Date: 2009-10-04 10:54 Subject: off to kansas! Security: Public

andrew and i ran some errands this morning. we found out our local bank has this super awesome atm that does deposits by optically reading a check fed in through a feeder than can handle up to 30 checks at a time. it automatically reads the amount and then prints a mini-image of the check on the receipt. omg awesome. i love it. i was literally jumping up and down with excitement about this machine. it's so awesome and i think i'm going to make all my deposits there from now on.

we also mailed book-presents to several friends. and we used another machine i love - the automated postal center! :)

oh, and we went to walmart to pick up a few things and we saw this one lady, completely decked out in "ny giants" apparel. she was walking towards the sports section with a friend and said, "giants stuff! giants stuff" in this really excited tone. it was pretty ridiculous and hysterical because obviously she was pretty obsessed.

then we headed to the airport where we got lost in jersey, which is pretty much a right of passage. and then we found the airport and i forgot what airline i was flying and i couldn't get online to check my work email and it wasn't in my personal email and i realized that if you don't know what airline you are - you are pretty screwed. luckily i vaguely remembered what airline it was and i was right. but i made andrew wait outside just in case he had to drive me to another terminal. heh.

the girl in front of me in the security line had just walked out of starbucks with a fancy drink when she got into the line. i helpfully reminded her that she had about 2 minutes to finish her drink or they'd make her throw it out. in those 2 minutes, she took about 2 or 3 sips from her $6 coffee drink and then threw it out. wow.

then the lady next to me in the plane starts pulling out all these gadgets from the massage place at the airport telling me how she got a massage and then all these toys and all i could think of was, "omg you got ripped off." her little $15 dollar store neck pillow sleeper thing didn't even work either. maybe i'm super cognizant of how people are (openly) blowing their money because we're so focused on saving ours but it just seems like some better judgment could be used (or less impulse).

anyhow, so when i arrived for my layover, they changed the gate just as i arrived. so everyone walked in a giant pack to the new gate. when we arrived at the new gate there was a decent sized line up to the service desk that was shared by the gates 8 & 9. so.. the majority of the people on my flight, who had walked over to the new gate, stood in this line. and they stood in line for 20 minutes until they started boarding our flight. then they all realized that the flight at gate 8 (we were 9) had been cancelled so all these people were standing around in the line to figure out what to do with their luggage and then try to get a flight tomorrow morning. sometimes i wonder if people actually employ their brains.

i half-apologize for the people hating, but ignorance and brain-wasting annoy me.

on a lighter note.. (but still a mocking tone), how about those arbitrary measurements...? do people all walk at the same pace?


anyhow, my flight went well and i was attacked by mysterious disappearing ice crystals falling from a crack in the overhead thingy. but.. i did get to see a sunset on one side and the moon on the other, so that was pretty awesome. and then the rental car people were nice enough to leave a car out for me even tho they had closed several hours before my arrival.

Date: 2009-10-03 10:54 Subject: in MD again Security: Public

we went to MD again, arriving late, driving two cars and sadly, without the walkie-talkies. (they are in my car, with out 2930092809 other things that we keep remembering, "oh crap, they are in my car!). we went mainly to give peter back his car (unfortunately mine's not done yet, but fortunately it's been properly diagnosed and fixed by a good mechanic) and also to pick up some equipment for my trip next week.

we stopped by the office where i got to see a lot of the actual equipment that i've only seen in simulations in work. but it was really awesome to see this stuff that i work with every day in real life, physical form.

here's a cool sensor


and a workbench with all kinds of stuff on it


and me in an eoms!


and then a floppy disk measuring tape!


we stayed in md only several hours - andrew changed the oil, i fixed a willow tree angel, and then we headed off for an exhausted, argumentative and cantankerous (on my part. sry patient husband) drive home.

Date: 2009-09-29 10:53 Subject: random pictures of the week Security: Public

saw this gem in traffic. holy crap.


also this brilliant contradictory sign


and this uber creepily excited work out lady


and these things - which always makes me feel bad for moles. do we really have to kill them? it just seems kinda mean.

