Blogstalking

Everyone does it. I know I do. I don't mean to lurk on other people's lives, but I probably have 5 or 6 blogs I read daily whose owners have zero idea who I am. Sometimes, I feel a little weird reading these blogs, like I'm descending on territory that really I have no business being on.

That being said...

Quela, your brother is hilarious. And I hope he doesn't mind that I'm posting this link to a particular post of his, but it was too good to not share with my small community of friends and family here on the www. If he is, tell me and I'll promptly remove.

Taxman

Notes on a Wednesday

Nothing really interesting to blog about.

Except maybe that the Suns really pissed me off the other night. I'm so sure Raja Bell. You're hot and everything and I totally dug your Kobe Bryant throw-down a couple years ago, but seriously, play some defense.

Also, I'm becoming borderline obsessed with the Twilight movie that is filiming right now. I have to force myself to avoid that website during the day. Did I mention that while I was reading the book, the whole time I was thinking that Kristen Stewart (the actress playing Bella) would be perfect for the part? This was before I even knew they were making a movie. So weird, right? Yes, so, so weird.

Today my boss asked me if I wanted anything from 7-11. I told him maybe some plain M&M's. He came back with a 2 pound bag and dropped it on my desk. Uh, thanks. This will last me till next Christmas.

On another note, I'm feeling incredibly grateful for my friends. They are the best. I couldn't ask for more supportive and awesome examples to me. I'd be a sad little mess without them.

In conclusion, I think I want to move to San Diego.

"Brush your shoulders off..."

Weekend Update

This weekend I went up to Salt Lake to take care of some business before going up to Logan to help throw my good friends Eliza and Chuck's baby shower. They're having a boy, naming him Jack and I couldn't be more excited for them. I've expressed my love for these two before on this blog so you know they are the coolest married couple I know, so them having a baby just makes them that much cooler. I was really hoping Eliza would suddenly go into labor while I was in town and have her baby so I could see him, but alas, that was not the case. Oh well, I'll see him soon enough.

Eliza is 8 months pregnant and her little belly is tiny. I couldn't get over it.

Me and my friend Quela's baby, Roxy. She's so cute!!!

Josh, me, Michelle. Trouble.

I had a couple meetings in Salt Lake with some PR people who might be able to get me a job there, or if nothing else, give me some help in putting my stuff together and looking like a better candidate. I thought I'd be more excited to be back in Salt Lake, but really, I wasn't. I wasn't really feeling it at all, which kinda made me worried, since I thought I really wanted to move back. Maybe I was just nervous about the interviews and had too much anxiety to think about being back, but I just wasn't really feeling it. Now I really have no idea what I'm going to do. Do I move back anyway? Should I stay in Vegas? Go to California???? Someone tell me what to do. It would be a lot easier to decide if I had any burning desire to be in a particular place, but I don't. I'm stuck. I hate this. However I'm also trying really hard to go against every natural reaction in my being and stay positive and try to be happy in this point in my life. We went to church in Logan on Sunday and it seemed every talk in Sacrament was directed towards me. The realization that I am wishing my life away hit me hard and I really don't want to think that way anymore. I truly want to just live my life for what is it right now and not worry too much about the things that I cannot change, and not take the things I can change too seriously. I feel like the last 2 years I've been waiting for "the next step" in my life to happen. Whether it was graduating, moving to Vegas, starting my job, or whatever. If I keep worrying about where I'm supposed to be and what I'm supposed to be doing, I'm afraid I'll wake up 20 years from now and be completely shocked and confused on where my life went. Now to say I'm not freaking out a little about the decisions I need to make because believe me, I am.

This post has turned in a weird direction I wasn't anticipating, but there it is. I think a lot of times, and I hate to admit this, I enjoy being a little miserable. It's almost as if I don't know how to live any other way so I choose to live in this little dark spot where I don't have to make decisions, and inside I can complain about things and continue on in my complacency. That's much easier.

But, I'm sick of that dark spot. It sucks. I might just try and choose the alternative.

