Archive for the ‘Thursday 13’ Category

Thursday Thirteen: 13 meetings this week

August 30th, 2007

Sometimes I feel like all my time is taken up with meetings and I never have a chance to get any work done. So, without further ado, here are 13 meetings I’ve had to attend this week. I am going to use military time, because… well, because I can?

  1. Monday, 0800-0830: “Stand up” brief in the director’s office. It’s literally stand up—lots of people, very few chairs. And it went over about 10 minutes, which made us late for…
  2. Monday, 0830-0930: Operations center update. Reiterated most of what was briefed in #1. Loads of fun. (Not.)
  3. Monday 1030-1115: meeting to prep for briefing the boss, who is being prepped prior to meeting with the General who is being prepped for Big Video Teleconference later this week. (I even had to miss another meeting I have scheduled for the same time.)
  4. Monday 1130-1335: meeting with boss to prep him for meeting with General who is being prepped for Big Video Teleconference. Cafeteria closed at 1330, so had to grab junk food from snack stand prior to attending…
  5. Monday 1330-1415: weekly “synch” meeting, which is a fancy name for staff meeting. Fortunately, this meeting was chaired by someone who actually makes sense, hence, getting out in only 45 minutes.
  6. Tuesday 0800-0900: stand-up in director’s office. This one lasts for about an hour because we don’t have to be elsewhere at 0830.
  7. Tuesday 1030-1100: meeting to review slides prior to meeting with General to prep him for Big Video Teleconference this week.
  8. Tuesday 1300-1500: meeting with General to prep him for Big Video Teleconference this week.
  9. Wednesday 0830-0845: stand up in director’s office. Received demoralizing “pep talk.”
  10. Wednesday 0845-0945: operations brief, which began late because of “pep talk”
  11. Wednesday 1100-1200: collaboration session that reiterated some of the things presented at 0800 and 0830 meetings along with review of latest slides for Big Video Teleconference later this week.
  12. Wednesday 1130-1315: “Operations & Intelligence” conference with General. This is a regularly scheduled meeting and had nothing to do with prep for Big Video Teleconference this week.
  13. 0800-0900: stand up meeting boss’s office. Didn’t even get through the entire brief due to another “pep talk.” Gah.
  14. 1300-1415: Big Video Teleconference. Had been in the works for approximately 2 months. Went pretty well, but still cause for banging of head. (More about that some other time.)

Shit! I couldn’t even cut it down to only 13! And this was a short week! (Military has Friday off, so things slow down… a lot.) Oh, and there meetings that I actually missed.

(By the way, the “pep talks” happen when something ticks off the boss, and he lectures us on everything we’re not doing. He’s got a lot of great ideas, and he’s very good about not yelling. But telling people who work 12-16-18 hours a day that they need to do more & be more attentive to his direction is pretty demoralizing.)

Posted in Thursday 13, Work | Comments (5)

Thursday Thirteen: I need this one

August 23rd, 2007

I sat in a briefing today that really peeved me. It puts the folks I work with in a bad light, and I feel horrible for them. They are terrific people who are working their asses off; and now, if the briefing slides don’t change between now and next Thursday, there is going to be hell to pay. We will have to scrape no less than three senior officers off the ceiling. So, in order to make the evening more enjoyable, here are:

Thirteen things I’m grateful for:
  1. my paycheck, which is rather nice
  2. my commute to work, which is pretty easy
  3. my car, a 2000 Lexus (I bought it used) that runs like a dream
  4. the people I work with. They’re very smart and hard working and I’m so privileged to know them.
  5. my home, which provides me immense comfort
  6. Kristen and Michael’s impending new arrival
  7. in addition to Kristen, her two brothers, who are the absolute bestest
  8. my renewed interest in knitting, which allows me to make adorable things for #6
  9. all the kitties that have graced my life with their unconditional love; Brandy, Cassie, Chelsea, Britta, Gigi, Daisy, Kimmi and Shadow (even though his unconditional love is sometimes a bit too much)
  10. Michelle Market, whose specialties are a perfect fit for my neuroses
  11. my iPod, which has allowed me to download songs from Supernatural and make CDs for my “best friend-in-law” and me
  12. Supernatural Season 1 DVD sets being on sale so that I can buy a whole bunch of them to give out to others
  13. several friends who have birthdays this month who will be getting Supernatural DVDs and CDs as presents.

