Holy SHITE that was Loud

I guess it’s supposed to be.

The fire alarm went off in my building tonight.

The one I live in, not the one I work in.

While I couldn’t tell if this was from someone’s terrible cooking or an actual fire, the horrifically loud fire alarm was enough to get me to leave my apartment. (I do understand that this is the point of said noise, and appreciate that I should be able to wake up to this monstrosity-of-audibleness).

Except I would need to change into appropriate leave-the-house-type-clothing.

Which is really annoying, and involved, essentially, re-dressing.

Made more complicated because earlier I decided to start some laundry, which included what I was wearing today. So I had to find a clean outfit.

And a bra.

What?

We’re all adults here.

And you know that if you wear one, you probably do the same thing.

Side note: I feel pretty confident that most women I know get home at the end of the work day, and if they don’t put on pajamas immediately, their bra is probably the first to go [If you have one that isn’t, I’d love a recommendation.] Because frankly, they’re mostly uncomfortable. Which is why these infomercials for the New! Comfortable! Amazing! Fill-in-the-name-here bras do intrigue me. But I refuse to spend $60 on an ugly sports bra, so I guess I’m left to wonder how amazing they really are. But I digress . . .

So. After hunting for appropriate outdoor clothes and debating about whether or not to take my bowl of cereal with me (I chose instead to shove as much as I could into my face, for fear it would get soggy), I left the apartment and the loud noise to join the few of my other neighbors on the sidewalk.

To wait, like good little doobies. Because while it is loud and annoying, I also believe in following these kinds of rules.

And for our good behavior?

We had a troop of cute firemen.

Sorry I didn’t get a picture. You know I thought about it.

A List o' Mixed Emotions

Things that sometimes (or sometimes often) make me cranky:

1.       Internet being out for no apparent reason. Do I need to spend more time staring at a computer screen? No. But do I want to pay my bills/reserve a library book/buy some new workout music on iTunes? Yes.

2.       Calibri being the new default font for windows. I know . . . “new” is apparently a relative term, but . . .  more and more I find myself unhappy with this default. Or maybe just that not enough people care to change it to something more palatable. You know who you are.

3.       The stoplight that stays green for 3.7 seconds. You know the one – you barely have time to get into the intersection, let alone across the street before it turns red. And the cross street that has at least 5 minutes of green to move traffic along.

4.       The bastards who have had 5 minutes of a green light, and then run the yellow/red, which then takes 3 of your 3.7 seconds of your own green light. This happens way too often at the Midvale and University Avenue intersection. I need some kind of transportation engineer to fix this muy pronto.

5.       Things that waste my time, especially when I’m busy and really want to be efficient. And having no control over these things, and just needing to suck-it-up-buttercup.

6.       Finally writing a blog post and not being able to post it because there is an “internet outage in the area.” Boo.

Addition as of 6/23 – (post actually written on 6/22).

7.       Shoddy cell phone reception. This is not helpful. Ever. Like when you’re trying to have any kind of phone reception. Especially when you’re trying to get your internet connection working. Argh. Thank goodness the human being I was finally able to talk with was patient with this nonsense.

And because I like to end on a high note . . .

Things that make me happy:

1.       A good phone date – while they never seem to happen enough, it’s always great to catch up on the phone with a friend or sibling and have a good-old-conversation. Unfortunately, the list seems to be too long and out of control with people I’d like to schedule with.

2.       Working with really great people – my boss and staff are pretty damn amazing. I heart them a lot.

3.       Gerbera daisies.

4.       A really great book. Even when the content is not uplifting. I just finished Zeitoun by Dave Eggers. It was fantastic. And shocking. And depressing. All at the same time. A real eye-opener into what some residents of New Orleans experienced (and still struggle with) during and post-Katrina. Highly recommend it. [It also happens to be the ACUHO-I Book Club/ common reading experience for our upcoming conference – I hope my colleagues who are attending have taken the opportunity to read this!]

5.       Big, fat, juicy blueberries. Especially when they are combined with some Cheerios or Rice Chex – my favorite summer dinner!

