lunch in MN vs CA

in minnesota, when i go out for lunch with the work clan, it's mainly guys...and me.
in california, when i go out for lunch with the work clan, it's mainly girls...and me.

why am i still living in california?
oh, yeah...it's 80 " sunny again today. i guess i can accept the fact that i work in HR " not development.

fantasy football

it's tough. i didn't realize picking guys from the same team was a bad idea, but...dang! i think the fact that the Vikings sucked for the first couple weeks bit me, too. ah, well. lesson learned. and very little money has been spent. i think my team is set to make a move up the ladder now...after i accepted some advice from a fantasy football pro.

also, after a couple weeks of watching the NFL ticket, i've realized i know very little about the NFL. i know some stuff about the Vikings, and understand the game pretty well...but have no clue when it comes to other teams " players. good thing i'm a fast learner.

fantasy footballers - watch out next year!

whine

i'm done whining. life is gooooooooooooooood.

busy

i feel like i'm too busy " need to cut back, but i don't know what to cut back on. sunday night i coach " make a couple extra bucks. monday night is class. tuesday night is women's volleyball, which i love. wednesday night is currently open, but there's a softball team that often needs me. thursday night is softball. and then it's suddenly friday. i don't have much time for friends...or this new guy. humph.

any suggestions? i was ready to quit volleyball until i played tonight. i think i enjoy it too much. and i can't quit school again. softball's free, and superfun. perhaps i just suck it up " keep going.

penguins

i've always found penguins fascinating, but after seeing March of the Penguins, they're even cooler. the crap they put up with reminds me of living in Minnesota...only it's worse in Antarctica (whodathunkit?). anyway, i really appreciate the fact that they can plop on their bellies " push themselves along instead of walking on their short little legs. that rules. then again, i've recently acquired this thing for bellies. i have no explanation.

yay, penguins!

salad dressing

i have not found a CA restaurant, yet, that serves french dressing with their salads. it's what i grew up on, so i find it a little frustrating.

in other news, i struck out in slow pitch softball tonight. completely whiffed twice in a row. no ball contact whatsoever. i'm still in shock.

work

work has become pretty dang crazy lately, and today i made the decision to rely on caffeine until i get through it. next week i should be caught up " ok again...i think. at that time, i'll reevaluate my need for caffeine.

day off

muffin " i took a day off yesterday to go hang out...we went shopping at berkeley " then to the A's/Twins game. 'twas way wicked fun.

my favorite purchase: pj pants that say, "I *heart* boys a lot."

it's so cool that i can take a day off " go shopping in berkeley.

thunderstorms

we be havin' thunderstorms today. it's totally rare, so everyone's freakin' out a little bit. "i don't like loud noises," i hear.

i think it rules. we never get thunderstorms out here, so it's a little taste of home for me.

which brings up another question - how many "homes" could one have?

coolest negotiation story ever

the volleyball club i coach for emailed me last week to firm up my contract for 2006. they said they generally raise salary $50/month per year, but that was negotiable. i read this as "ask for more money." so i did. but i only asked for a little more money. to my pleasant surprise, i received a reply that said, "we're going to double what you asked for. sound ok?" (RIDICULOUS!)

in the meantime, i emailed another club who was advertising for coaches to see what they paid. it's less than i was paid last year, so i know i'm doing ok. the other club then said they'd heard great things about me and would love for me to coach for them. i declined, as i love the club i work for...but dang, it's good to know my name's out there.

school

i made it through my second class. i kinda wanna quit, but i won't.

i'm intimidated. the prof talked way over my head, but all the other students' books looked broken in, and mine is still brand new. i'm hopin' using it catches me up.

what have i done to myself?

a typical Ely back yard

antsy

it’s so dang hard to sit still for four hours on a plane after driving four hours in a car. this is why I usually fly on no sleep or hungover.

nose

please don’t ever pick your nose while in your car. there are people around. they’ll see you. K " I got to witness some fine lad drillin’ away on our way to the airport. oy.

thoughts on home

You gotta know I grew up in Minnesota…but you may not know it was in a small, northeastern town called Ely. I got to spend a couple of random days there over the weekend with my family " a whole lotta memories came flooding back. First of all, it’s awesome that I grew up in an itty bitty town. I knew everybody, everybody knew me. Unfortunately, this means everyone knew my business " I knew theirs…still do, as a matter of fact. My mom stays up to date on EVERYTHING.

First, a short description of Ely, MN. It’s an old mining town of about 4,000 people. The mine’s are closed now, so all that’s really left is tourism. It’s one of the gateways into the Boundary Waters Canoe Area. There are three stoplights on the main street, and the town is about 2 miles long. One of the main streets has the local hardware store " Pamida…and it’s two blocks long. The main-main street has the touristy knick-knack " outfitter shops…and it’s about 6 blocks long. There are a few restaurants, at least 8 bars, just as many churches, and two little grocery stores. It’s a cute, simple little town. Hard to believe I grew up there…

Anyway, thoughts I had as I strolled through town with my mama:
-one of my favorite things is that you can run to the store " back within 5 minutes. you just can’t get to Target " home within 5 minutes. No matter what.
-everywhere you go, there is someone to say hi to. if they don’t know me, they know my parents…or at least my last name. I had three siblings, so there’s a good chance of connection.
-when you go to the store, you leave the keys in the car and windows " doors open. I often lock my keys in the car ‘cause I try to be local, yet can’t break the habit of locking my car. (this is a huge help in the winter, when it’s so freakin’ cold)
-a girl I graduated from HS with cut my hair at my old hair place. The hair cut " style is $15. I really don’t think it looks much different than the $60/haircut I get in Palo Alto.
Some things have changed:
-there are a bunch of new shops opening to try to diversify the town –a cheese shop that sells CA products, a surf shop opened by a guy from Florida, a t-shirt shop opened by a Greek guy, a Chinese restaurant, an actual coffee shop called the “Front Porch” (mom bought me a t-shirt)
-Pengal’s doesn’t sell Ely Timberwolves stuff, anymore
-I definitely don’t recognize very many people anymore. Some doubletakes, but rare. I also look pretty different " people never recognize me.
-Dairy Queen tore down another house to expand its parking lot

