Telephone Booth

It's funny to me how movies, shows, and books about the future written awhile ago get so many things wrong. A common one I have recently noticed is the notion of the telephone booth. In watching (I fell asleep about a quarter of the way through, but maybe I'll finish it someday) 2001: A Space Odyssey and reading Player Piano (I'm not finished with this one yet either but am more actively pursuing its finale) both imagine that the public telephone booth would still be the main form of communication to the home when away. They envisioned screens and video chatting but failed to think that some kind of portable device would be more accurate. I can't think of the last time I used a pay phone. In fact, it took me awhile to even remember the phrase "pay phone." We don't even have a land-line anymore at our apartment.

"That" Guy

So it seems like every t.v. show or movie has to have some over the top super annoying character or character with some terribly intolerable habit. A few that come to mind:
Nora from Desperate Housewives
Jar Jar Binks from Star Wars
The insane amount of slurping noises in the third season of Weeds
George from Seinfeld (mostly in the 3rd and 4th season...they seemed to calm him down after awhile so that he was tolerable)
Ross from Friends
The female lead in the second Indiana Jones movie (yes the entire movie was terrible, but that actress made it that much worse)
Dr. Zoidberg in Futurama (although sometimes he is funny-the episode where Planet Express stock goes through the roof is his best performance)
Nikki/Jessica from Heroes (although not the worst out there, enough with the whining already)

Those are just some off the top of my head-I'm sure there's more, but between the thunder/rain storms last night and the building's fire alarm going off for about thirty minutes at 4 a.m. (felt like I was living in a dorm again), I didn't get a great night sleep, so my brain doesn't feel like exerting itself. Feel free to add or defend anyone or thing on this list.

Walking Bank Statement

So there's this guy in my office who loves to talk about how much money he makes and how much things cost. It's incredibly irritating. I don't care how much your pen costs or your son's golf lessons and clubs or how much your weekend vacation to the Ritz was...seriously. He is also the type that LOVES to name drop. 99% of the time I don't even know who he's referencing, but I just assume it's supposedly someone powerful. Like how his nephew is some big shot lawyer and can call the White House direct and get their immediate attention...yada yada yada...

I really hope that if I ever make decent money I will not become one of those people. When I first moved down to Miami, it was so easy to get caught up in the labels and who's who stuff. But I quickly realized that it's just not my thing. I was trying to explain this to Mr. I Want Everyone to Know How Much Everything I Do or Purchase Is, but it was something he couldn't understand. I said something to the extent of "I don't feel the need to buy things for their label" (don't get me wrong, I used to a whole lot and still do on occasion...) and he was like well obviously you don't "need" stuff but it's nice to reward yourself with nice things, and then I told him that camping and hiking are my idea of a pleasant vacation, and he found that kind of absurd/naive. Maybe I am being bright-eyed and overly optimistic about my future self, but I hope that I can prove my current self correct. Maybe I'll look back at this very post in ten years and think "I was so naive and silly then" as I sit in my $1,000 desk chair reading on my $3,000 computer wearing my $2,000 suit. I hope not. God I hope not.

Counting Down the Minutes

I don't really have anything to discuss, but I am trying to kill some time until I can leave for the weekend. It has been a horrendously slow week at work, and I've recently found something wonderful to make the time go by faster- online sudoku. I am apparently terrible at sudoku and 94% of people finish the puzzles faster than I do. It gives me something to improve on while passing the time rather quickly. I used to care about wasting time on company money, but I have asked everyone for something to do, and still no one has given me anything.
Most of you have already seen this, but if not, it's fun/hilarious:

http://www.myheritage.com/celebrity-face-recognition

Here are some of my results:
Hot Stuff
I always thought Paul and I looked similar.

Snobby Recipes

So I'm trying to be healthy with my eating and have been looking at recipes from Whole Foods. I found an appealing recipe but was confused by a few of the ingredients. I hate it when I have to find obscure ingredients for recipes, especially in grocery stores like the Coconut Grove Publix. Anyways, so this recipe calls for tamari and haricot verts. I don't know what either of these are. So I of course wikipedia them. Turns out tamari = soy sauce and haricot verts = green beans. What the heck? Why not call a spade a spade? It made me slightly angry, but I am making the recipe tonight, so hopefully it will still be tasty despite its elitist use of ingredients.

Children's Games

In addition to today's earlier post, I would like to share about the game I went to on Saturday night. While the game itself was exciting (I believe the 4th inning was almost an hour long?), we were standing in the picnic area (read: children everywhere). There is a distinct sign that says "No Ball Playing" by this little strip of mulched ground where I suppose children attending the games like the start their own games of baseball but could potentially harm/distract others. Needless to say, the children at Saturday's game created their own version of baseball using empty plastic bottles.