Date: 2009-09-28 10:53 Subject: tracking our progress.. Security: Public

so we brainstormed up a good visual way to see how we're doing on our loan paying off... :)

Date: 2009-09-27 10:52 Subject: shopping in jersey Security: Public

today we learned that there is no sales tax on clothing in new jersey. and we also, one again, didn't realize what about the jeans on old navy's clearance rack is different from the jeans in the regular priced rack, but when a new pair of "nice" husband jeans are $16.99, you don't really care that much. woo hoo.

we also saw that walmart has smartened up and has the aldi-quarter deposit thing for their carts. we think this is a great idea.


here's how they work - all the carts are chained together. if you want to use one/release the chain, you put a quarter in the slot, which releases the lock. then you shop around the store, buy your crap, take it to your car, etc. then, if you put the cart back into the coral and plug it into another cart, the little plug goes in and it releases your quarter and you get it back. this is brilliant because it probably significantly reduces the need for cart boys running around gathering carts strewn all over the parking lot/taking up spaces/getting hit by carts. (and hoping for a free quarter we thoroughly canvased the parking lot for any abandoned carts and i will assure you there were none to be found).

also, we found some sunglasses in a cart so i cleaned them up and gave them to my rockstar husband

Date: 2009-09-26 10:50 Subject: MD for a home? Security: Public

today we traveled to MD to look at a place to call home there. we saw a few places but none were particularly promising. the biggest problem, i think, is that one was downstairs, and the other was upstairs, and i really don't feel like moving all our beastly heavy furniture into either of them (+ tight corners and small doorways - not going to make it...)

then we were going to take the motorcycle down to southern maryland to visit the family. we took a while to charge the bike (dead battery) and get stuff out of storage, drop off the car, get our gear on, re-jump the bike... and then it started raining. and the engine on the biked didn't sound quite right, so we figured enough things were pointing towards us not going.

so instead we treated ourselves to qdoba. oh how we have missed you qdoba!


smile for qdoba since there are none in jersey!

Date: 2009-09-25 10:50 Subject: gmail.coom Security: Public

work is getting exciting. i'm going to be taking over managing part of this project and it's really cool. :) yay. by the end of the year i should mostly be running it. that's cool to me - to be able to be responsible for something and feel accomplished in a really big thing that's benefiting those fighting for our country.

in other news, andrew and i played our going for broke game, where you try to lose $500k by gambling and such (winner goes broke). anyhow, one of the rounds is roulette. and wouldn't you know, 3% chance... i won. (which is bad in the game, ha)


we also went for a bike ride one day to the library to get new books. when we got there we found out they were having a latin american festival night, with latin american food. so.. we stayed for the presentation and dined on some really good (free) food at the library. it was one of those awesome, random, unplanned nights. i also helped this lady named lisa send an email she's been wanting to send for 3 months but didn't know how to remove the header that showed she had previously forwarded it to her husband for a proof. it was to another woman who had lost a child like her and it was very long and heartfelt. i was glad i could help teach her the internets.

also at the library we found out that we had 60¢ in late fees and we also found out why i wasn't getting the email reminders. my email was recorded at gmail.coom. AND, they also had trouble looking up my records at all because my last name in their database was 9ralon. yes, with the number 9, NINE, in front of it. i've never had our last name misspelled with a number before. heh.

but we had a great random night with bike ride + free library latin food + moar books + we fixed my library email address and last name which we wouldn't have done if i hadn't forgotten my card and they had to struggle to look it up manually. yay random night of awesome.

Date: 2009-09-24 10:49 Subject: post it anyone? Security: Public

this is one of my co-worker's desks

Date: 2009-09-20 10:49 Subject: we went to the beach again this weekend Security: Public

we found an abandoned stroller.


and then all these cool rocks around a jetty


we walked on them. and omg that picture of andrew makes me laugh. i have no idea what/why he's doing. :)


then we sat facing the ocean and read some more


oh, and andrew made me take this picture to remember this moment. ok, so these ladies in the picture could possibly receive the world record for slowest walkers in the world. we passively watched them walk down the beach and it took them for-ev-er to get feet away. we'd glace up and they'd be walking... and then we'd glace up 5 minutes later and they'd be 10 feet from where they just were. it gave us a laugh. and andrew made me take this picture to remember it.


