A shot of the Casa Rio Restaurant.

The Riverwalk appears especially festive at night.

A quieter section of the Riverwalk, near the La Villita section.

Labels: pictures, travel

San Antonio is wonderful.

Do you like to eat? Drink? Watch people?

Do you like to do all of these things while relaxing on the lushly-landscaped banks of a narrow canal filled with dark jade-green hued water?

If so, you must come here. Plus, the locals are warm and friendly. The Riverwalk is charming and gorgeous, like an American Venice, only without the stank.

I have been so relaxed and happy for the past few days. This is the first time in a while I've felt like I was truly on vacation and not rushing around like a nut, although we did do quite a bit of sightseeing.

Sigh. I fly home tomorrow afternoon and I'm soooooo sad to be leaving.

Plenty of pictures to follow, once I'm settled at home again.

Labels: opinions, travel

San Antonio rocks. And I never want to come home.

Labels: opinions, travel

Do not watch celebrity-studded telethons with heartwrenching vignettes featuring pediatric cancer patients while intoxicated.

Sob.

Labels: celebrities, TV

No, not the peanut butter!

I am not at all a religious person, but I do feel strongly about the Golden Rule--treating others kindly, even when they are not so nice to me.

Besides that, I’m pretty laid-back and I don’t usually let other people’s attitudes bother me too much. Life’s just too short for drama.

But.

About seven weeks ago, my company hired a middle-aged guy who I will henceforth refer to as Skippy. I actually do refer to him as Skippy when talking about him with my other coworkers.

Skippy is educated—he’s got a business degree and a law degree—and appears to be likeable enough. He was hired to do some forensic accounting here, and other odd jobs. One other thing: turns out that he’s the nephew of one of our clients. ‘Nuff said, right?

At work, I attempt to be amiable and charming and helpful, especially with recently-hired coworkers, since it’s never fun being the new guy. But after only four or so days of working closely with Skippy, it became evident that my congeniality would be tested mightily.

He’s fucking annoying. Seriously, people. He’s not dumb, and he’s not mean. He just annoys the ever-loving shit out of me.

First of all, as we all do here, he has his own private office, waaaaaay on the other side of our suite from my office. Unless he needs to specifically see someone on my end of the office, there’s no real reason for him to even be over here. Yet, from Week One of his tenure here, he began making rounds of the suite.

That, in and of itself, wouldn’t be so bad. Yes, I understand that occasionally you do need to give your eyes a break from your computer monitor and to stretch your legs.

What pisses me off is that he actually stops in the doorway of my office and cranes his neck, as if trying to determine what exactly I’m up to. That’s just plain nosy, and I detest nosiness. And he does it EVERY DAY, multiple times a day.

After about a week of enduring these ad-hoc check-ins, during which I stared, unflinching, at my computer screen, I tersely inquired, “Can I help you?” while he stood in my office doorway.

He shrugged and said in his goofy way, “Just taking a little walk around. You know, you gotta break every once in a while from that desk!”

“I wish I had the time for that,” I replied in an icy tone. The implication, of course, was that I was swamped and that he should take a hike.

But that leads to another reason that he pisses me off…the guy doesn’t know how to take a hint!

No matter how furiously I begin typing when I see him approaching my office as though I am completely engrossed in composing an important email message, no matter how quickly I pick up the receiver of my telephone and conduct a completely one-sided conversation with the dial tone in the hopes that he will leave me the hell alone...HE JUST STANDS THERE. Dumbly.

It makes me look bad! His timing is so impeccable; my boss just happens to catch him lollygagging in or near my office on a regular basis, and I’m afraid she thinks that I’m encouraging this behavior.

Finally, he’s one of those people who think he’s just so cute and funny. And he’s neither. He is constantly impressed with himself. He tries to joke around with me but I just allow myself a tight smile, not wanting to egg him on any further.

The thing that bothers me is how bothered I am by his presence and how UNLIKE me that is. I strongly disliked this guy from nearly Day One, and I usually get along with everyone. There’s just something about him that makes me want to vault over my desk and lunge for his throat whenever he stops by my office. If he were coming to me for genuine work-related issues, I totally wouldn’t have a problem with him. But I’m just way too freaking busy here to socialize. And truthfully, I only socialize with those whom I actually enjoy spending time.

