Dinner Conversation

A conversation at dinner last night:

Uncle: (to son) You better reuse that cup. Don't get a new one dirty. Barack Obama would not approve.

Cousin: Yeah, well Barack isn't Santa.

Uncle: Good point. You're always the level-headed one of the family. Keep your priorities straight.

DNC

Well, fellow Buckeyes, Time Warner must have heard our pleas for mercy... we now get the Big Ten Network for football season!  Yay!  Or maybe Time Warner was pissed about the mass email that Gene Smith sent to all the students telling them to switch to DirecTV.  Could be.  Did anyone else start laughing hysterically while reading that email?

I have decided that I need to start getting more involved in the Presidential race and start figuring out who I'm going to vote for.  So, this week, I have been watching the DNC coverage and doing a little research online.  Mostly the research is so I don't sound like an idiot when I actually get to the DNC.  Yeah, I know you're jealous.  I told Mom I wasn't coming home without some free t-shirts.  It's the American way.  From my research/tv watching I have come to these conclusions:

1.  Michelle Obama has to be one of the coolest moms ever

2.  I wish I would have gone to see Hillary when she came to OSU in February

3.  John McCain has some explaining to do.  The Republicans define the middle class as anyone who makes under $5million/year?  (from cnn.com)  Seriously?!  That is a LOT of money.

4.  I was confusing John McCain and John Glenn until about... yesterday.  John McCain has never been to space.

As most of you know, I will be visiting the land of the Kashis (Denver) for the next week or so.  I don't know when I'll be able to post, so don't expect it everyday, but you can expect some very good/crazy family stories when I get back.

Yet Another Sports Season

I apologize for my absence at the end of last week... I was in the process of moving back home (yay!).  It was sort of a bittersweet move.  I ended up being more sad than anticipated about leaving the Big Company - actually, no sadness was anticipated, so that was a bit of a shocker.  It was very sad to leave Girlfriend and her Family.  They were very nice to me and they have delicious tomatoes.  I even managed to befriend the cats (eventually...)  The Dog could tell immediately, of course, and was not pleased, but she got over it.

Mom and Dad are excited that I'm back home.  Dad already put me to work on the deck... I don't think he can bring himself to work on it when I'm not here.  It's too painful.  I think Brother is excited that I'm back too, but I actually didn't get to talk to him until Sunday.  He's a busy man.  Mostly with soccer.  Our family dynamic revolves around Brother's sports seasons.  I'm actually afraid of what might happen if he ever quit playing soccer and volleyball.  We wouldn't have anything to talk about at dinner, that's for sure.

Don't get me wrong... I love watching Brother and his teams play, but God forbid anything else coincide with a game.  I'm lucky this year... school doesn't start until soccer season is about 80% over, which is pretty nice.  Not so much back-and-forth from school.  Yeah, I know it's a huge hike.  My parents' house is about 10 minutes away from my dorm.

Good news!  OSU Football season opener on Saturday!  Man, I love football season.  Friday:  HS games, Saturday:  OSU, Sunday(or Monday):  Cowboys.  Yeah, you don't have to say anything.  I have realized that me, my Family, and Jessica Simpson are about the only people that actually like the Cowboys.  But you try living with my Dad and not loving the Cowboys, then we'll talk.

p.s.  WHAT IS TIME WARNER'S PROBLEM?  What is so hard about picking up the Big Ten Network?!  Unfortunately, not all of us have the luxury of being able to drive hours to watch our boys play.  Help us out, man!

Criminal Minds

So if you don't know this already, I watch a LOT of tv.  One of my shows is Criminal Minds, which is a really freaky show.  If you haven't seen it before, it is about the FBI Behavioral Analysis Unit (is that even real?), which basically means that they profile, hunt down, and conquer serial offenders.

Not only does the show scare the bejeezus out of me, I insist on recording it and watching it at around one in the morning when it's super dark and everyone else is asleep.  I pretty much don't sleep on those nights.  I don't think I really have a favorite episode, because every time I watch is I get really scared and tell myself that I really don't need to watch the next one.  But the next one is a week away and I have (usually) recovered by then.

Can I tell you how much I LOVE DVR?!  It has to be one of the best inventions ever (up there with the bicycle and Optimus Prime).  When I'm at home, I can easily record 8 hours of television on a good day and probably watch it all.  The only flaw is that you can only record two shows at once.  I keep trying to convince Mom and Dad that we need another box for the basement (The Lair), but they're not buying.  They're not as into tv as I am.  Plus, our basement is already stuffed with technology... Brother has all his video game systems and a bunch of stereos and a DVD player, and of course the VCR (So I can watch Beauty and the Beast at will.  Basically that's the only reason that thing is still around)  He had to get his own wireless router for the basement.  I don't even know why.  Probably so that Creepy Neighbor has even more opportunities to swipe our wireless.

I Live in a City of Billboards

On the way home today, I saw a billboard advertising that the MegaMillions Jackpot is up to 81 million dollars.  I then proceeded to spend the rest of the ride (40 minutes, ugh) thinking about what I would do with 81 million dollars.  My conclusion:  nothing.  I would not do anything different than what I'm doing right now.  Apparently, I'm living the dream life.  Kind of a comforting thought, but maybe I'm just not creative enough to think of anything cooler to do?  Or maybe I'm too cheap to spend more than $20 on shoes.  (I LOVE TARGET).

I'm not feeling particularly interesting today, so I leave you with this:

This is where I'll be in a week.  Yeah, I know you're jealous.

