Hot, Sweaty Mess

I know I should be nicer to Jay when he's sick...but it's 2 in the morning and he's keeping me up. Not because he's up, but because he's sleeping so hard that he keeps saying really funny things in his sleep.

For instance, he was mumbling about having to cut down a tree or something and then very clearly said, "That REALLY is a good tree" (a la "Law and Order REALLY is a good show"...same tone).

And then he was mumbling something about who knows what and then sat up and said, "I really can't" so clearly and matter-of-factly that I thought he was awake.

And then I touched his arm and realized how hot and sweaty he was.

And then I realized the edge of my pillow that was touching his face was soaking wet either from drool or sweat. Either way, I figured to embrace my awakeness and leave hot, sweaty, mumbling Jay alone in bed...poor guy.

At least it's off

We thought our heating and air problems were over. Think again.
At least it's off and not running without working properly.


Maybe we can get another $200 off of our rent next month? Yeaaa

Oh Shoot

Stood a little too close. Blew a little too hard.

I am Now Fashionable in China

I have this great friend in school named Jun Gu. I refer to her as "Girl Jun" to differentiate her from Jun Lu ("Boy Jun"). No one remembers which is "Gu" and which is "Lu," but everyone can handle "Girl" and "Boy." This was especially key when I worked in a group with both.

Anyways, Girl Jun is from Shanghai. According to another Chinese student, she graduated at the top of her class from the Chinese equivalent of Harvard. She was a chess master at the age of 12 or something crazy like that. She was a business journalist and has this hilarious story (although she doesn't think it's funny...just getting the job done) of chasing Jack Welch into an elevator to get an interview when she was interning at a newspaper. And we're friends.

You see, what I have to offer Girl Jun is mastery of the English language. For the past year and a half, she has sent me every email that she plans to send to a recruiter or someone of the like to check for grammar. I check her papers. Before she gives a presentation, she writes it out word for word, and I check that, too. We like working together and have worked in several groups together.

Girl Jun went home to Shanghai over the Christmas break, and she brought me this:

According to Jun, these coats/shirts are very popular in China right now. She also sent me a picture of how they are worn, so I tried to mimic the outfit to do the top justice. Here's a close-up so that you can fully appreciate the Chinese-ness of it:

Girl Jun was really nervous about the size. Besides Yao Ming, I suppose Chinese people aren't accostumed to people of my stature. But as far as I can tell, it seems to fit. I'm totally showing up to school wearing this next week.

IKEA!

Jay's original Christmas present to me didn't work out (it was an activity), so today he gave me my alternative present: we went to IKEA. For hours. And looked at EVERYTHING (including the as-is section). And didn't even get in a fight. You see, I love IKEA because Scandanavian design is so practical and functional and clean... And I love projects.

Granted, IKEA stuff is cheap and looks cheap. But just like anything, it works in moderation (I think our apartment is about half IKEA and half Pottery Barn). In particular, we're obsessed with IKEA lighting and Lack shelves (used in literally every episode of Designed to Sell or those other budget-friendly design shows because they're so cheap but cool).

So here are our many projects from today's IKEA trip:

Project 1 - Replaced the bulb that can only be purchased at IKEA in the nightstand lamp that has been useless for months.

Project 2 - While in IKEA, we sat down to have a little heart-to-heart about the fact that we're likely moving in 6 months and don't want to be hammering into the walls all over the place, so I thought this was totally out of the question until Jay suggested it...we replaced the light fixture in our dining area. Apparently the old one just really bothered him.



Project 3 - Replaced the uplighting on Jay's desk. The old lights were no longer working, and it's a nice way to work in the evenings instead of turing on a really bright lamp.



Project 4 - Put up a little art spotlight thing above our Houston painting.


Project 5 - Added two shelves in our room so that we can put pictures and other stuff (like that circle thing - I don't know what it is but my Chinese friend Jun gave it to me...it's from China...) on them because we have nowhere in our apartment for pictures. This means I will have to start taking and printing pictures. And these are the (short) Lack shelves.


We also bought these little LCD lights to put behind the TV but when Jay opened them realized they're motion-sensor lights to put in things like drawers. They only turn on when they move. Oops. So we stuck those in a drawer.

And that's it! Hooray IKEA!

