Yay!

Today I heard back about the Job and I got it! :) I'm still a little nervous because I've been offered a job before and not gotten it in the end. So ,I'm still sort of holding my breath...

But, yes! A real JOB! With real money (not so much the first year, but that's fine! It's like a bajillion more than I'm making now. Seriously, a bajillion) and real benefits (not starting until July, but that's ok too! because now I've got insurance only to cover me if something horrendous happens).

I have orientation in a little over a week, so, sorry to my best friend, I cannot come visit. But I'll come visit as soon as possible. I have a lot of visiting to do. My "weekend" will be Sunday and Monday which is cool because I don't like Saturday crowds when I run my errands. Also, my regular schedule will be very nice because it's second shift and I will avoid rush hour both ways and don't have to get up early! It's basically the slacker schedule I kept in Houston, so it's perfect! And I may be able have it so the company will pay my tuition when I go back to Houston to complete the bane of my existence.

My boss at the bead shop will find out about my resignation tomorrow. A few weeks ago she wondered if I wanted to be a manager. Hmmm...no. Sorry. Flattered, but no. I do wish I knew someone who could replace me. But I don't really know anybody around here. LOL....*sigh*.

But I have learned some things at the bead shop. I learned not to shop at bead shops. LOL. Seriously, I had a lot of time to really think about retail markups. And I learned some neat techniques that I would have previously never considered. Like chain mail (maille?) Finally! an interesting (albeit expensive) technique perfect for boy jewelry.

Anyways, I am happy to be leaving retail and going back to meaningful science where I can do PCRs and load gels whilst standing in my weird little Sumo stability stance (feet spread, elbows on the bench. Don't laugh at me).

Lol

I'm not a big fan of cats. I don't own cat knickknacks. I have a cat, but I only like her juuuust enough to keep her.

But I love lolcats. If you don't know, lolcats are cute photos of cats (also other animals such as rabbits, dogs, and walruses) with captions. The caption is often in some form of Engrish and the spelling is phonetic. You can find them at http://icanhascheezburger.com and other places.
I'm not sure why I like these so much. It's a giant waste of time. I guess I like the clickability of it all and once in a while I find one that makes me laugh.

I just love sloths. Except for their algae fur.

I would NEVER do something like that...never.

Here's a freaky one:
If Kane, the short legged dog, and Butters, the cat loaf, mated!!!!!

*I do not condone crappity ass spelling unless you are an animal. If you are an animal, good job on learning to read and type and add text into your photos.

When I'm not watching T.V, I'm thinking about T.V.

I miss the old Food Network. The one where chefs cooked and taught stuff and it wasn't all about being a celebrity.

Food Network Awards? Really? Why?

I still watch Good Eats (when it ISN'T one that I have seen 10 million times) and Ace of Cakes (but really just for snippets Geoff's dry wit).

Sorry, I can't chat about American Idol because I can't stand to watch it. I will gladly say Sanjaya, though, because it sounds nice. SanJaaaaaaaaayyyyyyahhhhh.

I am the Queen of Geek T.V. I watch tons of PBS, Mythbusters, Deadliest Catch, and Survivorman, Bizarre Foods, No Reservations. That's reality T.V., right?

However, I may be watching too much Deadliest Catch. Scary drowning nightmares. But Mike Rowe's voice is getting to be quite soothing to me. I'd watch Dirty Jobs if it weren't all about poo.

Why can't I stop watching Medium? I really don't understand how Patricia Arquette won that Emmy for Best Actress.

I like Heroes, but I hate how they make you wait weeks and weeks between shows just so that they have exciting stuff to show during May sweeps.

I need Tivo. I'd record everything during the season and just watch it all at once.

What's happening! (remember that show?)

My, it's been a while since my last post. Well, nothing fabulous has really happened.

Bad things in the world have happened, specifically in Blacksburg, Virginia. All I can say is that it is very, very sad and I'm very, very tired of senseless things happening. So, here's my request: Evil of the world, please cease.

That'll do it, don't ya think?

My parents went out of town and have come back. While they were gone, I held the fort with the dog and cat and fishes. It was nice to be alone except for one night when the dog barked at something across the street and I swore I heard someone at the door. Spooky! Other than that it was fine and I ate rice! and things with tomato sauce! (stuff my dad can't really eat due to his diabetes and medications that make his potassium too high).

On the job front, I got a call last Thursday from the human resources lady telling me that the molecular oncology position was OK'd. You see, the director of the department just saw my resume and wanted to hire me even though there was no actual position to fill. So they had to make a position for me. Now I must wait while that position is posted internally in the company for one week. I'll find out if I have job on Thursday. I really hope nothing gets screwed up.

So I told my current boss that there is a chance that I would be taking a new job in May. So, she decided not to offer the ring class that I would have taught. I suggested that I could teach another employee how to do it, but she decided against it. Which is actually fine by me. I was a little sad to be letting out the secret to making these rings since I spent plenty of time figuring it out on my own. Plus I felt kinda bad because it's not like it was my original design to begin with. Getting paid to sell someone else's idea is not a good idea. But I have no problem teaching techniques for free. I could never run this business. I would never run a bead shop business anyway. It's really dull. Selling jewelry on the other hand would be fun and creative. But selling inventory? Blech.

