No Raises

So this is one thing about work that I can post, because it relates to the economy more than anything. This past week eBay announced earnings. We were under of course, so no one got a bonus. In all of my 6 years at eBay, that's only happened once before. Now it will probably be the standard. Every time earnings are announced, we always get a company wide email that discusses the direction and such. I failed to notice during my first reading that there was one sentence in the email that told us yearly merit increases would not happen in 2009. This has never happened before. My co-worker and I were talking about it today and of course we complained a little, but then we started trying to look on the positive side. At least we HAVE jobs right now. I read an article today that said Microsoft would be laying off 5,000 people soon. We all know about all of the other companies in trouble as well. So to actually have a job is great news. We also have extremely generous benefits which I'm grateful for as well. So, it's not all bad. It could be a lot worse. But it still sucks :P

Disappointing

So this is rather lame, but I just gotta say that I am REALLY disappointed with Costco's take home pizza. Sure, their in house pizza is GREAT, but that's probably because they have a professional pizza oven. We bought a take home cheese pizza and cooked it for dinner. Ummm....yucko! It was way rubbery and the crust was not good. I took one bite and told Ramin that I couldn't eat anymore. So I made myself some Ramen noodles :-( So, just wanted to tell everyone it's not 1/10th as good as their other kind of pizza so don't be fooled. So disappointing!

Projects

During my time off from school I obviously had more time to do fun things. Lisa and I found these really cute kits at Michaels and I totally fell in love with them! Of course there is the set pattern to follow to make these things but obviously you can deviate from that if you want - which I did a bit. Now I have a cute lil Valentine's village. It's all made out of that craft foam stuff. It's WAY fun to do. They also have kits for all other holidays too so I can't wait to make those!!

The whole village

The main castle :P It's just a house but I call it a castle.

The little cottage.

And the tree and mailbox!

Here's a pic of Lady just for fun. We were watching the Jazz game last night and Lady just looked so cute in her dog bed - it really was the perfect opportunity to take a picture. Ramin did a good job....she got up right after he took the picture :P

School Starts Tuesday

Tuesday marks my first day of Spring Semester. I've already received a email from one professor saying how hard the class is going to be. He wrote his guidelines and expectations and demanded that if anyone doesn't feel comfortable with those that they might as well get out of the class now, before it starts. I don't really have any other option :P It's the only one that fits into my schedule at the right time AND fulfills a needed requirement. I'm not scared of it. His main demand is that we participate in class every day and be there every day. I think I can handle that. He says we'll be going really slowly while reading because apparently it's the hardest stuff Aristotle ever wrote. Another philosopher compared the readings to eating straw...sooo...whatever that means :P
I'm taking 3 classes but they will be far from easy. These will be my toughest philosophy courses I've ever had, however, I don't believe they will be courses that I cannot handle. Last semester I dealt with other courses I couldn't handle...the computer science and syntax ones. Philosophy is hard for me, but I can do it and that's why I made it my major in the first place, for the challenge.
So, starting next week, my life schedule is going to be jacked up again. Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday nights I'll be stuck at work late into the night and rise again the next day early for school. In a way it is good for me. I like to constantly have something to do. These past few weeks all I've had is work and I've found I get kinda bored sometimes. I even did some craft projects this weekend - I'll post pictures tomorrow. School is good for me because I thrive best on being busy. I have been that way since high school. So, I want to apologize now to my family and friends because I tend to neglect reaching out to people while I'm in school. Perhaps I won't be as stressed out this semester and I'll actually take more time out. Wish me luck during my last semester!!! Only 3.5 months until I graduate!!!

Lady is Dressed for Winter!

Lady got groomed this weekend. She needed it BADLY! I don't like shaving her during the winter cause she gets cold, but it needed to be done and we used a longer blade on her so her hair isn't too short. But, last night she started shivering like she does and her teeth clattered. So I pulled out her winter sweater. I always think she looks so cute in it!!

37/100

I stole this from Tessa :P

37/100

Rules: Anything you have done has to be in bold and/or underlined. How much have you done? It only takes about 5 minutes…

