Monday, February 28, 2005

The neighbor cornered me.

I was coming home from Hebrew class and then my meeting with the Rabbi. I was hungry and tired and still needed to talk to my boss as to what time I was working tomorrow when a slightly annoying neighbor caught me and kept me talking outside my garage. Now I am not found of this guy because whenever we are doing things to improve the complex he always throws a fit about it. He tries to ruin it for everyone even when we are getting something great like new garage doors. I don't even know his name and I am pretty sure he doesn't know mine either. So am stuck on the verge of being home but just outside. I make polite small talk and for the second time in one day I am told I have a Jewish soul? I guess it is a good thing I am converting so that my soul will match the rest of me. I found it ok when the Rabbi said it but when a guy I don't even know said it out of the blue it seemed a bit eerie. What does that mean anyway? Is it a compliment or a slur I didn't get? Anyway I had decided I was quite done talking to this guy and I was trying to figure a way out. I was thinking of different scenarios that would get me inside but none seemed the right choice. Just as I was beginning to think was hopelessly trapped my phone began to ring. Oh I have to go that is probably my boss calling. I turned bolted inside grabbed the phone and closed the garage behind me. So thankyou Andrew for saving me from the bore I wasn't interested in talking to, I owe you one.

While I am still not loving Hebrew at least it makes some sense. Once you know the letters you can sound it out. The down side is a lot of the letters look the same and I worry that once my vision starts to go I will no longer see the small differences in the letters. Oh well by then I will have already been bat mitzot.

Sunday, February 27, 2005

The Weather Man Cometh

So it seems as though it has rained every weekend this year. I love the rain so this is not that big of a nuisance to me but after awhile I began to wonder if I was indeed still living in Southern California and not Northern. The weather man has said all week that it will again rain today, Sunday. Well the weather was wrong. You would think since there really isn't that much weather here he could get the little we do have right. This being said I am quite glad the weather man was wrong. Today is beautiful. One of those days you really only get in Southern California. So Brad and I being the nice day lovers we are decided to take a picnic lunch and find some place nice to eat it. We call these little adventures the Brad and Karin Day of Fun! Apparently a lot of other people thought sandwiches were a good idea too because when we got to the deli we were number 57 and they were on 14 so we waited because it goes very fast there. We got our sandwiches and started to leave as they were calling #61 Brad then looked at the ticket to see how far back it was and it was #60 so 100 people were waiting for sandwiches. Crazy huh? So we decided to go South and hit Dockweiler beach and sit on out picnic chairs and have lunch overlooking the ocean. It was beautiful and a good temp. It is also cool because the beach is right near LAX so the whole time you get to watch the planes taking off. It is days like these that make me happy to just be alive and witness the awesomeness of nature. Oh and we bought Pepsi to drink with lunch and both bottles were winners for an itune song. This may or may not been a fluke I will not say.

Last night Brad and I went to a cocktail party at a couple that we met at the synague. We had only met them the week before so they were basically strangers to us and we would know no one else at the party. We went anyway and have now made new friends that are also members of our temple. It is a little odd because I don't know who else would do something like that. The other thing that is odd is that somehow we attract people to us that are as open and laid back as we are. This wouldn't seem as big of deal if we were doing the approaching or inviting but most of the time others approach us. It is kind of cool that we are getting more young couples as friends that we seem to have a lot in common with. It is nice how the network seems to work itself out. I had worried some time back that the older you got the harder it was to make friends. This compounded with old friends moving away or losing touch led me to believe that eventually it would just be me and Brad and whatever little family we eventually make. I guess though that will not be the case for us. New people are coming into our lives and filling the holes left by old departed friends. So as long as we are open to making new friends people will come to be friends. I also think that perhaps this is happening more now than before is due to me. Brad has always been outgoing and willing to make new friends, but I have been intimidated by new people. I guess I never quite felt comfortable with who I was and didn't feel good enough for other people. Something has changed in me though now in that I am not only comfortable with who I am, I am proud of me. I like that I am a pastry chef. I like that I am engaged to the man I always dreamed of. I am happy with where I live and am comfortable with having people see it. Yes there are things I want to change in my life and in our home but I am to the point where I realize that nothing is perfect and it is ok. So now I am willing to be outgoing and start conversations with others or at least hold up my end of it.

