Okay, bloggers. I have a family member coming into town next week (FINALLY) and I need your help in the 5 Must Do/See while in Austin, Texas for someone that has never been here...or, very much outside the state of Indiana. (Just taking her to a restaurant and seeing tatooed and pierced servers may blow her mind!) Send me a list of your five favorites and I'll compare mine and narrow it down from there.
THANKS!
Wednesday, May 16, 2007
Wednesday, May 9, 2007
Answers to an interview
Answers to Jennifer's 5-question interview:
1. So, if you could have a college degree instantly, like the information and learning electronically zapped into your brain in an instant (with a legitimate diploma), what degree would you choose and what career would you immediately have?
Wow--so many to choose from. I have so many interests, but, I'd have to say that my first passion would be Earth Sciences. Watching the climate changes, the melting Polar Caps, the Volcanoes....I'm fascinated by volcanoes. I'd be the one sitting on the cap of Mt. Ranier when it finally decides to go. Earthquakes--where is the "big one" going to be? California or the long sleeping New Madrid (around the St. Louis area)? The Earth has always taken care of herself--death and rebirth. I'd love to chronicle the next "death". I'm completely handicapped by Physics, though. Physics is a major part of predicting earth changes and how to handle them. We'd all be buried under a pile of snow if it was all up to me!
2. What do you miss most about Indiana?
The green, green summers. Miles of rolling green hills. And tall Maple trees--trees you could really climb high into. The smell of things growing. It smelled like life. Crisp autumns. There is nothing like a football game with the smell of autumn in the air, the rattle of autumn leaves, the color of autumn leaves! I really miss Autumn. It's hard to describe how the air can be crisp to a Texan. And, I don't know about now, but, when I was a kid, it was soooo much fun to go out and play in the snow (and we're talking about a couple of feet, not millimeters like what happens here), get cold and wet to the point of numbness, and then coming in to hot chocolate or chicken noodle soup. It was the best way to thaw out and the warmth it created was so much more than physical. Green summers, tall trees, and crisp autumns...that's what I miss most, I guess. The land is beautiful there. And it grows really tasty tomatoes--Texans have no idea what a tomato really tastes like. Or plums--great plums in Michigan. Going to Indiana Dunes--a real lake, with real sand.
3. What is the best thing about living in Texas? How did you end up here, anyway?
Well, like anyone raised in a small-minded place, I wanted to escape. Women in their thirties in Indiana look twice as old as we do. And they all cut their hair and perm it after the second child, and that's how it stays. Smoking--there's a lot of smoking in Indiana. And eating lots of heavy bland meals with gravy that clogged your arteries just looking at them. I wanted to go to a big city, so, I went to Dallas. My mom already lived in Austin at this point. After a while, I discovered I hated the big city--especially Dallas. I love Austin, though. Austin is not like the rest of Texas. It's full of people more like me: open-minded, full of empathy for their fellow human beings, rational--you can rationalize with people in Austin!--and forward thinking people. People who aren't stuck in the past or just the here and now. People who don't worry about what something costs now, but what the potential cost is for the future by not doing something now. That's not Texas--it's Austin. If Austin were to disappear, I probably wouldn't stay in Texas. So, I guess the thing I like most about Texas is Austin.
4. What is your favorite childhood memory?
The neighborhood I grew up in. All the kids played together, no matter what age. My older brother showed me off to all his friends when I was born, so I was the youngest in the neighborhood for a while. We played outside all the time--until an hour past dark in the summer. At Halloween, we would canvas the entire neighborhood--for blocks! Our friend, Gary, was a mentally handicapped 26-year old. So, he was basically our age. It thrilled his mother to death when we would knock on their door and ask if Gary could come out to play. He fit in just right. We never knew any different. The innocence of my childhood--that's my fondest memory. Kids know too much these days. We had no clue. Ignorance is bliss. We had so much fun! We didn't have to have our parents planning our every move. ADHD didn't exist. When we went on a car trip, there were no DVD players in the car! We read books, used our imaginations with other toys, or just talked with our parents while hanging over the front seat of the car. Dayton Street--that's my fondest memory. We hardly ever went inside--we just played.
5. If you owned BAH, what would you change?
Well...we'd probably go broke, because I would move the focus away from the financial aspects and more towards doing what we could for the patients. I don't think we should have to have a pet owner approve an estimate before we save their pet's life. Why can't we offer the cheaper alternatives or do more to find out what we can do? I'd like to see us more involved with the community around us. I'd like to see some more concern for all that gets wasted--from electricity wasted when the attic lights are left on when no one is up there to all the recycling we don't do. And, being more open to alternative, natural, treatments. No, you aren't going to cure anything with herbs and nutrition, but you could sure prevent a lot with more natural diets and an awareness of what kinds of cleaning products people are using around the home. And I would try to mend the separation that's felt between the "front" and the "back". Create more of an atmosphere of openness and warmth. Probably move, too, to a place where we wouldn't have to spend so much in overhead so we could come down on some of our prices. And I would never hire people to put a body in a space--blending would be a must--there would be 30-, 60-, and 90-day reviews on new-hires as well as annual reviews on everyone else.