The new Charlize Theron movie coming out called “North Country” was filmed an hour from my home town. It’s even about mining. Ya’ll should go see it Oct 7!

accent

I don’t fit in anywhere. In MN, I sound like a southerner or west coast girl. In CA, I sound like a Midwesterner. I’ve got a little of every accent in me, so I just don’t fit in.

i’m back!

i don't think i can match my 9 entries in 35 minutes, but i've got a couple.

it's good to be home. it was an awesome, awesome week " i'm so thankful i got to spend time with my family...but it's good to be home. i got to sleep in my own bed last night.

toronto

i'm off to toronto early in the morning for work meetings, then heading to Mpls wednesday night. i'll be in roseville thursday, heading north thursday night. back in mpls sunday afternoon for a couple hours, then back home. that's right, home. california.

SKYDIVING!!!

I highly recommend you try skydiving at least once in your life. it is an incredibly awesome experience that really just leaves you speechless.

in brief:
the place we went was a DIVE. a warehouse filled with couches, people in jumpsuits sleepin' all over, some packin' up their parachutes, dogs layin' around, etc. it was awesome. totally laid back " carefree. they got us up in the air within 30 minutes of getting there, so we didn't have much time to get nervous. the guy i jumped with was an older, superfunny gentleman. he quit his job in san jose to move up north " jump out of planes for a living. i totally respect that. he cracked me up. sandra got the hot, young guy strapped to her. so we walk out to the airplane, and the sketchiest lookin' people ever were fillin' it up " flyin' it. for some reason, i wasn't nervous. we went up 14,000 feet, which took 10-15 minutes...and then it was time. we were third to jump out. i'd paid for pics to be taken, so a chick jumped out right before us " took all these awesome pictures. they'll be on hegman.com soon. so when we jumped out, i let out the SCREAM OF DEATH. after getting over that, we were free-fallin' for a good minute. the parachute was opened " we took another 4-5 minutes to get to the ground. SO AWESOME! the free fall was amazing. i could see for miles, and my guy was totally pointing stuff out to me. we took a couple sharp turns...at one point he said we were going 2G's (i think). he let me fly the parachute for a bit, and then we were on the ground. kinda surreal, but it was so incredibly exciting, i know it actually happened. i can't wait to go again. i got all sorts of people excited to go sometime...

adventure

yes, i went skydiving yesterday. most awesome thing i've ever, ever done. i'll blog more tomorrow when i have pictures to post.

this morning i'm running another 10K. I haven't stuck with running as much as I should, so hopefully I can run the whole thing...in under 60 minutes. it'll be fun, and is benefiting a good cause, if nothing else.

what a life i lead. jump out of a plane, run 6+ miles...oh, and i added red to my hair last night so i have kool-aid head.

myers briggs

Your Type is
ENFJ
Extroverted Intuitive Feeling Judging
Strength of the preferences %
89 38 75 1

Qualitative analysis of your type formula
You are:
very expressed extrovert
moderately expressed intuitive personality
distinctively expressed feeling personality
slightly expressed judging personality

skydiving

that's right...i've got plans to go skydiving on saturday. oy.
sandra's had it as a life goal forever, so i said i'd go with her. it's a tandem jump " only 5 minutes, so it shouldn't be too bad.

i'm not really thinking about it 'cause it freaks me out - i'm just gonna drive up there on saturday " do it. no thinking. it'll be great fun.

one of the biggest decisions i have to make is whether to get the VHS tape, 35mm pictures or a DVD...or a combo of all. money, money, money.

weirdness

though it's been over a year, i still have "holy cow i'm leaving a voicemail " my area code is in california" moments. i don't think it'll ever go away. it's just weird that i actually live in california. whodathunkit?

fortune cookies

Fortune Cookie #1:
You are bright " witty.

Fortune Cookie #2:
You are the center of every group's attention.

Fortune Cookie #3:
Be careful of extravagance.

I love fortune cookies. And I really love places that let you take as many as you want.

long weekend

i have had a superfantastic long weekend. i'm house/dog-sitting up in the hills away from it all...i love that. i'm not ready to live it, yet, but i love having mini-getaways. and now i'm actually willing to say i may move out of the city some day. it's just so dang relaxing to wake up " go have a cup of coffee in the backyard to listen to all the little animals scurry " birds sing. (wow, i'm getting old)

i had a few ladies stay over the other night, and sonja had a good point in the morning. she said she never travels on long weekends...she just stays home to chill 'cause there's really little reason to travel - it's more expensive on holiday weekends, traffic's bad, everyone's trying to get somewhere, and it's only three days. best to stay home " chill out. which is what i've done - lay around until 2 or 3 in the afternoon, then do something. :-)

i love my life.

livin’ in a cube

today i am conducting an experiment. i've been really distracted at work with all the commotion around me " need to buckle down " get stuff done, so i'm putting on my ipod " rockin' out in my headphones.

wish me luck!

(yes, i used the term "buckle down")

calendar

there is no better way to start my month off with than a picture of Joe Mauer on my Twins calendar.

i love september.