Yes, it’s true. It really does all boil down to Supernatural! :D

Posted in Family, Supernatural, Thursday 13, Work | Comments (0)

Thursday thirteen: Yesterday in 13 significant events

August 16th, 2007

  1. 1:00 am — wake up, realize I’m swallowing something, turn on light, lightly blow nose, blood gushes forth. Pinch nose, lean head back slightly, wait for bleeding to subside.
  2. 1:15 — bleeding hasn’t subsided, decide to go to emergency room, try to get dressed while holding tissue to nostrils.
  3. 1:30 — sufficiently dressed, but bleeding has subsided. Decide to go back to bed. Put on new pair of pajamas (since previous pair now have blood on them), arrange pillows so that head is elevated, go back to sleep.
  4. 6:10 — alarm goes off, turn it off & go back to sleep.
  5. 7:15 — wake up, decide I’m ok to go to work. Put saline solution in very dry nose, blow nose to clear out, bleeding starts all over again.
  6. 7:20 — call work to let them know I’m going to emergency room and to pass on important information. Can’t reach anyone so get dressed and go to work to attend morning meetings and pass on important info.
  7. 8:00 — get to work, attend meetings, pass important info, write e-mails to follow up important info.
  8. 9:45 —head to emergency room.
  9. 10:05 — arrive at emergency room, stand in long line to get checked in.
  10. 11:15— finally see physician’s assistant who gives me bacitracin to ease discomfort.
  11. 11:50 — given referral to ENT and get checked out of emergency room.
  12. 12:00 — stop at drug store for more bacitracin, pick up junk food because I’m very hungry.
  13. 12:15 — get home. Neighbor is parked in my spot (grrrr), but am not in the mood to confront so find another spot. Go inside, eat lunch, take nap to recover from trauma of the night, try hard to resist urge to blow nose. Not completely successful.

So, while the symptoms have been eased, the problem has not been resolved. Which is why I need to see the ENT. Why did my nose start bleeding all on its own? My sinuses have been horrible this summer, ever since I went to Texas. (Yeah, that’s it, I’ll blame everything on Texas!) I used a humidifier in my bedroom this winter and it did wonders. And I didn’t have too much trouble in the spring (not that we had much of one), but this summer has been miserable. I’ve known for awhile I need to see a doctor, but didn’t want to go back to my internist, since I don’t really like him. Perhaps I can ask someone at the ENT office.

Episode separation doodad

On a separate note, I think I’ll actually try to sign up for the real Thursday Thirteen next week.

Posted in Thursday 13 | Comments (4)

Thursday Thirteen: 13 items in my grocery cart

July 26th, 2007

It’s Thursday already? Cripes, where did the week go?

I went to the grocery store yesterday. I had only a couple of things I needed to buy, yet I ended up spending over $80. So what the heck was in the cart?

  1. Red leaf lettuce
  2. Red seedless grapes
  3. 1 cucumber
  4. 2 bananas
  5. Pork chops (yum!)
  6. Skim milk, 1 gallon (yes, I can drink 1 gallon of milk all by myself before it goes bad)
  7. Low fat cottage cheese (I like it, ok?)
  8. Bag o’ carrettes
  9. Crystal Lite Raspberry Green Tea
  10. 5 cans of Lil Friskees cat food (3 salmon, 2 captain’s choice, because “We will fuss if we don’t get what we want, even though we have pitifully few taste buds.”)
  11. Cat litter
  12. 1/2 gallon Breyers lite mint chocolate chip ice cream—hey, it jumped into my cart all by itself!
  13. ABC Soaps In Depth. Because I’m an idiot.