And then I feel a bit guilty, because it’s not like the guy’s a genuine jerk or a child molester or anything. He’s just annoying as hell. I kind of berate myself for not trying harder to be nice to him. Although I actually tried that approach early on and learned that it doesn’t satisfy his need for attention (or whatever it is he’s looking for); it simply encourages him to continue being obnoxious and to seek more attention. Frankly, whenever I try to be nice to him, a little part of me dies inside.

The only thing that makes me feel a little better about all of this is that I am not the only one here who cannot tolerate him. If I were the only one who felt this way, then I could admit that the problem was likely within me and really had nothing to do with him personally. One of those “point your finger and three fingers point back at you” deals. But pretty much everyone here thinks he’s overbearing and aggravating. I almost pity him.

So for now, I just try to ignore him and keep our interactions to a minimum. I’m sure he thinks I’m a total bitch, but I can live with that. Small price to pay for my sanity.

Labels: bitching, opinions, sheer idiocy, sheer insanity, work

It just occurred to me that I never did post any of the handful of pictures that I took while in Los Angeles in July. Since I was really only there for about 18 hours, with seven hours accounting for sleep and three hours in an interview, I didn't get much of a chance to sightsee.

I did, however, take some shots at my hotel, the Millennium Biltmore, which was faaaaaabulous. Please excuse some blurriness--I was exhausted after the six-hour flight and famished. Not a good combination for me, if you know me. Also, these pictures are yoooooge. Sorry!

Off we go:

The lobby was cavernous and stunning with its ornate Art Deco style.




I stayed on the tenth floor, otherwise known as the Concierge Level. Just as I checked in, the complimentary Happy Hour in the Club Room had ended. Drats. But I did get to enjoy a very fancy and free breakfast there the following morning. This is a shot of the stairwell from the tenth floor, which I took on my way to my room at check-in.



And here's a shot of my room. The bedding was probably the comfiest I've ever slept on in my life.



Tough life, isn't it?

Labels: pictures, travel

Happy 44th Birthday, Keanu Reeves!



You are the only man in his forties that I find absolutely DELICIOUS.

Labels: celebrities, opinions, pretty

Or something like that.

Yesterday I had the pleasure of attending the annual PA Renaissance Faire. It was like nothing I've ever seen before in my life. Quite overwhelming and, well, bizarre.

I went with my parents, and at one point during the car ride to the fairgrounds, I mentioned that I'd heard that the people who participate in and attend these types of affairs are a subculture unto themselves. I can tell you with absolute certainty now that it is 100% true. These people take this shit REALLY seriously, speaking Elizabethan English in faux British accents while garbed in apparently authentic apparel. Kind of like this guy:



When I feel inclined to download the pictures I took from it, I'll be sure to post a few here. The highlight of the afternoon was bonding with my dad while throwing knives at a target as my mother stood far, far out of harm's way.

Good tymes.

Labels: family, funny stuff, opinions, sheer insanity

Right after I see this with a few of my girlfriends...




...I am SO going to see this. And I don't even LIKE Brad Pitt!

Labels: friends, funny stuff, movies

You know, I was really sad to remove my last post because it was the first time in a while that I was actually feeling what I was writing about. So eff it. I'm reposting my thoughts from yesterday now. Identities have been changed as necessary.

Do you have a work boyfriend (or girlfriend)?

I do! His name is F and he's dreamy.

I first met F during a weeklong training that I attended at his company in North Carolina last summer. We hit it off right away. He's totally my kind of guy: flirtatious, hilariously funny and super-smart with a GREAT phone voice, which is convenient as we spend lots of time on the phone together during working hours. It also helps that I am his client, so he has to be really nice to me if he wants to get a good performance review from his boss. Heh.

Our telephone banter and email exchanges, which he peppers liberally with smiley and winky emoticons, help to make my workday go by faster and always put me in a better mood if I'm having a shitty day.

Here's an example of one of our many funny email exchanges from earlier this year, a few weeks before we met again for the annual conference that his firm sponsored in Arizona.

Me: PS – What type of thing does (insert F's company's name) do in San Fran in Sept? Amy said it was the BEST. I’m trying to refine my pitch to mgmt here to substantiate why I should go.