Friday, February 25, 2005

The Little Things

I love Costco. I think that the best stuff is there and it makes me happy just being there. I think if I could I would register there. Today I was shown once again just how great they truly are. I always buy my meat from there and when I come home I spend a great deal of time taking the meat out of it's bulk package and vacuum sealing them into small packages. Well someone at Foster Farms figured out the most people are doing the same thing so now a package of chicken breasts comes individually wrapped. Let me say this small thing was a delight to me. I hate spending the time vacuum sealing all the breasts. I even stood there at the chicken counter going "Oh wow this is awesome!!!" People looked at me a little strange. Well screw them it is the little things that make days great. I than found myself so happy about it that I almost bought 2 large packages, but my better senses took over with phrases like frost bite. So instead I bought one and now offer up this, my salute to the fine people at Fosters Farm, keep up the good work, I appreciate your forethought. Now if they can just convince the red meat packer to due the same.

The second thing about Costco is you never know what you will find. I found that I am the weirdest woman in the world. Most people pick the colors for their wedding by knowing their favorite colors, or maybe by picking brides maid dresses. Not me I found pretty ribbon for 6 dollars for 50 feet and said to myself well there you go those are your colors. I then bought 4 rolls of the ribbon so that I can use it for the favors down the road. Now the math on that says even if we have 200 people at the wedding each person can have a yard of ribbon. So I think I got enough. It is hard to know what to buy and how much. I also feel a little crazy buying stuff for a day that is still so far away, but I figure if I buy a little at a time when I see something it may save on stress later down the road. So now due to my Costco purchase I can say my wedding colors will be light blue, light green, and periwinkle. Those of you that know me can say that isn't all that shocking because 2 of those colors are the colors of my kitchen.

On just the random side of things: I love Spring!!!!! I think it is the perfect time of year. The rebirth of everything. The freshness of the air. The weather is perfect, or at least it is here. All the colors are beautiful. To me Spring is perfection. I wonder if in part my feelings on this are because I am a Spring baby? I guess this is also why I so badly wanted my wedding to be in May, because it seems appropriate to start a new life in Spring. I suppose some of you may disagree with me about Spring and find another season better if this is the case than I open up my comment section for you to place your argument for your preferred season. I doubt your argument will change my mind but I would still love to hear it.

Thursday, February 24, 2005

Blog worthy

I guess you could say that since I began doing this little long I spend my day relating the events of the day in my head as to whether or not they are blog worthy. I then try to phrase in my head how it will sound in the blog. Today was one of those days were I did nothing that was interesting enough for any one to care to read. I then spent a great deal of time trying to think of something to do that would be blog worthy. Nothing came to mind. Ultimately I began to wonder if the mere act of blogging will make me more adventurous? I mean I have people reading my exploits I wouldn't want to disappoint them. I guess the weirdest thing about this is that the Sears post got a commit from a stranger. Someone I don't even know spent the time reading what I wrote and was moved to comment on it. So I suppose I should go out and find something blog worthy to do tonight. But more than likely I will sit home watch Apprentice and eat tacos. Not very exciting for you my readers but pretty satisfying to me.

Tuesday, February 22, 2005

New Toy

Ok so maybe I was a little jealous of Brad's new phone, but I decided with the wedding coming up and all the planning to be done it was time to start using a palm device again. Now I suppose I could have dug up my old Handspring but it was old bulky, black and white, and didn't have rechargable batteries. So it just seemed like I should get a new Palm. So I am now the proud owner of a Blue Palm Zire 72. Now here is the difference between me as a woman and Brad as a man. When I reached the counter to be assisted with my purchase my first statement was, "I like the Blue One" Brad was disgusted how could I possibly say the Blue one and not ask about the different features of each one first. The simple fact he didn't see was that I had already looked at the features of the blue one and liked it but I was still going to ask about the other models to see which one was best to suit my needs. As luck would have it the Blue one was indeed the one for me. Brad still thinks that is not how you should approach shopping and it is why so many women are taken advantage of when they shop for cars or such. I however believe in getting the stupidity out of the way first so you catch them off guard with the harder questions. Again though this is the difference in our shopping methods.

Other big news is that it looks as if Brad and I finally have a firm date for the wedding. We talked to the Rabbi Friday and again on Sunday and as long as no Bar or Bat mitvots are scheduled for that weekend already we are fine. So without further delay I submit May 21st, 2006 as the day I will become a wife. The other thing that came from meeting with the Rabbi this weekend was that both Brad and I realized what an incredible man Rabbi Maller is and that we are fortunate to have him as our Rabbi. He will be retiring next summer so we will be one of his last weddings and it is so good to know we made it on time. I can't imagine how we will find some one to fill the shoes he is leaving but I have faith that we will find someone with a lot of potential.