Posted in Thursday 13 | Comments (1)

Thursday Thirteen: 13 items on my office desk

July 19th, 2007

I wrote this post on Monday, so there have been some slight changes, which I’ll note. These are items that are in plain view, not hidden behind closed shelves or shoved in drawers.

  1. A wicker-esque basket that contains a bunch of writing implements (pens, pencils, dry-erase markers, highlighters)
  2. A wooden name plate that a former co-worker made for me. He made it as a prototype to decide if he wanted to get into woodworking or not. It’s in the shape of a cat, and painted to resemble a gray tabby. And it’s one of the best things he ever made.
  3. A coffee cup with the Navy officer emblem and the crest of the command I worked for at the time (Naval Telecommunications Command, or NAVTELCOM). The command went through numerous changes in the ensuing years and is no longer in existence.
  4. Mardi gras bead that a friend who lives in Louisiana (but not New Orleans) gave to me.
  5. A gyroscope from a defunct Navy torpedo. It’s mounted on a plaque and was given to me as a going away gift. (There’s a long story associated with it. Perhaps I’ll tell the story some time.)
  6. A 3″x5″ acrylic paper holder filled with multi-colored sheets with my name imprinted at the top.
  7. A water bottle, currently half full. :) (Now it’s less than 1/4 full. No, not the same bottle, but a water bottle none-the-less.)
  8. A 20 oz coffee cup, currently about one-third full. (Today it’s only 16 oz since I’m leaving earlier than usual.)
  9. An “office voodoo kit.” The kit includes a small doll with a man on one side, a woman on the other, and two pins. It came with an instruction booklet and is to be used on bosses, coworkers or anyone else who pisses me off.
  10. My brand new DayTimer. I down-sized so that I could carry the planner in my purse, but I’m not sure I like the format. I’ll give it some time, though. I’ve used Day Timers for many years, not always successfully. I have a PDA somewhere at home, but never got into the habit of using it, and now I’m not allowed to bring it into the building I work in.
  11. A small fan, almost always running.
  12. A picture of my “niblings,” my 2 nephews and niece. My niece saw it and exclaimed, “That’s an old picture.” To which I replied, “Yeah, but you still look the same.”
  13. A box of Kleenix, an absolute necessity for my crappy sinuses (which my co-workers often use without asking permission. Hmmm. See item #9.)

Posted in Thursday 13 | Comments (2)

Thursday Thirteen: my 13 favorite Supernatural episodes

May 31st, 2007

Once again, these are in chronological order, because there’s no way I’d ever be able to rank them.  (Oh, and this is not the same as my Thirteen favorite scenes from season 2.) 

