in the morning and I needed an internet connection. Yay Greg. Hmmm...what's new? Heather was here for a week. We went to the Georgia Aquarium, Fat Matt's, the Smyrna Beer fest and a BBQ at the Seymour's. Great Atlatna sampler.

It was Sarah's birthday last week. My husband and I had a great time at Whino Wednesdays with the group.

I'll keep this short since I still have to pack. Bathroom update. The new floor is down and the baseboards are nailed in. Just have to caulk, sand and paint. Weee!

Sick...again.

A week ago, I came down with a cold that turned into bronchitis. A week later, my sleeping pattern is totally thrown off and I still feel like garbage. I just started this new job and I get knocked off my feet....not the impression I wanted to make. Against my better judgment, I had dinner with a group at Front Page News Friday night followed by Cosmo Lava and then went home early. Last night, I went to the drive-in with Greg and Rich and saw Pineapple Express and Step Brothers. Pineapple Express was actually the worse movie.

My bathroom is still not done. I'm a perfectionist with the mudding and I keep noticing and fixing little problems. I won't rip up the floor until the walls are done. I also haven't touched the ceiling. Yikes. I put down a new floor in the dining area. I'm busy this morning fixing a few things. I feel like this place is never really going to be done. I have a wishlist of things I'd like...new shower hardware, steel fridge, sectional to replace my old sofa, gas logs for the fireplace...new doors throughout. As Sarah would say, "le sigh."

Goldschlager and other mistakes...

I went to Metalsome at 10 High last night with Greg, Rich and Tuba. It started out innocently enough with dinner at the Vortex. Then we had a little pre-metalsome cheer and headed to 10 High. The place was half empty when we showed up at 10:15 but by 10:35 it was packed. I met some new people (Tommy the bouncer, Steve the p.e. teacher from Lawrenceville, Rich's friend Emily who I stupidly called Erin all night) and some old...Faisal's friend Suber and his friend Matt I had met at trivia last month. Metalsome was a great time as usual. You can scream at the top of your lungs and no one would know it. We witnessed one dude get up to do a song and then proceed to propose to his girlfriend on stage.

I started a new job last week. The job promises to be demanding and I may have bitten off more than I can chew. My role is somewhat undefined and my manager assigns new duties left and right. I wish I could fast forward six months or a year and have a better idea of what I'm in for.

The bathroom remodel rolls on. I've been through two and a half tubs of drywall mud. I've added three layers of mud. I finally have the sanding done and am ready to paint. I really should be painting right now. :)

I'm excited about Heather coming out at the end of August. Yay!

Bathroom remodel...still

The drywall saga in my bathroom continues. I took a wall out more than a month ago and every weekend, I do a little more work finishing the area. Last weekend, I cut all the drywall to fit the missing wall area. What a pain! It's one thing to hang a whole sheet of drywall. It's quite another to cut 4 inch strips to fit uneven walls. As you cut it, it crumbles and creates one heck of a mess. Then I discovered the board they used in my ceiling is 1/8 inch thinner than the drywall used in the walls. Ugh! I went ahead and put in the full 1/2 inch board up there. We'll see what happens. Worse case scenario, I rip it down and start over. So, the board is up, and I'm about to start the taping and mudding.

I spent the 4th of July on the Seymour's lovely boat. The Volkers, Jeremy, Beth and Kelly Bergman went also. We caught up with Randy and Chel and tied off to their boat. Laura, Brian and their boatload of party people showed up later. We swam, had mojitos and drove out to another spot on the lake to watch the fireworks. Jeremy picked me up at 11:15 that morning and I didn't get home until after midnight. I was exhausted but had a good time.

Last night, I went to dinner with one of my favorite sorority sisters, Autumn bo-bottom. She was visiting from Tampa and asked all her Atlanta friends to meet at Agnes & Muriel's for dinner. All her Atlanta friends went to Embry-Riddle in Daytona although I only knew Autumn when I was going to school. The food was delicious however, it was "Pride" weekend and the table full of 12 lesbians behind us were so loud, I could barely hear anyone talk. After dinner, I met Greg at Dan Sankar's house and had a few beers with them and Ashley and Jimmy. I forgot my leftovers in Dan's fridge. Aarrrghh!!!!

Waiting for Guffman..aka Sarah

Waiting on Sarah to post a new blog entry. I can't believe it's mid-June already. Where has the time gone? I hung a chandelier in my bathroom Sunday. It's the "Kristaller" chandelier from Ikea.


What they don't show you is the ugly, cone shaped, foot long mounting apparatus. This and the 3 foot cord made it way too long for my 8 ft. tall ceilings. However..I wanted...I NEEDED that chandelier in the bathroom. So, not being one that is easily deterred, I bought a white mounting kit from the Homo Depot to redo the mounting and started cutting wires. Well, I discovered the mounting apparatus had gold bolts and hook which I then had to paint silver and white to match the unit. I almost killed myself hanging the thing solo but it's done....and now my bathroom has a nice romantic feel to it. I also installed a dimmer switch for the chandelier. Sometimes, I don't want bright light when I'm trying to relax in the tub. What? What! Now that I know my wiring job works....on to the task of drywalling the area of the wall I removed. Hurrah!

Busiest month of the year.

Sarah recently told me May is the busiest month of the year. After this month, I tend to agree with her. I recently decided to tackle my bathroom remodel. So far, I've patched and sanded a good part of the bathroom walls, replaced the light fixture over the vanity, painted the walls and the ceiling. I also removed a wall that separated the vanity area from the toilet/shower area. It's a pretty small bathroom so this wall really made it even smaller. One of my very nice coworkers came over with his son today. He brought some leftover drywall for me to use for the patch and gave me some advice on how to run the wiring. Looks like I still have quite a bit of work to do to finish the bathroom (including replacing the floor), but it's going to look so nice when I'm done. Last night, I went to see Sex & the City with my friend Dawn that came up to visit from Tampa. We went out to Cosmo/Lava in midtown and had a great time together. Something about Dawn and I together equals a great time, every time. Tonight, the guys and I went to a festival on the Marietta Square, then hit McCracken's followed by a house party at Bob's where we all met Tuba Rex. I'm excited about sleeping in tomorrow.