Happy Birthday Mom and Roommate!  <333

Notes on a Monday

It took me AN HOUR to get to work this morning.  I severely loathe trains.  And don't get me started on Vine Street.

Let's talk about these cars:

You know what I'm talking about.  Rocket vans.  I just lose it every time I see this car.  Thank you Oldsmobile, for years of laughter.  Brother 

gets a kick out of them, too.  I'm actually kind of afraid that he's going to buy one, just for the irony.

If you ever get the chance to tour an interactive cave environment (virtual world) with a blazed tour guide, TAKE IT.  That was definitely the best 3 1/2 hours ever spent at work.  Yes, it took him 3 1/2 hours to get through a 45 minute presentation.  Glorious.  Even better than the time I spilled a beer on some lady at the Restaurant.  (It was on purpose and I didn't get fired.  YES.)

The Manager inadvertently let it slip that he had a sample model that would have saved me hours of work a couple weeks ago.  SWEET, man.  Thanks a billion.  Luckily he was too far away to kick.  And Fellow OSU Intern's manager was there.  She scares the crap out of me.

It is officially the last week of the Internship.  FINALLY.  Roommate is back in Columbus already, which makes it doubly hard to be here... Miss you Roomie, see you Friday!

I had an interesting experience at church yesterday.  It was the first time I had been to church since the shootings at one of our churches in Knoxville, TN in July.  Needless to say, I was nervous... which only increased when I got there and had to be escorted to the sanctuary by a Cincinnati policeman.  Seriously?!  Who hates someone enough to go after them at church?  It's not like we worship Satan.  Those guys are weird.  It was a good service, though... it was my first exposure to a gospel choir.  AMAZING.

Girlfriend and I went to see Wall-E last night.  We meant to see it while we were working on the Robot Project, but it didn't really work out.  Those of you that have seen movies with me will not be at all surprised when I inform you that I laughed through the ENTIRE movie.  I highly recommend it.  Oh and p.s., I love me some Peter Gabriel.  Good choice, Pixar.

The Office

One of my favorite tv shows is The Office.  It's just too ridiculous to be true, right?  That's what I thought...

I didn't realize that Scranton was actually a real place until I flew into their airport, and of course I proceeded to make a complete arse of myself by having a mini freak-out session right there on the tarmac.  In the succeeding trips, I have learned these things:

• In Scranton, PA there is a Mifflin Street
• On Mifflin Street there is a paper company, not called Dunder Mifflin, but they do about the same stuff that the company on the show does
• The sign that they show in the opening credits was real, but has been recently replaced (bummer)
• They film parts of the show in Scranton, particularly the mall sequences (Steamtown Mall)
• There is an Office Convention every year, which all the cast members are invited to, and all show up except Steve Carrell, John Krasinski, Jenna Fischer and Rainn Wilson (the good ones).  The guy that plays Kevin is a favorite among the locals

So, I always found the show funny, but too ridiculous to be true... until I started the Internship with the Big Company.  The show was really funny before, now, it is HILARIOUS.  As soon as you can relate one of the characters to someone you know from work, that is the end of it.  Every time you see that person, you start cracking up (at least I do... I think other people can hold it in better).  It's sort of like being famous around the Big Company.  I actually had my first Kevin pointed out to me by one of my Project Leaders (Turns out, he's sort of an Andy).  After that, I started looking, and I found a couple Dwight's, several more Kevin's (I work with engineers), an Angela, and some Ryan's (new guy version, not coke head version).  I have yet to find my Michael, but I've still got a week left.  He's coming.  And the best part?  Jim sits right next to me.  I must have excellent karma this summer.

Georgia Peaches

First blog entry!  Welcome!  Some introductions... my name is Ellen, I am a student at Ohio State (THE Ohio State University, as I am constantly reminded by everyone that has no ties to the school).  Yes, for all of you doubters, we really do live and breathe football.  I'm an engineering student, but that is perhaps soon to change.  I have an awesome job at school where I basically get paid to play Solitaire, but it is currently summer and I am still at the Internship.

The Internship is going swimmingly.  I get to do a lot of traveling.  I just returned from Georgia last night.  I had never been there before - I was sort of expecting to walk through a grove of peach trees to get wherever I wanted to go.  ALAS, they only build manufacturing plants in podunk towns with no peaches.

The airport was fun.  It was the smallest one I have ever been to... they have one gate, and Delta is the only airline that flies there (woo).  There are three flights in and three flights out (only to and from Atlanta) every day, at exactly the same time every day, and I hear that it is not at all strange for at least one of them to be cancelled.  AWESOME.  So, one gate, one airline, FOUR rental car companies.  Are you joking me?  I just could not deal with that many choices.  I took a taxi.  (That's a different story)

The best part of my job is traveling on someone else's dime.  My corporate card is my key to taking over the world.  However, I have only been on one power trip so far.  I went nuts and ordered a GPS system for a rental car in a city that I had never been to before.  I had always heard that GPS systems were amazing, but I have to tell you... I was NOT impressed.  My first day driving out to our plant in Podunk, Pennsylvania, the GPS got me lost.  Not even like it could have been my fault and I'm just looking for someone else to blame.  No, it had me going the wrong way out of the town I was staying in.  Great.  I was just driving along, happy as a clam (Well, as happy as I could be at 6:15 in the morning) and I hear "DING!  Recalculating!...At your earliest convenience, make a U-turn!"  What?!  How is that even possible?