I'm with "stupid?" Thanks

I want to tell a couple of stories of some recent happenings.

1. Lindsay and I went to Banana Republic to look for clothes to exchange for a gift I received on Christmas. There was a girl with a name tag who "apparently" worked there...... and so naturally I needed to ask her a question about a pair of pants. This was our conversation:

Me: "Excuse me miss - do you know what the difference is between the modern fit and the straight fit dress pants?"

Girl Worker: "Umm.... you know I'm not really sure, but I think it's the way that they fit."

Me: Thanks

2. Out internet through comcast has been giving us a lot of trouble lately. Naturally I call comcast late one night and tell the support "technician" of our internet woes and that for the last month on different occasions when the internet has had a problem - I tunred off my computer, unplugged the modem and reset our router in order to get the internet to work. For the last month that procedure has only worked for a few hours or minutes before failing again.

So I called comcast....

Me: (After all the verification etc. etc.) Hi - I've been having trouble with my internet for the past month and everytime I've had a problem I've unplugged the modem, turned off the computer and reset my router which only allows the internet to reset, but then fails shortly after.

Comcast Technician: Ok..... well here is what I'm going to need you to do...

Me: OK

CCT: I'm going to need you to turn off your modem.

Me: OK

CCT: Next I'm going to need you to turn off your computer.

Me: OK

CCT: Now I'm going to need you to reset your router and I'm going to put you on hold while all of those devices reboot.

Me: OK

CCT: (A few minutes later) Has everything reset?

Me: Yes - just like everytime before.

CCT: OK great - is there anything else I can help you with tonight.

Me: No.... No there isn't..... Thanks

Ikea Totally Ripped Off Alvar Aalto

I found my old sketch book and was flipping through it and ran across a quick sketch I did in 2003 of some chairs on exhibit in the Pompidou Center in London. One of them was a chair Alvar Aalto designed, and I realized that it looks exactly like this Ikea chair that everyone I know who buys things from Ikea (including us) has:

You see, because I was a designer in a previous life, these are things I'm supposed to pick up on...and faster than 5 years after the fact. But see I always think Eames designed the Barcelona chair (it was Mies van der Rohe! dangit so close!) and forget which Frank did which Guggenheim and forget if Texas soil has too much limestone to dig deep or if you use a limestone slurry in order to dig deep...and these are all things that have come up in conversation in the past month or two!

I bet I sounded so cultured and artistic in that former life... Now I just don't know what I'm talking about. (Actually, what I've learned being in business school in Houston is that as long as you know what oil closed at for the day, you can fool a lot of people into thinking you DO know what you're talking about! Today it closed around $44. Try that out on someone tomorrow.)

Jay's Got A New Gig

I have this professor who's absolutely crazy in a fun kind of way. He teaches Consumer Psychology, Brand Management, and Buyer Behavior...you know, the "soft" side of marketing. He is guaranteed to show up periodically with a new look: handle bar mustache a few weeks ago, giant side burns presently, I heard a mohauk a few years ago... He's probably in his mid-30s, and he actually uses words like "pontificate" in casual language.

So Jay and I go to meet up with my class at a local bar because the professor invited all of us and said he'd just open up a tab for all to use. I introduce him to Jay. He asks Jay what he does for a living. Jay says, "I play drums for a living." I've never seen someone so enamored with my husband...

Well apparently, this professor and one of our economics professors have a band and have been looking for a drummer for a year or two to track on their latest record. So he recruits Jay! I've seen the professor a few times since, and he's still so excited about it. He listened to some of Jay's stuff and thinks he's the greatest drummer ever. He told me he should fail me for not realizing this sooner, but I better get an A for fulfilling his musical dreams.

Gotta Love Houston Weather

Yesterday, it was over 70 degrees here. We could have worn shorts. And today:

That's snow! On a car in our parking lot! Crazy.

My mom and I were discussing today that you know you're from Texas when it's 30-something degrees outside and you just think, "Oh I won't worry about a jacket (or socks and warm enough shoes)...I'll just run to the car and turn the heat on." We just don't have enough of these kind of days to actually take the time to dress appropriately, I guess. Thank goodness for seat warmers!

The most fun I've ever had at an ATM...

Jay and I went to deposit a few checks at the ATM the other night. The Bank of America on Kirby apparently got new ATM machines...and they are magical.