"Charlie bit me"

One of the videos we watched via iPhone last night. Watch it twice. It's better the second time around...

iWant One

Guy Who I'm Dating bought an iPhone the other day and let me tell you; it is rad.

It's almost too rad. I can't believe how easy to use and awesome it is. We spent a good 2 hours yesterday watching YouTube videos, looking up the least congested route to his house via GoogleEarth and looked up stock prices for various green energy producers that we both would invest in if we had a couple extra hundred thousand dollars lying around. I need this phone. It's mesmerizing and let's not forget the iPod capabilities! Seriously, the hype is totally legit in my opinion.

Happy Birthday, Dad

Top 10 Reasons I love My Dad, Michael G. Olsen:

10. He can cook VERY well. I seem to recall enjoying my dad's meals more than my mom. (no offense, Mom). He makes the best homemade egg mcmuffin sandwiches that he'd put in mine and Shannon's car before we left for seminary because we were ALWAYS running late. I remember a couple times being so mad about having to get up so early that I would scream that I didn't want the breakfast he made me as I slammed the door on my way out. I feel horrible about that now. I feel horrible about a lot of things I said and did as a teenager, but I guess that's the benefit of having kids-so someday when I have my own ungrateful, teenager I can go to him and complain as he'll just laugh at me.

9. 6 years after high school, he'll still call to tell me,"Enterprise won last night."

8. Cannot, if his life depended on it, order from a restaurant without debating/questioning everything on the menu. Whenever my family goes out to eat, he orders last, and as the server gets to him, everyone looks at each other, trying to laugh because we totally know what's coming.. "Okeey....what's this Philly Cheesesteak? Is that pretty good?"

7. The smartest person I know.

6. Always asks me what I want from the store before I come into town and buys Coke even though I'm the only one that drinks it.

5. Let's Boots sleep on his lap, even though he says he hates her.

4. Will insist you follow him to the gas station before you leave town so he can put gas in your car.

3. Watches Mad Money on MSN everyday, even though I'm fairly confident he has no money in the stock market.

2. Still pays my car insurance even thought I've told him like, 100 times that I will take care of it.
1. Puts his family before anything.

Faced

Last Thursday night I received another ridiculous "Violation Notice" from my HOA for parking on the street overnight. I can't even begin to explain how much I hate my HOA. Really, words that come to mind are lazy, heartless, pretentious, fascist and really, that's just scratching the surface. If there was one reason alone to not live in Las Vegas, it would be for the sheer fact that it is next to impossible to find somewhere to live in this cookie-cutter housing market that doesn't involve an HOA and/or gated community.

Anyway, I've received plenty of these violations before. I know not to park on the street overnight, but sometimes I'm in a hurry and think I'll just need to run inside my house to grab something, but end up staying and forgetting that my car is parked on the street. That's what happened last week. Apparently, every time you receive a violation, your fees increase. Of course they do, and I was sitting pretty in my defiance right about in the $250 range. This was ridiculous. For one thing, there was no way I was going to pay $250 for parking my car for 5 hours in front of my house and secondly, I could not let my brother see that fee on his HOA dues for the month. He would not be happy.

So, I emailed the HOA office demanding they cancel the violation. I told them my car battery had died and there was no way of moving it off the street and that I had left a note explaining the situation. I was fully expecting some pompous reply back disputing my dispute, but was pleasantly surprised to find out that they bought my story and would disregard the violation, "but please, in the future, notify Rhodes Ranch Security ASAP of the situation..."

So I may have lied my way out but I totally stuck it to The Man and walked away victorious.

Really, I don't know.

So, I'm getting laid off.

I guess that's what's going on.

It's not really any sort of surprise that a company that makes it's money from the real estate market is struggling right now, but still.

Yes, this sucks, but not in the way that it could have sucked. I've been wanted to leave my job for a couple months and this is just an easy out for me; a good way to avoid feeling like I was giving up on Vegas and abandoning a company that has been so great to me. This business is not what I want to be a part of and although I've learned a lot and met some great people, I won't miss it.

I have about six weeks left here and then it's on to something else.

What that is, I have no idea. And that part really sucks.