Him: It is similar to the conference coming up but on a grander scale. Some system user info and mostly industry stuff. Good for meeting others and having the round table discussions. I always went as a client and found it to be beneficial.

Me: Interesting. Wonder if I could get ASPPA credits for that. But I hate meeting people in group settings, I’m kind of shy and do better one-on-one. Thanks for the info.

Him: Not sure about the ASPPA credit...I will see if there is any info out there. And I'll make sure I call on you at my presentation :)

Me: If you do that, I will have to hurt you. Badly.

Him: Sweet! ;-)

Labels: funny stuff, work

If you visited this blog anytime within the last twelve hours or so, you'll now notice that I pulled my last entry.

This is not because I am trying to censor myself and/or my thoughts. It's simply to protect the innocent from any lasting professional repercussions.

I can see from my sitemeter that my earlier post drew quite a bit of attention from the wrong people and/or organizations, and I have no desire to get anyone in trouble.

Thanks for reading.

Labels: bad news, opinions, technology, work

After receiving an onslaught of sub-par resumes and cover letters for our administrative assistant job opening, I now know exactly how the judges of American Idol must feel during auditions. Today, I’m feeling a little more Simon Cowell-ish than I am den-mother Paula. These resumes have been absolutely dreadful.

I am a complete grammar/punctuation snob and I’m not afraid to admit it. Or shout it. Or bellow it from the mountaintops. And I am here to tell you that, sad but true, many people do judge you on your writing abilities, especially if that’s the only impression that is available to them.

Here are my basic suggestions on how to make a good first impression when sending correspondence to apply for a job:

-Use spell-check. This is a given. There’s just no excuse for sending professional correspondence without using it.

-Beyond spell-check, try to remember the difference between “it’s” and “its,” “there” and “their,” etc. If you don’t trust yourself to differentiate between these and similar homonyms, maybe you should ask someone who has more than a third-grade education to review your correspondence for you prior to sending it.

-Punctuation! I received an email this morning with a cover letter that read:

Hi My name is Illiterate Schmuck and I am interested in this position I am sending you my resume the best way to reach me is by cell phone 610-xxx-xxxx

Keep in mind that we posted an ad for an administrative assistant, and one of the main functions of the job is to send correspondence to our existing and prospective clients. Why would we want to entrust that task to someone who seems to have no idea when to use the most basic punctuation mark?!?!

-Lastly, what exactly does your email address tell the world about you? If it’s something like Hotmonkeylove69, thuglife4eva, or KKKnUSA, perhaps you should take a moment to create another free email account through Gmail, Yahoo! or Hotmail that is a little less...errr, loaded.

Speaking from personal experience, when I receive a resume from an email address of Windowlicker22470, it goes straight into my Trash folder. Don’t let this happen to your C.V. Instead, create a secondary email account that simply contains some combination of your initials and numbers, which you can use exclusively for professional correspondence.

How to improve your writing if you feel it’s lacking? Very simple!

1. Go to your local public library.
2. Find these two books: The Elements of Style by Strunk and White, and Eats, Shoots and Leaves by Lynn Truss.
3. Absorb the information from these books and start applying it to your daily correspondence.

You’re welcome!

Labels: bitching, books, education, opinions, sheer idiocy, technology, work

Do you take a daily multivitamin?

I used to take one every morning when I was a little kid (at my mother's behest), but I'd long since stopped until a few months ago.

I'm not sure if it's simply the placebo effect, but I've noticed that I've been feeling better in general since I've started taking them. My hair also seems to grow faster now.

What do you think? Do they work?

Labels: health, opinions

Our firm has begun a search for an administrative assistant, and I am the lucky soul who gets to screen the resumes that are emailed to us. I posted the job listing on Craigslist not even twenty-four hours ago, and already I’ve been cured of any latent desire I might have had for HR as a possible career option.

Do people actually think about what they’re saying before they send these emails?

Do they actually proofread what they've written and not just rely on spell-check to ensure their messages make sense?

My favorite response thus far came to me just before noon today. In the posting, I had clearly spelled out my full name, first and last, and my email address listed in the posting also contains my full last name. This latest reply chopped half of my last name right off in the salutation!

The kicker was that, in the cover message, this candidate bragged about her "close attention to detail.”

Delete.

Labels: bitching, sheer idiocy, technology, work