Life...

So surprisingly not a lot exciting has been going one. I mean we have a good time. I am beginning to really understand the TGIF philosophy of life. Sean is studying for and taking exams etc. I am SERIOUSLY slacking on the cooking scale... but... well i guess this is sort of exiciting... dah dun du dun---

 I'm going to run a triathlon! I have not exactly signed up yet, but I have been training pretty hard at the gym and am just trying to work in a convenient way to get to a pool to practice swimming.  Luckily I think I'm an okay swimmer as is... but I guess we will see. The race is in Salem (little town south of Spanish Fork... yes there is stuff south of Spanish Fork!!) You swim 800 meters, bike 12 miles, and then run a 5k (3.1 miles).  It is just a "sprint" tri, but still I think it will be a beast! Anyone want to do it with me??? I mean think about it, it could be fun. 

oh dear...

I have a NEW job. I know.. this is ridiculous. But after I started working with Career Step (slightly frustrating/boring) I was offered a sweet position to work at the Spanish Fork Clinic. The pay is 30% better, the job is more challenging/I will learn new tasks, and I will no longer need a car to get to work. So... yes this is wild. Yes, I still feel bad about only working for a week. Yes, for some reason I had a really hard time trying to decide. I mean this should have been a really simple, go for the best job type deal... but I'm hoping that I made the right decision in the end. The people at Career Step have been stupendous about it. I was feeling really guilty until the asst. manager said, "It is only a week. And we had 150 other applicants so I'm sure we'll be able to fill the position quickly." (by the way: that is so SICK. 150 people for receptionist!) I just keep hoping that I'm not ruining someone else's prayers or deep hope and desire to get this job at the clinic.

Oh and I'm not a complete looser (to post on Valentines) I am just sick with worrying and with eating what I believe was a bad burger.

EEK EEEK EEK!

I finally got a job!!! Hallelujah! This morning I got a call bright and early from the HR rep at Career Step (an online school that gives technical training to those wishing to do medical transcriptions or medical coding and billing!) The job is full time, has decent pay, and decent benefits. I actually started this morning because they were doing an orientation class, so at 9:30 am this morning I started MY new job. I think mostly I will be just answering phones and putting away files. But hey... it's a job. A job with VACATION TIME (which is something I have never had). I don't feel quite so bad about my 1.3 months spent out of work and I feel really good about this job. The mission statement includes Christ (for his qualities) in the wording for goodness sake. I guess one of the benefits is also that I will be able to take the courses for free! Which means after this job if I want to stay home and decipher doctors dictations (with little babies running around of course) or some other projects they are considering breaking out into (not sure I can post exactly what due to the confidentiality agreement I signed today.. but they are interesting options). Anyways I am super thankful to be able to work.
Side Story: Today at the gym BYUTV (another channel always on) was telling a story of a man in India with no legs who was benefiting from micro-loans... 1. This was just weird to think about as I sit there on 1 of 20 treadmills that cost more than this man makes in a year and 2. Again, do I think often enough about how lucky, nay blessed, I am... even to just have legs.

Anyways... Figured I'd better post: I GOT A JOB! I AM NOT A HOPELESS LOSER! I AM CONTRIBUTING TO SOCIETY slightly! I HAVE SOME INCOME! And I WILL BE ABLE TO GO SHOPPING AGAIN!

Cooking!!!

Okay so I totally am not a great chef. But this website has some of the coolest recipes, kids ideas, and just yummy ways to cook with regular stuff like cans of diced tomato. (which by the way I just realized I found by following the link off Em's website... sorry Em!) She also does a great job of showing photos of every step. And we're not talking crummy smudged photos either, she really knows what she is doing. Anyways.. I am bored and Sean refuses to go to the movies with me, so this is why I am looking at fabulous foods that I may (but probably won't) one day cook. Okay maybe I will make the eggplant pasta, but who doesn't love to experiment with a new vegetable?!?

Best Music Video

Okay so since there are only a limited few appointments to fill my day, I have been spending quite a bit of time at the gym. To keep us work-out maniacs going they have music videos going 24/7. Most are alright... hoochies displaying what they got and thugs displaying their hoochy girlfriends... but I was watching this one and totally thought it was rad. Like really something worth watching as entertainment rather than an "artistically"-correct-weird-music-video-that-symbolizes-the-artist type deal. Mostly I just think it is kind of cool to see two little white kids break dancing in a night club.

Job update: more interviews, still no call backs.