You no longer have to put your deposit into an envelope or use a deposit slip. Instead, you feed the check directly into the machine just as you would put a dollar in a coke machine. The ATM then reads the check and tells you how much it was written for. Amazing!

Jay and I were so amazed and weren't prepared for what happened next: the receipt had miniature scanned images of the 3 checks we deposited!

Besides just being really cool, this is so efficient in so many ways, including decreasing the use of paper. Who comes up with these things!?

Bearded wonder

About every two months or so I always get the "crazy" idea of growing a beard. Honestly it's not as much a conscious effort as it is laziness. I just get tired of shaving frequently and so me and a lot of my friends kind of "trim" for a while. We like the "scruff" look I guess.

But, anyways - I typically get to the point where it's ugly and I think "ok let's try it again" or I just shave.

This last week has been the itchy annoying phase and I don't like it, but I've never really toughed it out all the way. So, at least for now I'm going to try.

I don't really know if I pull the beard off very well - but I figured I have to see it through just so I'll know. Unless it sucks and you know it, but are afraid to tell me.

Here are some pics of my "beard".

Pardon the photography and the lazy eye ;) (Kath/Chris)

I thought I would include a picture of a really nice looking beard.

Done!

I just finished another project. Jay bought me 2 canvases last year for Christmas that have been hanging blank on our walls ever since. On Halloween, I finally started on the big one and just finished:

As seen hanging above the couch:

(It's hanging really high because I had Jay help me put the wire on the canvas and then accidentally painted it up-side-down...I'll eventually move the wire so it hangs farther down.)

Admittedly, it matches absolutely nothing else in our apartment. For those of you who remember/took part in the Walton painting, you understand what an undertaken these "modern pointillism" paintings actually are! To do this, I found a picture of Houston and pixelated it to be made up of .5" x .5" squares and then limited it to 7 colors. Then it's just like paint by number on a canvas that has been divided up into a grid with .5" pixels. It seriously takes forever, though. It would be awesome to get it silk-screen printed onto canvas...

Close up:
From Wikipedia: Pointillism is a style of painting in which small distinct points of primary colors create the impression of a wide selection of secondary and intermediate colors. See? Really like pointillism aided by Photoshop!

Just Read:

Several people have recommended and given me books lately to read. Since being in school, I haven't exactly had a lot of time to read non-school books, but I figured I should get reading so I can return all these books!

I just finished this one that was given to me by a guy I tutor in Data Analysis:

It's a cute little book about leadership/management. Apparently, the three secrets in life can be summed up in squirrels, beavers, and geese. More specifically, the idea is that organizations are more efficient when everyone has a sense of purpose (squirrels), has ownership/control of goals (beavers), and encourages one another (geese).

The guy who gave this to me believes in it so much that he sent an email to our program director to give me "goose honks" (and he actually used those words in the email) for my help with tutoring him. But I will say, I felt good about helping him out just by receiving a little recognition. Guess it works, huh?

My Friends

Good thing Kath and company come here because we don't get out of here enough. Here's our new little friend Lucy:
She's a very sweet little baby who actually likes to be held and snuggled, unlike Hudson when he was a baby. She loves her Hudson and her mama...and tolerated us as well.

Making our cookies. He actually "helps" now, so it's a much messier process:

He's so grown up now. For the first several years of his life, I literally saw him every single day (or just about), so it's weird to only see him incrementally now. He actually let's me hug and kiss on him still...didn't even worry about whether there were lipstick marks or not. He still loves numbers and counting. Little accountant in the making...

Stomach Virus? Food Poisoning?

I hate being sick to my stomach. The nausea, the sweating, the hurling, and the hugging of porcelain. Now imagine you are at a friends house - and your friend is a single musician who doesn't necessarily keep the cleanest bathroom.

Last night was awful. Linz had to come pick me up. I still don't feel that great right now and it's almost 7 p.m.

No matter what I do when I get sick to my stomach it always takes me a long time to recover. Especially with eating.

Being sick isn't fun.

The Lindsay Update:
Ok Jay doesn't even begin to paint the picture here. His friend calls me at 11 to tell me Jay can't make it home and then calls me back a half hour later to come get him.