1. Started your own blog
2. Slept under the stars
3. Played in a band
4. Visited Hawaii
5. Watched a meteor shower
6. Given more than you can afford to charity
7. Been to Disneyland
8. Climbed a mountain
9. Held a Praying Mantis
10. Sang a solo
11. Bungee jumped
12. Visited Paris
13. Watched an amazing lightning storm
14. Taught yourself an art from scratch
15. Adopted a child
16. Had food poisoning
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty
18. Grown your own vegetables
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France
20. Slept on an overnight train
21. Had a pillow fight
22. Hitch hiked
23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill
24. Built a snow fort
25. Held a lamb
26. Gone skinny dipping
27. Run a Marathon
28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice
29. Seen a total eclipse
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset
31. Hit a home run
32. Been on a cruise
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person
34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors
35. Seen an Amish community
36. Taught yourself a new language
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person
39. Gone rock climbing
40. Seen Michelangelo’s David
41. Sung karaoke
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant
44. Visited Africa
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight
46. Been transported in an ambulance
47. Had your portrait painted
48. Gone deep sea fishing
49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris
51. Gone scuba diving
52. Kissed in the rain
53. Played in the mud
54. Gone to a drive-in theater
55. Been in a movie
56. Visited the Great Wall of China
57. Started a business (in process)
58. Taken a martial arts class
59. Visited Russia
60. Served at a soup kitchen
61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies
62. Gone whale watching
63. Got flowers for no reason
64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma
65. Gone sky diving
66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp
67. Bounced a check
68. Flown in a helicopter
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial
71. Eaten Caviar
72. Pieced a quilt
73. Stood in Times Square
74. Toured the Everglades
75. Been fired from a job
76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London
77. Broken a bone
78. Been on a speeding motorcycle
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person
80. Published a book
81. Visited the Vatican
82. Bought a brand new car
83. Walked in Jerusalem
84. Had your picture in the newspaper
85. Read the entire Bible
86. Visited the White House
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating - this will never happen
88. Had chickenpox
89. Saved someone’s life
90. Sat on a jury
91. Met someone famous
92. Joined a book club
93. Lost a loved one
94. Had a baby
95. Seen the Alamo in person
96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake
97. Been involved in a law suit
98. Owned a cell phone
99. Been stung by a bee
100. Visited Italy

Looks like I still have a lot left to do :P

Angels and Demons

I read both The Da Vinci Code and Angels & Demons and I prefer Angels & Demons BY FAR. It was actually the first book as well, chronologically speaking. So it's weird this movie comes out second. But anyway, I'm REALLY hoping this movie will be a better protrayal of the book than The Da Vinci Code was - we'll see in May!

By the way, the part in the trailer where the Illuminati anagram starts spinning gives me chills every time I see it - the music is awesome with it!

GRE Tomorrow

Tomorrow is the day. I take the GRE test. If you don't know what that is, it's the graduate school entrance exam. Most universities/colleges require you to take it as part of the application process. If you score high enough then it looks good on your application. So I take mine tomorrow at noon up at the U. I'm not nervous...I don't get nervous for tests. I just do it calmly, take my time, and it usually turns out for the best :) I will, however, put a little studying in because there are certain ways to take this test that are different from other tests. So I won't go in totally blind :) Wish me luck!

My Idea

Sooo, a few weeks ago I was browsing eBay - something I do quite often of course - and I decided to look up invitations, specifically for weddings. I got the idea in my head because I was sort of planning along for the future (ahem ahem) and wanted to see the options out there. While I was browsing, I came across a beautiful green and white invitation. I looked at the pictures on the auction and noticed the first name on the invite was "Fadia" - I thought to myself, "Hey! I knew a Fadia back in high school in Florida". So I continue reading more at the invitation and it showed her complete name! I was kinda in shock because I knew who it was that had the invitation. All of the info on it was from Florida too! So then I looked at the seller's info and it turns out she was my other friend from high school as well - her name is Annette.

Anyway - I emailed them both and am friends with them on Facebook. The point of all this though, is that all of my invitation research led me to think about it as something I might want to try. And then when I found out that Annette does it as a business, I really got inspired!

So here are my thoughts:

- I'm not terribly creative, so I asked Jill if she'd like to work with me on this. She's been wanting to start her own business type thing for a while and I figured we could work good together. She is the creativity and I am the business side.

- I've been doing TONS of research, from printers, to paper suppliers, to special software I can use.

- Chris and Ramin can make me a website when the time is right.

- Jill and I can make some prototypes and create some ideas before we start going. I am going to purchase some special software I found that is specific to invitations. Once I learn that we can create some samples to use on our website.

I'm kinda excited and nervous at the same time about this venture. I find myself constantly thinking about it and it seems so fun to me - of course thats if it succeeds. I plan to only do this as a hobby for the first little while, especially while I'm still in school. But we'll see how good we are at it and how fun it is for us. If we like it we can gradually ramp things up. I am so grateful I have a contact in Annette because she was able to provide me with some insight into whether this is something plausible or not. I think the Utah market is a perfect place for this because it is the fastest growing state in the US at the moment, not to mention all of the weddings that happen here ;)

If anyone cares to share, let me know your thoughts!

Grades

Well I'm kinda in shock right now because all of my grades for Fall Semester have been posted. They are as follows:

Contemporary Ethics (5000 level course) - B+
Syntax - B
Ancient Greek Philosophy - B

And the dreaded CS Engineering Computing - B

That's right!!! I actually got B's in all of my classes and I'm so pleasantly surprised that I feel so great. Everyone knows that this was the hardest semester of my life and to actually come away with B's is such a great feeling. I was totally settled on getting C's in the Syntax and CS classes because I hated both of them tremendously!

This gives me renewed enthusiasm for next semester. It starts on Jan. 12th and I've only got 3 classes to take - we'll see how they end up!!