chillin' out, maxin', relaxin' all cool

so got through 12 rounds of on-campus interviews. being back here at school really makes me nostalgic of my younger days. it's also a slap across the face by reality when i realize i am in my early 30's and not my early 20's. college - those were the days.

what they don't tell you back then is that you'll look back one day and want to return, but only with the maturity and confidence that you have in your 30s. i'd love to take the person i am today and have a college 'do over.' i would take my classes more seriously, become more involved with the school and still have a decent social life. i wouldn't feel the need to go out every night and feel like i'm missing the best party if i stayed in on *gasp* a friday night. i think i would also be less nervous around guys and more open to slowly establishing a relationship, rather than being impatient and giving up after a couple of days.

the college days - i miss 'em, but thinking back to who i was then also makes me cringe!

view of campus

back at school...again

so this week is the second week in a row i've returned to my alma mater. it's for work and i love coming back to visit the campus, but it's a bitch of a drive. depending on time of day and where i'm leaving from (home or work), it can take anywhere from 3.5 - 5 hours.

last week i came down here to for a career fair. the drive down was bad because it was at night in the freezing cold. luckily, the career fair was a success AND i managed to miss the crappy ice storm at home. however, i did get to drive through it the next morning - roads weren't bad and it was really pretty scenery. here's a couple of pictures for you:

driving home after an ice storm

another picture while driving home after an ice storm

this week's trip objective is to conduct on-campus interviews for interns. i love doing this kind of stuff. anyway, the trip down was uneventful but i did manage to take a couple of cool pictures of the sun shining down:

the drive down with the sun

so today's entry is a chance to show off my multi-tasking skills: driving and attempting to take 'pretty' pictures with my cell phone. i know, i'm quite talented.

time to upgrade my hair dryer

since I first started drying my own hair at age 12, I always insisted on needing a hair dryer with the highest wattage. my hair is thick, wavy and (according to my stylist) dry. if I used a "regular person's" hair dryer, it would take me an hour before my hair looked somewhat decent and not so much like a Ch-ch-ch-ch-chia.

it's been over seven years since I last had to buy a hair dryer. the search was a painful one, resulting in me buying two different hair dryers, thinking that I'll use one for every day and the other for travel (even though it was huge - not travel size at all). the one I used for "travel" blew out within a couple of months and I sent it on it's way to the hair dryer cemetary. the one I fell in love with and am using to this day was a cheapie Conair 1875 - blue with one attachment. that sucker gets HOT and blows out some major gale force winds.

well, my blue Conair 1875 is falling apart. the attachment no longer stays on the barrel, so I have it taped on with packing tape (it's all I had handy at the time). it also kind of shorts out, where I see a little flash in the motor area and a cool shot of air hits my head before it starts warming up to its normal temp. needless to say, it's time to let it go. I've finally come to grips and accepted this.

so now I'm doing some research and I'm overwhelmed with modern technology. tourmaline, ceramic, ionic, etc. WTF?!?! I've done my obligatory search on google to see what the experts say, but I haven't been able to find 2 people to agree on a single hair dryer as being the best. I'll keep searching and let you know which one I settle on...right now I'm leaning towards the T3 Tourmaline Professional Featherweight Hair Dryer.

to be continued (and I know you just can't wait!)...

and two years later...

so i'm back...but not sure for how long. i dropped off the face of the earth shortly after my last post. let's see if i can summarize the past three years in a couple of bullets:

• all hell broke loose when jaime broke up with my brother
• there was lots of sibling empathy for my brother where my sister, brother and i spent many nights at the bar getting extremely intoxicated
• jamie confessed to being lebanese (aka a lesbian)
• i started a new project where i worked a bazillion hours a week, cutting back on school night socializing
• my uncle incurred ruptured brain aneurysms - luckily he survived (one in a million), but it was touch and go for a while
• i sprained my ankle (see party boot reference here) yet again and had to have reconstruction surgery
• i was on disability for 6 weeks
• came back from disability leave and immediately hit the road for work - first San Francisco then Chicago and then Boston
• 10 days into 2007, my father admitted to having an affair
• my dad decides to divorice my mother, to whom he's been married for 37 years (asshole). i'm now estranged from him but that discussion could go on forever
• after being in boston for 3 months, travelling back and forth from DC, i decided to give up my shiz-nit in DC and move to boston
• my project in boston ended after 10 months so i packed up my gear and came back to DC

that pretty much brings us to today. i've been working partially in chicago and partially in DC. eventually i'm going to get the heck outta this town and either move back to boston or to chicago. here's the +'s and -'s to both:

Chicago

• have friends there, so built-in support system is established
• cost of living is pretty decent - better than DC
• not sure if i can get a job that i'll like; if so, kinda doubt i'll get comparable pay to what i currently receive
• a little further away from home, but have hourly flights in case there's an emergency
• winters are bitter cold, but summers are great by the lake

Boston

• have friends there, but not as many as chicago
• cost of living is ridiculous
• closer to DC for emergency purposes - hourly flights from logan
• wicked cold winters, summers are awesome b/c of local beaches
• better chance of getting a job with comparabale pay, but getting a job alone will be a tough accomplishment

it's a tough decision in which I go back and forth on which city I prefer more on a daily basis. it'll come down to the job...just wish one would pop up so this whole thing can be settled.

alright, that's the update. i think i'm going to stop there...hopefully i'll pick up again tomorrow, but i'm not promising anything. it might be two years before another post is made, but let's hope not!