When I get there, Jay is laying across this nasty toilet that hasn't been cleaned in who knows how long. So we go get him Gatorade...we sit around watching Adult Swim cartoons, Iron Chef, Hook... Jay in the bathroom throwing up the whole time.

Finally at 1, Jay falls asleep on the bathroom floor (which hasn't been cleaned since probably a year before the toilet). So I let him sleep for half an hour in the bathroom and then convince him we can make it home. We take a trash bag along for the ride.

All I could think about when he got into bed last night around 2 was that his skin had touched so many dirty bathroom surfaces and was now touching our sheets. Come to think of it, I think I'll go change our sheets.

Apartment Update

So I had a long talk with our apartment manager.

Without going into detail here is what is happening:

We got a brand new AC unit installed today and next month we are receiving a $200 rebate towards rent.

So remember kids............ sometimes it pays to complain.

Just be nice about it.

Apartments - Ugh

I have literally called our apartment office over 20 times, requested online service, and asked to speak to a manager on four different occasions about our A/C.

Last night was like the 10th night Linz and I have spent sweating in our 85 degree apartment. I am so pissed to say the least. For a long time the A/C unit would leak horribly and before that it didn't work at all when it would break. For the last six months however it will run and stay on, but without cooling. So imagine this: You get up and go to work at 8am and come home to find your unit has been running all day long without cooling. We have had electric bills over $270 in a month for a one bedroom 850 sq. ft. apartment - and obviously when I would notice it wasn't cooling I would turn it off and not just let it run. On five different ocassions it occured while Linz and I were gone for more than a day.

I am talking to a manager today and asking for some kind of a rebate towards next months rent. This is bull shit. What do you think?

Tuesday Top Ten

I've been traveling quite a bit lately...you know that whole silly "find a job" thing. There are certain men in my life (ie Jay and my dad) who are very particular travelers and have little patience for those amateurs who slow them down in the airport. [Sidenote: They would have been so disappointed in me because I actually walked through the metal detector with my cell phone in my pocket on Sunday.] But there really are many annoying things about getting on a plane.

Top ten worse things about flying:

1. Getting to the airport too early - unlike Jay, I'd rather get to the gate right as I should be getting on the plane
2. Airplane smell - second only to charter bus smell
3. Inefficiencies in the security line - People who don't take their shoes off, don't take thier laptops out of their bags, don't know the liquid rules, etc. and hold up the line
4. Having to go to the bathroom on the plane when you're in the window seat
5. Being in the middle seat - there's nowhere to put your head for sleeping (I'm a big plane sleeper)
6. People you sit next to who talk the whole flight - I'm not there to make friends-I'm there to sleep
7. People who carry all their luggage on the plane - the ones who wheel around their over-the-shoulder bags on top of their rolly bags and usually have another purse or brief case in tow...they take forever in the aisles and take too much overhead bin space
8. Turbulence - logically, it makes no sense that a really heavy metal object should get up in the air just by going fast enough and then stay up there - turbulence reminds me of this
9. Paying $15 for a checked bag - not because I have to pay but because it encourages more of #7
10. Bad selection of airport food and beverage - seriously, what kind of airport doesn't have a Starbuck's?

Your Own Super Power?

I'm sure at one point when you were growing up you thought of the "super-power" you wanted most. I know I did. Especially watching superman, batman, spiderman, insert favorite superhero here, I'm sure we all had our favorite and wanted what they had.

I do remember however listening to my sister Leanne explain in detail what became known in the Snider family as "Leanne-Pan". Leanne-Pan was her fictitious alter-ego who could stop time. But, there was a catch. The catch was that she had to touch her index fingers (tip to tip mind you) together above her head without looking. (You should try it - it's not easy) At the time (I was probably somewhere between 12 and 13 I think?) I thought - "what a friggin' waste of a super power" - I thought being "invisible" or the obvious "flying" was the right choice, but being able to just stop time? Stupid... I thought.

Many years later after much thought and retrospect I believe my sister was on to something. Work, sleep, eating, working out, time with family, friends, time to hang out and just relax - we never have enough time! "If only I could stop time" - I thought that to myself one day and I had visions of Leanne-Pan touching her fingers together above her head flash before my eyes.

What would be your super power and why? I'm curious. Kuddos to Leanne-Pan she was on the right track.