This got to be a very busy weekend and I was glad to have 3 days off with Brad. It seems like it has been such a long time since we got to spend that much time together. We also got a lot done this weekend as well as doing our own good deed. Those of you who know us may have heard Brad and I discussing doing drive by Tire changes. We would get a group of friends in pit shirts and have racing jacks, cordless drill, and lug wrench. We would drive up and done the freeway and look for people with flat tires, when we found them we would quickly pull over and jump out of the cars and do a pit crew change of the tire jump back into our cars and drive away leaving the person who had the flat scratching their head wondering what had just happened. It would be hysterical. Well yesterday it almost happened. We were standing outside a friends apartment when we heard a car go by with the all to familiar sound of a flat tire. The man went around the corner and we could no longer see him. A few minutes later a man walk up towards us and was clearly going to talk to us so I said "Are you the guy with the Flat tire?" Everyone was a little bewildered that I guessed that correctly. He asked if he could use our cell phones to call the German AAA. Brad of course jumped at the chance to help someone. He dialed the number and stayed on the line for quite some time while they tried to figure out what to do. AAA was going to charge the man to come out and maybe the German club would reimburse him. We told him to screw it and call the rental car company instead. Brad then walked with the guy across the street and called the rental car company, they too would charge the man to come out and the woman said if it is just a flat why don't you change it yourself? Ok so we all are a little stupid. Of course our friends are racers too and they have their race jack right there and between the 4 of us the tire could be changed much quicker than with AAA. So I drove over Brad's car with the jack and the 3 of us. Brad and our friend jacked up the car in about 30 seconds and in less the 3 minutes the tires were completely change. So now I wonder if this German thinks that all Californians are this nice as well as that good at changing tires. So soon we will stake out a pot whole and have full mechanic service on the other side. I may even serve cookies and milk.

Saturday, February 19, 2005

I Hate Sears!!!!!

I am normally a pretty patient woman and it really does take a lot for me to lose my temper but today my cool has been blow! The right side of my range is broken and will not self light any more. I called Sears on January 2nd to schedule an appointment to get the range fixed since it is still under warranty until April. When I called it was a week and a half before I could get an appointment. They gave me a four hour window of when they would be here so of course I had to leave work early. Since they were supposed to be here between 1 and 5 they arrived at 4:55. The technician then looked at it and said "Yep it's broken I need to order parts, call when they get here to schedule an appointment." With that he left and my range remained broken. Close to a week later a package arrived and 1 of the parts was there, I called Sears and they said the other parts had been shipped on the 16th and they should arrive in a couple of days. A week later I still had not seen the parts so I called again. They then told me that the parts should have been here by now but they would have to research how the parts were shipped out and give me a call back to see what we could do from there. Needless to say I never got a call back. So on Febuary 8th I called again and was disconnected by there phone system 3 times. I finally got the corporate number and called them. I got through to a customer service rep and she asked me to hold while she called the local office to see how they shipped out the parts. 45 minutes later I was still on hold, she came back on the line and said she was on hold with their office and she asked if she could call me back as soon as they picked up but that she would remain on hold with them. She never called back. I then called again at 5pm and got a rep who then put me on hold to call the other office. 20 minutes later she came back and said that they had shipped the parts out on fed ex and I would need to call them to find out where the parts were. I told her to call them while I was on the line. Fed Ex said they received the package on January 14th but hadn't been able to deliver it because Sears didn't put our unit number on the package. Nobody from Sears ever called them to give them the number nor did they call when I repeatedly called asking about the parts. So now the parts were on there way back to Sears. So the rep at Sears national had the parts sent out to me again. They finally arrived last Thursday. I then called to get a service person out and the earliest they could come was Thursday of this week. As I was no longer willing to take time off from work to wait for them I scheduled the appointment for today between 8 and 12. At 12:15 I still didn't have a technician nor had anyone called to say they were running late so I called Sears, again. The rep said the tech had just left Inglewood and I was his next appointment but he would have someone call me to tell me when they would be here. At 1:15 I still hadn't gotten a call from Sears so I called again. This rep also told me I was next on the list and that they would have the tech call me with a time. I lost my temper at this point and told her I had already been told that and yet no one had called and there really wasn't anything that could compensate the experience at this point. She then said she would note in the system and have someone call me. Great I hung up frustrated. At 1:30 the tech finally called and told me it was raining and he was running late and had to have his assistant come to help him so it would be a couple more hours. At this point whatever thread of sanity I was clinging to snapped. I yelled at the man that no in fact it was not ok that I had already waited 51/2 hours today for him and I have better things to do than wait around all day for him. I have an appointment at 5 and so he had to be here and have my range fixed by 4:30. He said ok he would try to be here by 4:30. I told him no he had to be here by 3:45 because I had to leave by 4:30. He said well I will try. His tone was very unconvincing. I screamed no you will be here. He again told me he would try. At this point I threw the phone across the room. I am sure at some point in it's flight or landing it disconnected. At the very least the battery flew out of the phone so the call must have been lost then. I kinda wonder what it sounded like? I then once again called the national office. The lady filed a formal complaint and she would call the tech and make sure he was here by 3:45. Well something worked because at 2:30 the techs got here. Apparently the one guy drove 45 miles to get to my house even though his next appointment was 5 miles from where he was. I am not sure if he expected me to feel bad about that but let me assure you I didn't. Since the only thing Sears has done through this whole thing is say they are sorry and they aren't sure how this whole thing got so wrong, I will never buy another appliance from Sears again. I hope Home Depot is ready for all of my future business.