Hope you learned something about me you didn't know.
1. So, if you could have a college degree instantly, like the information and learning electronically zapped into your brain in an instant (with a legitimate diploma), what degree would you choose and what career would you immediately have?
Wow--so many to choose from. I have so many interests, but, I'd have to say that my first passion would be Earth Sciences. Watching the climate changes, the melting Polar Caps, the Volcanoes....I'm fascinated by volcanoes. I'd be the one sitting on the cap of Mt. Ranier when it finally decides to go. Earthquakes--where is the "big one" going to be? California or the long sleeping New Madrid (around the St. Louis area)? The Earth has always taken care of herself--death and rebirth. I'd love to chronicle the next "death". I'm completely handicapped by Physics, though. Physics is a major part of predicting earth changes and how to handle them. We'd all be buried under a pile of snow if it was all up to me!
2. What do you miss most about Indiana?
The green, green summers. Miles of rolling green hills. And tall Maple trees--trees you could really climb high into. The smell of things growing. It smelled like life. Crisp autumns. There is nothing like a football game with the smell of autumn in the air, the rattle of autumn leaves, the color of autumn leaves! I really miss Autumn. It's hard to describe how the air can be crisp to a Texan. And, I don't know about now, but, when I was a kid, it was soooo much fun to go out and play in the snow (and we're talking about a couple of feet, not millimeters like what happens here), get cold and wet to the point of numbness, and then coming in to hot chocolate or chicken noodle soup. It was the best way to thaw out and the warmth it created was so much more than physical. Green summers, tall trees, and crisp autumns...that's what I miss most, I guess. The land is beautiful there. And it grows really tasty tomatoes--Texans have no idea what a tomato really tastes like. Or plums--great plums in Michigan. Going to Indiana Dunes--a real lake, with real sand.
3. What is the best thing about living in Texas? How did you end up here, anyway?
Well, like anyone raised in a small-minded place, I wanted to escape. Women in their thirties in Indiana look twice as old as we do. And they all cut their hair and perm it after the second child, and that's how it stays. Smoking--there's a lot of smoking in Indiana. And eating lots of heavy bland meals with gravy that clogged your arteries just looking at them. I wanted to go to a big city, so, I went to Dallas. My mom already lived in Austin at this point. After a while, I discovered I hated the big city--especially Dallas. I love Austin, though. Austin is not like the rest of Texas. It's full of people more like me: open-minded, full of empathy for their fellow human beings, rational--you can rationalize with people in Austin!--and forward thinking people. People who aren't stuck in the past or just the here and now. People who don't worry about what something costs now, but what the potential cost is for the future by not doing something now. That's not Texas--it's Austin. If Austin were to disappear, I probably wouldn't stay in Texas. So, I guess the thing I like most about Texas is Austin.
4. What is your favorite childhood memory?
The neighborhood I grew up in. All the kids played together, no matter what age. My older brother showed me off to all his friends when I was born, so I was the youngest in the neighborhood for a while. We played outside all the time--until an hour past dark in the summer. At Halloween, we would canvas the entire neighborhood--for blocks! Our friend, Gary, was a mentally handicapped 26-year old. So, he was basically our age. It thrilled his mother to death when we would knock on their door and ask if Gary could come out to play. He fit in just right. We never knew any different. The innocence of my childhood--that's my fondest memory. Kids know too much these days. We had no clue. Ignorance is bliss. We had so much fun! We didn't have to have our parents planning our every move. ADHD didn't exist. When we went on a car trip, there were no DVD players in the car! We read books, used our imaginations with other toys, or just talked with our parents while hanging over the front seat of the car. Dayton Street--that's my fondest memory. We hardly ever went inside--we just played.
5. If you owned BAH, what would you change?
Well...we'd probably go broke, because I would move the focus away from the financial aspects and more towards doing what we could for the patients. I don't think we should have to have a pet owner approve an estimate before we save their pet's life. Why can't we offer the cheaper alternatives or do more to find out what we can do? I'd like to see us more involved with the community around us. I'd like to see some more concern for all that gets wasted--from electricity wasted when the attic lights are left on when no one is up there to all the recycling we don't do. And, being more open to alternative, natural, treatments. No, you aren't going to cure anything with herbs and nutrition, but you could sure prevent a lot with more natural diets and an awareness of what kinds of cleaning products people are using around the home. And I would try to mend the separation that's felt between the "front" and the "back". Create more of an atmosphere of openness and warmth. Probably move, too, to a place where we wouldn't have to spend so much in overhead so we could come down on some of our prices. And I would never hire people to put a body in a space--blending would be a must--there would be 30-, 60-, and 90-day reviews on new-hires as well as annual reviews on everyone else.
