7 Random Things About My Work History

Jill's recent post about work inspired me today. So, here goes.

1. My first job was as a lifeguard for the Boy Scouts. I was 15 and fresh out of my Advanced Life Saving class. We had to lifeguard while Boy Scouts took classes to get their swimming and canoeing badges. It was also my first experience working for cash. That's right, 15 years old and getting cash under the table.

2. My first summer job was lifeguarding at a local athletic/raquet club. I showed up for the orientation meeting drunk. I was 17 and had just graduated from high school the day before...I had been up all night and I was still drunk. I got away with it, no one caught on that I was wasted.

3. In college I always wanted to work on a home construction crew. Grandma wouldn't let me. Maybe girls don't "do those kinds of jobs". She would never explain why.

4. Job I never returned to: Siding and window sales. I didn't go back for day 2. It had been billed as a job selling "home construction" projects.

5. Job I never should have returned to: A local temp agency selling "temps". It was a churn and burn telemarketing job. And the corporate trainer was a lecherous weirdo. I have great stories though

6. Always wanted to be: Chrissy Hynde

7. Another job I'd love to have: pilot

no wonder

Tim Kolln Photography

I think this is why a size large cycling jersey doesn't fit me, or really anyone else I know. Dude needs to grab the extra pork chop.

I viewed this photo at a cool website that chronicles pro cyclists immediately after races. Tim Kolln provides us absolutely stunning cycling related black and white photography. Enjoy.

oooooh, yeah, I'm going to have to go ahead and ask you

to add a little freakin' capacity to my Outlook inbox. Anyone sends me over 1 meg worth of documents and it tanks.

yeah, that'd be great.

Flight 93

A friend of a friend writes this great blog. She's running a "one day only" contest to get tons of traffic to her website. The proceeds from her ads will be donated to the planned memorial at Shanksville PA for Flight 93. Go to her site today to help her get more traffic and more ad revenue for the memorial. When you get there, click away!

Also, go to the post about her visit to Shanksville to visit the memorial that is currently in place. I can almost feel how empty and still it is out there just by looking at the photos.

As directed, leave a comment on her post to win fabulous prizes. My pick, predictably, is something from our dear UncleCrappy.

So help "burgh baby" do a very meaningful thing and visit her posts.

techno-

I just started Twittering and Uncle Crappy apparently can't take the stress of the Outbreak.

Little by little I'll add more things...Twitter was yesterday. Facebook was in January. At this rate I'll be up to date online within the year. Realistically, I'll be horribly behind.

I'd rather read everyone elses stuff than add my own.

Team Fatty

I love to read blogs. Well, let me qualify that. I love to read good blogs. I'm hooked on several and I check in most days to catch up and be entertained.

I'm mostly drawn to well crafted pieces, sarcastic or cutting humor and laugh out loud stories about life. Oh yeah, I'm also a junkie for great photography coupled with great writing.

Well, I'm addicted to reading Fat Cyclist. "Fatty" is a self decprecating cyclist who lives and rides in Utah. In an effort to lose weight (skinny = fast), he posted his weight every day. Weight loss through humiliation. I like it.

I've been lurking on his site for about a year. I've been secretly coveting the Twin Six cycling jersey he had designed to help his wife's battle with breast cancer. For a long time, his wife Susan, has been way ahead of her cancer. Fatty has been posting his usual insightful, witty posts and all is good.

Then came the post from last week. I read it and couldn't get over what it said. I read it and cried. A lot. I read all of the comments, which at the time numbered in the hundreds. I've checked in every day since. I even stopped lurking and actually commented. A lot of good things are happening for Fatty and Susan. They're being very strong and battling this thing every day. With news as dire as they got last week, they're going through treatment and looking for a miracle. Or maybe that's what I'm looking for.

an old friend

So, about 5 years ago I got my very own compy. And a desk. And a chair. None of it was new or for that matter, very shiny or spiffy. What it was was mine. The compy was the best part of all. I got some crazy dial up internet provider and I was off to the races. ( a slow race but a race nonetheless)

A Yahoo Mail address. Somewhat instant access to GratefulDead.com. Somewhat instant access to Yahoo News and Weather.com. I was in heaven!!

I sent ridiculous chain letter emails and jokes to All My Friends. Yes, I spent hours a day sending ridiculous chain letters. Until I really irritated a lot of people. I read the news endlessly at drudgereport. I found some cool sites that I tended to read every day.

Cool sites like this...and this. Then I found my first blog. Love this lady and her blog, absolutely love her. So for whatever reason, I kind of stopped reading her blog every day. Then I forgot it was out there. Then I couldn't even remember the name of the blog, just the general idea. Flash to today where I have to "catch up" everyday with about 5 or 6 blogs.