Friday, February 18, 2005

Freaky Friday

We have a thing at work about Friday's, for some reason Friday all hell breaks lose and it can get rather interesting. It seems as though now we are so used to it happening that when the freak show begins we just shrug and say Freaky Friday. Last Friday I went in and was the first one there. It was 5am and pouring down rain. I unlocked the gate and then unlocked the security door and then unlocked the kitchen door. I went quickly through the door and straight to the alarm to type in my code. I typed it in and it didn't work I tried again and it still didn't work. Ok 1 more time and eeee eeeee eeeeee eeeeee eeeeee. Oh crap what do I do now? I know the alarm company will call but I was never given the secret word so why would they believe me? Ok Karin think what should you do? Well the police will come any minute do you what to be here when they come on a burglary call, Hell no. So get the hell out of there. I walk out the door and close and lock it behind me. I try to call my boss because it is the only number I have in my cell phone and he doesn't answer, so I leave a message. Than I realize I do not want to stand out in the rain waiting for something to happen so I decide that my car is nice and dry so I will sit in it until someone else comes. 30 minutes later my boss, Andrew calls me. He asks where I am and when I tell him I am in my car he asks why I didn't call the Owner. I told him I didn't have her number in my cell phone and he said why didn't I get it from the phone list posted in the office when the alarm started going off. Yeah right Andrew like I was thinking that clearly. He gave me his code and I got in. The police never came. What can I say Freaky Friday.

So today I kept waiting for the Freakiness to begin. In a way the waiting for it is worse than the actual problems it creates. Today however it never hit. I baked off the rest of the cookies and got them chillin in the walk in. I reorganized the freezer and left early. I can only wonder what happened after I left cause it just wouldn't be Friday without the freak show.

Thursday, February 17, 2005

Murphy's Law

So every day this week I have taken my rain coat in with me to work and every day I have had to carry it with me back to the car. Today for some reason I didn't take it with me, and of course 10 minutes before I was going to leave work it starts to pour. So yeah very funny God you couldn't have waited 10 minutes to start your little rain storm that is already three days late?

We have been listening to the radio a lot at work and the owner always seems to come in at the worst moments. She is a hard core Christian and more than a little bit of a stick in the mud. Today she walked in as the song on the radio was saying "Why won't you have dirty hot sex with me, it's not like I am asking you to do it for free." The owner than did a quick head snap to the radio, turned a little red, said "You guys" and turned and walked out. Wait a second if that is all we had to do to make her stay out of our kitchen can we talk KROQ into playing nothing but inappropriate songs?

Random revelation of the Day: Brad and I both work for companies called D.D. and my D.D. will be making the food for his D.D. making it so that our two D.D.'s intertwine thus creating D.D.D.D. Weird huh?

Wednesday, February 16, 2005

Hump Day

I am feeling a bit of the Wednesday Blues today. A sense that things are kind of blah and there are still 2 more days of work until the weekend. I also found out tonight that while we did get all the stupid cupcakes out now we have a party for next Tuesday that wants 400 jumbo cookies all individually wrapped. So basically that means I will be scooping cookies like a mad women tomorrow. Anyway back to the original point, the movie Office Space talks about people having a case of the Mondays, I really don't think Mondays bug me that much. Monday hold so much hope for the week, like maybe this week the owner won't be a moron, but by Wednesday you realize that yes once again the owner is a moron and there isn't a lot of hope for the rest of the week. The other thing is that even when my fiance is working normal hours our schedules are so different that by Wednesday I am lonely. I guess I really should go make new friends but where can you find someone who can play on a school night?