#928 weird in jersey.
"nah, i can't take the time to mow my yard, so i'll just put rocks everywhere."


no for real. it's pretty common

on sunday we went to a local church just to try it out. after the service, as we were leaving, i overheard this conversation with an older lady and a young couple about our age:

old lady: "it's great to have you here; is this your first time here?"
young couple: no, we've been coming here regularly for a while. we actually got married in this church.

wow. heh.

also, i'll go ahead and say it - i hate passing the offering plate. it's so awkward. and i always feel so much pressure. "oh no, will they think i'm a horrible person if i don't put something in the plate, but if i do, am i setting a good example for others, but i don't want everyone to know my personal giving, but i'm just visiting this church and i financially support my church whether i'm there on sunday or not." ugh. i hate it. i really like how paradox set up the tzekiah boxes - or whatever they are - where people actually give when they want and on their accord and when they want, instead of pressuring people. i've always hated passing the plate, but i just wrote it off because it was "what churches do." thank you, some churches, for realizing that it doesn't have to be that way. amen amen.

Date: 2009-09-17 10:48 Subject: the jersey shore.... Security: Public

one night this week we went out to the beach for a nice evening read. it was very enjoyable although a little bit cool.







the beach here is very different from florida, but it's still the ocean and it makes me happy and in love to see it.


oh, and then on the way to the "starting a business" meeting that we went to at the library just for fun i found a surprise left-over fortune cookie in my bag from my trip.

i heart fortune cookies.

so we opened it only to find there was no fortune inside.


what, china, what?!?!


side note: i hate the nissan cube. it is ghastly ugly. ugh.


also, i have a ridiculous story in a friend's only post... so log in...

Date: 2009-09-16 10:47 Subject: we're rockstars! Security: Public

this week we finally decided to go all or nothing and put our entire house down payment fund towards our student loans. we've been fully convinced that getting out of debt is the best route for us right now (and probably for you too!). we're now on a hard core mission to get the loans annihilated as soon as possible. we set a goal of april 2010 to have all of both of our student loans paid off and we're ready to be hard core to get it done. we're devoting every spare dollar to the mission. we're pumped.

so pumped that i color bananas for my husband


we also went to the library this week and got a buncha books to read. we've started reading lately and it's been good to us. we feel like we're learning all kinds of new things and really stopping to think and ponder some of the things that it is easy to bypass.

also at the library one day they were giving out free spatulas to celebrate a book fest or something coming up. i at first thought they were handing me a bookmark, which honestly made more sense.


but the spatula works, and we actually found it was perfect for the brownies that i made to celebrate paying off one of our loans in full (we've established that as a new reward for paying off a loan - ghiradelli brownies. omg good).


side note: andrew forgot his sunglasses one day so i graciously loaned his mine. so he'd be styling. in women's shades.

Date: 2009-09-13 10:47 Subject: hands off! Security: Public

found in a chinese restaurant rest room, hand dryer thingy


also, i will mention that husband had been working ferociously on my poor car, trying to fix her. replacing the head gasket is not an easy task and he's had the assistance of several helping hands - his dad, a.j., and peter. thanks muchly to all of you for working 209345092 hours on my car to get her back and running. andrew worked pretty much 4 days straight i think, until he had to stop. luckily peter was kind enough to lend him his car while he's on a bus trip for a while, so andrew had a way to get home. all in all, he ended up doing all the hard work and then passed it off to a mechanic friend to finish up what he ran out of time to get done. but he saved us about $500 and did it right, which i can't always say about shops. we've become very distrusting of mechanic shops/and dealerships. we miss our ohio mechanic friend. :(

Date: 2009-09-11 10:47 Subject: oh yeah Security: Public

so during our reviews we realized that one of our pictures was inaccurate. and there just happened to be one of those aircraft available at the base at which we were on. and i just happened (as always) to have my camera on me. so i got to go take new pictures of the black hawk. it... was pretty awesome.

one of the guys on our team was really great and gave me a tour of several of the aircraft in the hangar that we went to


and they let me sit in them and take pictures :)


this is one of the slots for missiles on one of the attack helicopters


and here's me in a black hawk


also, i liked these crew seats that instructed those sitting to not "stow" their feet under the seat. so don't take off your feet and stow them. haha.