The Job Hunt

29 (scratch that 43!!) resume's sent out... that doesn't even include all the online jobs I have been applying for... and still no job. Really I think I am getting near some world record. Or if not a world record, at least a record for being the most bored while not having a job. I can't believe I was such a numb-skull to turn down the job I was offered during finals week!!! Granted it only paid 8.00 and hour (+ commission if people pay $3,000 to get out of debt), but holy cow... how do people have hobbies with no money?? You can't really sew with no fabric, reading isn't exactly helping the size of my booty, cooking is only productive if your items come out edible, and shopping is definitely out of the question. Supposedly 3 Utah cities are in the top 25 cities in the US with highest percentages of hiring... too bad they are not in my commuting range! I'm really lucky that we, as a family, have been just fine without a job. But I'm not sure if I can continue to function like this!!! :)

WARNING

.. when making Rice Krispie Treats... they really mean it when they say use FRESH marshmallows!!! Because there are only 3 ingredients, it matters drastically the shape your ingredients are in. I tried to picture the glob of nasty that Sean and I created (I even made Sean do the cooking part and it was still totally goofed up!), but photo-ing food is actually really hard to do... specially if it is in the garbage can! So... BEWARNED

Bored

So you know how people sit and dream of the days when they will have little to nothing to do, and just lounge around the house all day? IT IS SO OVERRATED! I am going on a full week without a job since the new year and I'm getting quite antsy. Today I cleaned the bathroom, vacuumed, and slept in till almost 12 because I am just beginning to dread the day. Sean has relatively little school work for this first week so we play cards a lot. I'm sitting here wondering why I'm not more happy to just be. I always read about the girls who just keep themselves busy cleaning the house and doing little things... But you can only clean 4 rooms so many times in a week! I'm baffled, but I have started to get some call backs, so maybe I'll have a job soon (and I know Kim... I just should just have a baby, those keep you busy right? :) :) ). Oh and according to the New York Times, unemployment is at a 16 year high... what a great time to be taking a year off school before Sean goes to Medical School :(.

Excuses

So as I stall for my last set of finals (possibly forever) I have found that I still enjoy blogging. Especially since some of my best blogs have come while procrastinating study (and my grades have relatively low relevance to my grades in most of my classes). (And at this point it doesn't really matter what I get anyways because I am finishing!) But I have this dilemma. I really love Christmas (well I am starting to love it more anyways), but I am horrible at picking out presents. I made a list of all the people I want to get gifts for, and realized I have no idea what to get anyone! I think that I have gained this trait mostly because of my father. Because with Dad, it doesn't matter what you get him... he probably won't use it anyways. And this has never hurt my feelings. In fact it kind of gives me a weird sense of freedom because I can just amble through a store, pick out something kind of manly... and wala!... present for Paps. Some years I hit the nose, some I miss by a mile. Plus my dad has this awesome poker face on Xmas day. After he goes through the story of why Santa Claus may not have made it this year ( and some have even had evidence to back it up) we all rush down. Because he is smiling at all us, the face just kind of sticks. He has almost the exact same tone of thanks for a dollar store gift as he does for a multi-hundred technological gift. Perhaps this is not the norm, but I never feel that my father has been let down by one of my gifts. I think that maybe sometimes I should be more like this, but then I find I really just wish everyone else would respond this well to the lame gifts I get! (Ok, not all are lame; just usually predictable.) Sean is constantly suprising me (this year #2, I got my present in June), which makes me think I should try... but what if I go wrong? And I guess I feel more justified because we are super poor, which means Christmas is actually a time to get the things we need but wouldn't otherwise buy, stuff like frying pans, winter boots, and an alarm clocks. So, hopefully this lets me off the hook. If you know me and get a lame gift 1.) feel lucky, funds are scarce this year! and 2.) now you know my many justifications of why it probably isn't the greatest thing you have ever recieved!!!

marketing

So I have decided to get a business minor (perhaps I can do something useful one day) and hence am in BusM 340, a marketing class. Most of the time we spend just watching commercials and apparently learning a lot about how other companies market. Most are about cars because our Prof. is into Nascar (he says it is becoming one of the world's greatest sports and isn't as white trash as we all thought... whatever). But he did show us a fabulous Ikea commercial that won the Cannes and other prestigious awards. The sound quality isn't that great on youtube, but just imagine sitting in a rather dull class expecting to see a world famous life changing commercial and then you see this! Anywho I thought it was really funny and worth your time to see at least once. I also have found some entertaining logo's. Pepsi spent millions coming up with this new one, and people of course have already desecrated it. And of course I love jeep. This was a great campagn, but I wasn't a huge fan of the flag bandana they tagged on as an afterthought. Anywho, insights to Rachel's stalling her marketing homework must eventually come to an end.