You guys here for the Winterfest?*

This past weekend we finally had the Harvest Ball.
Being on the Regional Committee I can tell you that the Harvest Ball is probably the biggest event we have all year and the one that I personally most look forward to being over and done with. I don't like to plan things, and I didn't have to actually do a whole lot (that was mostly Amber I believe). But nonetheless, I don't like being "in charge", unable to ditch out early or completely. So I was excited for midnight on Friday night! Anyway, here are some pictures of the night.

We had a small group of people come over for dinner before the dance. Here's Amber, Kelli and I ready to go.

Chris and Ronny were our only guys in the group and I had fun making them pose for pictures.

It doesn't look like a whole lot of white kids dancing around (or as Ronny said, he wants to shake his groove thing as much as possible), but in all we had 206 people come (or that signed in). So...pretty impressive. Side note, there were at least 4 or 5 people not of the Caucasian persuasion.

A dream come true: I finally got Brad to propose! So now I know what it would be like. Just for people who do not know - Brad and I are not really engaged, we are only friends. But seriously - tall, dark, handsome and looks good wearing a sweat band around his head? What's not to like? If anyone is interested let me know and I'll set you up.

Jim and I have a love hate relationship - and he has very tiny hands.

Here are some other random pictures from the evening:

Before I knew it we finally hit midnight and Amber, Ronny, and I took down the arch (not pictured in any of my pictures though it was put up for...pictures). Then we all went to Denny's because that's what you do when you're all dressed up in semi-formal wear at 1:00 in the a.m.

Once there I got this beauty.

Don't be fooled, it looks a lot better then it taste. All in all though, a good time. I did dance too, with two different guys. My friend Mikey from basketball and Andre (the guy who drew me as an army ant). Well - that's all for now, but it doesn't mean I have a lot more coming!

You remind me of someone...it's probably you!*

10 Things I Have Learned Today (in no particular order).

1 - Deniability is key - Some books came in for employees today, so I went around and delivered them because it's one of those little things I like to do. I took the books to one guy and everyone in his area was like, "What is that? What are those for?" I told them they were CPCU books and he got them because he'll probably take an exam. Then everyone was like, "He's already got his CPCU" and continued to ask questions. I said, "Oh, then, I have no idea." And walked away as five people began to drill him with questions...not my problem.

2 - You may be a witch or a jerk, but until you're one to me I like you - There is a woman in the office that I have heard nothing but bad things about. Usually this creates a sense of fear and avoidment within the cockles of my heart, however I have overcome that this time around and the woman is very nice to me. In fact, too nice. So I know it's fake...but as long as she keeps it up I'll keep liking her.

3 - Smoking a cigarette with a gas tank on your back makes you look stupid - I just saw a guy today with a gas powered leaf blower strapped to his back and a cigarette dangling out of his mouth. Maybe not everyone would drive by this guy and think, "idiot" but I did.

4 - Bicyclists and possums require the same amount of respect on the road - As I was driving back to work from lunch I slowed down because there was a bicyclist riding on the side of the road, when the other lane was cleared I swerved slightly to the left to make sure I wouldn't hit him. Then a dead possum came up in the road...and I swerved slightly to the right to miss him. It just made me think that the same rules apply to both.

5 - HTML code cannot lead to aesthetically pleasing web pages - I'm in charge of the main page of our intranet at work. I was trying to put an announcement up but couldn't figure out how to indent something to make it look better. After a google search I learned that you can't indent, HTML was not designed to make things pretty. So I made it an attachment in the announcement instead, problem solved.

6 - We have friends so that we don't beat ourselves up too much - To anyone other than me I imagine someone might think that I am hard on myself, some of my friends certainly think so. But today I had a friend write some really nice things to me, and though I don't really agree with them :p I appreciate the effort, and realize that friends really do help you let up on yourself from time to time.

7 - All good things must come to an end (except for those with OCD-like attention to detail) - One of my projects today is to make a spreadsheet for a few departments and their annual review ratings for as long as they have been here. There's something I noticed - not all good things last, that is to say, you may be an "exceeds expectations" employee once or twice in a five year career, but all the other times you are just a "meets" kind of person. What changed? You? The expectations? It's almost better to always remain a "meets" because what happens if year one you are 'meets', year two you are 'exceeds' and year three you are back to 'meets'? They are all insults, even exceeds at this point because apparently your manager underestimated you. The only winner I can tell so far is the OCD woman who has a track record of 6 'exceeds' in a row (and that's all she's had).

8 - The phone is not so bad - but I still hate it. Lately I've gotten more used to to the phone - I am doing better just talking with people (as opposed to my 'write down everything you need to say and how to say it' approach).