Date: 2009-09-09 10:46 Subject: spilled her coffee, broke her shoe lace... smeared the lipstick on her face Security: Public

tuesday i was annoyed. and tired. and drained. and apparently my car blew a head gasket in MD while andrew was down for scoot and shley's wedding (congrats, by the way). then i had homework for work, which wasn't at all thrilling. and there's no internet during the day so i don't even get mini breaks of sanity throughout the day. oh, and did i mention there's no cell reception in the conference room either? sheesh. not my day.

for dinner we went to the mellow mushroom for dinner and i did enjoy a pizza that was recommended my megan. it was tasty.

Date: 2009-09-08 10:46 Subject: alabamalama Security: Public

business trip to alabama this week. on monday i arrived at the airport from my shuttle early enough to catch the earlier flight so that as nice. i realized that the benefit of layover is double delta's biscoff cookies. mmmmm. i also read a lot of the dave ramsey book - total money makeover. it's pretty good. it's making andrew and i almost fanatical about getting/staying out of debt.

when we arrived in alabama we ran into some other guys from our company who we weren't expecting to see at this tiny little regional airport. i turned around and recognized aaron, who used to work with andrew at the southern maryland office. crazy.

another highlight of the day was noticing that our rental car greets us, "welcome to camry." that made me laugh

Date: 2009-09-07 10:45 Subject: chill day Security: Public

so today was our chill day vacation day - we stayed at home to avoid the stress of having an extra vacation day to travel back from. we had a good non-stressful time too. we went for a bike ride around the water which was quite enjoyable.

then we hung out at home and watched trading places with eddie murphy. it was a good day relaxing with the husband.

Date: 2009-09-06 20:09 Subject: "murdered with a pick axe," also entitled, "next time, we'll take the toll-way" Security: Public

so, we were driving home from new hampshire, and we were taking the "no toll" route a la google. we ended up on this stop-light road, 50 mph, and through a shady area and it's about 2am. i remember feeling not particularly comfortable because there was sketch and cops everywhere.

i'm driving along this one stretch, in the middle of 3 lanes, when a car from the left cuts me off and then slams on brakes. then he gets over to the far right lane. "jerk," i mumble. a few hundred feet later the light in front turns red and i'm stopped first in the middle lane, and this car is behind a car to my right. i glance over and i see the passenger door open and someone exit from the car. a man starts walking towards my car, which isn't very far away, and i notice that he is carrying a pick axe. yes, a pick axe.

i decided that i wasn't going to take the time to try to figure out why someone would be in sketch-town, new jersey at 2 o'clock in the morning, walking towards my car with a pick axe and i gunned the gas and ran the red light.

i had to avoid oncoming traffic and ended up making an extremely long right hand turn, all the while andrew, thinking i'm obliviously falling asleep while driving, is yelling, "lisa, do you want me to drive!?"

as my heart beat slowed down and found a way to get us back headed home, i relayed to him what i just saw and he took back all possible frustration he may have just had for my driving and instead applauded me for keeping us alive.

omg sketch jersey, we almost died.

Date: 2009-09-06 16:58 Subject: day two at the lake house Security: Public

good morning layla


husband had what he considered the best breakfast sandwich ever. i forget what we put in those eggs - fancy portuguese cheese, onion, tomato, sausage.. some other stuff too... he loved it.


blake and marlene took us on another boat ride this morning, but it was a little chilly. they did some fishing but didn't catch anything unfortunately. we just laid out in the sun.

it was a little cool today and so my grandfather wore a turban on his head. actually, he was probably just being ridiculous.


hello tif!


hello husband


lover'd


then we all headed off to the flume, which is this huge natural granite gorge. it was really pretty to walk through.

and.. as soon as we got there we saw an abandoned capri sun on a railing. andrew was quite happy to give it a home.


then we walked up this trail to where the gorge was


there were a few covered bridges over the rivers




and this one big rock area that we climbed in


peer pressure


here's the walkway and part of the gorge


i particularly like this picture because andrew is smiling with our peach and my grandfather's face is ridiculous. also, gorge'd


this is what happens when i try to get a picture with my husband


oh, and i read this cool sign about lichen


and here is some lichen


and a waterfall with a rainbow in it


at the top of the gorge there is a "bear cave" where you can crawl through and then up onto the top. it was a tight squeeze but fun.


emerging husband


then we couldn't find the rest of my family so we ran down the mountain in hopes to find them. but we couldn't, so we walked half way back up it and waited by these rocks that we weren't supposed to walk on because they were apparently slippery even though not actually slippery.