  1. Dead in the Water.  I loved how Dean tried to reach out to Lucas.  I think I heard the sound of uteruses (uteri? ) exploding all over America.  And season 1’s “money shot” didn’t hurt.
  2. Home.  Besides an ejoyable guest cast (yes, I liked Missouri), the episode had gore (never trust a cymbal monkey!), scares, and angst galore. 
  3. Faith.  I thought the religious aspect was handled very well, and I was pleased they didn’t make the minister into a fraud.  And I loved the vibe between Layla & Dean (bad boy meets good girl).  And the final sentiment that you  have to have faith even when the miracles don’t happen is very real for me.
  4. Hell House.  I loved the light-heartedness of this episode:  the brotherly pranks, the nerdy “paranormal investigators.”   It also had my favorite scene from season 1.  (And no, it wasn’t Jared Padalecki in a low-slung towel, altho that helped.)
  5. Something Wicked.  This was the first episode I ever watched, and it remains one of my favorites.  I adored 9-year-old Dean and 5-year-old Sam, but what I was most impressed with was how good an actor Jensen Ackles is.
  6. In My Time of Dying.  Family trauma and drama, a psuedo-ouija board/Winchester slumber party, a fabulous villain, and Bobby!  Not to mention The Ending.  *sob*
  7. Everybody Loves a Clown.  Ok, so a killer clown didn’t necessarily make for first-rate drama.  But the brothers’ conversations, anguish and grieving did. 
  8. The Usual Suspects.  I really enjoyed guest star Linda Blair, especially her interaction with Sam in the interogation room.  And the monster of the week was pretty darned scary.
  9. Playthings.  Two reasons:  1) drunken Sam, and 2) wet Sam.  ”Your bossy.  And short.”  “C’mon, Sasquatch.”  Brotherly face-mauling was an extra bonus.  Oops, is that more than 2?
  10. Nightshifter.   A great story with great guest stars all around.  Ronald, Sherrie, Henrickson.  I even liked the police lieutenant (too bad I can’t remember his name).  And a kick-ass ending! 
  11. Born Under a Bad Sign.  Evil Sam was just way too good.  Jared Padalecki proved he’s more than just a pretty face.  (Ok, maybe he’d already proved this.  But he really proved it here.)
  12. What Is and What Should Never Be.  It was so wonderful to see Dean happy and relaxed.  And mowing the lawn.  I really marvelled at the difference in the brothers’ dynamic.  In once scene, I felt as if Sam was the older brother.
  13. All Hell Breaks Loose, Part Two (along with the last 5 minutes of Part One).  I really hate season cliffhangers.  (What happens if I die over the summer?  I’ll never know the ending!)  So I enjoyed the ending to the second season.   Jensen was phenominal (as usual).  Jared was fabulous (as usual—I think he’s really come into his own this season, especially with his body language).  And every guest star was terrific.

And now, we wait until September.  *sigh*

Posted in Couch Critic, Thursday 13 | Comments (0)

Thursday Thirteen: 13 reasons I love American Heiress

April 27th, 2007

Is it ok to post a Thursday Thirteen on Friday? I got home late from work last night, and since it was a Supernatural night, I didn’t get on the computer. So, here we go…

I haven’t watch American Idol since the initial season, and even then I didn’t watch it regularly. How many American idols can one have? Apparently as many as the tv ratings will support. Nope, on Tuesdays, you’ll find me watching American Heiress on the floundering MyNetworkTV. Why? Here’s why:

Thirteen reasons I love American Heiress

  1. I get to see Alicia Leigh Willis every week. I’ve missed her beauty, talent & bubbly persona.
  2. Alicia plays the title role and has top billing in a very large cast. Yay! \o/
  3. The show doesn’t take itself too seriously. I was hesitant to watch at first, fearing it would be horrible, but during the initial preview/teaser, I laughed out loud several times.
  4. The acting is pretty darned good. Not what you’d necessarily expect from a show casted with Really Beautiful People.
  5. Fun and funny characters abound. Some are over-the-top stereo-types and may seem little one dimensional, but there’s plenty of time for them to grow. And some are genuinely a treat to watch. Computer wiz and all-around slob Kenny (played by Christopher Bello) comes to mind.
  6. There are some great one-liners, and the cast does an terrific job of delivering them with just the right amount of sarcasm and wit.
  7. Patrick Burleigh (who plays company & family lawyer Parker Banks) is gorgeous. And he plays the part well. I wish he were in more episodes.
  8. AnnaLynne McCord has been fun to watch (except when when she attempts to sing) with her well-timed and delivered ditzy comments. And her speech about her feelings for her mother let us know that there’s more to Loren Wakefield than just a party animal.
  9. Race Owen plays a great, slimy villain. It took me a couple episodes to embrace the nastiness of Damian Wakefiled, but now for the most part, he’s quite fun to watch.
  10. John Aprea plays Lionel Wakefield, an industrial mogul with a good heart & conscience. He and Alicia have worked together before, and they have a wonderful father-daughter bond.
  11. The bantering (and chemistry) between Alicia’s Elizabeth Wakefield and pilot JD Bruce (played by Carter MacIntyre) is delightful. I find myself grinning from ear-to-ear when they’re together.
  12. Carter MacIntyre’s dimples.
  13. Carter MacIntyre, period. Although I wasn’t all that impressed with him in the previews (mostly from a looks point of view—yes, shallow, I know), I’m extremely impressed with his talent. He plays very well off Alicia, and I expect (or at least hope) we’ll being seeing more of him.