I guess I should say in all of this that I am really excited for the weekend. Rabbi Maller comes back Friday night and we can ask him if our date is ok and if he will marry us. I never knew a month could be so long, but when you are waiting on answers and only one person can answer them and they are gone for a month it is an incredibly long time. Also Brad is taking Saturday off so we will get a whole weekend together. Sears is coming out Saturday morning and fixing my range, finally I have only been trying to get this fixed since January 2nd!!!! I now hate Sears and will never buy from them again. Maybe this is what happens when Kmart buys you. On Sunday I get to go be a secret shopper and I am very excited about this. It is my first assignment and I am jazzed to get to dine for free and let others benefit from my knowledge of all things restaurant related. So I guess with such a good weekend coming I should be happy that the week is now more than half over and I am now much closer to the weekend.

Tuesday, February 15, 2005

The house on a firm foundation

I just went up to take pictures of the houses in Culver City that are sliding down the hill and have since been condemned. When I look at it I am reminded of the parable about building your house on a firm foundation, like rock. Only fools built on sinking sand, so with all the news of homes sliding it brings to question, are Southern Californians all a bunch of idiots? Driving any where here makes you have to answer yes. Only an idiot would pay 3 times the rent or mortgage of anywhere else in the country to live in smog, over crowding, bad driving, more expensive goods, and earthquakes. So than what would make us not be idiots? Well let us just say that this is a very cold week and our weekly low is 53. Philadelphia's is in the 20's and this is a warmer week for them. Or would you like to see any of the movies that are up for an Oscar? You tell me the Movie and I will tell you a theatre it is playing at. I guess when you consider all the ups and downs of living in an area you can decide if it is right for you. For now I choose to live here and if my house sinks into the ocean you can all tell me I was an idiot and should have moved. In the meantime I will be out riding my bike in shorts in Febuary, because I can and frost bite is never a fear.

Monday, February 14, 2005

St. Valentines Day Masacre

So I realized today that this is the day of love and now that I am in a committed relationship it is no longer a meaningful holiday. The funny thing is that all the years I was single I hated and resented this holiday because I wasn't in a relationship and now that I am secure in my relationship I resent the holiday for being so contrived. So really there were only a couple of Valentines Days in my whole life that I cared about it being Valentines Day. Look guys always want to be getting points for the romantic things they do, but does it really count if every where you look you are being told you have to be romantic on this day. To me romance is more in the every day than on Brad bringing home flowers on Feb. 14th. When I was in school and having a tough time I would come home and Brad would have a hot buble bath for me. Sometimes he had gone out and gotten dinner and waited until 11:30pm for me toget home so we could eat together and he would have the table set nice. He would clean the littler box even though it was my turn. This means more than any forced gift ever could. However I am one of the few women that feel this way so I will try not to betray my kind too much.

Today I had to make 850 cupcakes with little red hearts on them. By the time I was done I had so much red frosting smeared on me that I looked like a masacre victim, and my hand was so sore it felt like I was one. So I hope that those of you that care about this stupid day had a great one, and if you are eating a cupcake with a big red heart on it I hope you choke on it! J/K

Sunday, February 13, 2005

I have never blogged before

I am just trying to see if this works because I am a blogging virgin. I guess we all have to start somewhere. The only thing I need to remembver is that others will be reading this so it is not like a diary. So I will have to do my best to only smack talk about people I know aren't reading this. Or people I want to read this and get the hint. Anyway I am just rambling now. Oh cool there is spell check!!!

Spinning

Today Brad and I went out for a drive with the MINI crowd. As we were coming around a corner the car got a little tail happy and we did a 180 degree turn and than started reversing down the street. You would think this was the remarkable part of the story however to me the remarkable part is that I didn't flich at all. I wasn't really even that shaken by it. I than began to think about this and realize it really is a statement of my life. Sometimes what seems to be facing the wrong direction is a lot less scary than facing the right one. And sometimes when you are facing a wrong direction all that is required is a turn to get you going the right way again. I finally feel that I am going the right direction and while I gaze at the horizon I see a lot of things coming that are big and scary however I know that this is the right direction and I do not wish to turn around and go back the other way even though I know the road there.