I'll probably post more after Thursday. Hopefully something good. :)

Pickle

On the 5th I told y'all that I had an interview for a cytogenetics position. I still haven't heard back from them, but I knew it would take at least 6 to 10 days to even have the background check done. However, I got a call from the molecular oncology department in the company. The director said that my resume "jumped off his desk when he saw it". Turns out he is from Houston and we know a lot of the same people. He gave me all these reasons why I should consider his department instead of cytogenetics, and basically left me in a pickle. I don't know what to do. So, tomorrow I am going to see his lab and compare the two jobs. I will keep in mind however, that I don't have either job.

Damn this world with no guarantees!

Cracked Eggs

The day after Easter my mom and I bought candy 50% off. I hadn't had ANY Easter candy all season. I just wasn't in the mood. But since it was on sale, I got some jelly beans and Cadbury mini eggs, in milk and dark.

I had some jelly beans and tasted a few dark Mini Eggs, and thought, "Ok, I won't binge on sweets. I can make this last a while. Cool."

But then I had a milk chocolate Mini Egg.

Dear LORD those are fiiiillled with crack. Pure, unadulterated crack. I can't have just one. Thank God they only come out during the spring.

I know I've mentioned Mini Eggs before on this blog, but DAMN!

Crack, I tells ya, they's filled with crack.

Happy Easter

The snow melted shortly after I wrote about it, so I didn't get any pictures. However, it still appears to be snowing, almost. It's windy and the white petals from the pear trees that line the street are falling and sprinkling the ground in patches of white. It's still quite chilly outside so unfortunately all the ladies with their new pastel Easter dresses had to cover them up with big winter coats.

I hope you all have a nice Easter, or at least a very nice Sunday.

Snow

FREAKIN' SNOW.

There is SNOW on the the ground.

SNOW.

There is snow on the trees, on the ground, all over the freakin' place. Well, not the roads. BUT STILL.

SNOW.

I tells ya, this place is a'drivin me a'crazy!

Cold

It's so cold for April.

Some weeks ago I planted summer squash (for the blossoms) and heirloom tomato seeds in a tray. Last week when it was sunny and warm I placed the seedlings outside in the shade to let them get used to the big, big world. I started digging a plot for the seedlings. I only got about a rectangle 6ft x 3ft dug up. It sort of looks like a really shallow grave for a skinny person. I mean, reaaaallly shallow. I only dug up the grass, so it's about 6inches deep. And I didn't even start mixing the soil and such and such to put in the plot. I didn't get terribly far because I was doing this alone on a Monday (I work on the weekends) and I am kinda lazy and whiny when it comes to yard work. There are worms, people and they are icky!

Anyways, it's cold. I brought the seedlings back inside.

This is the first time I've ever really grown vegetables so I'm pretty excited about the whole prospect of having vegetables you can't easily find.

Damn you random cold weather!!!!

Flute

I'm usually not a fan of the flute.

But then there's this

The eye of the beholder

I do not consider myself very attractive. I'm much too pillow-like. I've got awful skin. My calves are too big and I think I may have giant man hands with kielbasas for fingers. My hair often resembles a topiary.

But today in the store a woman asked me what my nationality is and then said:

"You're beautiful."

I bet you that woman is going to heaven.

Hopeful

Yesterday I had an interview for a cytogenetics job. It went okay I suppose. You never can tell. I tend to replay things in my head and wish I had said something more intelligent or eloquent, but I do not yet have the power to go back in time. Anyways, crossing fingers and toes...

Yesterday evening I went to a free yoga class. It focused on stress relief and meditation. While we did do a few asanas, most of the time we lied under blankets with our eyes closed and visualized stress being washed away into the ocean.

Sounds so flaky, huh? I had a hard time paying attention. I just know the woman next to me started snoring and I was concentrating so hard on breathing deeply I gave myself a headache.

Flaky or not, it is for that very reason that I want to learn to meditate. I have such a hard time clearing my mind sometimes. Like I mentioned, I replay situations in my head, sometimes obsessively so. I worry a lot and get very anxious. And just forget about it if I haven't had enough sleep. Basketcase = me.

Learning to meditate has been on my mind for the past few weeks as I have been reading Eat Pray Love by Elizabeth Gilbert. I mentioned this book in a previous post. I am taking such a long time to read it because I know once I finish it I will be sad that it is over (kinda like flan. mmmm...flan). In other words, I like it. In the second third of the book, Gilbert goes to India to learn to pray and get closer to God. While I don't have such ambitions, I do relate to the author in her desire to learn to let go (sincerely, and not just repress or ignore things), live with an open heart, and most of all be happy. I'll let y'all know if I ever figure out what all that means and how to do it. Don't hold your breath though, I hear it's a lifelong thing.

(Before you think this book is totally zen flaky granola earthy crunchy, keep this in mind: Elizabeth Gilbert's life is also the basis for the movie Coyote Ugly. Interesting, no? I also hear that Eat Pray Love might be turned into a movie starring Julia Roberts. I really hope that doesn't suck.)