9 - Pizza is a great equalizer* - I just thought it was a great idea that work is providing pizza to everyone for lunch the day before Thanksgiving. I myself am still going out to lunch even though the office closes early.

10 - It's the little things in life that bring the most joy - putting up the Angel Tree at work, having someone try to schedule a conference room for 15/1(what month is that?!), making witty comments on what people say, e-mailing family and friends, reading, listening to music, blogging, checking things off of the 'to-do' list...just all the little things that add up to make a day good.

I think I'm coming down with the black lung, pop*

My head hurts.

First off, one of my famous blanket apologies. I have been super busy since...I don't even remember when. This busy-ness has spilled over into my work of all places - leaving little to no time for me to write or read blogs. To all those desperately awaiting my witty comments to your blog entries - my sincerest apologies. To those desperately awaiting my witty blog entries, seeing as how I don't really write witty blog entries- my deepest apologies . One day, I will get back on track - in the meantime, please bear with me.

It's open enrollment time at work. So all day long I have been sticking labels on things. The labels to the dividers, the labels to the front of the notebook, and the labels to the inside. You wouldn't think that would take up most of my 7.5 hour day - but it did. And there's still more to do. I just want to go home and sleep. Yesterday I did just that. I pretty much ditched out on activities around the world (a Mary Kay party, Wednesday night Institute, and Frisbee) and watched movies and laid in bed. I just haven't had my head hurt this much in a long time.

It doesn't help that the labels smell horrid. They stunk when I opened the box, they stunk more when I printed them off (the heat of the printer I guess) and they still smell as I pull them from the paper to put them on the notebooks. I hate labels. I probably am developing lung cancer as we speak.

Apparently I get really entertaining when I am stressed because Wanda kept saying I was so funny she kept laughing. I told her I pray every night that I can make her laugh. I think the main problem is I'm not allowed to get over time - so I have to finish more than 8 hours of work in 7.5 hours, several days this week. The worst, I've stayed late and I need to take a long lunch or leave early on Friday and we won't be close to done. Then I have to leave at 5 on Friday. Just give me the overtime...

Anyway, whole point here. I came back from lunch today and I started to apply labels to dividers and I looked into my trashcan and saw this...

Not sure what's going on here? Take a closer look. Ignore the trash from the labels. There - in yellow, red, and black (brown?). A Milk Duds box.

Where the heck did that come from? I didn't eat it. I don't have those in my candy dish on my desk. So what this means is that someone came over while I was at lunch with their own candy, ate the two to three milk duds and dropped their trash in my trash can...the audacity, the inhumanity! The worst part? I'm totally curious as to who it is, but you can't start making phone calls around the office hunting down the perp...people will begin to talk.

Here's hoping to reading your blogs again someday.

We have to set an example....set this!*

Here are a few pics from our Halloween party last night. We had a lot of fun, but quickly remembered why we don't have many parties in this house. It's set up funny so that it's very crowded when a lot of people are here, and it warms up very quickly. Good news: it was cool outside so we opened windows and doors....bad news, we had to kill some pretty interesting looking bugs. On to the pictures.

First, my costume. If you recall the Pancake Breakfast we had the Mrs. Buttersworth twins (who in our twisted minds will play the twin girls from The Shining in our start/stop animation movie).

I am partially used of course. I also learned that more people instantly think Aunt Jamima when they see a bottle of syrup...for shame.

Anne did an excellent job decorating the house. Mice on the steps (inside), borders around the room, creepy cobwebs, and these luminaries that she made herself!

Anne and I after lighting the luminaries.

Nick and Lisa were Bonnie and Clyde.

Liz was a nest. You wouldn't know it, but this was a last minute costume!

Jaron and Mikey came as Daniel San and Mr. Miyagi (Mikey's costume didn't make a lick of sense before then). Samantha came as Super girl.

Amber was the tell tale heart, her doors opened up and there was a heart in there.

Jessica and Marisa were Dorothy and Toto

Lil' P was Hannah Montana (I thought she was Brittany Spears at first, but I should have known Brittany doesn't dress as modestly).

And the best costume award goes to:

Tiffani! She even did the creepy walk, and notice the eyebrows! Just like in the movie!

I'm way too trusting.

Anne was an owl.

Anne, Evan and I

Doughnuts on a string

Doughnuts on a string gone bad. This is what happens when you cheat.

Doing my civic duty, shooting down the zombie cowboy (Elaina). Gangsta style of course.

Jim and the whoopee cushion (Chris)

Jim wanted to know if I actually tasted like syrup. I do not, but he announced to everyone that I do. Which resulted in Orin licking me later.

That's all I have for the blog. Hope you enjoyed and hope everyone had a good Halloween!