grumblings and rumblings

Okay, so when blogger was working, my internet was down... when internet was working, blogger was giving me trouble! Also, I'm so damn busy at work that I could scream, and it's all stuff that I really hate to do. **I know, bitch bitch bitch.** In fact, I really only have about 10 minutes to pound this out... so lets see what we can do.


Welcome to September.

This past weekend was great! Ethan put off the Locks of Love thing... to grow it out a little more, plus pick a time when his friends are available to come... but we did do dinner with my parents and some family friends on Saturday, a picnic Sunday, and so much relaxing in between. We also hit up the King of Prussia mall and I got some of those new clothes I wanted (thanks to a gift certificate from my bro for my birthday). I got a pair of cute grey pants, like these, but with a nice tab front waist closure... plus a pair of these, and a really cute top. I also got a new bra from Victoria's Secret, which is a real treat because those bastards are expensive!! Yippee!

I also cleaned my closet and got rid of half a bag of stuff already. Clothes that I just don't wear anymore, or that don't fit me. Next is my dresser, and I expect to fill at least another bag with that! So no guilt about the new clothes.
AND Trav patched a big broken up chunk of our sidewalk/walkway to our front porch, which had been there since we moved in.

It was a good long weekend, although returning to work after that always sucks.

I've been taking lots of pictures with my new camera... and they have been turning out pretty damn nicely, although I have none to show you right now because of a small problem with software. There is a program you are supposed to download onto your computer before downloading your pictures from your camera... it's on a CD. The CD drive on our laptop is broken! I attempted to copy the CD info onto my jumpdrive, too big. So... no pictures at the moment. I'm going to call Fuji and see if I can't get the program another way. Worst-case scenario, I download the program onto my work comp and download my pictures there... then send to myself. Not fun, a lot of extra work (not to mention that I really shouldn't be downloading programs onto my work computer), but if it's the only way, it's the only way.

Speaking of annoying technological issues: I temporarily got my banner back, though it is slightly smaller then before and not exactly right. It appears the loverly lady that designed this site look has absconded from the internet, and took my background (which was hosted on her site) with her. I'm hoping one of the emails I have for her still works (anyone know how to reach Tamara of cybervassals?) and she can send me the file, so I can host it myself. In the meantime, I put together the above version from some lower res files she sent me as examples during the creation of the look. If I don't hear from her soon, I'll probably attempt to create a new banner for myself... we'll see how that works. Anyone have any creative ideas?


I'm running out of time here... what else?
Well, lately I've been very frustrated with my job and have been craving a serious change. I've always been up and down about my job. It has never brought me the satisfaction I had hoped for (especially from something that I spend the majority of my awake time doing or traveling to/from). I had always "known" that I would do something people related and semi-"give back like". That made no sense... well I wanted to be a vet when I was a kid, then for a large number of years I was thinking of being a PT, off and on being a nurse has crossed my mind. But for some reason, when I went to college I focused on International Relations. I've always love China and everything Oriental, but honestly politics is not my bag. So how did I end up with IR? I swear, sometimes I just don't know. I love some of it, I hate some of it... and this job, not what I pictured when I imagined a post-IR degree job. If I could make enough money being a researcher on China/Asia stuff for a crotchety old professor... I would be thrilled. But that just isn't reasonable because 1) that kind of research just doesn't make good money (it's normally reserved for grad students and they would get some tiny stipend), and 2) the kind of research that would make me some decent money would require at least a Masters, if not a PhD, plus a lot of years and working up to.
Lately when I've been thinking about jobs that would make me happy/satisfied, I've been off in a completely different direction. Conservation, working outdoors in a state park, with animals, or with people towards a more natural/wholesome lifestyle vein. Obviously I haven't been focusing on one specific job type, but these are all things I love and can see myself feeling great doing. The problem... my degree is in IR and I can't go back to school right now. Unless we won the damn lotto.
Have you been there? Felt this way? Overcome it? Suggestions, comments, ideas welcome.

Okay, I really have to get back to work and get some food in me. But I will leave you with one picture (not my own).
This amazing shot is from this website, and is described as such:

When Hurricane Gudrun thundered across southern Sweden in January 2005, it left around 100,000 people isolated and without electricity. Deep snow, fallen trees and severe temperatures meant several people died before help could reach them. Flying over Småland photographing the devastation, Jocke – who specializes in aerial photography – saw this ‘remarkable oak tree print’. It formed partly by the storm brush of nature and partly by the impact on the soil of the forestry machines retrieving logs. ‘It’s as if the heavens had sent a message to the forest industry reminding them that, in this area, deciduous trees would have withstood the winds much better than pine.

Amazing!

Okay, I'm off. Sorry this is so long!!