6.       Finally getting it together and joining a gym. And actually going with my new gym-buddy!

7.       Vanilla ice cream with fresh strawberries. Yum!

8.       A working internet connection. Now to just get to all those things I wanted to do yesterday . . .

A PSA for those on the Job Market

Sometimes I think I should provide a public service and help others with their job search materials. I think I’ve got a pretty good knack for it. Recently while reviewing some resumes and cover letters a few issues jumped out.  Being the generous soul that I am, I thought I’d share a few elements that stuck out for me:

1.       Don’t make me guess about anything. I have a vivid imagination. It will behoove you to spell things out. Someone who is not proficient in your field might be reviewing your resume. Acronyms are not helpful to the lay-folks.

2.       Just put the year you graduated already. For Pete’s sake. (Or as my phone likes to autocorrect to, for Perestroika’s sake!) When I have to do the math to figure out how much experience you have, or if you place work from your undergraduate years mixed in with the rest, it’s confusing. I don’t like to be confused. Your resume should be easy to understand.

3.       Please be consistent with your bullets – size/shape/etc. When you aren’t, I notice that stuff. It’s distracting to those of us who are detail-oriented. If this is not a strength of yours, find a friend or colleague who is to help you out.

4.       Use your cover letter wisely. Please do not completely reiterate everything in your resume. This is not helpful. You have an opportunity to share new and interesting information, and showcase your personality. Don’t bore me by rewriting your resume.

5.       Do Not showcase your personality with an inappropriate email address. Nothing says unprofessional like BeerPongQueen@email.com or Kick@$$Mojo@email.com on your cover letter and resume. Please get it together as you enter the workforce.  I can’t take you seriously as a candidate if you don’t market yourself seriously.

6.       That is all. Public Service Completed.

Knit Happens - And . .. the Protests Continue

I might have mentioned before that I’m impressed with the creativity of our Wisconsin protesters.
As the budget bill is getting ready to pass, folks will be gearing up again to let their voices be heard.
This weekend some knitters got in on the action.

These signs were decorating benches at the capital on Saturday.  

This is apparently called Yarn Bombing.

I think it’s pretty damn cool.

Here are some more pictures that the creative peeps at Anthology took.

Art? Graffiti? Wool Amazingness?

You decide.

Creepy, McCreeperson. Or, Some Thoughts on My First Tornado Warning in Madison

1.      I will probably get sucked away to Oz if a tornado actually touches down here because I’ll be watching the Doppler radar.

2.      God forbid.

3.      So . . . I live in an apartment building on the 3^rd floor. I have a nice balcony and some sky lights. These are great, until my favorite meteorologist tells me to get away from any windows or glass because we have a crazy-huge thunderstorm-warning that turned into a tornado warning quite quickly. There was even a sighting on Legacy Street of a tornado touchdown.

4.      Legacy Street is supposedly on the West side of Madison.

5.      I am on the West Side of Madison.

6.      So are the apartments I run on campus.

7.      I have NO IDEA where said Legacy Street is.

8.      Um?

9.      Neat.

10.  So I debated about leaving the comfort of my couch . . . to go . . . where? My bathtub? To the basement to sit in my car?

11.  Should I put on non-pajama-type clothes? Running shoes?

12.  Nope.

13.  Because I’m a freak of nature who wants to watch the storm develop alongside said favorite meteorologist. [And by ‘want to watch’ I mean, I need to know what the heck is happening outside and I don’t own a weather radio. I can’t sit for 45  minutes in the dark. Call me a control freak, I’ll own it.]

14.  But I did open the blinds on my wall-o-windows so I could be on the lookout for a funnel cloud.

15.  Which would have been helpful during this “rain-obscured storm.” You couldn’t see jack shite.

16.  Except for my neighbor across the courtyard who continued his work out during the entire storm. Unphased, apparently. Has he not watched the news lately?

17.  The storm even freaked me out (I’m not one to get all riled up about this stuff) But this was disconcerting. Perhaps it was the threat of baseball-sized hail. Or the lightning. Or the sideways rain. Or perhaps the fact that they think that now the front of this storm has 80 – 100mph winds leading the way.

18.  And . . . yep. Now I’m blogging about it. The Doppler says I’m good to go.