What was the name of that cool blog? She also has a graphics business, what the hell was the name of that? And just like that I remembered the name of her business and found her "instantly" (I have a cable modem now)

Jen from VeryBigDesign rules. I love the graphics on her sites, especially VBD. It reminds me of my Grandmother's Butterick patterns from the 70's. Also reminiscent of Grandma's "hostess gowns" she'd wear when she had poker parties (whiskey parties) with she and Grandpa's cool "couple" friends. Really the graphics take me back. The commentary makes me laugh.

I'm glad I found you again! Thanks for a great day.

Gorgeous View

A little bit of inspiration for our ride. How high up are we going to go???

not dead, just a little tired

We just had our first official team ride today. I was a little nervous because my fitness is most definitely not what it should be.

About 20 of us got together to meet quickly then take a spin around the Cuyahoga Valley National Park. It was 11 degrees at 9 am! By the time we actually got on the course, 2 1/2 hours later it was in the low 20's. That's a tolerable level of cold. Tolerable if you're dressed for it, that is! It's a beautiful, clear, sunny day and you really have to take advantage of that.

Like I said, it was a quick ride, 10 1/2 miles. Really short but still enough time for two stops. One for a photo op and to remove the chemical "toe warmers" from my shoes. The other to help a teamate who's chain had popped off her chain ring.

The hill that has always been my nemesis was actually fine. It's never been "fine" this early in the season. Since that's the case, I have very, very good things to look forward to this season.

Here's a list of the gear I was wearing. No frost bite for me today!

• wool socks plus neoprene toe covers over my cycling shoes



• thermal full length cycling pants



• long sleeve base layer, long sleeve fleece top, wind shell



• neck gaitor thing



• glove liners, cycling gloves, fleece gloves



• helmet and sunglasses

I was completely warm so I probably could have ridden more. My hands and neck felt a little like what I imagine Gumby feels like. Kind of wide and only a little bit flexible. All very serviceable though, so this is good! I'm so super glad I've gotten my cold weather ensemble down to a science so early in the year.

For anyone that's new to this site, DD and I are training to complete America's Most Beatiful Bike Ride in Lake Tahoe, NV on June 1st. We're raising money for The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. It's our third event and promises to be exciting and quite scenic. Our goal is to raise $10,000 this year! To help the cause, you can donate securely at our website. You can also go there to see our thoroughly photoshopped photo of El Tour de Tucson.

I am thankful....

It's easy to get wrapped up in the day to day to do lists, isn't it? It happens to me almost every day. I try to remind myself, at least once a day, all that I am thankful for. I'm really a lucky person.

Here's a quick list:
I'm thankful for my sweet, fantastic husband. We're really lucky to have found each other.

I'm thankful for my nice little life, my old house and my silly, fuzzy kitty.

I'm thankful for the car I have to drive. It's got a ton of miles on it, it's taken me lots of great, fun and interesting places.

I adore my friends. I've known some of you since I was a kid. That's huge. Others have come along in the last 5 years or so. All fabulous.

I love my family. We've been through a lot together and I know I can really rely on them.

I really like my job. It's flexible enough to let me occasionally blog during the daytime! I meet cool people, when I "knock it out of the park" it's ridiculously satisfying.

I love my house. Have I mentioned that? It's a great house. I live in a great cozy neighborhood. It's actually a neighborhood because I know my neighbors and we tend to look out for each other.

DD and I took a fantastic vacation last year at the beach. I am so grateful to get to know DD's fraternity brothers and their families. They are fabulous. We had such a great time. And lucky still, we have another one planned for next August!!

That's my list for today. Things just off the top of my head.

What are you thankful for on this blustery February day??

I'll autograph this if you'd like

Here's an amusing meme from Uncle Crappy. DrunkDude did it too. I'm a visual junkie so I love this stuff.

Here's how it works:

1. Pick your band name by going here. You may have to refresh a couple of times to get something appropriate. (CEMA was a kinda weird one I got)
   
   
2. Now you can pick your album title by going here. Pick the last quote entry on the page and use the last four words as your album title. My title is a quote from Florida Scott-Maxwell, O Magazine October 2003.
   
   
3. Choose your album art...Go to this fun spot on Flickr and choose the third image. You may need to refresh a few times to get an image that can be used under a creative commons license. (Don't use any copyrighted materials or the blog police may nab you!)
   

You can paste the whole thing together to make the album art for your new band. Have fun! I may do one every day.