Posted in Couch Critic, Thursday 13 | Comments (0)

Thursday Thirteen: 13 things about me

April 5th, 2007

Well, it’s a good thing I wrote the bulk of this post during the week and saved it. I just got home from work (busy, long day) and I realized I ought to post this. So, here are…

13 things about me that those who know me might not know

  1. I lived in only one house (until I went away to school). In other words, the house my parents lived in when I was born was the same house they were living in when my mother died 36 years later.
  2. I have a Master’s degree in audiology. What? Yeah, yeah.
  3. My first car was a blue Pontiac LeMans (the decent mid-size one, not the tin can it now is) with white interior.
  4. My friends in graduate school called my car “The Tank.”
  5. Since I didn’t know what I wanted to be when I grew up, I became a Navy officer.
  6. I could have gone into the Navy’s Medical Service Corp as an audiologist. The school was only a few weekslong and I would have been commissioned a LTJG (Lieutenant Junior Grade, O-2). However, I wanted to see if I could actually make it through 4 whole months of Officer Candidate School (OCS), and was commissioned as an Ensign (O-1). I did make it, but just barely. :)
  7. I lived in Italy for 2 years. It was a hard adjustment, but now I’m grateful for the experience. I have fond memories, the food was fabulous, and the wine was cheap & plentiful.
  8. I have a second cousin who rode in and actually finished the Tour de France. (His name is Andy Bishop, and I’ve never met him, but I knew who he was before I knew I was related to him.)
  9. I love ballroom dancing but refuse to watch Dancing with the Stars. It’s too flamboyant it’s not and the music (the couple times I’ve surfed over it) usually sucks.
  10. My best features are my eyes (large & very blue), my hands (until I scarred one with the chards of a broken shower door), and my legs (until I aged & got the little veiny thing).
  11. I have no intention of getting plastic surgery. I’ve decided that age is character and character IS beauty.
  12. I’m the world’s biggest procrastinator. I still have pictures to hang in my home… and I’ve lived there for nearly 20 years!
  13. All my pets have come from the animal shelter or a rescue league. And they’ve all been spade or neutered.

Well, that’s it for this week. Since it’s danged near 8 p.m., I think I better go eat some dinner.

Posted in Blogging, Thursday 13 | Comments (0)

Thursday Thirteen

March 29th, 2007

I found this intersting website courtesy of one of my few (but selective) LiveJournal friends. I’m planning to participate, but apparently I have to post a few Thursday Thirteens before I can join the community. So here’s my first Thursday Thirteen. And to show just how unimaginative I am, I’m borrowing my first Thursday Thirteen from nuj (LJ friend mentioned above).

Thirteen things I plan to list in future Thursday Thirteen posts
(in no particular order)

  1. 13 things about me
  2. 13 movies I love
  3. 13 people I admire
  4. 13 reasons to watch Supernatural
  5. 13 blogs I like
  6. 13 things I learned on the WordPress Treasure Hunt
  7. 13 places I’d like to visit
  8. 13 places I’ve been to that I really love
  9. 13 places I might move to when I retire
  10. 13 memorable events in my life
  11. 13 household items I need to get rid of
  12. 13 of my favorite foods
  13. 13 songs that move me

Now all I need to do is go peruse some other Thursday Thirteen posts. And comment!

Posted in Blogging, Thursday 13 | Comments (0)

Newer Entries »