It was quite amusing. It always amazes me how children who do not know each other can start up a game and act as if they are all best friends (or enemies in some cases-there was quite the rule enforcer present). So there was this adult rule enforcer who could not stand the fact that there were children present and they were enjoying themselves. There seems to always be that kind of adult present wherever fun is to be had. So she tells them to recycle the plastic bottles they are using instead of continuing their game. I have to add at this point that we are standing in front of a recylcing bin. Suddenly we hear a wave of chants- not for the baseball game-but for "recycling!!!" and five or six little boys proceed to find every plastic bottle within a half mile radius to put into the recylcing bin. At one point Matt was like, "I don't know what more surprising, the enthusiam these kids are showing for recylcing or that so many people litter." It was quite a sight. They filled the recycling bin completely. Now if only we could get the adults to have that same enthusiam...

The U Fan

So I went to some UM baseball games this weekend. It was a lot of fun to feel like part of the community. Strangers were giving high fives, people were cheering, overpriced food and beverages were being consumed...it was rather nice in all. Anyways, on Sunday's game we actually made it in time to sit in the regular general admission seats (as compared to Saturday's game when we foolishly arrived late and got to stand under a tree out by left field for the marathon 4+ hour game which I'm actually not complaining about as there was a nice breeze and the tree offered protection from the rain). I don't know if it's just Miami as I don't have a lot to compare to, but I feel like UM fans are particularly funny/mean to opposing teams. Yesterday had two prime examples.

So apparently on Friday (I wasn't there) one of the Arizona players hit a home run and I'm guessing the crowd started booing and so the AZ guy turns to the crowd and shooshes them. I guess he didn't know what kind of fans he was dealing with because for the rest of the tournament (Saturday and Sunday) whenever this guy went up to bat the crowd started making shooshing noises. They also shooshed him whenever he made a bad play on the field. It's all about the U.

The second one, which I found a bit mean but that's because I always feel sorry for people who get picked on without deserving it, involved AZ's catcher. He was very tall and very skinny. And his name was Dwight. So on Sunday, at this guy's first at bat, a fan runs down to the walk way at the stadium and holds up a sign that says "muscle milk" and the crowd starts chanting "muscle milk." This went on for the entire game, every time this kid was at bat. It was funny. But I also felt kind of bad for the kid. I mean his name is Dwight and he's tall and skinny. I doubt he needs a full stadium pointing that out.

So is this normal fan behavior? Maybe, but that is one of the fun things about experiencing the U.

And now the Canes are advancing to the College World Series, so C-A-N-E-S CANES!

Road to Adulthood

So I think I'm becoming an adult. Matt is out of the house on Thursday nights, and during my alone time I choose to clean. Yes. We're talking sanitizing, mopping, vacuuming, dish doing, etc. I am CHOOSING to do this, and the worst part is, I kind of enjoy it. I turn up the ipod, get in the groove, and the next thing I know I have a lavender scented clean apartment (Ms. Myers cleaning supplies are AWESOME in case you were wondering. I get them at Wholefoods). It's kind of nice. I also enjoy baking pies and meatloaves. When did this happen? Next thing you know I will being hosting dinner parties.

9-5ish

I am having a really hard time sitting at a computer for eight hours a day. This is not the job for me. I want to be up and moving and interacting with people, not destroying my already weak eyes and losing muscle mass. Save me. Even now, when I have projects to be working on, I have no motivation to do them and would rather keep staring at the clock in the right hand corner of my computer screen. I also pass time by drinking lots of water, which means I am constantly getting up to use the restroom. People must think I have some kind of problem. Maybe I do. But all I know is that right now I want to run out of the office and be anywhere but here.

In other news/observations, I suppose it is my lack of real employment thus far, but since I am working full time (for the most part) this summer, I always assumed an eight hour working day also included lunch. Apparently it does not. This saddens me greatly, realizing that if I choose to eat lunch, I will be forced to sit at my lonely work station for at least another 30 minutes. LAME.

Another thing to add-I have no phone by my desk. And no cell phone reception either. So if someone calls me or I have to make a phone call, I have to wander around the office looking for a vacant desk to use their phone. The lamp shipment guy with the Lion King cell phone ring has his own phone. What the heck? Where does that place me in the office food chain? There are also no windows in my section of the office. No windows, no phone calls, off-white walls everywhere...seriously I'm going crazy. Get me out of here.