Hope you learned something about me you didn't know.
Tuesday, May 8, 2007
I just read the last comment to my last blog, and all I can say is ....WOW. I checked out her blog: all about how the service industry sucks. Like, if she weren't in a party of nine, she couldn't be irked because her order wasn't being taken and all this time was being wasted on two little people...Some people have never had to work in the service industry. I'd love to see them try it one day. Just one day. Oh, what a fantasy. That everyone would have to work in the restaurant industry or retail customer service for just one day. Or, be an administrative assistant.
Every year, I watch what used to be Secretary's Day pass by (now it's Administrative Professionals Day) without a card, without a flower, without a cake or anything for the receptionists at work. It adds greatly to the feeling of being underappreciated for what we do at work. For the past few years, I've watched cakes being brought in for "Veterinary Technicians Day". Never have the receptionists been shown such appreciation. If one of us doesn't do something right though, boy--then we all get the kick in the ass.
I know, deep down, the work we do is appreciated, but it would just be nice to be shown that once in while. All we ever hear in meetings is "the receptionists don't do this" or "the receptionists aren't doing that". I would love to just one day have all the receptionists not show up to work so everyone would finally realize how much we do do.
I guess lately, I've been feeling like I'm just wasting time in, not one, but two thankless jobs. I do the best I can at both of them and it just never seems to be enough. I'm --30-something--and I'm still living from one paycheck to another. Working 1-2 other jobs just to have something to have some fun with once in a while--and eat food that's good for me, not just filling. What the hell is wrong with me?
Other friends of mine either have well-paying jobs, houses, or are finishing college. How do they do that and I don't?
I heard something this week that has really set me off. Roger Clemens, a guy that can throw a ball well, is going to be paid 4.5 million a month to pitch for the Yankees. 4.5 MILLION a MONTH. To throw a baseball. That's like, $30,000 a day. What human being actually needs to make this kind of money? And is he going to do anything good with it? Will he be altruistic? Will he save any children in Darfur? Will he save any children here, for crying out loud? He's pitching baseballs! He's not curing cancer or AIDS for God's sake! And it's just for 5 months for sure. That's more than a lot of his fans (or non-fans, like me) make in a whole year of actually WORKING THEIR ASSES OFF! Again, like me. Shit...this country is fucked up with it's values. And they say Gay Marriage is going to ruin things.
Our Police Officers, Fire Fighters, Soldiers, Teachers...people who actually DO SOMETHING get paid Crap, and a guy that can throw a baseball gets paid $30,000 a day. Mull that over for a while.
Then...wonder why you're not getting the best possible service at Chiles.
Every year, I watch what used to be Secretary's Day pass by (now it's Administrative Professionals Day) without a card, without a flower, without a cake or anything for the receptionists at work. It adds greatly to the feeling of being underappreciated for what we do at work. For the past few years, I've watched cakes being brought in for "Veterinary Technicians Day". Never have the receptionists been shown such appreciation. If one of us doesn't do something right though, boy--then we all get the kick in the ass.
I know, deep down, the work we do is appreciated, but it would just be nice to be shown that once in while. All we ever hear in meetings is "the receptionists don't do this" or "the receptionists aren't doing that". I would love to just one day have all the receptionists not show up to work so everyone would finally realize how much we do do.
I guess lately, I've been feeling like I'm just wasting time in, not one, but two thankless jobs. I do the best I can at both of them and it just never seems to be enough. I'm --30-something--and I'm still living from one paycheck to another. Working 1-2 other jobs just to have something to have some fun with once in a while--and eat food that's good for me, not just filling. What the hell is wrong with me?
Other friends of mine either have well-paying jobs, houses, or are finishing college. How do they do that and I don't?
I heard something this week that has really set me off. Roger Clemens, a guy that can throw a ball well, is going to be paid 4.5 million a month to pitch for the Yankees. 4.5 MILLION a MONTH. To throw a baseball. That's like, $30,000 a day. What human being actually needs to make this kind of money? And is he going to do anything good with it? Will he be altruistic? Will he save any children in Darfur? Will he save any children here, for crying out loud? He's pitching baseballs! He's not curing cancer or AIDS for God's sake! And it's just for 5 months for sure. That's more than a lot of his fans (or non-fans, like me) make in a whole year of actually WORKING THEIR ASSES OFF! Again, like me. Shit...this country is fucked up with it's values. And they say Gay Marriage is going to ruin things.
Our Police Officers, Fire Fighters, Soldiers, Teachers...people who actually DO SOMETHING get paid Crap, and a guy that can throw a baseball gets paid $30,000 a day. Mull that over for a while.
Then...wonder why you're not getting the best possible service at Chiles.
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