and then we saw a tree that has mostly nothing under it




and then we found 2 starburst on the ground.


and then we ran half way up the mountain and found my family and they told us we missed half the top of the mountain so we ran back up it and saw these cool pool things


and smiled by them


and them some more pretty water


and then we climbed through the "fox den" which was another tight squeeze cave thing, except this one i thought i legitimately was not going to fit through it but then i did and then another guy that was a lot larger than me did and i felt like that was amazing.

back at the lake house andrew and i went for a quick swim before dinner and it was quite enjoyable. the water is really cold up here but still really refreshing. the fishing wasn't too bad either. they caught a few fish before we came. here's one of tif's nice catches:


we had some burgers and then packed up our belongings. we decided to leave tonight and drive into the night to avoid the horrible experience we had driving up here friday afternoon.

since we were going through nyc, we offered menup a ride home, so that was really convenient for him too.

bye bye lake house! it was fun!


this time the drive took us less than 7 hours and was smooth sailing the whole time minus one incident that i will recap in its own entry.

Date: 2009-09-05 16:16 Subject: wonderful weekend at the lake Security: Public

this morning we got up early and went for a canoe ride while the lake and everything was still quiet and calm.


we rode around the lake, saw a buncha other nice lake houses and also found the camp i used to go to as a kid. it was cool to point it point it out and show andrew parts of it. when we got hot, we jumped out of the canoe and went for a little swim in the cool NH water. it was quite refreshing. then we struggled to get back in the canoe, haha. eventually we headed back to shore for breakfast, but i'd say we paddled around over 2 miles. no wonder my arms were sore.

here's a little tour of the lake house:

kitchen


dining room


living room


bathroom


back porch, which faces the lake


"backyard"


dock


the lake


the lake's crystal clear water


here's our "honeymoon suite"


the place could slept a good 13 people or so - lots of beds in about 4 bedrooms. it was kinda like a step up from camping, and perfect for lake housing vacation.

also at the lake were my uncle mike, aunt tif, and cousin layla


my grandfather and his friend barbara came too


also there were mike's twin friends, barry and blake, and blake's wife marlene and tif's brother menup.

we went out for some groceries and andrew and i got some lobsters for dinner


yay, lobster husband + wife!


mike also made some steamers


and gave us all chilled polish vodka shots in a jalapeno pepper. interesting.. and quite a kick.


later in the afternoon we went to sculptured rock, which is this little park with all these sweet looking rocks that were sculpted by melting glacier water.


here's one side of it


and the other


on this side there's a big pit where you can jump in from the high rocks. it was pretty awesome. andrew and i went a few times. and then we ended up crawling through the rocks all the way to the other side up two little waterfalls and then over some more rocks. the water was super icy cold, but it was a cool adventure trying to climb to the other side. it was a lot of fun.





we got back to the lake house and my grandfather had an english muffin snack and used a coffee filter as a plate because he didn't feel like washing a plate. haha.


and blake and marlene took us out for a nice boat ride. wind in our hair out on the water - it was great.

then mike steamed our lobsters (which were dead/dying.. oops), but turned out alright and were quite tasty


yay lobster party


later at night we played some hearts. we think my grandfather may not have been particularly clear in his instructions to barbara on how to plan so that he could win.

Date: 2009-09-04 15:18 Subject: road trip to NH!! Security: Public

atoday we left work early to head to NH for a fun holiday weekend vacation with my uncle, aunt, cousin, grandfather + other friends of family.

husband wore his party shirt in celebration


and then hid behind my rear view mirror decor for our squinty group picture


go go


this is a small picture of andrew's excitement for seeing NYC for the first time, granted we were only driving through it


and it was quite busy...


brooklyn bridge'd


oh, and then we drove under a hospital, how sweet is that


and we saw several cars with these bumper things on the back of them - i assume for tight street parallel parking in the city?


and i saw the largest blackberry in the world


anyhow, we finished a 7 hour trip in a whole 10 hours since everyone in the world decided that the best way to celebrate their holiday weekend was to get in their car and hit the car in front of them and then cause a huge traffic for miles for states for everyone. this happened like half a dozen times, no lie. it was absurd. but we finally arrived at 10pm. we hung out for a little and got a mini-tour of the lake house and then were shown to our "honeymoon suite" which was the old sauna house with a bed in it.